Free Money & Murder by David Bishop

approaches a man who attracts her she thinks of herself as a flirt. When a woman does she thinks of herself as a prick teaser.”
    “I like it. May I use it?”
    “Of course, but it requires you recognize one from the other.”
    “I’ll do my best. Now, our time is limited so let’s get back to your situation.”
    “You said the cops won’t look much beyond me, so I need you to find out who killed Tally.”
    “Except in the pages of my books, I haven’t worked a case in a lot a years. You don’t want me. At best, I’m a rusty ex-detective.”
    “I’ve know a few smart men, Matt, even a couple of honest ones. But you’re both. That’s rare and it’s just what I need.”
    “Don’t make me out to be holy, you know my record.”
    “You plugging that guy showed you cared about the victim and about justice. That you’re passionate about what you believe in. I need you to believe in me.”
    “I don’t know.” I kept shaking my head long after I finished saying it. “I just don’t think I’m the man for this job.”
    “You are exactly the man for the job. You were with me. And you know I couldn’t kill Tally … You know that, don’t you Matt?”
    Sam Spade would easily know whether or not Clarice was working me, but I couldn’t tell. In the end it mattered little, I had always had difficulty re-corking an opened curiosity.
    “No promises,” I said. “I’ll think on it. But, as long as I’m here, I do have a question about last night.”
    I saw that the always perfect polish on her fingernails was now chipped when she turned the back of her hand toward me and wiggled her fingers. “Bring it on.”
    “When you got home from my place, did you look in on Garson?”
    “No. His door was shut. He usually went to bed before me. He’d close his door when he turned off his TV. Unless he called out, I would never go in after he shut his door … Why do you ask?”
    “It would have told us whether he had been killed while you were with me or not.” Her expression told me she understood.
    “I expect,” she said, “the autopsy will show Tally died while I was with you.”
    “That will show a range of time, a range that will likely cover part of the time you were with me and some time you weren’t. But we don’t have the autopsy yet.”
    She didn’t say anything, just looked down and pursed her lips.
    “You handling this place okay?”
    She shrugged. “It’s nasty and that’s just the surface. Look at these outfits. How’s a girl gonna look good in this ugly thing?” She tugged hard enough to billow the loose-fitting orange material over her bust, then glanced toward the door and the guard.
    “You’d look good in anything,” I said, meaning it, “but this is not a place for looking sensuous. Let your hair go. Don’t bathe unless they insist, but cooperate when they do.”
    “No sweat, Matt. I hold a brown belt in karate. If any of the lesbos in this place put a hand on me, they’ll wish they hadn’t.”
    “Also, this is not a place to get in a fight. Walk and talk with confidence, not cockiness. Stay to yourself, but don’t act like a victim or like you’re too good for the rest of ‘em.”
    She smiled for the second time. “Seeing we’re talking outfits here, I see you wore your trench coat. That ought to help you get into your detective persona.”
    The trench coat may have been a little over the top into my novelist side, but I wasn’t about to confess that to Clarice. “Morning fog,” I said. “Wet. Now, did you get an attorney?”
    “I called Henry Blackton.” She stroked her fingers on the glass the way she might to tickle the open palm of my hand. “He was Tally’s lawyer for all his U.S. business deals.”
    “You need a criminal mouthpiece, not a corporate attorney.”
    “That’s what Blackton told me. He sent over Brad Fisher who went with me to the arraignment. I gave Fisher your name and told him you’d help. Was that okay? Do you know Fisher?”
    “Only by