‘I am willing to pay you to stop being a nuisance,’ she said in a hard, tight voice.
‘The number of times beautiful women with more money than ethics have tried to bribe me to give up a case really astonishes me,’ I said. ‘Sorry. I’m not interested.’
‘You can name your price,’ she said, her voice edged with anger.
‘Yeah, I’m sure, but I’m still not interested. If that’s all you have to say, I’ll turn in. I’m tired.’
‘Fifty thousand dollars,’ she said, watching me.
I grinned at her.
‘We’re bargaining for a man’s life, Mrs. Dedrick. If I don’t go on working on this case, Perelli will go to the gas chamber. Do you seriously mean that’s what you want?’
‘I know nothing about Perelli. I’m not interested in him. If he is tried and found guilty, then he is guilty. I will give you fifty thousand dollars to go away for a month. Will you take it?’
‘I can’t go away for a month, Mrs. Dedrick. I’m busy trying to find out who kidnapped your husband.’
‘Seventy-five thousand!’