‘Yah. And that’s what makes me think it’s a phoney. Whoever it was, asked for Brandon; nobody else would do. Brandon talked to him. This guy wouldn’t say who he was, and that means he’s gypped himself out of the reward. To me that stinks. No one in their right senses would pass up a reward that big unless he was scared of getting involved. He told Brandon to go right away to Perelli’s apartment, where he’d find the death gun down the side of a settee and other evidence that would pin the kidnapping on to Perelli. Brandon tried to find out who he was, but he got jittery and hung up. We’ve traced the call to a call-box in Coral Gables, but that’s as far as we’ve got.’
‘Someone who must hate Perelli’s guts.’
‘Could be, or maybe one of the kidnappers with cold feet. I don’t know. Anyway, Brandon made the pinch himself. Know what he found?’
‘He found the gun.’
‘He found that. He also found three oilskin wrappers, a hundred thousand grand in used twenty-dollar bills and a fishing-rod which was probably used to take the money off the shed roof.’
I whistled softly.
‘Where did he find them?’
‘The money was in a suitcase in a cupboard. The oilskin wrappers were at the back of a drawer and the rod was under the bed.’
‘As if anyone in their right minds would keep evidence as hot as that in their apartment. Can’t he see it’s a plant?’
‘Look, Brandon wants the Feds out of the city pronto. Perelli’s got a police record. This is a gift to him. If he stares at it all day and all night, it wouldn’t be a plant to him.’