Shayne grinned at her. “You should see the other fellow,” he told her lightly, and turned back to the table with the glass half filled. “I always like to get certain things straight in the very beginning,” he went on to Margrave. “I get paid for results in my work, and the way I achieve those results is entirely my affair.” He sank into his chair, took a drink of liquor, and asked evenly, “Do you want to discuss your partner’s death? Or shall I just have this drink and forget the whole thing?”
Margrave opened his mouth to reply, closed it slowly, turned his eyes away from Shayne’s hard gaze, and dug his fork into a triangle of stacked pancakes. He deluged it with syrup and bent over his plate to put it in his mouth. After chewing and swallowing, and chasing it down with a large swallow of coffee, he said, “I do want to discuss Ralph Carrol’s murder — to retain you on the case. I merely thought, that is, I learned a long time ago that if I take one drop of liquor in the morning I’m knocked out for the rest of the day,” he added defensively.
“Some people are like that,” Shayne conceded. He set his glass down and lit a cigarette, then asked, “Why call me in, Mr. Margrave? What makes you think I can do more than the police?”
“The police!” snorted Margrave. “They’re hamstrung! They’ve had their orders already, you can be sure of that! What have they accomplished thus far? Nothing! And they won’t!” He pointed his empty fork at the redhead. “You’re different. At least I’ve heard you are. They say when you take a case you follow through come hell or high water, no matter whose toes get stepped on.”
“Whose toes,” asked Shayne with interest, “are the police avoiding this time?”
“Their masters’, of course! The entrenched power of illimitable wealth. Big Business. My partner was assassinated, Shayne, because he dared to stand up like a man and challenge the Vulcan Chemical Corporation of Delaware. That is lèse-majesté in these United States.”
“Wait a minute,” said Shayne. “Are you implying that the Miami police department takes orders from Vulcan?”
“Not directly, of course. But good God, man, let’s not quibble! It is the power of monopoly that has been challenged. When Ralph Carrol could not be bought off or frightened off, he was removed, as an object lesson to any individual who has the integrity and courage to stand up against the entrenched interests.”
Shayne settled back and said, “You’d better give me the whole story.”
“I shall.” Margrave hesitated with his fork ready to stab the last wedge of pancakes. Suddenly, he placed it on his plate and pushed the plate aside. “It’s common knowledge and a matter of record which can easily be verified. Carrol was a research chemist — a genius. He was hired by Vulcan when he graduated from college six years ago and placed under a slave contract to labor in their laboratories with hundreds of other bright young men, all seeking new ways of enriching the corporation. He worked diligently, on a miserly pittance, for more than five years. He developed various processes, over that period, which earned millions for the corporation.