Shayne said, “There’s one more question right now, Ann. Do you know anyone named Ludlow?” He stood up abruptly.
She thought for a moment and shook her black head slowly. “I’ve never heard the name. And if you must go, send that waiter back here with a double shot of the same — without coffee.”
Shayne nodded and gave her a crooked grin. “You’ve been a big help, Ann. Call me if you think of anything else that might be relevant. Leave a message with my secretary if I’m not in.”
He pressed his knuckles against her white cheek, said, “So long,” and hurried out.
Chapter eleven
Back in his office, Shayne settled down at his desk and hoped to get some answers to the dozens of questions chasing each other around in his mind. One of the most perplexing was exactly what Margrave had expected to gain by making his vehement and somewhat absurd accusation against the Vulcan Chemical Corporation.
He realized that large, long-established and supposedly solid organizations sometimes engaged goon squads or hatchet men to gain certain objectives, mainly in the realm of labor relations. And he had not the slightest doubt that murders had been discreetly arranged in the past, and would be in the future.
But the idea of the Vulcan Corporation stooping to murder in order to win a lawsuit against an individual seemed incredible, especially when the method employed by the killer was a knife, actually a letter opener, evidently owned by Carrol himself. Hired killers were apt to use less personal weapons, such as a blast of machine gun bullets after the victim had been lured to a certain position at a specified time.
Yet, Margrave — the man who had willingly advanced a thousand-dollar fee, and who insisted that no expense be spared — was positive that Vulcan had engineered Carrol’s murder, and he expected Michael Shayne to prove this fact.
Against Margrave’s sober and businesslike accusations there were those of his unsober and romantic daughter, Ann, plainly bitter and frustrated, whose long crimson nails were eager to claw Nora Carrol’s eyes out, but who would settle for a verdict of guilty for Nora Carrol as her husband’s murderer.