Maybe I better-" But before Dr. Magus could even start fast-talking his way out of it, the mark stood up, jammed the gun back in his pocket and rushed out of the mitt camp as though his tail was on fire. It had scared the devil out of Dr. Magus and for a while after that he gave pretty poor readings, sticking to broad generalizations, to avoid lucky hits. He still did that whenever his instincts told him that the mark across the table from him could be a dangerous criminal.
But he'd never thought of Mack Irby as a dangerous criminal. There'd been larceny in his soul, sure, but almost all carneys have that.
Nevertheless Mack Irby had had a guilty secret and a damned important one. It could hardly be a killing, unless it was a very old one or had happened between seasons, during the winter Irby had been with the Wiggins & Braddock shows for three - no, four seasons now and there hadn't been a killing with the carney - except one that had happened in a knife fight between two jigs - in that length of time.
Except Charlie Flack. For a moment he toyed with the possibility that Mack Irby had somehow engineered that auto accident and had killed Charlie so he could get Maybelle. But he couldn't have; the details of the accident had been clear and there'd been witnesses. The other driver had been speeding and on the wrong side of the road and, if Dr. Magus remembered rightly, had been drunk besides. If there'd been anything off-beat about that accident the insurance company would never have made so quick a settlement with Irby. And besides, Irby himself could all too easily have been killed; he wouldn't have taken so wild a gamble that he'd survive and Flack wouldn't. Usually, the seat beside the driver is more dangerous in a smashup than the driver's seat; it just happened that Irby had been lucky and Flack hadn't. So that idea was out completely.
But what then? No kind of petty larceny would get a reaction like that from a man as tough as Mack Irby. If it wasn't a killing it would have to be something big, something that involved real money, like a payroll robbery or a bank robbery.
And didn't he, now that he thought of it, remember reading in the newspaper of some town they'd been playing two or three months ago about a bank robbery in some town nearby? Two men, or had it been three, getting away with quite a wad of cash?
He tried to pin down the memory, and couldn't. He read so many newspapers, always the local papers of the town they were playing or going to play next. Surprising how many helpful little items a mentalist can find in a local paper.
But he hadn't thought of Charlie or Mack in connection with the robbery at that time. If they'd been away from the lot that day somebody with the carney would have known they were gone and might have connected ... No, carneys don't read newspapers. Billboard and Variety yes, but not newspapers.
Bank robbery?
Mack Irby, tough though he had been, just couldn't have been in that kind of a league.
Wait a minute.
Charlie Flack could have pitched in that kind of a league. He remembered now that early in the season when Charlie had joined the carney, he'd guessed Charlie to be something more important than he seemed to be. There'd been something about him, a hard wariness in his eyes, a tenseness in his body, that had said this man is dangerous. Charlie had never come for a reading but if he had he'd have got the broad generalization treatment.
And Charlie hadn't really been a carney, although he'd known some of the ropes and some of the lingo. As though maybe Maybelle had coached him. Not that he hadn't fitted beautifully into the job Maybelle had got him with the model show, as inside man. A bouncer's job, really, in there to watch that none of the marks got out of line and tried to go over or under the rope that held them back a safe distance from the stage on which the girls posed. Things like marks getting past that rope could lead to a clem that would wreck the show, maybe the
But he'd never thought of Mack Irby as a dangerous criminal. There'd been larceny in his soul, sure, but almost all carneys have that.
Nevertheless Mack Irby had had a guilty secret and a damned important one. It could hardly be a killing, unless it was a very old one or had happened between seasons, during the winter Irby had been with the Wiggins & Braddock shows for three - no, four seasons now and there hadn't been a killing with the carney - except one that had happened in a knife fight between two jigs - in that length of time.
Except Charlie Flack. For a moment he toyed with the possibility that Mack Irby had somehow engineered that auto accident and had killed Charlie so he could get Maybelle. But he couldn't have; the details of the accident had been clear and there'd been witnesses. The other driver had been speeding and on the wrong side of the road and, if Dr. Magus remembered rightly, had been drunk besides. If there'd been anything off-beat about that accident the insurance company would never have made so quick a settlement with Irby. And besides, Irby himself could all too easily have been killed; he wouldn't have taken so wild a gamble that he'd survive and Flack wouldn't. Usually, the seat beside the driver is more dangerous in a smashup than the driver's seat; it just happened that Irby had been lucky and Flack hadn't. So that idea was out completely.
But what then? No kind of petty larceny would get a reaction like that from a man as tough as Mack Irby. If it wasn't a killing it would have to be something big, something that involved real money, like a payroll robbery or a bank robbery.
And didn't he, now that he thought of it, remember reading in the newspaper of some town they'd been playing two or three months ago about a bank robbery in some town nearby? Two men, or had it been three, getting away with quite a wad of cash?
He tried to pin down the memory, and couldn't. He read so many newspapers, always the local papers of the town they were playing or going to play next. Surprising how many helpful little items a mentalist can find in a local paper.
But he hadn't thought of Charlie or Mack in connection with the robbery at that time. If they'd been away from the lot that day somebody with the carney would have known they were gone and might have connected ... No, carneys don't read newspapers. Billboard and Variety yes, but not newspapers.
Bank robbery?
Mack Irby, tough though he had been, just couldn't have been in that kind of a league.
Wait a minute.
Charlie Flack could have pitched in that kind of a league. He remembered now that early in the season when Charlie had joined the carney, he'd guessed Charlie to be something more important than he seemed to be. There'd been something about him, a hard wariness in his eyes, a tenseness in his body, that had said this man is dangerous. Charlie had never come for a reading but if he had he'd have got the broad generalization treatment.
And Charlie hadn't really been a carney, although he'd known some of the ropes and some of the lingo. As though maybe Maybelle had coached him. Not that he hadn't fitted beautifully into the job Maybelle had got him with the model show, as inside man. A bouncer's job, really, in there to watch that none of the marks got out of line and tried to go over or under the rope that held them back a safe distance from the stage on which the girls posed. Things like marks getting past that rope could lead to a clem that would wreck the show, maybe the
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