Read Online No Cure for Death by Max Allan Collins - Free Book Online Page A

Rita tonight, are you?” Jack asked.
    “I was thinking about it, yeah.”
    “I wouldn’t.”
    “Why? I’m a big boy now.”
    “Not that big. With Thanksgiving tomorrow, the bars’ll be extra busy tonight. You know how it is night before a holiday. It might get a little rough if you go sailing in a black bar with that shinin’ white kisser of yours.”
    “Ah, hell with that, Jack. I got to do something, and soon. I hate this sitting on the thing like this. I want to move on it, and I got nowhere else to go with it, except the Quad Cities and Washington’s sister, Rita.”
    “Why don’t you just relax tonight—get your head together, son. Tell you what, I’ll do some checking tonight and see what
I
can find out about old Eyewash and his sister.”
    “You don’t have to do that, Jack.”
    “I insist.”
    “But...”
    “Look, it’s a terrific excuse for me to go bar crawlin’, son. I’m due.”
    “Well, thanks. I’ll check back with you tomorrow morning.”
    “Late morning. Gimme a break. Hey, what’d you turn up on Stefan Norman?”
    “Who?”
    “Stefan Norman. Did you try to contact him or anything?”
    “I never even
heard
of him. Which Norman is
he?
”
    “He’s the nephew of the old man. Norman’s late brother’s boy.”
    “How does he fit into the Norman empire, Jack?”
    “Well, the Norman empire, if there is one, appears to operate on a hereditary basis, only the ruling class has just about died out. You probably found out this afternoon that Norman’s wife died of cancer back in the forties, and son Richard’s dead, of course... and Richard was Norman’s only child. Norman has no brothers or sisters living—only had the one brother, and his only child was Stefan. Who is heir to the Norman empire, such as it is.”
    “What role does this Stefan play in Norman’s life, as of now?”
    “He’s in charge of something called the Norman Fund, has been ever since Richard died. Of course, he was pretty much in charge before that, too, since Richard was only a figurehead ‘chairman’ for the Fund; he had his political career, and his law practice as well.”
    “What the hell’s the Norman Fund, anyway?”
    “I don’t know, but I got a feeling if you could find out, the two of us could blackmail old man Norman and God knows who else and live comfortably for the rest of our lives off the proceeds. I suppose it’s a clearing house for the different under-the-table ties Norman has with the various industries in town. It plays at being a charitable organization. But all I can speak of for certain is the physical reality of a three-office suite here in town, in the Maxwell Building.”
    “I wish I’d known about this this afternoon....”
    “I forget that some of this stuff that’s common knowledge to me, from the business types I come in contact with, is news to you. I should’ve mentioned it. Sorry.”
    “That’s okay. But I’ve got to see this Stefan Norman. He sounds like the man who could once and for all fill me in on howmuch—or how little—Janet Taber had to do with the Normans. The Maxwell Building, you said? Think anyone would be in the office now?”
    “No way. It’s after five.”
    “Damn. Stefan Norman live in Port City?”
    “No. Davenport, I believe. Commutes down every day, I assume.”
    “Well, sooner or later I’ll have to take a little drive up to the Quad Cities and see these people.”
    “Make it later. I’ll handle this Washington thing for you tonight, and by myself. The first round of it, anyway.”
    He hung up and so did I. I leaned back on the couch.
    Next thing I knew, John was bursting in the door.
    “Jesus Christ,” I said. “Why not give me a goddamn heart attack while you’re at it?”
    “Never mind that,” he said. He threw his coat off and sat down near me on the couch. I glanced at my watch: I didn’t remember falling asleep, but I sure had, because it was almost nine P.M., now.
    He said, “I went over to the jail for a few