The Frumious Bandersnatch полностью

“Let me get you his address,” Popeye said, and went over to a desk under a calendar of a girl wearing a sailor hat and hardly anything else.

“Phone number, too, please,” Meyer said.

THREE DETECTIVES from the MCU arrived at Capshaw Boats at twenty to eleven that morning. Meyer and Kling were waiting dockside for them. They hadn’t yet boarded the Hurley Girl because they didn’t know how many, if any, rampant prints the perps may have left aboard her, and they didn’t want to mess up anything for the technicians. The chief tech, a Detective/First named Carlie…

“For Charles,” he explained.

…Epworth listened attentively while Kling told him that a Harbor Patrol Unit vessel had stopped two males and a female on the boat right here an hour or so before the abduction last…

“What’s her name again?” Epworth asked. “The vic?”

“Tamar Valparaiso.”

“Never heard of her,” he said. “Is she supposed to be famous or something?”

“Supposed to be,” Meyer said.

“Never heard of her,” Epworth said again.

“Anyway, it was only the two males who boarded the River Princess, is the name of the launch she was taken from. So we figure the female stayed behind on the boat here, at the wheel. And maybe she left some latents. On the wheel, is what I’m saying. The two males were wearing gloves, but they were up to no good. So maybe the female was more relaxed and got careless.”

“Okay,” Epworth said.

“Is just a suggestion,” Kling said.

“Wearing gloves when they boarded the launch, you mean, right?”

“Yeah, right, when they did the deed.”

“But maybe they took them off when they were on their way home, is another possibility,” Epworth said.

“Opportunities are running rife,” Meyer said.

“Might turn out to be my lucky day,” Epworth said, grinning. “What’d you say that launch was called?”

“The River Princess. ”

“I think I saw a file on her back at the office.”

“Anybody get anything yet?”

“I don’t know. It was on another desk.”

“Cause this case is getting a lot of play, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“The papers, the media.”

“You gonna need us here?” Kling said.

“Leave me your card. I’ll get back one way or another.”

“We won’t be back in the office for a few hours,” Kling said. “Possible witness we’ve got to see.”

“To what? The snatch?”

“We’ve got a hundred and twelve of them.”

“Bold mother-fuckers, weren’t they?”

“Depends how you define it.”

“I didn’t say ‘brave,’ I said ‘bold.’ ”

“That they were. So when do you think you’ll be done here?”

Epworth looked at his watch.

“One, two o’clock, in there,” he said. “Depends on how clean she is.”

“We should be back home by then.”

“I’ll find you, don’t worry,” Epworth said. “Are the Feds in this yet?”

“Not yet,” Kling said.

“But you said it’s getting a lot of play, right?”

“Right.”

“They’ll come sniffing, you can bet on it,” Epworth said, and opened the gate on the Hurley Girl’s transom entry, and signaled to his crew. “Anybody been aboard her yet?” he asked.

“Just the possible perps,” Meyer said.

“Makes it easy then, don’t it?” Epworth said, and grinned.

CARELLA was sound asleep when Lieutenant Byrnes called him at twelve-thirty that Sunday. He waited a respectable four rings before remembering that this was Fanny’s day off and Teddy was taking the twins to the park, and then hastily yanked the receiver from its cradle.

“Carella,” he said.

“Steve, it’s Pete.”

“Yes, Pete.”

“I spoke to the Commish. First off, you’d better get that tape back to Honey Blaine…”

“Blair.”

“Whoever, before the city lands a very big law suit. Channel Four has already contacted the Mayor, who is not particularly known for courageous stands, anyway, and he got on his lawyerly high horse and lectured the Commish about illegal search and seizure and all that bullshit…”

“Yeah,” Carella said wearily.

“So you’d better…where is it, anyway, that tape?”

“In my bottom desk drawer.”

“I’ll call in, have a uniform run it over to the…”

“No, the drawer’s locked. I’ve got the key here.”

“This Blaine woman…”

“Blair.”

“…is sitting down there in the Channel Four offices with a battery of network lawyers, waiting for us to deliver that tape. We’ve got till three o’clock. Otherwise, they file. Can you get the tape over there by then?”

“Yes. But I still think it’s evidence.”

“The network thinks it’s a scoop worth forty million dollars…”

“More than I make in a week,” Carella said.

“…which is what they’ll sue for if they don’t get that tape by three o’clock. Can you run down to the squadroom? Messenger the tape over?”

“Sure,” Carella said, and yawned. “What time is it?”

“Twelve-thirty-five.”

“Shall I wake Cotton? Are we still on this case, or what?”

“Far as I know. Nobody’s heard a peep from the Feds, so I guess it’s still ours. Ain’t we lucky?”

“Oh my yes.”

“I guess this singer isn’t very important, huh? Did Meyer and Bert get anything on the boat?”

“I’ve been asleep, Pete.”

“Right, I’m sorry. Stick with it, the four of you. Call Loomis, see if there’s been a ransom demand yet. If this is really ours…”

“You just said it was, Pete.”

“Well, it is.”

“But you sound dubious.”