The Corpse Was Blind - Chapter 11

Ray Irish Mystery Case File #4

Cat and Ray remain attached and aloof in their partnership.

~~~

“I can’t believe that bastard. Are you two cops?” Cat stared at the men standing by Ray’s desk. Before they could say anything, she quickly continued.

“I’ve got a slimeball scamming people. You should arrest him and help clean up this town.”

She turned to Ray, disregarding the agents.

“The son of a bitch, Omar, admits he’s scamming people. I just got back from his place. Can you believe that someone sent him a coffin? It’s in his living room.”

“Miss, we’re busy. Please leave.” Harvey interrupted, his expression turning dark.

Cat glared at the man, and Ray chuckled as he took her arm.

“It’s alright, fellas. I don’t need to stay. Let yourselves out.” He hurried her to the door.

They heard Decker shout for him to stop, but Irish continued to prod Cat down the stairs.

“Stop it, you’ll get us killed!”

“Only if they catch us,” Ray explained as they reached the sidewalk.

He sprinted to the diver’s side as Cat scrambled to get in the passenger side. When the two agents reached the sidewalk, Ray was pulling out into traffic. Cat watched the angry men running to their car across the street.

“You’ve got some angry men after you,” she said with a growing concern in her voice. “You better ditch them quick.”

The man behind the wheel nodded and took the first right, then another quick right down an alley that led behind his office building. Coming out on Hickory Street, he took a left before taking another turn into another alley.

“What did you do now?” Cat asked as she scanned behind them for the agents.

“It’s a case. They claim they’re FBI, but I’m not sure who they work for. But it’s nothing for you to worry about. Your timing worked out great,” he replied with a grin. “I heard your boyfriend’s got you steamed up.”

Cat folded her arms around her chest and went quiet. Ray mended the fence since she had just saved his butt.

“Alright, that was a low blow. What’s this stuff about a coffin?”

The woman took a deep breath, then told him about her encounter with Omar and the coffin in the apartment.

“I told you not to confront him,” he said. “I haven’t got that device we found over to a radio shop.”

“Yes, I know. But I was mad,” she glanced over.

Cat did not mention her attempt to blackmail Omar. She realized it would only reinforce Ray’s low opinion of her. She believed Irish never understood what it meant to be born on the wrong side of the tracks. While the woman acted like she didn’t care about his view of her, his caustic words bit deep at times.

“Anyway, I want to dig up dirt on him. He brushed me off. Said he had more important problems? Can you believe it?”

“Why didn’t you go straight to the police? Seems like this is more of their business.”

“Simple, the chief of police’s wife, Betty, is a strong backer of Omar. She really believes in that mumbo-jumbo, and she doesn’t like me. Do you think they’ll take this seriously?”

Irish figured he knew why there was animosity there. Cat liked to squeeze into the social circles using her boyfriends.

“Well, get the chief’s wife on your side,” Ray stated.

“It’s not that easy. Betty won’t listen unless we can provide the evidence. Then she’ll scream like murder and her husband will come running.”

Her eyes brightened.

“Say, do you have that gadget in your car?”

The shamus nodded.

“Great, double back to the newspaper. I don’t know why I didn’t think about it before. I’ll get Edward to look it over. He’s our whiz kid. Knows everything about radios and phones. He’s the one who helped put in that headline banner you always read as it splashes the news on the building.”

Ray agreed with the idea, but his problem with Mary and the agents came back to him.

“Alright, I’ll agree, but I need a favor in return,” he told her.

Cat frowned.

“What is it?”

“Simple, I need you to act as a decoy leaving town,” he smirked. “All you got to do is drive a car to the train station and leave it there.”

Ray was happy to get a favor out of Cat since most of the time she tried to take advantage of him. It came from the woman’s incessant push to get over on people.

“Does it have something to do with those men in your office?” She suddenly wondered at the danger.

“That’s correct. But they’ll never see you. I plan on cutting them off as you drive away. By the time they get to the station, you’ll be in a taxi going back to your place.”

The woman sitting next to him suddenly smiled.

“Sure, I’ll do it. But you get to pay the cab fare.”

“Of course, you’d want that.” Irish glared at her before he turned his Nash toward the Oyster City Beacon’s offices.

Irish and Catherine found Edward Wood in a room the size of a couple of closets. Ray stood in the hall since there was barely enough room for two people in the room. Cat’s technical genius looked like he had never slept with a pale face and heavy bags under his eyes that ogled Cat as she held out the equipment from her radio. The young man’s unwashed long hair hung in his face, and he kept pushing the strands back as he listened to Cat’s story. His expression when he glanced at Ray showed his envy.

Ray ignored the glances as he listened while observing the equipment carefully hung on the wall and tucked under a large workbench.

When Edward displayed reluctance to help, Cat pressed closer to the man. As she gave him a good look at her natural feminine assets, Ray almost felt sorry for the kid.

Boy, is he out of his depth!

Soon enough, the young man agreed, watching the woman walk away. Edward did not see the satisfied grin on her face as she walked past Irish. The shamus closed the door to let Edward continue to dream for a while.

As they walked back to the car, Irish pointed out they still needed to get the police involved.

“Aside from breaking Edward’s heart when he finishes your bidding, it appears you need to get the wife on your side,” he thought aloud. “Are you planning to go back to see Omar again?”

“Not a chance,” she sniffed.

“Good! If he has a partner like you think, there’s a chance they might try something to keep you quiet,” he warned. “You need to be careful.”

Cat smiled brightly.

“Oh, is that jealousy I hear?”

“You certainly hope so,” the shamus growled as they reached the vehicle.

Twenty minutes later, Irish dropped Catherine off outside of her apartment. After he reminded the woman that he would pick her up early the next morning, she sighed dramatically.

“What would you do without me?”

Cat slid out of the car and winked at him. As he drove away, he did not notice the black car pulling into the parking lot.

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