Bodies Read Online Free Page B

got used to hearing them . . . ”
    â€œQuite. What’s six more shots between friends? Only these were bullets not blanks . . . Of course somebody in the show might have noticed shots that weren’t part of the act. I might slip next door and ask a few questions.”
    â€œYou take all the desirable parts of the job,” protested Joplin.
    â€œThere is nothing, ” I said pontifically, “more anaphrodisiacal than backstage in a strip joint. And while I’m mortifying the flesh in that way, you can go along and have a word with Phil Fennilow. He looked as if he was beginning to feel better by the time I left him. He’ll probably be able to identify Cordle and the Herbert boy, if he feels up to it, and he just may know the models.”
    I stood looking around the studio.
    â€œThose bloody cameras,” I said bitterly. “Probably-clicking up to the second he died, and they’re not going to tell us a blind thing. Even if they were sound-recording they probably wouldn’t either. Still—get the boys on to developing the film as a matter of priority, will you?”
    â€œRight,” said Joplin.
    â€œI’m off to the Wild West.”
    The Wild West was actually off duty at that particular moment, but it announced its first show for the lunch-time trade at one-fifteen, which was hopeful. One went—as one so often does in these places—down five or six dreary steps, and then came to an improvised box office. The black and white publicity stills on either side of the doorsshowed girls in various states of undress, but the prevailing motifs were Texan hats, riding boots, holsters, guns and whips. A typical pose depicted a dark-haired model in a G-string, sitting on a stool, Stetson-hatted, with a holster slung around her navel, flourishing a whip above her head. The inspiration seemed more Blue Angel than John Ford, but there was something rather half-hearted about the stripper, as if she didn’t mean you any harm. No one ever doubted that Marlene Dietrich meant you harm.
    I descended the steps to that Soho Hades. The box office was shut, and a locked door stopped me from going further. I banged on it, and after a few moments heard footsteps.
    â€œI’m not open yet,” said a voice through the door, which had opened a fraction. “It’s half an hour to the show, and my heavy’s not arrived yet. Come back in twenty minutes.”
    â€œPolice,” I said, pushing my card through the crack.
    â€œMy, you boys in blue do like the boots and whip routine, don’t you?” He was being facetious. The door had opened further, and I saw he was a small cock sparrow of a man, formed for being facetious. “Just my joke, Superintendent, though we do have the pleasure of entertaining some of your boys in their private capacity from time to time. Colin Burney. My friends call me Col. What can me and my girls do for you? Is it the business next door?”
    â€œAh, you know about it, do you?”
    â€œGive me credit, mate. Wiv about fifteen police cars having come and gone in the course of the morning, it doesn’t take much up ’ere to get the idea that something’s happened.”
    â€œAnd do you know what’s happened?”
    â€œOne of my girls did talk to one of your Detective PCs she happens to be friendly with. All he’d say was ‘multiple murder.’ Sounds like something the press could work up an interest in. A good story like that can’t be bad for trade. Still, I’m surprised it should have happened at Health and Vitality. Not at all good for the old image. Was it by any chance a shooting?”
    â€œYes, it was. How did you know?”
    â€œWell, most of my girls are here . . . Oh, here’s another. Hurry up, Angie—you’re late, girl. Don’t expect me to lace up your boots . . . Well, as I say, they’re down there, dressing like,