Walt Murphy – PI – 36

Williams frowned. "I met a woman at a bar, little over a week ago. She called herself Belle, no last name. Slender. Long blonde hair."

"Probably the same woman," I replied. "And?"

"And I haven't seen her since. What did she want you to do?"

"Find you. She claimed she was your girlfriend."

"Well she's not. Like I said, I only met her once. That's it." He smiled slightly. "We didn't even go home together. Why would she want you to find me? I haven't been hiding. Running scared, yeah, but not hiding."

"Right now, I have my suspicions why she came to me, but that's neither here nor there. I saw her later at an art gallery owned by one James Eber." I watched his face when I said Eber's name. I knew he knew the man, but I wanted to see if he'd admit it, or if his expression would give away that it was Eber who was behind everything that had happened.

"She knows Mr Eber?" His shock wasn't feigned as far as I could tell.

"Looks like. She and he were having a very serious discussion from what little I saw. Then she left. Fast."

"So he set her on me," Williams spat out.

"From where I'm sitting, I'd say that a given. Did she have anything to do with your deciding to help Mr Eber with the necklace?"

"No," he replied before he realized what he'd said. "Okay, now you know. Please don't…" He looked despairingly at me.

"I won't let him know you said anything. All I wanted from you was verification I'm on the right track."

"Well you got that, didn't you? Are you going to stop whatever he's doing?"

"I'm going to do my damnedest. As for you…" I thought about it for a minute. "Let me make a quick phone call. I think I can find a safe place for you to stay if you're willing to pack up and come with me."

"You think I need one?" he replied in dismay.

"Let's just say there's no sense in taking chances. Go pack."

He nodded, hurrying away, with a swift glance over his shoulder before he went into what I presume was his bedroom. I called a friend, another PI, who I hoped would be willing to put Williams up for a couple of days. We did this for each other on occasion when the situation warranted. He was agreeable, so I told him we'd be there within the hour.

We actually made it in thirty-five minutes, despite my taking evasive moves to be certain we weren't being followed. I introduced Williams to Carl Daniels and then took off. My next stop—the office.

The first thing I did when I got there was call Philips to let him know that Williams had confirmed he had been working for Eber.

"And without my beating him up," I added with a small laugh.

"Well I should hope not," Philips responded, chuckling. "Have you come up with a plan for tomorrow?"

"Nope. When I do you'll be the first to know." We left it at that and hung up.

Now all I had to do was actually devise said plan. Knowing for sure it was Eber behind everything helped, but it didn't put me any closer to getting the book back from him.

I paced the office, stopped to look out the window, paced again. If I knew where he had the book… Yeah, like I had the skills to steal it back even if I did.

Then it hit me. It was a wild idea. So off the wall I wondered if this whole case had driven me around the bend. Still…