What happened before in Chapter 19
Mac tells Pindler that someone in his employ murdered Newton. This rocks Pindler who honestly doesn’t seem aware of this. Lisa looks frightened and M. Bell denies any part of it. Mac sets Bell straight on that point. Lastly, Pindler and Mac talk about who will take the fall for the murder. Gassly becomes animated at this.
Chapter 20
The last French joke’¦really
Gassly screamed. ‘YOU ARE NOT GOING TO PIN ZIS ON ME!(1)‘
Before he could do anything else, I punched him in the jaw. He went down like a ton of bricks. Bell gasped and shrank away, while Pindler, oddly enough, did nothing.
At that moment, the office door sprang open and Lieutenant B. H. Astronomer and two of the cities finest stood at the door.
‘What’s going on in here? Why is that man unconscious?’ B. H. asked.
‘It’s O.K. Barry. He just fell.’
‘He fell eh? That wouldn’t knock him out.’
‘He fell a lot.’
‘I see. Let’s not have anymore people falling or we all go downtown to answer some questions.’
‘Not a problem Barry. We’re almost done.’
Barry glared at me and closed the door. Pindler looked at Gassly lying on the floor almost sadly.
‘Why are the police here Mr. Tosh?’
‘Because my secretary called them before she left. Her ‘filing’ was actually making the phone calls to Bell to get him here and then to the police after he arrived.’
‘You have thought this through carefully. Admirable. So it is to be Gassly who takes the fall. That is regrettable. We made a good team’
I stooped down and searched Gassly for any possible hidden weapons. Finding none, I picked him up under his arms. As I dragged him towards the couch, Lisa got up and moved away.
‘How much do you know about Gassly? I asked Pindler as I not so gently tossed his partner on the couch.
‘Quite a lot I think.’ He replied. ‘We have worked together for about five years.’
‘Five years. Do you know anything about him prior to that?
Pindler shook his head no.
‘Did you know that fifteen years ago he was in the French Army? He was a marksman. In their Special Forces. After that, he joined the French equivalent to the FBI. He was released after a prisoner died in his custody during an interrogation. The papers reported it as a suicide.’
Pindler looked up from Gassly. ‘I was not aware of these things. I did know he was rather well connected with some unusual resources.’
‘And you never asked him? Never wanted to know?’
‘I admit to some curiosity. However, he didn’t inquire about my dealings before I met him and I accorded him the same courtesy.’
‘That’s too bad Pindler. You might have saved yourself some headaches if you had.’
Notes for Chapter 20
(1) ‘YOU ARE NOT GOING TO PIN ZIS ON ME!’ ‘“ Last call for making light fun of the French and typically bad movie accents.
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