as he had. Unless he was pretty stupid the killer could hardly have expected a bigger cash windfall than he got, although he could have hoped the whole thing might be in cash. There were some plenty tough boys on the lot, particularly among the rideboys and the roustabouts; no doubt any one of several of them would gladly have knocked Irby in the head for something over two hundred dollars.
So there wasn't anything mysterious about Irby's being killed. Money had to be the motive, because Dr. Magus felt pretty sure that Irby hadn't had any enemies among the carneys. He'd been a pretty tough boy himself and he hadn't made friends easily but he'd minded his own business and hadn't antagonized anyone either. It couldn't be over a woman. He'd gone straight to Maybelle, and Maybelle had been playing the field since Charlie Flack's death; nobody had any proprietary interest in her now, or had had since Charlie Flack. If Charlie was still alive and Irby had - but Charlie wasn't alive so why consider that?
No, Irby had been killed for the money he had on him.
Then what bothered him about it?
***
He decided that it must have been the way Mack Irby had acted that night when he'd dropped into the mitt camp. He'd acted naturally at first. But then he'd called the shot on where Irby was heading and whom he was going to see there, Maybelle. Just a good guess based on observation; back when Maybelle had been Charlie Flack's woman he'd noticed, a few times, the way Irby had looked at her. It was easy to guess that, after seven weeks' forced continence in a hospital a woman would be Irby's first thought and that, now that Charlie wasn't in the way, the woman would be Maybelle.
But a mentalist trains himself to watch reactions. It's his stock in trade in giving readings and he comes to do it subconsciously even when he isn't working.
And Mack Irby had reacted big, just a few seconds after that prediction. Fear. Naked fear and a sudden hurry to get the hell away from there. His story that he had to see someone else first before he looked up Maybelle had been strictly from a sudden rush to leave.
Could it have had anything to do with Maybelle herself? Not any way that Dr. Magus could see. And certainly it hadn't been Mack's conscience because he was doing some posthumous poaching on Charlie's preserve. Mack and Charlie hadn't been that close, and besides seven weeks is a long time. Even Charlie wouldn't expect Maybelle to be faithful to him after he was dead and buried.
And anyway, that reaction had been more than surprise or conscience. A man who's told fortunes for twenty-two years gets to know facial expressions and muscular reactions, gets to know them so well he can't be fooled on them, even the minor ones. Without being able to read emotions from physical reactions, he couldn't possibly give a mark a cold reading and make it good.
Fear. That had been Mack Irby's reaction.
It certainly hadn't been physical fear, no possible reason for it. So it could mean only one thing. That lucky shot had made Mack Irby suddenly afraid that Dr. Magus could read his mind, and there was something in his mind he was desperately afraid to have read.
***
Dr. Magus had seen that reaction before, quite a few times, in his years as a mentalist. Make a lucky hit on some statement to a man who has an important guilty secret, and you can watch it dawn on him that maybe you really can either read his mind or discover things about him clairvoyantly - doesn't matter which way he figures it - and he starts to sweat. You can almost smell his fear. Dr. Magus remembered one time, fifteen maybe twenty years ago in Akron, when he'd been giving a reading to a mark, an Italian, and he'd made some statement about the mark's past, he didn't even remember what it had been, but he'd seen and felt that sudden fear and then there'd been a short-barrelled little .32 revolver aiming across the little table between them and the mark was saying, "You know too goddam much.
So there wasn't anything mysterious about Irby's being killed. Money had to be the motive, because Dr. Magus felt pretty sure that Irby hadn't had any enemies among the carneys. He'd been a pretty tough boy himself and he hadn't made friends easily but he'd minded his own business and hadn't antagonized anyone either. It couldn't be over a woman. He'd gone straight to Maybelle, and Maybelle had been playing the field since Charlie Flack's death; nobody had any proprietary interest in her now, or had had since Charlie Flack. If Charlie was still alive and Irby had - but Charlie wasn't alive so why consider that?
No, Irby had been killed for the money he had on him.
Then what bothered him about it?
***
He decided that it must have been the way Mack Irby had acted that night when he'd dropped into the mitt camp. He'd acted naturally at first. But then he'd called the shot on where Irby was heading and whom he was going to see there, Maybelle. Just a good guess based on observation; back when Maybelle had been Charlie Flack's woman he'd noticed, a few times, the way Irby had looked at her. It was easy to guess that, after seven weeks' forced continence in a hospital a woman would be Irby's first thought and that, now that Charlie wasn't in the way, the woman would be Maybelle.
But a mentalist trains himself to watch reactions. It's his stock in trade in giving readings and he comes to do it subconsciously even when he isn't working.
And Mack Irby had reacted big, just a few seconds after that prediction. Fear. Naked fear and a sudden hurry to get the hell away from there. His story that he had to see someone else first before he looked up Maybelle had been strictly from a sudden rush to leave.
Could it have had anything to do with Maybelle herself? Not any way that Dr. Magus could see. And certainly it hadn't been Mack's conscience because he was doing some posthumous poaching on Charlie's preserve. Mack and Charlie hadn't been that close, and besides seven weeks is a long time. Even Charlie wouldn't expect Maybelle to be faithful to him after he was dead and buried.
And anyway, that reaction had been more than surprise or conscience. A man who's told fortunes for twenty-two years gets to know facial expressions and muscular reactions, gets to know them so well he can't be fooled on them, even the minor ones. Without being able to read emotions from physical reactions, he couldn't possibly give a mark a cold reading and make it good.
Fear. That had been Mack Irby's reaction.
It certainly hadn't been physical fear, no possible reason for it. So it could mean only one thing. That lucky shot had made Mack Irby suddenly afraid that Dr. Magus could read his mind, and there was something in his mind he was desperately afraid to have read.
***
Dr. Magus had seen that reaction before, quite a few times, in his years as a mentalist. Make a lucky hit on some statement to a man who has an important guilty secret, and you can watch it dawn on him that maybe you really can either read his mind or discover things about him clairvoyantly - doesn't matter which way he figures it - and he starts to sweat. You can almost smell his fear. Dr. Magus remembered one time, fifteen maybe twenty years ago in Akron, when he'd been giving a reading to a mark, an Italian, and he'd made some statement about the mark's past, he didn't even remember what it had been, but he'd seen and felt that sudden fear and then there'd been a short-barrelled little .32 revolver aiming across the little table between them and the mark was saying, "You know too goddam much.
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