Pay-Off in Blood Read Free

you turn them all down?”
    “Because… for heaven’s sake, you know that such operations are not only illegal, but immoral and certainly unethical. I could lose my license. A doctor is bound by a very strict code of ethics. Even the hint of a rumor that he is engaging in such a practice can ruin him utterly.”
    “Yet, Doctor,” said Shayne quietly, “just man to man… between the two of us here in this room, won’t you admit there are cases in which an abortion would be justified? Where it’s the only answer that will avoid the wreckage of a human life… or two or three lives?”
    “If you mean physical reasons of health, there are legal provisions which apply.”
    “I don’t mean physical reasons, Doctor. I mean psychological reasons.” Shayne paused and reached out for the cognac bottle and refilled his glass.
    Dr. Ambrose said querulously, “I don’t see how this discussion is at all apropos.” He looked at his wristwatch with a worried frown. “I haven’t all evening…”
    “You will see how it’s apropos, Doctor,” Shayne told him soothingly. He took a sip of cognac and marshalled his thoughts. “Let’s discuss a hypothetical case. Say there’s a married woman. A really nice, decent sort. In love with a good husband who is in love with her. Suppose he’s away for six months on business… abroad, perhaps. So she goes to a perfectly innocent cocktail party and has just one drink too many.”
    “Whatever happens would be her own fault,” said the doctor snappishly. “A woman who drinks too much…”
    “Hold it!” Shayne said harshly. “You’re not a drinking man yourself. You don’t know how easy it is to take one too many drinks inadvertently. I do. But to hell with that,” he went on. “We’re not placing blame. We’re discussing consequences. So this basically nice, decent woman wakes up in the wrong bed the next morning. She’s disgusted with herself, and remorseful. But she’s also pregnant, as she discovers to her horror a few weeks later. So… there it is. Her husband will be coming home in a few months. Their marriage will be wrecked. Her life will be ruined. And her husband will not come out of it without scars on his soul if he really loved her. And what about the child? There’s my hypothetical case, Doctor. Faced with one of your patients in that situation, what would you do?”
    Dr. Ambrose sighed and moved uncomfortably. “I would advise her,” he said stiffly, “that there are other doctors in a city the size of Miami who have less scruples than I, and suggest that she seek one of them out.”
    “You’d wash your hands of the whole affair,” said Shayne angrily. “You’d send the frightened, distraught woman off to some damned abortionist and continue feeling very ethical about the whole thing even if she died getting rid of the baby?”
    “That wouldn’t necessarily happen. There are many competent men in the medical profession who…”
    “Who care more about human values than their damned code of ethics,” Shayne broke in. He lifted his glass and took a long drink of straight liquor, his bleak gaze pinning the squirming doctor into his chair.
    “Yet you have the guts to come here and proposition me. I’m licensed by the State of Florida also, Doctor. Private detectives have their own code of ethics. It’s not only illegal, but in my book it’s also immoral and unethical to pay money to a blackmailer.”
    “What am I going to do?” asked the doctor miserably, turning his eyes away from Shayne’s belligerent glare.
    Shayne said: “There are other private detectives in a city the size of Miami who have less scruples than I. I suggest you seek one of them out.”
    “But they haven’t your reputation for integrity. How do I know they are to be trusted?”
    “Ah,” said Shayne remorselessly. “That’s just the point, isn’t it? How do you think I got my reputation? The same way you got that reputation of yours you’re so jealous of,