1945 - Blonde's Requiem (29 page)

“
I saw him,
”
I said grimly.
“
You turn in now. We
’
ll meet tomorrow. There
’
re things I want to talk to you about. Come on, Reg, we
’
ll get a room here and get ourselves some sleep. We
’
re out of a job. Wolf s sacked me, and that goes for you too. How would you like to become a detective?
”

Reg looked at me sleepily as he rolled off the bed.
“
Sure,
”
he said;
“
that
’
s been my life
’
s ambition. I never did think I
’
d be editor of the Gazette for long.
”

I grinned at him.
“
Come on,
”
I said.
“
You weren
’
t cut out to be an editor, but you
’
ll make a swell detective. Let
’
s go get a room.
”

He ambled over to the door.
“
Do you want me to see the desk clerk while you tuck her in?
”
he asked, eyeing Audrey with his youthful leer.

“
Get a double room,
”
I said, pushing him into the passage.
“
We
’
ll need to watch our expenses.
”

“
Don
’
t take too long saying good night to that blonde,
”
he returned.
“
I want some sleep even if you don
’
t.
”

When he had gone, I stood over Audrey as she lay on the bed and we smiled at each other.
“
All right now?
”
I said.
“
Anything else you want?
”

“
I
’
m fine—just tired, that
’
s all. Is it all right about the kidnapping?
”

I sat on the bed by her side and took her hand.
“
I fixed Wolf. In his position he can
’
t afford to get tough with me.
”

She looked down at our hands.
“
I suppose he can
’
t,
”
she said,
“
but you will be careful?
”

“
Don
’
t worry about me. I
’
ve knocked around too long to let a fat old guy like Wolf upset me.
”
I stroked her hand absently, thinking how nice she looked.
“
We
’
re partners now,
”
I went on;
“
only the senior partner. What I say goes.
”

“
I suppose I
’
ll have to let you have your own way,
”
she said lazily.
“
All right, I
’
ll admit I
’
ve made a mess of things. I
’
m in no position to get tough with you either.
”

“
Now you are being smart,
”
I said.
“
In fact you
’
re not in the position to refuse me anything.
”

“
Not anything?
”
she said, in mock alarm.

“
Not anything,
”
I repeated, slipping my arm under her head and half raising her. Her head rested in the crook of my arm and our faces were close.
“
Does that worry you?
”

She looked at me seriously.
“
No, I don
’
t think it does.
”

I kissed her.
“
Sure?
”

She pulled my head down.
“
I like it,
”
she said softly.
“
Let
’
s do it again.
”

* * *

Eleven o
’
clock the next morning we went over to Audrey
’
s office to plan our campaign.

“
Now let
’
s see what we have to do,
”
I said as soon as we had settled down.
“
It
’
s a certain bet Wolf will try to stop the investigation. I don
’
t know what Forsberg will do about that. Maybe he
’
ll recall me. If he does, then I
’
ll quit working for him. I
’
ve chiselled two grand out of Wolf and that
’
ll keep us off the bread line. Our job is to find the guy who killed Marian, and we
’
re going to find him. I
’
ll split the two grand three ways so we
’
ll all have a little dough, but we
’
ve got to work fast and get this case cracked before our dough gives out. Is that all right with you two?
”

“
Isn
’
t it foolish to throw up your job with the International Investigations?
”
Audrey said, looking worried.
“
I mean, jobs don
’
t grow only on trees, and you might want…
”

“
That
’
ll have to look after itself,
”
I broke in.
“
Maybe Forsberg will let me go ahead. He
’
s had a retainer from Wolf and he might give me a free hand. Anyway, I
’
ll wait until I hear from him. I don
’
t give a damn one way or the other. I wouldn
’
t mind setting up in business on my own. We three might make a good thing out of it. But never mind that for the moment. I want to run over this case and see what we
’
ve got.
”

“
Not much,
”
Reg said gloomily.
“
We don
’
t seem to be getting anywhere.
”

“
And I
’
ll tell you why,
”
I said.
“
Up to now we have all been concentrating on the election angle. But suppose these kidnappings have nothing to do with the election?
”

“
But they must have,
”
Audrey protested.

I shook my head.
“
There
’
s no must about it. Suppose we ignore the election entirely. Never mind about Wolf or Esslinger or Macey. We
’
ll forget them. Let
’
s begin from the beginning. Four girls disappear. There
’
re no clues except a shoe belonging to one of them which is found in an empty house. Then a fifth girl disappears in exactly the same way as the other four, only this time we find her body before the murderer can hide it. If we hadn
’
t have gone to the house at the time we did we should never have known that Marian had been killed. She would have disappeared in the same way as the other girls disappeared. It
’
s a safe bet that the other four girls were also strangled and maybe they were all killed in the same house. That gives us something, doesn
’
t it?
”

“
I suppose so,
”
Audrey said, doubtfully.
“
It gives us the method, but I don
’
t see how it helps.
”

I went over to her desk and sat down.
“
We
’
ll put this down on paper,
”
I said, picking up a pencil.
“
Take the girls first. What do we know about them?
”

“
They
’
re just ordinary girls,
”
Reg said.
“
Nothing much there. Why should anyone want to kill them?
”

“
They were all blondes,
”
I said, writing that down.
“
Maybe that has nothing to do with it, but it
’
s a point. They were all young and they all belong to the same set except Marian.
”
I stared at the paper and then added:
“
Well, that doesn
’
t get us very far, does it?
”

“
I would like to know how the murderer persuaded them to go with him to that empty house. I mean, a girl would be half-witted to enter a lonely, spooky-looking house like that unless she trusted the person she went with,
”
Audrey said.

I stared at her for a long moment.
“
Yeah,
”
I said,
“
the nickel drops, You have something there. Someone phoned Marian and arranged to meet her at the house. We know that because she had a phone call and she wrote down the number of the house. Why did she go there without even calling me to tell me where she was going? She knew where I was.
”

“
She went there because she knew the person who called her and she thought she could trust him,
”
Audrey said, the colour going out of her face.

“
Ted Esslinger,
”
I said softly.
“
He was the only guy, except Reg, Wolf and me, that Marian knew in this town.
”

“
The other girls also knew Esslinger well,
”
Reg said, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
“
They all knew him well enough to go with him to an empty house if his story was good enough.
”

Audrey got to her feet and began pacing up and down.
“
But this is crazy,
”
she said.
“
He can
’
t be doing it. Why should he? It—it
’
s all wrong. It doesn
’
t make sense.
”

“
Take it easy,
”
I said, lighting a cigarette and inhaling smoke deeply.
“
We don
’
t know it
’
s Esslinger. It just happens that it could be him.
”

“
That guy has always run around with the girls,
”
Reg said, a little bitterly.
“
But why he should be knocking
‘
em off beats me. What
’
s the motive?
”

“
I can
’
t believe it,
”
Audrey said.
“
I
’
ve known him all my life. Ted isn
’
t a killer. I
’
m sure he isn
’
t.
”

I sat brooding, feeling a rising excitement.
“
Wait a minute,
”
I said.
“
Let
’
s forget Ted for the moment. Tell me something. Suppose you were a murderer and you wanted to get rid of the body of your victim. How would you do it?
”

“
Bury it some place in lime,
”
Reg said promptly.

“
Somewhere where it wouldn
’
t be found. Some absolutely safe spot,
”
I said.
“
Burying it in lime isn
’
t safe.
”

“
There
’
s a big furnace in the smelting works,
”
Audrey said with a little shudder.
“
Although I can
’
t imagine how anyone could get body from Victoria Drive to the furnace undetected.
”

I shook my head.
“
They couldn
’
t. That would be too dangerous. I tell you where I
’
d hide a body if I wanted to be sure it wouldn
’
t be found—in a graveyard.
”

Reg said:
“
That
’
s a fine spot, but getting a body to the local graveyard from Victoria Drive would be as dangerous as taking it to the smelting works.
”

“
Not if it were handled by the local mortician,
”
I said quietly.

They both stared at me, then Reg leapt to his feet.
“
That
’
s it!
”
he exclaimed.
“
It fits! Of course it
’
s Ted Esslinger! He
’
s killing these dames and the old man is burying them. All he would have to do is put them in the hearse, take it out at night over to the graveyard. If anyone saw the hearse they
’
d think nothing of it. He
’
d have the keys to the graveyard and he could plant the body in someone
’
s grave.
”

Audrey had gone very white.
“
I can
’
t believe it,
”
she said.
“
You don
’
t know Max Esslinger. He couldn
’
t do a thing like that.
”

“
But it fits,
”
Reg said.
“
It explains everything.
”

“
No, it doesn
’
t,
”
I pointed out.
“
It doesn
’
t explain why Ted
’
s killing these girls. What
’
s the motive?
”

“
There isn
’
t one,
”
Audrey said.
“
You
’
re letting your imagination run away with you.
”

“
All right, let
’
s go over it again. Suppose Ted Esslinger is the killer. Let
’
s see if we can find a motive. Why should he kill five girls in so many weeks? The obvious answer to that is he is a homicidal lunatic.
”

Audrey shook her head.
“
I
’
ve known him all my life. We went to school together. He
’
s as normal as you are.
”

“
We can
’
t be sure of that,
”
I pointed out.
“
Maybe he has suddenly lost control of himself. What sort of a kid was he? Did he have a temper; was he moody, that kind of thing?
”

“
He was perfectly normal,
”
Audrey insisted.
“
He liked the girls, of course, but that doesn
’
t make a man a lunatic, does it?
”

“
No—all right, let
’
s forget the lunatic angle. Why else should he kill them?
”

“
You don
’
t think he got them into trouble and to save his skin—
”
Reg began, but stopped.

“
What, all five of them?
”
I said.
“
No, that
’
s out. Besides, knowing Marian, he wouldn
’
t have got anywhere with her on those lines.
”

We sat and brooded for several minutes, then I said:
“
How fond is he of his father?
”

“
They
’
re great pals,
”
Audrey said seriously.
“
They
’
d do anything for each other. But he doesn
’
t get along so well with his mother.
”