Blondes are Skin Deep (14 page)

I
MADE
it through the can-cluttered doorway and into the rear of the hotel as the prowl car swept into the alley. Nelle was already at the far end and they kept on going after her.

I hoped that she could keep ahead of them for only a little while. I didn’t need much time. All I needed was enough information to make Powers listen to me for a while.

The rear hallway was empty, stretching away on my right toward the lobby, on my left toward the service stairs. I went up them, two at a time, and hit the second floor on the run. I ran some more and came up against Quist’s door, gasping for breath.

I hammered with my fist. I heard a stirring but no answer. I hit the panel with my foot. “Open up,” I said. “It’s Mercer.”

There was no further sound and I stepped back, then lunged with my shoulder against the door. The lock creaked, but it held. I stepped back again. The door came open to show me Quist’s fat, sweat-streaked face. I was on the forward drive again and I made no effort to check myself. I hit him under the chin, carrying him into the room. Stopping in the center of the room, I kicked the door shut.

Quist picked himself up from the floor and stared at me with his mouth hanging. “What the hell, Nick?”

“I’m not going to bite you,” I said.

Quist was shaking. I watched him go to the crumpled, unmade bed and take a cigaret from the nightstand beside it. The room stank of staleness, of sweat and ancient wine. Quist was in his greasy suit, obviously just recently off night duty. He got the cigaret lighted and reached for his bottle of wine. It was two-thirds full.

“Lay off that,” I said.

Quist tilted the bottle greedily. I made a grab for it and knocked it out of his hand. It went spinning across the bed and fell at the foot, letting sticky, colorless liquid trail sluggishly over the sheets. Quist sat down, whimpering a little.

“How much did you get altogether for letting people come in and out of here, Quist?”

“Me, Nick?”

I balled up a fist and showed it to him. “How much, Quist?”

He looked at the fist and then at the cigaret he held. He looked at my fist again. “Only a hundred, Nick.”

The sweat funnelled off his face and dripped down from one chin to the other. The smell of the room made me almost sick. I said, “And you never told that to Hall?”

He licked the end of his cigaret as if it were a cigar. His eyes strayed to the wine bottle, not quite empty. “But you told Chimp,” I said.

He shook his head violently. “I told nobody nothing. Johnny paid me and …”

“And Loomis paid you, too,” I said shortly.

Quist made a scrambling motion and got the wine bottle. He tilted it to his lips and sucked out the last drops. He looked almost smugly at me.

I said, “You’ve had your drink. Now tell me the truth. And fast.”

“Honest to God, Nick. I …”

“How much did Edna Loomis pay you?”

“She never paid me nothing, Nick. That’s the truth. She never went out while I was on the desk.”

I took a turn around the room. I had no time and yet I had to waste some on this grub. I swung back. “Put a call through to the airport for me, Quist.”

“There’re cops in the lobby.”

“Who’s on the switchboard?”

“Some punk Hall hired yesterday.”

“Make the call,” I said.

Quist got off the bed and waddled to the phone. He did as I told him. I took the phone when he had the connection and made my requests. While I waited I kept looking at Quist. I could see the fear gobbed like mud on his fat face. I got some information and asked for more.

While I waited this time, I said, “What would Chimp do if he knew?”

“Beat hell out of me,” Quist whimpered.

“And Hall?”

“Send me back to the pen. You know that, Nick.”

“It’s going to be tough on you,” I said. I listened as someone spoke to me on the phone. I said, “Thanks,” and hung up. It didn’t matter now if the cops did make sense out of this call. I hadn’t really needed that information—it just substantiated what I already knew—but it was a good talking point to use on Powers.

Not even Powers mattered, really. Not a damned thing mattered now except that my time had run out.

I left Quist, going down the hall at a dead run. The elevator indicator was hanging on three and I thought I’d go nuts before it got to me. When it finally arrived, I pulled open the doors and started in.

That was all. Two large cops were there waiting for me. I did a quick turn and started for the stairway. From the direction of the front stairs I saw two more plainclothesmen coming my way. I turned for the service stairs. Another pair was there.

Lieutenant Powers was visible behind them.

I stood by Quist’s door and waited. All the sap was out of me; I didn’t even have the strength to curse Powers. I wanted to bawl.

Two of the cops got my arms. I said, “Tell them to lay off. I haven’t any gun.”

Powers looked smug. “You’re not so smart, Mercer.” He jerked his head at the cops. “Get him out of here.”

“You aren’t so smart, either,” I said. “I’ve got something to say.” The cops started hustling me for the elevator. “Listen, damn it,” I shouted at Powers.

“I’ve got Johnny and Nelle and now you,” Powers said. “There isn’t anything to listen to.” He paused, added, “And you can say anything you want at headquarters.”

“Sure,” I said, “while a killer keeps on running loose. That’s going to look swell on your record.”

“Don’t hand me that, Mercer.”

I put everything I had into an elaborate shrug of disinterest. “Have it your way,” I said. “I was just in there visiting Quist for old times sake. I just beat some information out of him to amuse myself. I’m just talking now because I like to make trouble for you.”

Powers was a reasonable man if given a chance. He was just being pig-headed now because I had belted him in that Portland hotel room. I could see it, and I hoped he would smarten up enough to get back on an even keel.

He said thoughtfully, “No, you never gave me any trouble until this case, Mercer.”

I said, “Give me five minutes, Powers. We go to headquarters now and I’ll clam up on you.”

“I don’t need what you have to say.”

I just grinned at him. He took another thirty seconds, long, agonizing seconds, and then said, “Five minutes.”

We went into Quist’s room. When we pushed open the door he was cowering against the far wall, shaking and hanging to the cold radiator as if he lacked the strength to keep himself upright.

All six cops lined up by the door, effectively blocking it. Powers ordered all but the pair that had held me to return to the lobby.

He said to me, “I hear you made a phone call.”

“Yes,” I said. I let it hang. There were other things I wanted to talk about right now. I kept thinking that I had no time, no time at all, but it didn’t do me any good. I was stuck with Powers unless I could do some fast talking.

I said, “Chimp was supposed to have met me at Considine’s; I had to stand him up.”

“You’re breaking my heart,” Powers said. “So what?”

“Was he there?”

“How would I know?”

“You had him tailed,” I said. “Or you had watchers on the building.”

“All right,” Powers admitted. “But if he showed up we missed him.”

“Did he fly back with you?”

“I’m not running a taxi service,” Powers said. “If this is all you have to say …” He saw me about to break in and added quickly, “We’ve given you enough chances, Mercer. Didn’t we let you ride all the way home with your girl friend?”

“I thought we had it too easy,” I said bitterly. “You suckered Johnny into coming up after his wife—and you suckered us. You should be satisfied.” Powers looked smug again. I said, “Do you have any idea why Considine was killed?”

“Sure. Johnny wanted his business. He figured if he got rid of Considine and got his hands on the guy’s daughter he would have the business. Then he got greedier and wanted to be bigshot—so he tried to kill Hall.”

“Very neat,” I said. “Where does Edna Loomis come in?”

“She was helping him,” Powers said. “He didn’t want to give her a share so he killed her too.”

I looked over at Quist. He was still in the same position, still clinging to the radiator. He was green, like a man half dead. I said, “Tell him, Quist.”

Quist opened his mouth and gurgled. On the second try he made it. “So help me all I got was a hundred dollars for letting Johnny and that dame stay here.”

“And then tipped the cops that they were here,” I said.

Quist shook his head violently from side to side. Powers said, “It wasn’t Quist.”

I had him where I wanted him then. “It had to be Quist; no one else knew.”

He said, “It wasn’t Quist.”

“All right,” I said. “Quist let Johnny and Maretta go in and out when he was on duty—so Hall and Chimp weren’t supposed to know about that at all. Edna Loomis went in and out, too, without Hall knowing about it. Yet Quist says she never went out when he was on the desk. Besides that, she called Johnny on the phone—and Quist wasn’t on duty then.”

“So what?” Powers demanded.

I looked at Powers and then at Quist. “For a hundred dollars Quist took a chance on Chimp finding out and beating him half to death—and on Chimp telling Hall and having him sent back to the pen. That’s a lot of chance to take for a hundred dollars.”

Now Powers was looking at Quist too. I said, “Maybe Quist wasn’t taking such a big chance. Maybe he knows more than he says he does.”

Quist almost screamed, “No!”

Powers said, “So he let Johnny hide out here. All right, take him along.”

The detectives moved from the doorway. Quist watched them coming. I could see his eyes fixed on them as they moved forward. A blubbering sound flapped his lips and he sagged at the knees. The cops made a grab to catch him.

I turned and bolted through the doorway.

I
T
DIDN’T
MATTER
that Powers was right behind me. I let him get into the elevator and ride up to Hall’s. He had his gun out, though. He was through fooling.

I said, “When I called the airport, Powers, I checked to find what time your airplane left here. Then I got the charter-service. Chimp went down to Portland by charter. He said he saw you at the airport. As if you’d arrived together.”

“I saw him there for a minute.”

“Only,” I said, “I just found out that his plane got in an hour earlier. Remember that. Because when I belted you and went to Edna Loomis', I found her dead. I found Nelle there, too. She had just seen Johnny run out of the building. She thought he’d done it.”

Powers was listening. The elevator moved fast enough but it felt like a slow freight to me. I said rapidly, “She said that she’d seen Johnny shortly before he went to Loomis’ place—and that he was mad at me because I’d brought Chimp back to Portland.”

The elevator stopped. I slid open the doors. “How did he know Chimp was there?” I demanded. “If Chimp came down at the same time you did Johnny had no chance to see him.”

I headed down the hall. Powers was alongside me. “No chance at all,” I said, “unless he saw Chimp around Edna Loomis'—about the time Chimp was busy shooting her.”

• • •

I hit Hall’s door with my shoulder. There was no time for anything else. Just as we got there the sound of a shot spattered through the door at us. I heard Tien’s scream rise; she sounded like a crazy woman.

Powers said hoarsely, “Get back, damn it,” and shot the lock out of the door. I was through it before the noise had begun to settle.

As I barreled into the living room I saw a flash of bright metal. I picked it up from the corner of my eye—just a sudden glimpse like the glimpse I had of Hall at his desk and Tien standing near. The flash of metal had come from her.

I didn’t stop to analyze it right then. I was too busy. A second shot resounded in the room. I made a long, looping dive and crashed into something soft with a force that nearly took my head off. There was a third blast from the gun, so close that it felt as if my ear had blown apart.

Chimp and I went down together, with him on top. But this time I was ready and when he landed I had a knee up. He howled and tried to roll free. I went after him. This was my pay-off; this would even things up. He had no chance to get his gun into position at all. I let him have a toe in the knee, and when he bent over I hit him with everything I had. It felt as if my fist had crunched, but he went down.

I was almost enjoying myself. All of the anger and frustration of the past weeks boiled out of me, a lot of it with each kick I planted on his face.

Chimp was tough and fast. He took all I gave then swung a leg and tripped me, rolling away as I fell, and came to his knees with his gun leveled. His face was a mess and he needed a moment to wipe the blood from his eyes. That gave me time, and I was about to go in under his gun and let him have some more when Powers shot from the doorway.

There was no point in kicking Chimp any more. He folded down like a punctured blimp, the gun dribbling out of his fingers to the carpet. He wasn’t quite dead, but he might as well have been.

I aimed for his arm,” Powers said.

“He moved,” I said.

Chimp lay moaning, a police bullet in his belly. I almost felt sorry for him. I looked at Powers. “Thanks,” I said. I got all the way to my feet and staggered over to Chimp.

He was tough; his eyes were open and filled with pain. He had stopped whimpering. I said, “You should always do just what Hall tells you, Chimp—and nothing else.”

He spit at me, feebly. I was still standing there when he died.

Powers put his gun away. Tien had moved closer to Hall. He sat upright in his wheelchair as usual, but white-faced, the blood dripping from his already bandaged shoulder.

Hall said, “Chimp acted like he owned the place.”

He sounded a little puzzled, as if he couldn’t believe it of Chimp. “Sure,” I said. “Chimp was smart. He knew that you treated him like a strongarm man—all muscles and no brains. So he took advantage of it. He was trying to move in on you, get the business. He would have, too, with Johnny neatly framed for all the killings.

“I had it half figured out, but with not much to go on, when I tipped him off that I had everything sewed up. He got panicky and came up here to finish you. I imagine,” I added “that he hoped to do it before the cops got Johnny. That way the kid would still get the blame. He missed on that one, though.”

“You aren’t clear,” Powers said. “I still see Johnny in on this—and maybe you along with him.”

“Sure,” I said. “How about a doctor?”

Hall nodded at Tien and she made the call. When she finished, she said, “Thanks, Nick,” meaning that she wouldn’t have dared to call on her own hook. Hall had a touchy pride about personal weakness.

I said, “Thanks to you.” Looking down at the floor, I nudged the cleaver lying near Chimp’s body. “If you hadn’t thrown that when you did his first shot would have got me.”

“He was trying to hurt Kane,” she said simply.

Powers made a snorting sound. I turned to him. “Look at it this way,” I said. “Chimp knew Johnny and Maretta were here. Do you think a fool like Quist could keep such things from him? Sure he knew, and his threat to beat up Quist wasn’t just in Quist’s mind—Chimp threatened him so he would keep his mouth shut. Chimp knew they were here and he knew Edna Loomis was here. He wanted it that way—it gave him a chance to keep an eye on Johnny and maybe to frame him again.”

Powers snorted again, took the phone and called the lobby. I let him go without a squawk. He was convinced though he just wasn’t ready to admit it, I figured.

I looked at Hall while I talked. I could see the pain of disbelief strong on his features. I knew how he felt—it was hard to believe that you had created a perfect organization and then see it crumple like so much pasteboard.

I summed it up as well as I could. “Chimp was the one who wanted to move in, not Johnny. He saw the chance to frame Johnny for the works and he took a chance. He missed, that’s all.

“Edna Loomis,” I went on, “was in with Chimp. But at the same time neither one trusted the other. She knew he had killed Considine and she wanted some definite proof. Making a hundred and fifty thousand dollars had given her a taste for big dough. If she could have something to hold over Chimp she could really milk him—once he was big man in the business.”

Cops swarmed into the room then, interrupting me. With them were Johnny and Nelle. Johnny was handcuffed to a burly plainclothesman.

To Johnny, I said, “You can stop playing the mysterious stranger now.”

He looked drawn and angry. But when he saw Chimp on the floor a lot of the tautness went out of him. With his free hand he made a quick, characteristic gesture of brushing back his hair.

“Damn it,” he said. “I knew it was Chimp. I had no proof and you know damned well that if I’d told you or Hall it was Chimp behind everything I couldn’t have made it stick.”

“Not at first,” I admitted.

“No,” Hall said. “Not until now.”

“See? Chimp talked himself into being sent to Portland. He got Peone in with him and they did a good job of getting rid of Considine and slipping it onto me. I was a fall guy—I walked right into it. By the time I wised up it was too late.”

He sounded bitter. “I started playing it through Edna Loomis after I found that she had the dough. While I was messing around trying to get Hall’s money back, Chimp put the clamp on me.”

“And you didn’t trust me enough to …”

“Hell, I didn’t trust anyone for a while, Nick.”

Powers said, “We’ve got your gun, Doane.”

“Edna Loomis snatched it and gave it to Chimp. That’s the only way it could have been.”

“Then she was in with him before Considine was killed?”

“Sure,” Johnny said. “They had it planned between them. Then, when she got real greedy, Chimp killed her. Besides, she knew she had given him my gun—Chimp was scared she might know enough or learn enough from you, Nick, to really put the finger on him.”

A doctor wandered in then. We steered him to Hall. On the way he looked down at Chimp, grunted, and went on. Powers watched a moment while he worked on Hall. Then he said to Johnny:

“Doane, you haven’t yet proved that you didn’t shoot Hall the first time.”

“I had no gun,” Johnny said. “Besides, I was on my honeymoon.”

That stopped Powers. He had Johnny turned loose, then he chased out most of the cops, got one settled with a notebook, and started really asking questions. Tien, bless her, made a huge pot of coffee.

• • •

Powers finally took us down to headquarters. Our statements, plus Quist’s blubbered confession that Chimp knew everything that had gone on in the hotel, finally made rowers give in.

Much later we returned to Hall’s. Maretta was with us, and from the way she clung to Johnny it was obvious that there had been no politics on the part of either of them. They had got together because they had fallen for each other.

Hall, bandaged a little more, was at his desk, eating a delayed breakfast—his usual omelette. “Chimp came some time before you did,” he said to me. “He had the nerve to make me a proposition. I got out and he’d let me live. He thought he had it all sewed up.”

“Did he mention Peone?” I asked.

Hall said, “He was through with Peone. He was afraid of Peone, too. No hophead is stable enough to trust.”

“Chimp was cold blooded,” Johnny remarked.

“Sure,” I said. “Look at Edna Loomis. And because she was greedy. If everyone who was greedy got shot this would be a sadly underpopulated world.”

Nelle was sitting as close to me as the chair would allow. “She must have had something,” she observed. “First Johnny and then you.” She looked wide-eyed at me. I could see devils dancing in her eyes. “Did you—were you—that night you guarded her …?”

I grinned at her stumbling question. “No,” I said. “I hadn’t collected my ten thousand yet.”

Nelle said sharply, “Was she worth ten thousand?”

“I’ll never know,” I said ruefully. “But you’ve got fifteen thousand. And I guess you’re worth five thousand more than she was.”

Hall was looking at us and at Johnny. He said, deadpan, “Tien, write out some extra expense checks. It looks as if they’ll be needed.”