Shakedown (14 page)

Which I knew. I took a deep breath, grimaced, and closed my eyes. “Captain, my stomach is killing me again. I’ll have to rest a little, I guess.” I clenched both hands. “It hurts so much to talk.”

His voice was kind. “Sure. You come over and make your statement on this. I can get it transferred to our office. Soon as you’re well, you drop over. And in the meantime, I’ll see that other story gets out, about the investment clique. We’ll work together on this, won’t we, Joe?”

“That’s a promise, Captain,” I whispered.

He rose, smiled down at me and waved. “All the luck, Joe.” He went out, closing the door quietly behind him.

I should have had an Academy Award for that one. I’d get ink on the investment angle, now, and that could be used as ammunition to put the heat to Willi. I’d taken an awful beating, but now it wasn’t completely wasted.

Jennings might talk about his pay-off in the Condor case, but the money had gone to Deutscher and then to me. And now, if he claimed I’d done the paying off, McGill would think back to this conversation and realize I’d already mentioned that angle—and denied it. Jennings hadn’t ever figured
I’d
run to the law. This had thrown him way off stride.

And by the time he thought his way out of it, I’d be on the road with the boodle. But Willi would have to be hurried along. It was only luck that Deutscher’s body hadn’t been discovered by now. And if some cop got to Josie and broke her down .…

I dozed until lunch. Lunch was poached eggs.

And after lunch, Jean came. “You poor darling,” she said. “What in the world happened? I’ve been trying to get in all morning.” Her perfume came to me as she bent to kiss my forehead.

“Jelko,” I said. “He must have smelled out the fact that we were on the trail of a dollar. So he went to Jennings with it. They didn’t get anything out of me, don’t worry.”

Her fingers were light on my cheek. “You didn’t talk? They didn’t beat anything out of you?”

“Nothing but some blood and some digested food.”

“Oh, Joe, Joe, Joe—You’re trouble’s child, aren’t you?”

“I guess. It wasn’t entirely wasted though. I told the police that it was because of some investigation work I’d been doing for an investment clique.”

She looked at me wonderingly. “Joe, that wasn’t bright.”

“Wasn’t it? It will be in the papers. Willi can read, can’t she? It will look like there are other powerful groups interested in the same land the Nevada Investment Company has options on.”

Jean started to smile. “Joe, you’re a genius. You thought of that angle, sick as you were? Lordy, that’s brilliant.”

“I’m not the dumbest guy in the world, you know.”

“I’ll testify to that. How are you? How soon will you be leaving?”

“I can leave now, if the x-rays are okay. They x-rayed my noodle. You’ve got your car, haven’t you?”

She nodded and smiled. “And that will save you taxi fare. Oh, Joe, don’t you ever stop figuring?”

“I never had a chance to,” I said and reached for her hand. “Until now.”

The smile went away and she stared at me quietly. Then after a few seconds, she stood up. “It’s warm in here. Do you have to keep that window shut?”

I shook my head, watching her. Her face was flushed. She went over and opened the window and I saw the window box with the flowers in it.

“Geraniums,” she said. “They must be the municipal flower.”

“The geranium jungle, as McGill calls it. But he’s a bitter man.”

“He was right about that, though. I’ll see if I can find someone in authority around here.” She went out without looking back.

She’d seemed embarrassed, just because I’d held her hand and said something tender. A lot of men must have done that, but maybe I was more important to her than the others. I hoped so. She was still the key to the mint, for me.

She got results in a hurry. The x-rays were okay and the resident MD agreed I was ready to go. When I got up to dress, I got the first glimpse of my battered face. The bad lip was worse than it had ever been and my right eye was just a slit in the blue-brown flesh around it. My suit had been sponged, but there was still the faint odor of vomit on it. I couldn’t bend because of my stomach, or take long steps but a lot of the soreness was gone.

Jean paid the bill, and went ahead to get the car from the parking lot. The reporters and photographers caught me on the steps in front. I told them very little and explained that I was under police orders to reveal nothing. But when the time came, I assured them, some of the biggest names in town would be involved. But we “had to be sure who was innocent and who was guilty before we named any names.

Reporters in this town are bound to be cynical, but my face was battered enough to make the double-talk sound half reasonable. They took it straight and took their pictures and went away before Jean came back.

She said, “I saw them and decided to wait. If you’re going to be a reformed character in Willi’s mind, it would be better if she didn’t see a picture of us together.”

The sun was out. It was a beautiful afternoon.

Jean said, “I wish Willi would get back. This idea of yours could be the clincher.”

“I’d like to talk it over with your dad,” I said. “He’ll have some angles he’ll want to tie into it. How’s he been acting?”

“Nice enough to make me suspicious. I don’t think he intends to cut us in, Joe, unless he can’t do anything else.”

“We’ll have to see that he can’t do anything else, then. You and I will have to maintain a good two-way communication the day he picks up the money.”

“We certainly will. I must sound like some monster, plotting against my own father.”

“In defense,” I pointed out. “Most daughters don’t have to protect themselves against their fathers. We’re not going to hook him out of his share.” I paused. “Oh are we?”

Her laugh was low. “You’ve been thinking of it, I see.”

“I was thinking,” I said, “that we could leave town, get married in Las Vegas and see the world.”

Silence, and I looked over to see her face grave, her eyes steady on the traffic ahead. “You’d
marry
a girl with my reputation, Joe?”

“Not unless you’d marry a man with mine.”

Her voice shook a little. “This is kind of sudden.”

I put a hand on her knee. “Not for me. Don’t you like the sound of it?”

She nodded. “But don’t get me all riled, now. You’re in no shape for romance at the moment.”

I took my hand away and lighted a cigarette. I wanted her on my side these next couple of days. She could pretend to mistrust her father but blood was still thicker than water. But if I was a potential husband, that balanced the scale in my favor a little more. With Deutscher out of it, I needed somebody on my side for sure in this steal.

That big Chrysler moved along Santa Monica Boulevard, gliding in and out of the traffic, purring in her expensive way. This was the life, a big car and a warm blonde. But if I had the money all to myself, I could get a car like this. And a lot of blondes.

In front of my rat-trap, she stopped the car, but didn’t turn off the motor.

“Don’t you want to come in for a while?” I asked.

She smiled. “Don’t brag. You’re in bad shape, tough guy. I’ve got to do some shopping.” She made a face. “For my trousseau.”

“Get some black nighties,” I suggested. “We’ll have a time, won’t we?”

“I can’t see why not,” she said and patted my cheek gently. “Take care of yourself.”

That was one thing I’d been doing for years. I went slowly up the walk to my dump. The place smelled of dust and yesterday’s cooking. I opened all the windows and lay down on the davenport. I tried to doze but there were too many things chasing around in my skull. Deutscher still not found and Jennings with time to figure some angles for a deal with the police and Jelko’s hint that he knew Deutscher wasn’t out of town. All of these things could work to a head, and McGill would begin to piece the puzzle together.

The quicker I got out of town, the better. But I wasn’t going to be able to make that move until Willi got back from ’Frisco.

I got up and took off my jacket, emptying the pockets. There was a stiffness in one of the outside pockets, as though something had been spilled in it. Then I remembered that’s where I’d put that handkerchief. That was Deutscher’s blood. I don’t think they could prove anything by blood, but I didn’t put the suit in the closet where I might forget to take it to the cleaners.

I used the tub instead of the shower and soaked in the hot water for a long time. My stomach was red as a rose. Steam filled the room and my nerves quieted and the pictures stopped chasing through my brain.

It would be something, living high on the hog with Jean, but it was a thought I meant to get rid of. She had the body to make me forget all the others I’d known, but I’d never been flush enough before to know any expensive bodies. She wasn’t going to be any part of my future, once I had the money.

I took my time dressing and then bundled up the dirty suit and took it along with me. I dropped it off at a twenty-four hour cleaner and headed for the Hollywood station. Veber was out in front, talking to a uniformed officer as I stepped out of the Chev, and he gave me a long, hard look.

I ignored it. If he hadn’t had ten thousand cops behind him, I’d have pulled his hat down over his ears. But if he hadn’t had ten thousand cops behind him, he wouldn’t have given me the look.

In the hallway, leading to McGill’s office, I met another of the boys, Manny Rodriguez. He didn’t give me any look. He was very careful about it, looking at the opposite wall as he passed. Manny knew me better than Veber.

I knocked on the door of McGill’s office, and his voice said, “Come in,” and I went in.

There was a detective I knew only slightly standing next to the desk. McGill had evidently been talking to him and I’d interrupted the conversation.

“Came to make that statement,” I said.

He nodded and looked back at the detective. “I guess that’s all. And tell Marvin to come in, will you, and bring his notebook?”

The other man nodded and went out.

McGill indicated a chair, and I took it. He looked at me thoughtfully for a second before saying, “Jennings is doing quite a bit of talking, and some of it concerns you.”

“I
CAN IMAGINE,” I
said. I rubbed my stomach tenderly. “Talk
is
his biggest weapon. What’s he saying about me?”

McGill gave it the theatrical pause. “He’s saying you paid off Target and Josie Gonzales.”

I shook my head. “That’s reaching, isn’t it? Did he say who furnished the money?”

“He did from Rickett’s account. He admits he paid Deutscher a big wad of money for what Deutscher would label ‘investigation expense’ but which Jennings realized later had probably gone to buy the witnesses. He said that Deutscher gave you some money to do the actual paying off.”

I smiled. “Jennings realized
later?
Is he trying to wriggle out of subornation that way?”

“He seems to be trying to pin it on you, Joe.”

“Get Deutscher,” I said. “We’ll have the whole damned thing out in the open. I’ve been under that cloud too long.”

“Get Deutscher?” McGill looked at me steadily. “Where?”

My gaze was just as steady. “Wherever he is. Unless he’s flown the coop. Didn’t you find him in ’Frisco?”

McGill shook his head. “Jennings seems to think you should know where he is, though.”

“I don’t,” I said. “But I will before I’m through. Little Phil could very well be the key in this. Would I have hollered for the law last night if I had anything to hide?”

“No, maybe not,” McGill agreed.

Then a uniformed man came in with a notebook and took my statement.

While it was being typed up, McGill said, “The Feds will probably want to see you, too, Joe. Kidnapping’s a federal offense. You weren’t planning any trips, were you?”

Light touch, he’d tried to give that. But he wasn’t the man for it. His face flushed a little as I stared at him. “No,” I said evenly, “I’d hardly be making a trip with all the trouble I seem to be in down here. Captain, since I saw you at the hospital, you seem to have changed. You’re not accepting these lies of Jennings’, are you?”

“No,” he said. “I’m not, yet. Joe, I have your word that you don’t know where Deutscher is, haven’t I?”

“You have my word.”

“And Josie Gonzales?”

He’d picked that one out of a hat. I said, “I’ve no idea where she is.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“It must have been almost a month ago. On the street one day. As a matter of fact, I think she was still living with Deutscher then, though I wouldn’t swear to that.”

Sweat was running down from my wrists, now, and I could almost hear my heart pound. This damned McGill, blowing hot and cold, genial and tough. You never knew where you stood with him. All you could be sure of was that he was on the law’s side, all the time. It was a thing I must never forget.

Now, he smiled. And I didn’t know if it was a friendly smile, or if he could hear my heart pound, too. I rubbed my stomach. I took out a handkerchief and mopped my wet hands and wrists, the back of my neck. “It’s not that hot in here, is it?” he asked.

“I’m a sick man, Captain,” I reminded him. “I’m lucky to be alive.”

He smiled. “Yes, you are.”

The statement came, and I signed it and stood up. McGill said, “Well, I keep remembering you did give me the original tip on Jennings. And nobody has ever proven you had much to do with the Condor case. Nobody
decent
has ever even said you were involved in it. But the only decent person in that case was the victim, wasn’t she?”

“I guess,” I said. “I’m no authority on decency.”

“That’s honest enough. You can run along, Joe. If any of the boys in the Department seem to be crowding you, they’ll be doing it on their own time. Stay available.”

“Yes, sir,” I said. “As soon as I get anything tangible on this Jennings business, I’ll bring it right here.”

He nodded. “That’s the ticket. Don’t get into a fight with Little Phil, now. In your present shape, he might be too much man for you.”

He was chuckling as I went out. He isn’t a man who does much chuckling. He isn’t a man who’s even close to human unless he thinks he’s sitting on top of a case. He knew more about me than he was admitting. On that I’d make book. He was like a cat who knows exactly what a mouse is going to do next and is just waiting for the right time to pounce. I hoped I could be in Mexico when the pounce came. A man can be jailed on suspicion, but he’s tried on the evidence. And what did they have? Rumours and the guesses of a kidnapper and a murderer. What kind of jury would believe Rickett or Jennings? And Target and Deutscher weren’t in shape to testify. Of course, there was Josie, but I felt sure she was on my side.