1945 - Blonde's Requiem (15 page)

I was just beginning to think of the best way to get even with Starkey when Ted Esslinger put his head round the door.

“
Come in,
”
I said, sitting up and balancing the ice bag skillfully on my head.

“
Gee!
”
he exclaimed, staring at me.
“
What a wreck you look!
”

“
Sit down,
”
I said, jerking my thumb to a chair near the bed.
“
Never mind how I look. I want to talk to you.
”

He sat down and continued to stare at me with a worried expression on his face.
“
What happened?
”

“
I fell over a heap of feathers,
”
I said shortly.
“
Any news of Mary Drake?
”

He shook his head.
“
Nothing. There
’
s trouble in town. A mob went clown to police headquarters and there was some shooting.
”

“
Shooting?
”
It was my turn to stare at him.
“
Anyone hurt?
”

“
No . . . the police fired over their heads. It scared them and they ran away. You know, Mr. Spewack, if this goes on much longer there
’
ll be bad trouble in Cranville.
”

“
As far as I
’
m concerned,
”
I said grimly,
“
that
’
s what I hope will happen. With the town out of hand, Macey
’
ll have to do something.
”

He looked at me curiously.
“
What can he do that you can
’
t?
”

I grinned.
“
Plenty, but never mind that. Who
’
s burying Dixon?
”

“
Dixon?
”

“
Yeah. Is your father burying him?
”

“
No—the city authorities are handling the funeral. Father supplied the coffin, if that
’
s what you mean, but the authorities
“

“
What I want to know is this,
”
I said patiently.
“
First, where is Dixon
’
s body? Second, who is putting him in the coffin?
”

“
He
’
s at the city morgue,
”
Ted said, looking bewildered.
“
The coffin was delivered there this morning. The morgue attendants will put the body in the coffin, and then it will be taken to father
’
s funeral parlour. The funeral will be on the following day.
”

“
So no one will see the body except the morgue attendants?
”

“
I suppose not,
”
he returned, his bewilderment growing.
“
But what
’
s the idea?
”

“
Never mind the idea,
”
I said.
“
I
’
m asking the questions. One more thing. What made you suspect the Street-Camera was connected with the kidnapping?
”

“
Why, I told you. Luce McArthur was photographed on the street and showed me the ticket—
”

“
I know that, but it isn
’
t enough to tic it to the kidnapping. It
’
s too good a guess.
”
I gave him a hard look.
“
You know something.
”

He looked confused, started to say I was wrong, but petered out.

“
Loosen up,
”
I said. It was a hard job to look tough with an ice bag on top of my head, but I must have succeeded, because he looked scared.

“
I—I didn
’
t think it was important,
”
lie said, going red.
“
It was something Dixon told me—
”

“
Dixon? Did you know Dixon?
”

“
Why, of course . . . I
’
ve known him ever since I was a kid—
”

“
Never mind the autobiography,
”
I snapped.
“
What did Dixon say?
”

“
Just that the Street-Camera was mixed up in the kidnapping. He didn
’
t believe the girls were murdered. He thought——
”

“
I know what he thought,
”
I growled.
“
So it wasn
’
t your theory after all? It was something Dixon thought up?
”

He gulped.
“
Yes. I—I wanted you to think . . .
”

I grinned suddenly and lay back on the bed.
“
You wanted me to think you had ideas of your own—was that it?
”
I said.
“
Forget it. It doesn
’
t matter. Did Dixon say why he suspected the Street-Camera?
”

Ted shook his head.
“
I did ask him, but he changed the subject.
”

“
Well, we can
’
t ask him now,
”
I said regretfully,
“
but I
’
d like to know just why he thought that.
”

“
He was right,
”
Ted said.
“
That picture of Mary Drake clinches it. What are you going to do about that?
”

I didn
’
t want to answer questions just then, so I said I was working on it and I had a hell of a headache. I was telling him just how badly it ached when Marian came in. She was wearing a white linen dress and a large floppy hat trimmed in red. She looked swell.

“
Get off, you two,
”
I said, closing my eyes.
“
I want to get some more sleep. The ice-bag
’
s doing fine and I
’
ll be okay by tomorrow.
”

Marian fussed round me for a minute or so and then they took themselves off. I thought they looked a pretty nice-looking couple. Maybe Marian was a little old for a kid like Esslinger, but she would keep him out of mischief and they looked right together.

When they had gone, I grabbed the telephone and called the Gazette again.

Phipps came on the line. He said I was lucky to catch him as he was just going home.

I grunted.
“
From now on, Reg,
”
I told him,
“
you haven
’
t got a home. Know where the city morgue is?
”

He said he did, and what did I want with the city morgue?

“
We won
’
t talk now,
”
I said.
“
Come here around midnight. I
’
ve got a job for you.
”

“
Okay.
”
His voice crawled with curiosity.
“
Is it something to do with the morgue?
”

I didn
’
t enlighten him but asked him instead if he could handle a camera.

“
Sure. Do you want me to bring my outfit?
”

I said he must be clairvoyant, because that was just what I did want him to do.
“
Put on a dark suit, wear sneakers, and try to pretend you
’
re a burglar,
”
I told him.
“
And be here by midnight.
”

Before he could ask any more questions I hung up.

* * *

Audrey Sheridan opened the door of her apartment, raised her eyebrows in mock surprise and stood to one side to let me in.

She looked very nice in a white housecoat relieved by a complicated pattern of red flowers, white silk pyjamas and red sandals. I thought how like a Varga picture she looked.

“
This is a surprise,
”
she said, closing the door and leading the way into the red and cream sitting room.
“
So you made it—broken back and all. I imagined you
’
d be in bed with a pretty nurse fussing over you.
”

“
Not a bad guess,
”
I said, noting the apartment had been tidied up.
“
The trouble was the nurse got tired of it before I did.
”
I put my hat on a chair and went on:
“
How
’
s the arm?
”

She wandered over to a trolley containing bottles, glasses and cracked ice.

“
It
’
s all right, thank you,
”
she said, putting ice in one of the glasses.
“
I hope your head
’
s not as bad as it looks.
”

I said it was all right. In spite of our concern for each other I was aware of a hostile and uneasy atmosphere in the room.

“
That
’
s splendid.
”
She looked at me with a secretive, amused smile.
“
I
’
m sure you would like a drink. What will you have?
”

“
Do we have to be so polite?
”
I asked, joining her at the trolley.
“
After all, we
’
re just fellow dicks.
”

“
That
’
s very flattering,
”
she said,
“
but I
’
m only an amateur. Will you have whisky?
”

I said I would, and added:
“
You
’
re not doing bad for an amateur.
”

“
Really? You
’
re just saying that. I know what men are.
”
She gave me the drink and went over to the settee and sat down.

“
Do you usually have a bunch of thugs working you over when clients call?
”
I asked, sitting down in an armchair opposite her.

“
Oh, that?
”
She shook her head.
“
Rube lost his temper. He isn
’
t usually as bad as that.
”

“
You mean you wouldn
’
t give him the handkerchief?
”

She looked down at her sandals and then said:
“
I suppose you haven
’
t had time to see much of the town? It
’
s not very nice, of course, but there are parts that are better than others.
”

“
Never mind about the town,
”
I returned.
“
Tell me how you learned jiu-jitsu.
”

“
Let
’
s not talk about me,
”
she said quickly.
“
Tell me about yourself. Have you been a detective long?
”

“
I
’
d like to tell you the story of my life. It
’
s full of excitement, but right now I haven
’
t the time,
”
I said.
“
Maybe later we
’
ll get together and take our hair down. You can listen to me and I
’
ll listen to you. But you said you liked to keep pleasure apart from business, so that
’
s what we
’
ll do.
”

She raised her eyebrows, but didn
’
t say anything.

“
Four girls have disappeared from this town. You and I
’
ve been hired to find them. So far everyone I
’
ve talked to doesn
’
t give a damn what
’
s happened to them. I
’
ve only been on the job for forty-eight hours, but that
’
s too long. All the time people are sorting out their differences these kids are either in danger or the trail
’
s getting cold. Wouldn
’
t it be an idea if we got together and pooled information?
”

“
It might be,
”
she said cautiously.
“
It depends whether you have any information to trade or whether you just want to find out what I know.
”

“
You
’
re set on breaking this case yourself, aren
’
t you?
”

Her eyes darkened.
“
When my father died he left me the agency. It was all he had to leave me. He was proud of it and he
’
d done a good job with it considering he was sick and old. He expected me to carry on, and I
’
m going to carry on. No one
’
s taken me seriously yet in this town, but they will before I
’
m through. They
’
ve laughed at me and they think I
’
m crazy to try to make a success of it, but I
’
m going ahead and no one
’
s going to stop me.
”

“
In the meantime,
”
I said dryly,
“
four girls are missing and you haven
’
t found them. Don
’
t you think it
’
d be smart to throw in with me? Together we might get somewhere.
”

Her mouth set in an obstinate line.
“
I wonder what makes you think you
’
re going to get somewhere?
”
she asked coldly.

“
You pulled a fast one on me last night,
”
I reminded her.
“
With those three photographs and the handkerchief I would have had got the photographs. That
’
s what I mean by wasting time. We
’
re enough to nail Macey. You took the handkerchief and maybe you
’
re working against each other.
”

“
I didn
’
t get the photographs,
”
she said in a low voice.
“
Someone had beaten me to it.
”

“
See Dixon there?
”
I said casually.

She looked up sharply.
“
Dixon? What do you mean?
”

“
Dixon was in an armchair by the window. He was as dead as a pork chop. Didn
’
t you see him?
”

She stared at me.
“
He wasn
’
t there—you
’
re fooling, aren
’
t you?
”
She could easily have missed him if she had used a flashlight and had gone straight to the drawer and then out again.

“
I
’
m not fooling. Don
’
t you see you
’
re sticking your neck out If someone had grabbed you, Macey could have pinned the killing onto you.
”

“
But Dixon died of heart failure
“

“
Okay, okay, let
’
s skip that,
”
I said, not wanting to go over it again.
“
Maybe he did die of heart failure, but it wasn
’
t a smart move on your part to break into his office.
”

“
You
’
ve got a nerve!
”
she said indignantly.
“
Why, you were doing the very same thing!
”

I grinned at her.
“
Maybe I was,
”
I said.
“
But this isn
’
t a job for a girl to handle. This is a political set-up with a big rake-off hanging to it. Do you think anyone is going to let you gum up their racket?
”

She sat forward.
“
And do you think they
’
d stop for you?
”

“
It
’
s my job and I get paid for it,
”
I explained patiently.
“
Besides, I
’
m a man.
”

She leaned back and surveyed me with a half angry, half amused expression.

“
I
’
m not convinced,
”
she said.
“
You
’
ll have to work harder than this.
”

“
All right,
”
I said.
“
Let
’
s take it another way. Do you think these girls have been kidnapped or do you think it
’
s murder?
”

She blew smoke in a thin cloud above my head.
“
What do you think?
”

“
It points to kidnapping. If it was murder—what
’
s the motive and where are the bodies?
”

She nodded agreement.
“
What is it and where are they?
”
She said, her eyes mocking me.

I began to get annoyed.
“
Maybe you don
’
t think it
’
s either kidnapping or murder?
”

“
What
’
s left?
”
she asked, looking aimlessly out of the window.

“
Suppose Starkey paid them to duck out of sight? That would discredit your client and mine, wouldn
’
t it?
”

“
Did you think that up all by yourself?
”
she said with exaggerated astonishment.

“
Now look, sister,
”
I said,
“
this kind of cross-talk is getting us nowhere. You can help me and I can help you. You
’
ve got the background of this town at your fingertips. I
’
ve got the experience. Are you going to play or aren
’
t you?
”

“
I
’
m sorry to have to disappoint you,
”
she said quietly,
“
but I
’
m handling the case myself.
”

“
Then you
’
re a bigger dope than I thought you were,
”
I said, annoyed by her obstinacy.
“
Esslinger
’
s only hiring you because he wants a stooge. He doesn
’
t care whether these girls are found or not. All he
’
s worrying about is the election. That
’
s why he
’
s picked you to work on the case. Cranville looks on you as the pattern-plated, courageous little dick who
’
s keeping her father
’
s name going. They laugh at you, but they like you. Esslinger
’
s trading on that. Can
’
t you get that into your thick skull?
”

She stiffened, her eyes angry and hurt.
“
I
’
m still going ahead,
”
she said, rising to her feet.
“
And no one
’
s going to stop me. And the last person who can stop me is a self-opinionated flatfoot from New York!
”