The Body Came Back (10 page)

He left the desk and went to the open elevator where a colored boy dozed on the bench inside, tapped him on the shoulder to waken him and was taken up to the second floor.

The door to his apartment was closed, but light from inside showed through the transom.

Shayne unlocked the door and opened it, and said without too much surprise to the woman who leaped up and stood staring at him, “Hello, Carla. What’s wrong?”

“Oh my
God,
Mike!” She trotted toward him, both hands outstretched, seeming to go all to pieces at the mere sight of him standing there.

He caught her tightly by the elbows and she leaned her weight against him, her face buried against his shoulder, sobbing brokenly.

He held her tightly for a moment, his brooding gaze looking over her head at the two liquor bottles he and Rourke had left sitting on the center table. He wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling the level of bourbon was about two inches lower than it had been when they went out.

He turned her away from him after a moment, put an arm about her supple and firm waist, and half-propelled her back to the chair in which she had been sitting.

“This is no time to go to pieces, Carla. How is Vicky?”

“Oh,
Vicky
is all right. She’s fine.” She sank down into the chair and smiled waveringly up at him. “She’s sound asleep in bed with a couple of pills… convinced that everything is just fine and the sun will shine again tomorrow like always. These kids nowadays. My God,” she added wonderingly. “The way they take things in their stride…”

“She didn’t ask too many questions?”

“Hardly any. I didn’t really have a chance to tell her the story I’d worked out so carefully. She just wanted to put it away from her… out of her mind. She was hysterical at first, but when she calmed down and realized that a miracle had happened… you being the miracle, Mike… and that there
wasn’t
any body lying there in the bedroom… well, I think it began to seem like just a bad dream to her. When she wakes up in the morning I have a feeling she won’t be sure whether it actually happened or not.”

Shayne said strongly, “That’s fine. That’s wonderful.” His hand strayed out to the cognac bottle to pour a drink and he glanced in her direction and saw that her eyes were following his hand avidly.

“Maybe I better keep you company with a little bit of bourbon.”

He said shortly, “Make it a very little bit, Carla. We may not be all the way out of the woods yet.”

“You’re telling me!” She obediently poured a small drink in the glass Timothy Rourke had left on the table. “What
did
happen, Mike? I’m all confused and scared stiff. I had to come here and talk to you. I didn’t know what else to do… with Vicky asleep in the other room.”

Shayne frowned uncomfortably at his glass and took a sip from it. “Well, I mislaid the body. That’s all. If I can locate that Ford and get it back again before anybody else finds it, we should still be in the clear.”

“You…
mislaid the body?”
Her voice rose tremendously and she looked utterly aghast. “How could you do that?”

“It took some doing,” he admitted with a grimace. “But trust Mike Shayne to work out the small details. I thought you’d have guessed that much,” he went on. “If you heard the newscast…”

“What newscast?”

“At one o’clock. I assumed that’s what frightened you… why you were here.”

“I didn’t hear any newscast, Mike. I had a telephone call. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to think. Some man wanting ten thousand dollars. I tried to stall him the best I could. I didn’t know
what
to do. I was feeling so relaxed and wonderful. Vicky was back safely and I’d just gotten her to sleep with a couple of my pills, and I thought the nightmare was over. And then the phone rang. I thought of course it was you calling to say everything was all right, and I grabbed the phone fast before its ringing in the bedroom wakened Vicky. And a strange man answered.”

“Exactly what did he say?” Shayne’s face and voice were grim.

“I… can’t repeat his exact words,” she faltered. “I was so utterly surprised and taken aback… and terribly frightened, of course. He asked, ‘What have you and that damned private dick done with Al?’ And then he began abusing me, saying I’d be sorry I called you in on it, and I’d better get some money together quick because he had to have it tonight. Ten thousand dollars, he said, because
he
had what I was after. That Al had given it to him for safekeeping before he came to see me, and if I didn’t dig up ten thousand dollars tonight the deal was all off and I’d never see or hear from it again.”

“What is
it?”
Shayne asked blankly.

“That’s what I asked him,” she cried out wildly. “I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about and he just sneered and said he thought I could guess all right.

“And I told him I didn’t
have
any sum like ten thousand dollars and he said I’d better dig it up in cash in the next couple of hours. And then he said something like, ‘Get your private eye pal to help you raise the money. He’s got connections in town. He’s into this right up to his neck with you, and he knows what I’ve got is worth a lot more than that.’”

Shayne’s face expressed complete puzzlement. “It couldn’t have been Duclos,” he muttered. “Talking about the body. You’re sure he said it was something Al had given him for safe-keeping before he came to see you?”

“That’s what he said. And he seemed positive I knew what he was talking about. Of course, after he hung up I realized he couldn’t know that I hadn’t even talked to Al. He was assuming that I had and that I knew all about it.”

“How did you leave things?” demanded Shayne.

“I told him to give me an hour or so to see if I could raise the money. I told him I’d have to go out, and I gave him this telephone number and your extension and told him to call me here after an hour or so. I didn’t know what else to tell him, Mike. I was afraid he’d come there and waken Vicky. Or that the phone might waken her. And I thought maybe you could help me raise the money. I’ve got a little over a thousand in my purse, Mike. I’ll give you an IOU for the rest. I can get it Monday with a wire to my bank in L.A.” The words tumbled excitedly out of her mouth. “You will help me, won’t you? There must be places you can go in Miami even at this time of night to get some cash.”

“But what for?” demanded Shayne. “What are we buying for ten grand?”

“I don’t know what
he’s
talking about, but the way I see it I’m buying Vicky’s peace of mind and her future happiness. Whoever he is and whatever he’s got that belonged to Al, it’s perfectly clear that he knows Al came to see me tonight, and if we don’t pay him off everything will have to come out in the papers. And that’ll be bad for you, too, Mike. He knows you’re in it with me somehow. That’s one of the first things he said. So it’s to your advantage, too, to pay him off and shut him up. But I just want to borrow the money for a couple of days. I can well afford to pay. I don’t want you to use your money. You’ve done enough already.”

Shayne moved restlessly in his chair and tugged at his earlobe. “I don’t want to see you paying ten thousand bucks for a pig in a poke,” he growled. “Let’s get this as straight as we can. From what this man said, there was nothing to indicate that he knows Al is already dead?”

“N-no. I don’t think so,” she faltered. “I don’t remember exactly how he said it. He asked what we’d done to Al, I think. Or what we’d done with him? I got the impression he didn’t know what had happened.”

“But he has something that belongs to Al which he’s willing to sell to you,” pondered Shayne. “That seems to indicate he doesn’t expect Al to come around and claim his property.”

“You mean… he
knows
Al is dead and that’s why he feels safe in selling whatever it is to me?”

“It might be the answer. In that case, if he got the money he’d probably be more than willing to keep his mouth shut about Al going to the Encanto tonight.”

“And that’s all we want, isn’t it?” Her eyes were beginning to shine again and there was a look of fresh hope on her face. “We don’t care
what
it is that belonged to Al. We just want him not to tell the police that Al came to see me tonight.”

“Which makes it pure and simple blackmail,” Shayne pointed out angrily.

“What do we care what it is? I’m willing to pay… anything.”

“If it will do us any real good. We’ve still got the problem of the missing body. I haven’t told you about that, Carla. We’re still on thin ice even if this man can be shut up. You see, Al’s body is riding around town right now, locked up in the trunk of a Ford belonging to Al’s brother-in-law and still wrapped in the hotel blanket. The police know I was driving the car tonight, and as soon as the body is discovered they’re going to be on my neck.”

“Did you say Al’s brother-in-law?”

“Yes. Did you know he had a sister living in Miami?”

“I knew there were a couple of sisters, but I didn’t know them or where they lived.”

“One bit of information I picked up tonight that might have some bearing on the picture is that Al has recently been mixed up in some sort of crime and is probably wanted by the police. You don’t know anything about that, I suppose?”

“How could I? I told you I haven’t heard a word about him for years.”

Shayne muttered, “I know you told me that. It just occurred to me you might be holding something back. Don’t do it, Carla. If I’m going to go on helping you I’ve got to know exactly where I stand.”

She lifted her chin and met his steady, probing gaze unflinchingly. “Every word I’ve told you is the truth, Mike. I’m not surprised if Al is in trouble with the law. If he’s a fugitive, won’t that… help some when his body is found? I mean, won’t the police be more inclined to say good riddance and not work too hard to find out who shot him?”

“That’s partially true,” Shayne agreed. “However, it doesn’t change anything too much. What I was thinking, Carla, is about this man who called you. Did he seem to assume that you were close to Al… that you were aware of his current situation? In other words, thinking back on the telephone conversation and knowing, now, that Al is in some very recent and very bad trouble with the law… is it your impression that this man thought you knew about it… that he may be an accomplice or something?”

“I honestly don’t know how to answer that, Mike. He sounded very much as though he thought I knew exactly what he had to sell me, and as though I should be very glad to buy it for ten thousand dollars. I just didn’t know how to answer him.” She shuddered openly and drank the last of the small amount of liquor she had poured into her glass.

“What do all these questions matter now?” she asked passionately as she set the glass down hard on the table. “Our only concern is Vicky… and keeping her out of this. If we can manage that by paying him off… isn’t that worthwhile?”

“We’re both in the middle of it along with Vicky,” Shayne reminded her soberly. “If the truth about tonight’s shenanigans ever comes out into the open, you and I are both subject to very serious charges.”

“All the more reason for hushing it up if we can,” she cried out excitedly. “Look!” She snatched up her handbag and extracted a leather wallet which she opened and from which she took a sheaf of bills. She spread them out on the table in front of him. Nine hundred-dollar bills, a fifty, two twenties, and a ten. There were a few other twenties and tens which she separated from the others and put back into her wallet.

“There’s an even thousand, Mike,” she breathed, pushing the pile of bills toward him. “That’s practically all the cash I brought with me. Take it. And I’ll give you an IOU for the other nine thousand. Please don’t argue about it any more. Have you got a blank sheet of paper?” She scrabbled inside her bag, came up with a ballpoint pen and looked at him hopefully.

Keeping his gaunt face expressionless, Shayne opened the center drawer of the table and pulled out a blank sheet of writing paper. She pulled it toward her and scribbled on it: “Mike Shayne. IOU Nine Thousand Dollars ($9,000.00). Payable on demand.” And she signed it, “Carla Andrews.”

“There,” she breathed, pushing it toward him. “Will you please get the rest of the money in cash, Mike?”

Shayne carefully folded the bills comprising her thousand dollars lengthwise, and picked up her signed IOU. He studied it for a moment, then folded it around the bills and put the small packet in his pocket. “All right, Carla. Much as I dislike blackmail…” He shrugged his broad shoulders with a grimace of repugnance, and then looked at his watch. “How long ago was it when this character telephoned you?”

“It seems like a long time. It was… something after one o’clock, I know. About one-thirty or a quarter of two. I left the hotel and came straight over here.”

Shayne said briskly, “It’s almost two-thirty now. He should be calling you pretty soon.” He hesitated, frowning down at the floor. “When you gave him this number, you didn’t tell him it was my phone, did you?”

“No. I just said I was going to see a friend who might help me get the money. I thought maybe it would be better if he didn’t know I was coming straight to you.”

“You were probably right. When he calls, you answer the phone. Just tell him you’re with a friend who’s getting the money together for you… and turn the phone over to me. I’ll arrange to meet him somewhere and give him the cash.”

“Can you get it all right? At this time of night?”

Shayne said, “I can get it. Right now I’m more worried about the Ford that’s rolling around town with your husband’s body in the trunk than I am about this other deal. Fixing one still isn’t going to fix the other.”

“Oh?” She looked quite dismayed, then said faintly, “I…”

Shayne shook his red head wearily. “I’m hoping the brother-in-law will come to me. Otherwise, I’ve got to try and get my hands on that Ford somehow…”

He was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone. He instinctively reached a hand out for it, then checked himself and nodded to her. “You take it and see if it’s your man.”

Fearfully, she lifted the receiver and said, “Hello,” into the mouthpiece. Watching her while she listened, Shayne saw the strained look fade from her face. “Yes,” she said briskly. “I’ve got everything arranged. My friend, Mr.… Jones, is helping me get the money. Why don’t you… talk to him and fix things between you?”