Wake Up to Murder (18 page)

May stopped crying. The only sound in the room was Lou’s hoarse breathing from the doorway and the howl of the wind in the eaves.

I said, “Then Lou shot him while he pleaded for his life. All women like her are more or less unstable. They’re crazy. But Lou was sane enough to realize what she’d done. When she heard the front door open she knew it was Pearl coming home from work. So she played it smart. She threw the gun down beside Joe and went out the bedroom window and down the trunk of the bougainvillea growing up to the balcony. Leaving Pearl to take the rap. Leaving her with a screwy story no one would believe.”

Woods used the barrel of his gun to push his hat back on his head. “That sounds right to me, fellow. But why should Kendall back Lou instead of Pearl?”

I told him, “For two reasons. One, he’s Cass Hardy’s lawyer. Cass was glad to get Joe out of his hair. But this is a church town and he didn’t want any more of a stink raised than was necessary. With Joe’s murder pinned on Pearl it was a domestic affair and didn’t get much of a play in the papers. The second reason is Kendall is the kind of a man that Lou is a woman. Lou is young. She’s pretty. She probably gave him a sample. And with Lou under his thumb it gave him a steady supply of what he liked the best.”

When I’d finished, Mr. Kiefer said quietly, “I think I’ll buy that, son. Having a guilty conscience, Kendall was naturally on edge when Tony burst in on him. For once Tony was a trifle too slow. Then, having killed Tony, all Kendall could do was run. He knew he was in wrong with me. He was in wrong with Hardy, for having created a stink right in the height of the sucker season. Then there were those pictures on his wall.” He might have been talking about a deck of Camels. “Yes. I’ll buy that.” Mr. Kiefer motioned with the barrel of the gun in his hands. “Get your clothes on, Counselor. Tony was one of my favorite boys. And you and I and Jack are going for a little ride.”

“You heard the Captain,” Woods said.

May forgot that she didn’t have much on. Lifting her head from my chest she said, “I hope they beat him until he can’t stand up. He’s a dirty, nasty old thing, Jim. He’s been coming to the house, when you weren’t there, almost every day for a month. And when I told him if he stepped foot on our breezeway once more, I’d call the police, he got even by firing you. On your birthday.”

May lifted her hand to touch my cheek. As she did, her hand brushed her bare skin. Her chin high, with all the dignity in the world, she said, “Would you please hand me my dress, Jim!”

I picked May’s dress from the floor.

She slipped it over her head. Then, taking a couple of pins from somewhere, she pinned the torn places together.

“It’s been like an awful nightmare. From the time I started into Mr. Kendall’s house. He was waiting just inside the door. He hit me before I could scream. And the next thing I knew we were in a car on our way here. And all the time he wasn’t talking dirty and saying what he was going to do to me, he boasted that the police would think you had killed us and buried our bodies somewhere. According to his big talk, you, Lieutenant David, everyone but him, were fools.” May patted my cheek. “But I knew better. I knew that you’d find me.”

I looked at Kendall. He’d put on his pants and shoes with fingers that shook so badly Woods had to lace his shoes and zip up his pants for him. He knew what kind of a ‘beating’ he was going to get.

Woods located Kendall’s coat. There was a familiar looking sheaf of bills showing in one of the pockets. Woods handed the sheaf to Mr. Kiefer. He counted it and put it in his pocket.

“Okay,” Mr. Kiefer said coldly. “Get his hat and let’s go.” He gripped Kendall’s arm.

“No,” Kendall pleaded. “For God’s sake, fellows. It was self-defense. Tony came at me with a gun. He — ”

Kendall stopped in the middle of his pleading, gaping open-mouthed at the bedroom door.

It was small wonder Lou hadn’t said anything more. She couldn’t. Hap Arnold was standing in back of her with one arm around her waist and his other palm clamped over her mouth. His black felt hat pushed back on his head, his inevitable chew of fine cut in one cheek, Lieutenant David was leaning against the jamb of the door.

“Hi,” he said, without smiling.

Neither Woods nor Mr. Kiefer seemed to know quite what to do with their guns. They finally returned them to their holsters. Mr. Kiefer’s resemblance to a kind old man wasn’t so marked now. Big shot or not, he was on the wrong side of the law, and one never knows just which way a cop will jump.

Mr. Kiefer controlled his breathing with an obvious effort. “Well,” he said, finally. “Well. How long have you been there, Lieutenant?”

“Quite a piece,” Lieutenant David said, poker-faced.

Woods swore under his breath. “It was you in that pick-up truck.”

Lieutenant David looked for a place to spit. “Could be.” He spat in the general direction of the fireplace. “I’ve been in quite a few different cars tonight. Ever since Hap and I spotted you fellows taking off after Charters when we kind of cat-and-moused him up to Kendall’s place. Sort of figured something was in the air and you might need help, changing a tire or something.”

“You never can tell,” Hap added. He patted Lou. “Stop wiggling. So you killed Joe Summers. After they take a look at those cute little legs of yours the same kind of a dumb jury that convicted Pearl Mantinover will probably give you a medal.”

Mr. Kiefer realized he was still holding Kendall’s arm. He released it. “Well,” he repeated. “Well.”

“Thanks,” Lieutenant David said. “Thanks a lot, Mr. Kiefer. I mean for detaining Kendall until we got here, but I guess Hap and I can handle it now. If we can’t, I got four, five more boys outside.”

Mr. Kiefer rolled his cigar between his fingers without taking it from his mouth. His face got red. He started to make some remark and thought better of it. When he did speak his voice sounded like two dry palm fronds being rubbed together.

“I’m certain you’re welcome, Lieutenant.”

Mr. Kiefer shaped his expensive Panama to his head. Then he nodded to Woods and both men walked out of the room, neither looking back.

Kendall buried his face in his hands and began to cry. It wasn’t a nice thing to hear. I helped May to her feet and stood with one arm around her.

Lieutenant David looked at Hap Arnold. “You take Miss Tarrent and Mr. Kendall down to the station, Hap. Book ’em both for murder. I won’t be far behind you.”

“Right,” Hap Arnold nodded.

Lieutenant David pointed his fingers at May and me. “And you two come with me.”

May had to pass so close to Lou that their skirts touched. I held my breath. But nothing happened. May didn’t even turn her head. As far as May was concerned, Lou didn’t exist. As Lou.

She was just some girl that Sergeant Hap Arnold was holding.

WE rode in Lieutenant David’s car, all three of us in the front seat. I rode with my arm around May, her body warm and soft against mine. The wind died as suddenly as it had sprung up. The night was warm again.

Lieutenant David talked of this and that, mainly about how he’d always had his doubts about the Pearl Mantinover, Joe Summers business, and how the first thing he would do in the morning would be to call Tallahassee and get the legal wheels rolling so the injustice done Pearl could be squared.

I said, ‘Yes, sir,’ when yes was called for and ‘No, sir’ when no was the answer, not knowing quite where I stood with the law. And worrying about it.

All Bill David said about Lou was that he was sorry for her, but it would seem that she had brought all her troubles on herself. Then, turning the corner by the dark Sandbar and driving slowly up our street, he said:

“Look, now, tell me this, Charters. Like I told you out at Kendall’s place, we know you for a pretty right guy. That’s why we gave you the leeway that we did. You’d be surprised how much the Department goes on a guy’s past record. If you’d been a troublemaker or a drunk I’d have had you down to the station beating in your back teeth before you could say Apalachicola. But we know you for a hard-working Joe. So tell me. How come you decided to pitch the binge you did that touched off this whole thing?”

As I groped for words to try to explain, he added, “And don’t give me, if you’ll pardon the word, Mrs. Charters, that crap about things not being too bright for you and your wife on account of you getting fired. You’re smart. You proved that tonight. And a smart guy like you can always get a job.”

“Sure,” I said, still a little bitter. “At maybe sixty dollars a week.”

May squeezed my hand, hard. “But that’s good money, Jim. We manage. A lot of men are raising families on less.”

Lieutenant David jabbed my ribs with his elbow. “You listen to the Missus. And you listen to me.” He swung into our drive and braked just short of the breezeway. “I’m bringing up a girl and two boys on a little better than eighty, after deductions.”

He made no move to open the door of the car. I was hesitant to do so. I didn’t know if I was in some form of custody or not and didn’t want to ask.

A long moment of silence followed. The fragrance of Gwen Shelly’s night-blooming jasmine filled the car.

“I think,” Lieutenant David broke the silence, “it being your birthday and all, that I know what was eating you.” He pushed his battered felt hat back on his head and loosened the knot in his tie. “I guess every guy gets spells like that. Life doesn’t turn out the way we thought it was going to when we were kids.” His temples were silver in the dim light from the dashboard. Somehow they made him look distinguished. Not distinguished like Matthew Kendall. Distinguished like a guy wearing medals. “Take me, for example,” he said quietly. “I was going to be chief of police by now. I was going to wear hundred-dollar pajamas and tailor-made white suits. I was going to live out there on Ponce de Leon Beach with all the rest of the big shots. Leola was going to have a maid and maybe even someone to help with the children. She was going to be dripping with diamonds and there was going to be a fur coat in every closet in the joint.” He sighed. “So I’m still a lieutenant of detectives, hoping some day I’ll be a captain or an inspector and maybe can run in guys like Cade Kiefer, instead of having to be polite to him and letting him go like I did out there tonight, for fear of winding up in front of a trial board because I didn’t have a definite charge against him. Because he’s a big shot. With political connections. And money. A lot of money. Dirty money. While me, I’m just a cop trying to make a living for my family.”

He took off his battered black hat and ran his lean fingers through his sweaty hair. “It burns me up when I think of it. I get all sick inside. But would it do any good for me to go out and get a snootful and feel sorry for myself? No. I’d just get in wrong with the Department and my family and a little deeper with some personal finance company.”

Lieutenant David was silent a long moment. It was almost like he was talking to himself when he continued. “I guess all we little men of the world have the same problem. We’re all riding a blind horse. And despite our best efforts, most of the time it plods on where it will. And all we really can do is hang on and keep our heads.” He stopped, suddenly self-conscious. “Well, no use me running on. You know your business.” He reached across May’s lap and opened the car door.

May and I got out. Lieutenant David put his hat back on his head. Then May said, quietly:

“We were going to have a little birthday party for Jim last night, Lieutenant. But, well, with things turning out as they did, I had to call our guests and ask them not to come. And with no one to eat them I had to wrap the sandwiches in waxed paper and put them in the refrigerator. And, well, there are quite a few of them. And I have a birthday cake, too. And it wouldn’t take me but a minute to make some coffee. So if you don’t have to get right back to your detecting business — ”

Lieutenant David hesitated. “I shouldn’t, Mrs. Charters, believe me.” He grinned. “What kind of cake?”

“Chocolate,” May smiled. “Homemade.”

Lieutenant David switched on his two-way radio. “24.H.Q. Homicide. Lieutenant David,” he said into the speaker. “I will be detained about half an hour.”

May changed her dress while the coffee water was boiling. Then, looking prettier than I’d ever seen her, she set out her best dishes. On the kitchen table, along with the sandwiches and cake. While we were drinking our coffee she excused herself and went and got the watch she’d saved her pennies for.

I acted surprised and said, “How swell” and “Just what I wanted” and things like that. I didn’t have to be pleased. I was. Especially by the card,
To My Beloved Husband.
And all the time the breezeway kept banging in the draft, not loud, but annoying. I looked for something to prop it open.

“Use that case of beer,” May called.

I shoved the case of beer against the door. “Where did we get a case of beer?” I asked her.

May poured more coffee in Lieutenant David’s cup. “Some man named Kelly sent it. There’s a card tied to one of the bottles.”

I took the card off the bottle and read it. It said:

Happy Birthday to a valued and
respected customer.
Jim Kelly

I couldn’t help it. I choked a little. Kelly had bought a beer for a couple of punk ball players. But he’d sent me a case.

I took the card to the table and laid it alongside the watch. Lieutenant David was eating May’s cake like he enjoyed it.

“You know what, Mrs. Charters?” he asked her.

“What?” May smiled back at him.

He said, “I think sometimes us little guys are best off after all. Maybe we aren’t missing a thing. Maybe it’s the big shots who are missing something.” He nudged me with his elbow. “How about that, fellow?” He reached for another piece of cake. “And say, by the way, happy birthday.”

I looked at May’s shining eyes. “Thanks. Thanks a lot, Bill,” I told him.

All things considered, I decided it was the nicest birthday that I’d ever had.

THE END