Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories

by Elmore Leonard

  I'm surprised, her mom said. I think we've introduced him to things he's never had before. Can you imagine, her mom said, hugging Larry's arm against her green velve t f rock, a big boy like Larry's never had a martini?"

  "He's looking better," Shamane said, touching his cheek.

  Baby, you feel all right?"

  "Loosen his tie, her mom said, and take his cap off.

  ****

  Teddy didn't arrive till an hour and a half later.

  By then Larry had learned how to smoke a marijuana cigarette and was sipping his third martini straight up, with four olives like Shemane's. Larry had never felt so at ease, so hip to the jive as he did with Shemane and her mom, the mom not looking that much older than her daughter and was filled out more. He said, "You know you can tell things about a person by the kind of car they drive? And the color?"

  Shemane said, Really?

  "I saw you in that green Lincoln Zephyr, I said to myself, there's a girl has seen the elephant, knows her way around. I bet she wouldn't mind going to Hot Springs some weekend.

  Shemane said, Hon, where're you from?" "West Memphis, Arkansas."

  ****

  What Teddy heard coming in was Shemane saying, "You poor thing." The door wasn't all the way closed. Teddy pushed it open and was looking at the three of them on the sofa, Shemane holding the hand of the GI next to her, the guy lounged back in the cushions. Shemane looked this way and dropped the hand and jumped up glad to see him, always, from the time he took her out of that house and they got to know each other. Teddy smiled at her coming over. She always made him smile.

  He kissed Shemane on the mouth, went over to the sofa to kiss her mom on the cheek and shake hands with PFC Larry Davidson, who didn't get up.

  Teddy had no idea what the guy was doing here and didn't care.

  Larry was grinning now, saying to Teddy, Are you one of the Ritz Brothers? I bet you get asked that a lot, huh?

  Teddy said to Shemane, "Make me a drink, a manhattan," and followed her to the kitchen. She started to tell about Larry, how he'd stopped by--Teddy said, "I don't care about Larry, anything you have to say. I want to meet this Kraut friend of yours, Jurgen."

  Shemane held up pouring the vermouth.

  "You'll have to wait till he escapes." "When'll that be?"

  "Who knows? He was just here."

  "If you can't get him to bust out, I'll have to visit him," Teddy said. "I want to see the camp anyway--take a look at these Krauts living like kings.

  "Why would they let you visit?"

  "I'll say I'm a good friend of his."

  "I think you have to be related. Or you're a writer."

  "Yeah--I'll say I'm doing a story for the Star." He saw Shemane roll her eyes and he said, "They have tours?

  "Hon, it's a prison camp." Shemane handed him his manhattan. Teddy raised it, took a sip and another, a good one. He said, "You know who I bet could get me in?"

  Shemane said, "Carl Webster?"

  Chapter Nine

  Teddy Ritz, White Slaver

  They were driving back to Okmulgee in the Chevy they'd been using, Carl at the wheel this time. Gary knew Teddy Ritz h ad called to see about getting in the POW camp, then called again to say he'd be staying at the Parkinson Hotel, but not under his own name. Gary asked Carl what name he was using. Carl said Teddy wouldn't tell him. Gary said then how do we find him? And Carl said, Teddy? You kidding?

  Carl said Teddy wanted to visit the camp to ask Jurgen Schrenk why the Germans were trying to kill all the Jews.

  Gary thought of asking, Why were they? but said, "How's Teddy know about Jurgen?"

  "Every time Jurgen escapes, Carl said, he stays with Teddy's ex-girlfriend a few days, Shemane, one of Teddy's girls in Kansas City. So we'll hear what Jurgen has to say about the mass-murder of three-hundred thousand Jews, all the ones that lived in Warsaw taken out and shot or sent to the gas chamber. I checked with McMahon, it's okay with him. He'd like to hear how a Kraut explains the death camps.

  Gary thought of saying, I don't know what you're talking about.

  But now Carl was saying, "McMahon wanted me to bring you along, you'll get to meet your first big-time gangster."

  Now he had something he could ask. "If we know Teddy Ritz is breaking the law, why isn't he doing time?"

  "On what charge? Carl said. "He has strong-arm guys with no brains do it for him. It's how you get to be big time in the business of crime, keep your hands clean."

  Now Gary was frowning, still confused.

  "You respect this guy, what he does?"

  Carl shook his head. "I get a kick out of talking to him. Still, I'm gonna put him away, the time comes.

  *

  Gary believed Carl should've told him before they left Tulsa, sat him down and laid out what was going on and what they'd be doing. They got to Okmulgee and angled in next to a Packard in front of the Parkinson Hotel, Carl saying the car was Teddy's; Louly had told him what to look for.

  They went inside, Carl walked up to the desk and held up his star for the manager to see. The badge on her lapelsaid Maureen Whalen and under the name, Manager. She was fifty and sturdy in her gray suit. Carl said, "Maureen, you have a guest wears a coat with a velvet collar, wears little glasses without frames, likes to chew gum and slicks his hair back with tonic? Maureen, he doesn't get each hair laying where it's supposed to, you see his scalp.

  "Mr. Davis," Maureen said. "He has two men with him under his name."

  "How would you describe them?"

  "I'd have to say, as gangsters."

  Carl said, "You aren't saying it 'cause I'm a federal officer, are you?"

  "I first saw them it's what I thought."

  "My wife said the same thing."

  "The two came in and said, 'Davis,' signed the card and took two of the rooms. Mr. Davis didn't come in till two hours later. He said, 'Davis,' and took his key and went upstairs."

  Gary watched Carl pat the manager's hand on the counter and ask would she mind calling Mr. Davis to tell him Deputy Marshal Carl Webster was waiting in the lobby. "And tell him, please, I said I won't wait more than five minutes. He gave her hand another pat.

  Gary saw it, Carl making the woman feel good and the situation look easy. Gary watched her pick up the phone and ask for the room. She said, "Mr. Davis?" and repeated Carl's message. She said to Carl, "He'll be right down."

  He was, too, slipping on his coat with the velvet collar as he came toward them saying, "I knew you'd find me."

  Carl said, "Teddy Ritz, I want you to meet my partner, Deputy Marshal Gary Marion.

  Teddy stuck out his hand not even looking at Gary and gave him a cold-fish handshake. Now he was saying, "I could use a girl's name and wear a dress, you'd find me."

  Carl said, "Where're the two guys with you, I want to meet them."

  "They'll be down. They're my bodyguards. I hear they're gangsters."

  "Who told you that?"

  My wife. She saw you and the two guys at the Mayo. Teddy was frowning. Louly, Carl said. "She worked for you she was Kitty."

  The marine, Teddy said, That's who it was. I knew her but I couldn't think of a name. Walked right by me. The short time she worked at the club the young rich guys that came in loved her. She had a list of reasons she used, why she couldn't go to a hotel with them. 'I have to work.' 'I get caught I'll be fired.' 'I have to see my doctor about something.' Or, 'I fell off the roof this morning.' She wanted to she could've made a pile of money."

  "Like Shemane, Carl said.

  "They were a lot alike," Teddy said, "they were both smart. The difference, Shemane didn't mind putting out for rich strangers, and Louly, Kitty as I knew her, said no and that was it. That broad, I can believe she's a marine.

  "You gonna see Shemane?

  "I already did. She said I'd have to wait for the Krautto escape if I wanted to talk to him. So I called you, see if you could get me in the camp."

  Gary was having trouble again keeping up, Teddy talking about C
arl's wife Louly, saying something about her falling off a roof.

  Well, now the two guys Louly and the hotel manager said were gangsters came along, their hats pulled down, wearing suits and ties, a couple of dudes, but no coats. As they walked past one of them said to Teddy, "We gonna be at the cigar counter."

  Carl watched them cross the lobby. He said to Teddy, "What're they here for?"

  "I told you, they're for my personal protection. They're brothers. The one that told me where they're going, that's Salvatore Tedesco. He's called Tutti," Teddy said. With a straight face, though watching him Gary would've sworn he smiled, on and off, saying it.

  Carl said, "Tutti? He did grin making no attempt to hide it.

  "The other one, Teddy said, "is Frank Tedesco.

  Carl was starting to grin, waiting.

  "He's called Frankie Bones, Teddy said, "but don't ask me why."

  "He's skinny," Carl said. "That could be it." He looked toward the two standing at the cigar counter and said, "Hey," and they both turned. Carl said, "Come here, I want to ask you something." They looked at Teddy.

  Teddy motioned to them. "It's okay, this guy's a friend of mine. He just wants to ask you a question."

  Carl waited as they approached and stopped a few strides away. He took a step toward them saying, "Frank, why they call you Frankie Bones? You get the name when you were a skinny kid?"

  The guy didn't answer but kept staring at him.

  Gary watched Carl turn to the other one, Carl's hat and the guy's hat even, the two facing each other.

  "And they call you Tutti, huh? What's Tutti short for Tutti Fruitty?"

  Gary had an urge to get into this, move to the side and have an angle on the two concentrating on Carl, except Carl, what was he doing? Asking them where they got their nicknames. Yeah, but eye to eye, waiting to see if they wanted to make something out of it. Now he said, "Teddy won't need you two inside the camp. There isn't anyone in there ever heard of him. So what you could do," Carl said, "walk down the street to Deering's drugstore and get yourselves a Tutti Fruitty ice cream cone." He waited while they stared at him, Carl giving them time to say something if they wanted to. After a moment he said, "My favorite's peach." Cool, not once raising his voice, or taking his eyes off them. Gary had never seen anything like it.

  Carl was saying to them now, "So I won't see you two anymore, wil I?" He waited for them to stare at him again, taking their time, before they turned and went out of the hotel.

  "Fellas tried that hard eye on you," Gary said.

  "You're known as a tough guy, Carl said, "you have to act like one. We're gonna use Teddy's car, so you'll have the Chevy. I was thinking you keep an eye on the two mutts.

  "Tutti and Frankie," Gary said, glancing at Teddy who seemed patient listening to them.

  Carl saying, "But I don't want you to mix it up with them, okay? Or shoot them?"

  Gary held back his grin and said with no expression, "'Less I have to," starting to pick up on Carl's style.

  No, forget Tutti and Frankie. What I want you to do, Carl said, is drive back to Tulsa and get Louly. Gary said, But I don't know your wife , sounding alarmed.

  She won't hurt you, Carl said. She slept in this morning but wants to see the camp.

  *

  Larry Davidson was waiting by the door to the camp commander's office. As soon as he saw the marshal and Teddy Ritz coming along the hallway he opened the door to the office and held it for them, expecting Teddy Ritz to make some remark about last night.

  No, what Teddy did was walk past him into the office and stick out his hand to Colonel Sellers standing behind his desk. He was looking at Carl as he said, "I'm not about to shake his hand so he can put it away. I don't have your knack for acknowledging people I have no respect for. I've seen enough of Mr. Ritz in newspapers and reading your book." He said, PFC Larry Davidson," looking at him standing by the door, "will show you around if you want and take you to see Jurgen.

  That was it.

  Larry said, "If you all want to come this way," led them outside and through the double main gates of the camp, each one in turn unlocked and opened to let them walk in, and closed and locked behind them. He heard Carl say to Teddy, "I guess Wesley isn't in favor of treating a Kansas City gangster like a guest. He was in law enforcement twenty years before they gave him this camp to run." Larry heard Teddy Ritz say, "He thinks I'm a bum--tell him I'm a good citizen, I helped get a haberdasher elected to the bench who's about to become the next Vice President of the United States.

  Harry S. Truman.

  They walked into the street where the POWs lived, only a few outside watching them, Larry saying the first rows of barracks were for enlisted men, the next ones for noncoms, and the ones at the far end were for officers. Larry said, "You see the three gun towers down there? The athletic field's on the other side of the fence, where they play soccer. Sunday there's a championship match, officers against noncoms.

  Larry told them these buildings they were passing now were messhalls, washrooms, latrines, library, canteen and the officer's club where they served three-two beer, and here was the rec hall, where they saw movies and put on plays and even musicals, in German.

  Teddy said, "what's this place, a summer camp?" He turned to Larry saying, You passed out, you missed the show last night, Gladys doing a peek-a-boo strip, flashing her Charlies one at a time.

  Larry wanted to say, Shemane's mom? Jesus. But he'd just as soon not talk about last night. He said, Oh, and they play records on a juke box the camp got for them. You know what their favorite song is? Bing Crosby's 'Don't Fence Me In.' Honest to God."

  "

  Carl said, "Larry, we want to see Jurgen."

  *

  Larry picked up the folding chair leaning against the wall, telling the guard on duty they'd need another one of these while the guard unlocked the door.

  Carl said to Larry, You gonna pat him down? Larry said oh, and had Teddy unbutton his coat and raise his arms.

  The overhead light came on as they entered the room.

  Teddy- said, "You call this solitary?"

  Jurgen was standing against the wall facing them, Jurgen in his shorts holding open a newspaper in the light from the small window above him, a heavy screen covering the pane of glass. He said, "Carl, and read from the paper, 'Barricaded Convicts Hold Four Guards As Hostages.' Listen to this. 'Twenty-five hardened convicts, revolting against being quartered with Nazi saboteurs, were barricaded with four prison guards tonight in the Atlanta federal penitentiary. '" He said to Carl, "Are there German saboteurs in America? I've never heard of any."

  Carl said, "Jurgen, this is Teddy Ritz."

  "Ah, the white slaver Jurgen said smiling. "I've heard all about you."

  Teddy said, "You get a kick out of reading the news?"

  Carl watched him bring a fold of newspaper from his inside coat pocket, a single page folded several times. Opening the sheet Teddy said, "Tell me ho w y ou like this one," and read~ "'Hun General Bares Atrocity.' That's the headline. The story goes on to say, 'Major General Gilmar Mozer, former commandant at Lublin, admitted in a signed statement that hundreds of thousands of prisoners, including women and children, were killed at the notorious Majdanek concentration camp.'" Teddy's eyes raised to Jurgen. "The prisoners were all Jews."

  Jurgen said, "Yes? What do you want me to say? I don't know anything about this. I haven't been to Poland in almost five years. Is that where you're from?"

  "You guys kill me," Teddy said. "You're called Huns because you're barbarians, you're butchers, but you haven't been to Poland in five years. I wonder who it was murdered all those people at Majdanek."

  "SS," Jurgen said. "Gestapo. It's what they do."

  "You know any of them?"

  "I have a comrade here who's SS."

  "What's he prefer, shoot the women and kids or stuff them in a gas chamber?"

  "He's never done that. Otto was a tank commander in North Africa."

  "It's somebody else. Y
ou and Otto won't have anything to do with the murder of 3,000,000 people." "Of course not."

  "But you won't do anything to stop it."

  "How can I?"

  "Imagine being marched to a pit you helped dig," Teddy said, "knowing you're about to be shot in the back of the head and pushed into it. What do you think that would be like?"

  Carl stepped in. He said, "That's it," and took Teddy by the arm to steer him out to the hall. In the doorway he looked back and said to Jurgen, "When do you get out of here?"

  "This is my final day."

  "Watch yourself," Carl said.

  Chapter Ten

  Gunnery Sgt. Louise Webster

  The Tedesco brothers walked along Sixth Street in Okmulgee looking for a car to hot-wire and talking about Carl Webster, the guy Teddy called, "the famous Oklahoma gunslinger."

  "You know what he was doing," Frankie said. "Get us to take a swing at him, we're brought up for assaulting a federal officer. I came close, you know it? I almost popped him in the mouth."

  "A guy you know packs," Tutti said, "you don't give him a reason to pull on you. We'll settle with Carl. I want the guy as bad as you do."

  They walked past cars one after another angle parked at the curb, they came to a '41 Pontiac and Frankie said, "You like this one?"

  "You want to get on the floor in there," Tutti said, your legs hanging out on the street, all the farmers standing around watching you? Or you want to forget about a car and get something to eat?"

  They came to the OK Cafe a few doors up Seventh, the place nearly empty at ten past eleven, and took a booth in front to look out at the street. "I forgot it's Saturday," Tutti said, "why everybody's in town. They stand around waiting for something to watch.

  "We have to do it tomorrow?" Frankie said. "What's the rush?"

  "Sunday," Tutti said, "they're all in the camp, none of 'em off working.