Max’s ear stung with the heavy click as Lowery hung up. They had moved just a shade too fast for him. And it could only have been done by someone who knew the city, knew of Max’s friendships. Walch could have done it. The net effect was to close the ears of the department to anything that Max could say, particularly as he had no proof.
He uncovered the portable, rolled paper into it, hammered out a terse report of everything that had happened. The last sentence he wrote was: “Lowery, if I wind up dead or missing, this should give you something to go on.” He folded it, sealed it, stamped it, mailed it from the corner. Far easier to hop a train. The fourteen hundred would last until the next job. But it wouldn’t be so easy to forget long blond hair, purple smudges of weariness under gray-blue eyes.
He sat over a cup of coffee and went back through every scrap of information he had. Jerry had met the girl at the train. The sleeper came in from New Orleans at noon. The girl had walked into his life at a quarter to five. Thus she had been with Jerry during daylight hours. She would have remembered staying overnight. All her clothes were still checked at the station. Yet the girl had talked of the lights going on suddenly. Concrete floor. Gunshots. What would that mean? A garage would be lighted. Probably windows. Some kind of light.
Suddenly he snapped his fingers. A warehouse! That would fit very nicely indeed. Concrete floor. Concord didn’t have local manufacturing facilities, he was certain, but they were a distribution point for everything from gimmicked roulette tables to sticky dice.
But where? Probably within the city limits, close to rail connections. He glanced at his watch. Plenty of time to hit the assessor’s office.
He was known in the assessor’s office and, with the rights of a citizen, he was given access to the records. Nothing looked promising under Concord, Ledecker or Walch. But under Valley Farms, Inc., he found a Market Street address. The clerk dug out the maps for him.
In the dull stubborn flame of anger, he had forgotten elementary caution. They picked him up as he came out of the assessor’s office. He recognized one of them as the man who, earlier in the day, had picked him up outside the Concord offices.
They were large, muscular and efficient. They moved in, and when he tried to twist away, one of them pivoted, chunked a hard fist deep into Max’s diaphragm. Max’s half-raised arms sagged. They supported him on either side. A few pedestrians looked curiously at the three men as they hurried by. The two men laughed enormously, slapping Max’s shoulders. They herded him quickly into a car, their faked laughter covering Max’s agonized attempts to draw breath.
Once in the car, one man drove. Max got his breath, said, “Picked up like a jerk kid by two slobs!”
The other searched Max’s person, removed the gun with an admonishing clucking sound.
“Where are we going?” Max asked.
“To see Mr. Ledecker.”
Ledecker was sitting in an easy chair by the window in his apartment at Valley Farms. When Raffidy was hustled through the doorway, Ledecker looked up amiably and said, “Ah, Mr. Raffidy.” He turned to the girl on the couch and said, “Do you mind, my dear?”
She got up indifferently and walked out. One of the two men who had picked him up took the place on the couch the girl had vacated. The other one left.
Ledecker said, “Please sit over there.”
Max sat.
Ledecker said, “You are an enterprising young man. Poor Bill Walch swallowed your story. He put a tail on you because he wanted to find out who you were acting for. We thought we might do better dealing direct. But a half hour later we found out that you were the gentleman who so kindly gave shelter to Miss Banner. Then we began to appreciate your cleverness, Mr. Raffidy.”
“You’re congratulating me?”
“Cleverness always appeals to me. It is at a premium in my type of business. And it is just that, Raffidy. A business. We take normal business risks. However, when a man chooses to defraud a more legitimate business enterprise, his employers can deal with a bonding company or with the police. That privilege is denied us. We have to take care of our own.”
“But this wasn’t taken care of in a very businesslike way, eh?”
“How do you mean that?”
“Too many loose ends. Like me, for example.”
“Quite.” Ledecker paused and looked out over the rolling fields, toward the distant line of woods. Saddle horses were winding down across the meadow. The heavy man sat on the couch, biting on his tongue as he pared his nails with a small pocketknife. Ledecker’s legs were crossed, the free foot swinging idly.
“Mr. Raffidy, we had a small blunder. We anticipated Mr. Norma’s plans. I have to keep large amounts of cash on hand. We do not know how Jerry got the combination, but our safe here was rifled a week ago. Everyone on my staff was under suspicion. Jerry made no change in his habits. But I did find that he had gone twice to the warehouse for no known reason.
“We searched the warehouse and found that Jerry had cleverly hidden the two hundred thousand dollars in a small packing case which had contained the wheel from a roulette table. However, we needed proof. One of my most trusted assistants was planted in the warehouse. When Jerry came after the money he was—dissuaded.”
“Permanently.”
“Oh, yes. And then we discovered the blunder. Jerry had a girl with him. She battled vigorously but was finally quieted. My assistant phoned me. I suggested that the young lady be taken to a certain apartment we maintain on Primrose Street. He put her on the floor in the back of the car. In heavy traffic she managed to get the door open and lose herself in the crowd. It was my idea to find out how damaging a witness she might be.”
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“You are clever, Mr. Raffidy, in a gaudy way. We picked up the young lady. She faked loss of memory. But when confronted with the man she saw eliminate Mr. Norma, she had a fine case of hysterics. You spent considerable time with the young lady. Doubtless she told you her story. My question is—what am I to do with you?”
“You spoiled my chance of going to the police.”
“That was elementary.”
“What harm can I do you, Ledecker?”
“I don’t know. How can you prove to me that you won’t make the attempt?”
“I can’t.”
“Then this is a type of stalemate, wouldn’t you say?”
“Stop horsing, Ledecker. Make your proposition.”
“Impatience and impertinence, Mr. Raffidy. Here it is. My people have a strange distaste when it comes to the question of dealing with the girl. They will have no such scruples about you. You can go free from here, Mr. Raffidy, as soon as you have accomplished that slightly messy job.”
Max sat very still. “There’s no need to ask you what happens if I say that this isn’t my line of work.”
“No need whatsoever. Please don’t think that I enjoy this sort of thing. If you help us take care of the girl, then your mouth will be closed. You need to have no fear of the law unless you try to cross me. We run an efficient place here.”
Now was the time to mention the report to Lowery. Max opened his mouth to speak of it, then closed his lips.
“What were you about to say?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.” To mention the report would definitely seal the girl’s death warrant. Then he had another thought. “Why not throw this trusted assistant of yours to the wolves. That sounds easy.”
Ledecker’s smile was without humor. “The assistant is trusted because he had the good fortune to obtain documentary proof of an earlier indiscretion of mine. That was when I was younger, and not as wise. His position is far, far better than yours, Mr. Raffidy.”
Max slouched in the chair. “Just how am I supposed to kill the girl?”
Ledecker frowned. “Please, Mr. Raffidy. Discuss it in business terms.”
“Well, how?”
“There’s a choice of methods. We can have her taken over into the woods and you can shoot her. Or you ca
n strangle her. Or you can hit her with a heavy object.”
“Business terms, eh? Why such rough ways?”
“For their effect on you, Mr. Raffidy. I would prefer that it be a rough way, as you express it.”
“Where is she?”
“Roughly sixty feet from you.”
“When is all this supposed to take place?”
“Right after dusk, I believe. That should be the best time.”
“Where does the body go?”
“We will take several pictures of the body and then it will be disposed of. There’s no need for you to know where or how.”
“And then?”
“And then, with my blessing, you go on about your business.”
“Why not just pick the two of us off? Why tie yourself in knots?”
Ledecker sighed. “There is too big a chance, my boy, that you might have tried to protect yourself with some silly report to the police.”
“Suppose I did. Then all I have to do is sit tight.”
“Hurt him a little, Joseph,” Ledecker said in a strained voice.
Max spun out of the chair and got his back near the wall as Joseph came in. With the expressionless boredom of a professional, Joseph ducked into Max’s swing, taking the knuckles against his forehead. He moved in close, grunting with the exertion of each blow.
When Joseph backed away, Max dropped to his hands and knees, then fell over on his side. He pulled his knees up toward his chest and rolled his head from side to side, pushing against the pain, trying to think and plan.
Ledecker stood above him, seeming to sway, to shift back and forth through the mists that the pain brought. His voice was very far away. “There’ll be no more lip and no nonsense, Raffidy, damn you!”
Joseph, torpidly satisfied with his work, had gone back to the couch. Max was spinning toward the edge of consciousness, but, as the idea formed, he fought his way back. He wheezed, “Where’d you lose your British accent?”
He saw Ledecker’s neat black shoe coming at him. He snapped his head back at the last moment and the foot went by, throwing the man off balance. Max grabbed him by the ankle and spilled him. He grabbed one wrist, twisted the arm up into a punishing hammerlock, got his thick right hand on Ledecker’s throat. Joseph came charging across the room.
Max yelled, “Hold it!” He had Ledecker in a sitting position. He said quickly, “Come any closer and I shut my hand on this throat. With one squeeze, I can crush the windpipe.”
When Ledecker reached up to claw at the hand, Max tightened the hammerlock. Ledecker painfully groaned, “Move back, Joseph.”
Joseph, no longer expressionless, moved slowly back on the balls of his feet.
“I want Joseph to give me the gun he took off me,” Max said softly.
“Don’t be absurd,” Ledecker said. His voice had more confidence.
Max gave a quick hard pressure with his fingers, released it. Ledecker’s body shook with the convulsive coughing.
Max said, “Did you feel that, friend? Just a little more than that. Here, I’ll try to give you a little more without killing you.”
“Wait,” Ledecker gasped. “Joseph, give him the gun.”
“Boss, I’m not going to get—”
“Do as you’re told!”
Max said, “Hold it by the barrel and slide it along the floor. Slide it right over here.”
Joseph hesitated for long seconds. The automatic slid along the rug. He released Ledecker’s throat, snatched up the gun, scrambled to his feet. It took an effort to straighten his bruised body.
Ledecker stood up slowly. His face was calm. “What now, Raffidy?”
“You and Joseph line up against that wall, face to the wall, feet about a yard from the baseboard. Then lean against the wall, your palms flat against it.”
Joseph looked at him with contempt. Max leveled the gun, saying, “So I have to smash your knee, Joe.”
Joseph lumbered over to the wall. Max went up behind them. Swinging the automatic in a horizontal arc, he chopped the barrel and trigger guard heavily against Joseph’s head, just above the right ear. Joseph’s face hit the hardwood floor with a damp, meaty smack. Then keeping the muzzle a few inches from the small of Ledecker’s back, he patted the man in all places where a small gun could be concealed.
Ledecker said, “Whatever you’re planning, Raffidy, it won’t work. I have fifteen employees in this place. Half of them are armed.”
Max said mildly, “If you were me, friend, wouldn’t you at least give it a whirl? Come on now. Turn around slow. The gun is in my pocket. I’m going to be a half step behind you. Anything I don’t care for—and one goes right through you.”
He could see the sheen of sweat on the man’s face. “Where to?” Ledecker asked.
“Right out the door and down the hall to the stairs. Slowly down the stairs and across the club room and out to the drive. Then into the car. And then to town.”
“Anything you suggest, Raffidy.”
“And all the time you’re walking, you’ll be talking to me. Not too loud and not too soft. You’ll be explaining some of your equipment. Understand?”
“Perfectly.”
“Start talking now.”
“One of … ah … the items we’ve had the most luck with this year has been a specialty item used in chuckaluck where the operator by merely putting his hand in a certain position to spin the cage, can make the dice …”
His voice droned on. The hallway was empty. They met a man on the stairs carrying a tray of drinks. The man backed into the corner of the landing to let them by. The door at the foot of the stairway opened near the bar. Two couples sat at the far end of the club room. Ledecker walked with his back rigid. Max kept what he hoped was an amiable smile on his face. Then out the side door to the parking lot.
Ledecker stopped and said, “The car will be brought over.”
The attendant brought the car over, jumped out, left the motor running. A small cement mixer chattered busily at the far end of the parking lot. Several workmen were moving about in a leisurely fashion.
The impact of the slug seemed to come before the brittle sound of the shot. To Max it was as though someone standing behind him had whammed him on the shoulder with a hand sledge. It spun him around so that he faced the door, and he went down the two steps to the gravel, stumbling and falling, rolling onto his back.
His left arm was dead. He couldn’t haul the gun out of his right pocket from that position. Ledecker came down the two steps toward him, frantic in his haste to get hold of the gun arm. At the second shot, Ledecker sprawled loosely across Max’s thighs. Max looked up, saw Joseph at the upstairs window, revolver aimed, a look of intense dismay on his wide face.
Max immediately realized that Ledecker had, in his eagerness, moved directly into the line of fire. He wiggled out from under Ledecker, scrambled around the car, driving his shoulder into the openmouthed attendant, staggering him off balance. He jumped in behind the wheel, dropped the big car into gear and spun the wheels on the gravel as he heard the faint sound of another shot, heard the thunk of lead against the metal side.
The attendant was racing beside the window, reaching in for the keys. Max swerved the heavy car toward the man, knocking him off his feet. Then he skidded out onto the driveway, turning toward town.
He was dizzy and faint with the shock of the wound. Pain was just beginning. He was grateful for the automatic shift on the car. He steered with his right hand at the top of the wheel, his left hand in his lap.
Captain Lowery said, “Lucky the bones in your shoulder are as thick as the ones in your head. What the hell are you doing? Leaving?”
“If it’s okay with the doc, why should you mind? Thanks, nurse. Just hang the coat over my shoulder.” The night lights were on in the corridor of the emergency ward.
“We went out there, as you know,” Lowery said.
“Thanks.”
“Skip the sarcasm. We went out and put the clamp on Joseph. There’s a ch
arge against you for trying to kidnap Ledecker, and for stealing the car. They wanted to make it murder, but we found the slug and shot it down to the lab along with Joseph’s gun. It matched. But, genius, no girl. No girl at all. Was there ever a girl, or were you just wishing hard?”
“Check with Dr. Morrison, who has his office across the street from where I live. He saw her. Check with Gruber, my building superintendent.”
“So there was a girl. I yanked in Walch and Antonelli and told them some hunks of your story. They laughed until they held on to their sides. Jerry Norma is on a business trip, they think. Ledecker would know, and he’s dead. They told me I was getting soft in the head listening to newspaper people. So what do we do now, genius?”
“Can I go along for the ride?”
“To where?”
“We go to the warehouse and we take some lab boys along. Suppose it turns out that there was a girl and that something has happened to her? How about Walch and Antonelli and the rest of the organization?”
Lowery gave the impression of wanting to spit on his hands. “Brother, we get our chance to smack down on the whole outfit. But good.”
They parked the two police sedans outside the warehouse. The warrant was in order. The lights were clicked on. Bright lights.
Max said to the lab men, “This grease spot looks like the car was parked here. Norma drove it right in. He got out. He was probably headed that way. See if you can find out if he was shot down.”
In a few moments one man reported a well-scrubbed place on the floor. They unstrapped the chemical kit and went to work, testing reagents. Finally one of them said, “Captain, there was blood here. Not too long ago. Maybe human. Can’t tell yet.”
Lowery himself found a bullet scar on the concrete. By lining it up with the scrubbed place, estimating the degree of ricochet, searching for fifteen laborious minutes, they found the slug half buried in the edge of a two-by-four that supported one shelf of a supply bin.
Lowery said, with a shade less contempt, “Now, genius, you’re beginning to click. We’ll accept the assumption that Norma was gunned right here and the girl saw it happen. Where to now?”
More Good Old Stuff Page 34