1944 - Just the Way It Is

by James Hadley Chase

  Duke touched Peter’s hand. ‘I’ll get him,’ he said, quietly. ‘I’ll fix him for this,’ and he went back to his car.

  Clare sat, wooden, staring in front of her. When Duke got in beside her, she said, ‘There’s a girl Lorelli and a boy called Joe . . . do you know them?’

  ‘Sure,’ Duke said. ‘But don’t worry about anything right now.’

  ‘But they are in trouble,’ Clare said, anxiously. ‘That’s why I came. Lorelli said for you to come. They are in the back of your poolroom with Korris and a lot of men.’

  Duke pushed his hat off his eyes. ‘Never mind about them,’ he said. ‘They’re just no count bums. What can I do for you? Where do you want to go?’

  She twisted round fiercely in her seat. ‘But they helped me. You’ve got to do something. You’ve got to help them.’

  ‘Okay, okay,’ Duke sent the car leaping forward. ‘I’ll do something,’ and he drove furiously towards the poolroom.

  While he drove, he forgot about her and thought of Schultz. He wondered where he was and how soon it would be before he found him. His hands tightened on the wheel. He made up his mind there and then that wherever Schultz hid himself he would get him. He became aware that Clare was speaking and he glanced at her white, strained face wondering how much Peter had meant to her.

  ‘You can’t go there alone,’ she was saying. ‘There are a lot of them You must get help, but the girl said that it was no use going to the police.’

  Duke said, ‘I’ll take care of it. Don’t you worry about this,’ and swung the car off the main street, heading for his own apartment. ‘I’ve got a Tommy at home. That’ll hold ‘em and it won’t lose much time; it’s in the same direction.’

  ‘Who killed him?’ she asked, suddenly, her fists clenched so that her knuckles shone in the sunlight.

  ‘Schultz, I should say,’ Duke said, between his teeth. ‘Yes, I guess it must have been Schultz.’

  ‘I asked you to leave him alone, didn’t I?’ She didn’t sound angry, but just as if she were thinking aloud in a dazed, bewildered way. ‘If you had left him alone this wouldn’t have happened. I told you he couldn’t look after himself. But you wouldn’t believe me. He wouldn’t believe me either. He was too nice and kind and decent to die like that. That’s the way people like Spade and Schultz and - and you will die. But, Peter wasn’t made for that sort of end.’

  Duke stopped outside his apartment house. He turned in his seat. ‘I know how you feel about this,’ he said. ‘But being bitter won’t help. Peter was a good friend of mine and I’ll miss him He meant a lot more to you than he meant to me and you’ll miss him too. But, we can’t do anything about it. All we can try to do is to remember him as we knew him and just think that he’s gone away. Then neither of us will be sorry for saying things that might not be true and might hurt other people.’

  She didn’t say anything, but sat looking down the road, wooden and bitter in her loss.

  ‘I’ll get the gun,’ Duke said. ‘If you want to go home, why don’t you take a taxi?’

  She looked at him and he saw the pent-up dislike for him in her eyes. ‘I want to see the end of this,’ she said. ‘You don’t think I want to stay out of it now he’s gone, do you?’

  He shrugged and ran into the house.

  While he was loading the Thompson, the telephone rang. He hesitated, then throwing the gun on the bed, he answered the telephone.

  ‘Harry Duke?’ He recognized Lorelli’s voice. She sounded excited.

  ‘Where are you?’ he said, surprised. ‘I was coming out to rescue you like they do in the movies.’

  ‘I can look after myself,’ she said. There was pride in her voice. ‘What do you think I am? Listen, I’m phoning from a drug store on the comer of Lincoln Street. Will you come and get me?’

  Duke said, ‘I’m on my way,’ and hung up.

  He wrapped the gun in a blanket which he yanked off his bed and ran downstairs.

  ‘Lorelli’s okay,’ he said, dropping the gun into the back of the car and climbed in beside Clare. ‘She’s just phoned. We’re going to pick her up.’

  Clare said nothing. Her wooden face made him nervous. He wished she would cry or something. Anything would be better than sitting there with that set face and her eyes like holes in a white sheet.

  He reached Lincoln Street in under four minutes. Lorelli and Joe were standing on the corner. Joe was holding a handkerchief to the lower part of his face. His eyes glowed viciously.

  Lorelli got in the car and Joe followed her. ‘Fairview,’ she said. ‘And step on it. I’ll talk while you drive.’

  Duke turned the car and began to beat it up the main street. ‘What’s cooking?’ he asked.

  ‘Plenty.’ Lorelli sounded quite worked up. ‘Spade’s mob is getting ready to take over Pinder’s End. When we left they were making plans. Twelve men and Korris. All have guns, but they’re not expecting trouble.’

  Duke smiled. ‘Then there’s a little surprise waiting for them,’ he said. He looked round at Clare. ‘This is the chance I was talking to you about. Remember? I said the only way to rid Bentonville of this mob was to get them in a bunch and knock them off. This is where they get it. And the guys who’ll give, it to them are the outcasts of the district. If it still means anything to you, I’ll bet that Bentonville will be as clean as a whistle in a week’s time.’

  ‘It’s a little late,’ was all Clare said, still nursing her grief.

  Lorelli was leaning forward breathing down Duke’s neck. ‘What are you going to do?’ she demanded.

  ‘I’ll drop you three at Fairview and then go on and warn Casy. They’ve got guns up there and Kells has joined them If we plan it right, we ought to beat hell out of them.’

  ‘If you think I’m going to miss this, you’re crazy,’ Lorelli said. ‘You ought to have seen me crack the skull of a guy who was pushing Joe around.’

  Duke shook his head. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘You’re out. I don’t want women in this fight.’

  Joe said tonelessly, ‘There are other things at Pinder’s End beside a fight. You look after the fight and we’ll look after the other things.’ He had found the Thompson and he was pointing it at Duke’s head.

  Duke could see the barrel reflected in his driving mirror. He could also see Joe’s bloodstained face. He didn’t like the look in the boy’s eyes.

  ‘If that’s how you feel,’ he said, more amused than alarmed, ‘just let me drop Clare off and we’ll all make up a happy party.’

  Clare said, ‘I’m coming too.’

  ‘Let her come,’ Lorelli said to Joe. ‘She might be useful.’

  ‘Everyone’s in this,’ Joe said, lowering the gun and mopping his nose again. It hurt him and so did his wrist. His temper was dangerous and uncertain. ‘Why don’t you invite the whole town up there?’

  ‘Quiet!’ Lorelli returned. ‘What else can we do?’

  ‘Know how much there’s supposed to be up there?’ Duke said. ‘Five hundred grand. That’s enough to share out, isn’t it?’

  Joe seemed more easy. ‘Five hundred grand.’ He almost forgot the throb of pain in his nose and wrist.

  As they approached Fairview, Duke said to Clare, ‘Are you sure you want to come?’

  ‘I’m coming,’ she said, flatly.

  He lifted his shoulders and trod down on the gas. It was not long before they reached the dirt road that led up to Pinder’s End.

  They hadn’t gone far when a voice hailed them. ‘Stop or I’ll fire!’

  Duke hastily jammed on his brakes and looked round, not seeing anyone. Then from behind a bush, Jetkin appeared, holding a rifle and looking self-conscious.

  ‘I didn’t mean to scare you, Mr. Duke,’ he said. ‘But that crazy guy Casy told me I’d got to stop anyone coming up.’

  Duke grinned. ‘That’s fine,’ he said. ‘Where’s everybody?’

  Jetkin waved his hand towards the field. ‘They’re making plans. What’s the idea, Mr. Duke, is there going to be
trouble?’

  ‘You bet,’ Lorelli broke in. ‘There’s a whale of a lot of trouble coming now in two autos.’

  Jetkin looked alarmed. ‘Is that right?’ he asked Duke.

  ‘I guess so,’ Duke returned. ‘Ever handled a rifle before?’

  ‘A shotgun, but not a rifle,’ Jetkin confessed. ‘But I’ve got the hang of this now, I guess.’ He looked at the rifle and snapped up the bolt. ‘I’d like a shot with it,’ he added, hopefully.

  ‘You’ll get it,’ Duke said, starting his engine. ‘The next load of cars that come up won’t stop, pal. You start blazing away the moment you see them. But, watch yourself, they’ll shoot a lot straighter than you.’

  Jetkin’s mouth fell open. ‘You mean I can shoot at these guys?’

  ‘Sure,’ Duke said. ‘Shoot as many as you can.’

  ‘Can I kill ‘em?’ Jetkin asked, hopefully.

  ‘I’ll be angry with you if you don’t,’ Duke said, waving his hand, and he drove on, bumping over the road and jerking them all up and down as if they were riding on a switchback.

  Lorelli said, ‘Hey! Let me out of here! I’d rather walk than have my vitamins disturbed.’

  Duke slowed down. ‘I can’t leave the car in the road,’ he said. ‘I’ll have to take it over the field and hide it up some place. Maybe you all had better walk, otherwise my springs’ll go.’

  He went on after they had got out and bumped cautiously over the field. Clouds of dust rose from the parched ground, covering the car and himself in a fine white powder. He couldn’t see where he was going and he cursed as the wheel jerked and pulled trader his hand.

  Finally, however, he reached Casy’s house. Kells was standing at the gate and Casy was on the porch.

  ‘Can I get round the back?’ he called. ‘I want this out of the way.’

  ‘Sure,’ Casy said. ‘Shove her through the fence. It won’t last much longer anyway.’

  Duke nosed his way up to the fence, put a little more pressure on the gas pedal and ironed the fence flat. He jolted across the rough mud patch, swung the car round the back of the house and stopped. He climbed out and walked round to the front again.

  ‘Who’s coming?’ Kells asked, squinting through the dust.

  ‘Schultz’s girl and Joe, Miss Russell’s along with ‘em too.’

  ‘What’s this - a party?’ Kells asked in disgust.

  ‘Listen, pal,’ Duke returned, ‘Schultz’s knocked off Peter Cullen. The girl feels bad about it. Will you watch your mouth?’

  ‘What girl?’

  ‘Miss Russell,’ Duke said, patiently.

  ‘Cullen dead, eh? What did Schultz want to kill him for? Not that it grieves me. I had no use for that guy.’

  ‘Never mind what use you had for him,’ Duke said, his eyes cold. ‘Just lay off him, will you?’

  Kells gave him a quick look. ‘Sure,’ he returned, hastily, ‘I wouldn’t speak out of turn.’ He hitched his trousers up. ‘Well, I must say you’ve done a swell job of work. These guys are like a lot of grasshoppers, jumping mad to kill someone.’

  Casy joined them. ‘Mr. Duke,’ he said, shaking hands. ‘That was a swell assortment of guns you sent up, but I ain’t quite clear about this. We ain’t killing anyone, are we?’

  Duke scratched his head. ‘I guess so,’ he said. ‘We’ve got every right. If they attack us, we’ll just let ‘em have it. It’s self-defence and besides I took the precaution of getting myself sworn in as a deputy sheriff, so we’ve got some legal covering.’

  ‘That’s a load off my mind.’ Casy spat into the dust. ‘I didn’t want these guys to get themselves into trouble.’

  ‘We’ll be having visitors in a little while,’ Duke said. ‘I want to be prepared. Are you keeping ‘em out of Pinder’s End or don’t you want a fight on your hands?’

  Casy’s eyes hardened. ‘What sort of a fight?’ he asked.

  ‘A pretty tough one. Maybe, some of us’ll get hurt. These boys don’t play at it. Spade’s mob is tough.’

  Casy scratched his beard. ‘If it wasn’t for the women and kids, I’d say yes.’

  Duke took a roll of notes out of his pocket. ‘Tell ‘em to clear out for the day. Tell ‘em to take this money and go down to the Clarion offices. If they ask for Sam Trench, he’ll fix ‘em up.’

  Casy looked relieved. ‘You’ve got a head piece on you, mister,’ he said. ‘We’ll fight.’

  ‘Okay.’ Duke looked relieved. ‘There’s lots to do, Casy. Get the women and kids off first. Then get your boys here with the guns and slugs. I want to talk to them.’

  Casy went off fast, dust spurting up under his great feet as he broke into a shambling run.

  Kells tilted his hat farther over his eyes. ‘Do you think they’ll fight?’ he asked, looking across the field.

  ‘Wouldn’t you for five hundred grand?’ Duke returned. ‘I bet they don’t fight at once. They’ll come in the night. I know Korris. He ain’t got the stomach to come out in the daylight.’

  Clare, Joe and Lorelli joined them.

  Duke introduced Kells to Clare. She hardly looked at him, but stood staring at the ramshackle houses and at the women and children who were bustling about getting ready to leave.

  ‘What’s the matter with her?’ Kells whispered to Duke. ‘She looks like she’s run her face up against a wall.’

  Duke scowled at him. ‘You know Joe and the chicken woman?’

  Kells smiled at Joe. ‘That face suits you,’ he said. ‘You ought always to wear it.’

  Joe said something under his breath and Lorelli flared up. ‘You lay off,’ she snapped. ‘He wants fixing. Isn’t there some place where I can do it?’

  Just then Casy returned and he took Lorelli and Joe into his house.

  Clare hesitated and then followed them. Duke looked after her, shaking his head. ‘She’s in a bad way,’ he said to Kells.

  When Casy came out, the women and kids were ready to leave. They went off in a body, some thirty of them, over the fields at the back of Pinder’s End. It was the longest way round, but Duke thought it would be safer. By going that way they would bypass the dirt road and would not be likely to run into Korris and his mob.

  Duke, watching them go, wondered what Sam would say when they walked in on him. He’d have given a lot to see Sam’s face.

  ‘Well, come on, get your boys together,’ he said. ‘We’ve got a lot to do and not much time.’

  ‘What about Jetkin?’ Casy said. ‘Does he know what to do?’

  Duke looked at Kells. ‘Maybe you’d better take a couple of guys with Thompsons and relieve Jetkin. If anyone comes up the road, stop them and turn them back. Don’t start shooting unless you have to.’

  Kells looked across the broad field. ‘Hell!’ he said. ‘You don’t want me to walk all that way, do you? Why can’t this guy go.’ He jerked his thumb at Casy. ‘He’s used to the dust.’

  Duke bunched his shoulders. ‘You said you’d work for five hundred grand. This is where you start. Get off!’

  ‘Who do you think you are? Stonewall Jackson?’ Kells asked, but he went.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  When Lorelli had fixed Joe’s nose, she threw the red-tinged water down the sink, put away the towel she had been using and then inspected her handiwork.

  Joe hid behind a large plaster bandage. All she could see of his face were two glowing eyes. He looked as mean as a rattlesnake.

  ‘Well, come on,’ she said, briskly. ‘This is the house and we may as well start looking.’

  Joe gritted his teeth. His wrist still hurt him and his nose gave him hell. The prospect of searching the house didn’t appeal to him. ‘You leave me alone,’ he said, sitting down, ‘I want to rest.’

  ‘You’ll have a lifetime to rest if we find this money,’ Lorelli said, tartly. ‘So come on, you lazy lug.’

  Joe just sat and glared at her. ‘Leave me alone,’ he snarled.

  Clare, who had been standing by the window, turned. ‘Where are you thinking o
f looking?’ she asked. ‘And do you know what you’re looking for?’

  ‘Never mind,’ Lorelli said, hastily. ‘You keep Joe company,’ and she went out of the room.

  She ran into Duke who was just coming in. ‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Where are you off to?’

  ‘Hadn’t we better start looking?’ she said, a little anxiously.

  He grinned. ‘Sure, why not? Come upstairs with me. Where’s Joe?’

  ‘Oh, he’s sulking in there,’ Lorelli said. ‘The fuss men make over a little pain. You’d think he was dying.’

  Duke went into Casy’s sitting room and stood over Joe. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘You’re going to do some work. There’s a lot to be done.’

  Joe got out of his chair and swung his left fist up in a sizzling uppercut.

  Clare screamed as she saw Joe shape for the punch, but Duke swayed away and blocked Joe’s fist with his forearm He grabbed Joe’s arm, bent it behind him and kicked him across the room.

  Joe landed on his hands and knees at Lorelli’s feet. She stepped back, drawing her skirt round her knees. ‘What do you think you are . . . a twelve-minute egg?’ she demanded.

  Joe got to his feet. He looked dangerous. His hand went to his hip pocket, but Duke slid across and grabbed hold of him again. ‘Cut it out,’ he said. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ He walked out of the room, pushing Joe in front of him.

  Lorelli followed them upstairs into the lumber room overlooking the front mud patch.

  Duke let Joe go and stood back. ‘You going to behave or do you want me to slap you?’

  Joe straightened his coat, gave Duke an ugly look and stood silent.

  ‘Swell,’ Duke said. ‘Now, this is the first room. Go over it as if you were looking for a needle. Take it to pieces. It’ll be fun for you both.’ He picked up a rusty crowbar that stood in the fireplace. ‘Get the flooring up and hack the walls down if you