Johnnie

by Dorothy B. Hughes

  “After Rudolph leaves,” Ferenz smiled.

  “Certainly. After Rudolph leaves.” Dorp rubbed his fat head. “We would not jeopardize the plans by calling now. It is not long to wait.”

  Johnnie shook his head. “You can’t do that. You have to call the police right away.”

  “Young man, will you kindly mind your own business?” Ferenz sputtered. “You’ve caused enough trouble tonight as it is. Besides I thought you were tied up.”

  “I didn’t like it,” Johnnie swaggered. “I don’t wonder you’re scared of the police. You must be the worst hoarder in New York.”

  “I am not a hoarder.” Ferenz’s face turned bright red. “Every bit of food in my home tonight was produced on my own farm.”

  Ottomkopf accented, “Why do you waste words with this specimen, Mr. Lessering?”

  Ferenz raised elephantine shoulders. “He taunted me.”

  “And you’re afraid of the police.” Johnnie jumped on Herr Ottomkopf with both feet. “Because you’re a German and they’d turn you over to the F. B. I.”

  Ottomkopf fixed him with two glazed eyes. “I am a Rudamian.”

  “You’re a Prussian!” Rudolph interjected. He was ignored.

  “I am here by permission thanks to Ferenz Lessering.”

  “I wouldn’t want that to be investigated,” Ferenz said.

  “And you,” Johnnie swung on Dorp. “You’re nothing but a scrub of a Nazi. You killed Theo. Rudo and I know why you killed him too. You meant to kill Rudolph but you made a mistake in the dark. You wanted to kill Rudolph so he couldn’t go to Washington and tell about you.”

  Rudolph kept gulping.

  Ottomkopf demanded coldly. “Why did you dismiss the guard, Herr Dorp?”

  “A lot of good they’d do. A lot of good they did before.” Johnnie swelled out his chest. “Let’s stop beating around the bush. I’m going to call the police right now. And soon as they get here Rudolph and I are heading for the airport. I’m going to see he gets on the Clipper safe.”

  “Oh no you’re not,” Trudy said. She said it from behind Johnnie and it wasn’t her finger poked into his lower spine. “You’re going to drop that shotgun right now or you’re going to get plugged in the back like Theo was. One—two—”

  Johnnie dropped it. It made a bang big enough to cause all the audience to jump. Ferenz put his hands over his ears. Johnnie kicked himself. Why hadn’t he kept his eye on Trudy? He ought to have known by now that the girls in this roost had more backbone than the men.

  Rudolph was complaining. “You can’t do this, Trudy. This man is helping me.”

  “Helping you?” She laughed out loud and pushed the hole deeper into Johnnie’s spine. “Sure, he’s helping you. Right into an internment camp. He isn’t one of your Rudamian patriots. He’s an American soldier. He’s even got dog tags. Look under that shirt. Private John Brown, United States Army.”

  Rudolph raised doubtful eyes at Johnnie.

  “Sure, I’m in the Army,” Johnnie admitted. “But—”

  “He’s a government spy,” Trudy said. “I’ve known it all evening but I didn’t want to worry you. I thought I could handle him until we got you away.”

  Johnnie’s mouth and eyes opened.

  Rudolph scurried ever to Magda. “And to think I almost let him take me away from here.”

  Johnnie had found his voice. “Rudolph, listen, of all the awful liars—”

  Trudy jabbed the gun. “You’re going back upstairs, soldier. Janssen, bring that rifle and come along. This time you won’t get untied. Put your hands out in front of you, Johnnie. Much safer than over the head.”

  “Rudolph, listen,” Johnnie plead.

  Rudolph was drinking Janssen’s and Magda’s drinks, one in each hand. He shook his head.

  Trudy ordered, “March.”

  Johnnie marched. Same old ʼ76. Let a girl pull a gun on him. But these girls weren’t fooling. He was smart enough to know that. The men might talk but the girls acted.

  He hesitated on the third floor. “Listen, Trudy—”

  “March,” she commanded. “Open the door, Janssen.”

  The fellow circled Johnnie to obey. Even if Trudy were holding a gun, Janssen was still nervous about getting in front. Johnnie waited until the man had the knob in his hand. He couldn’t resist. He gave the chief guard a good hard boot in the behind.

  Janssen howled, “Ow!” He jerked around.

  Trudy pushed with the gun. “Stop that nonsense, Johnnie. Go on, Janssen.”

  Janssen, rubbing his rear, climbed on up. He was out of sight before Johnnie and Trudy entered the closet. When they reached the upper hallway, he was bending over the sniveling guard. He ducked away from Johnnie. “He hit Wallie!”

  “He hit me twice!” Wallie humped on the floor, rubbing his jaw.

  “What did you do to him?” Trudy demanded.

  Wallie whined, “Nothing. Not a single thing.”

  “Why not?” She jabbed at Johnnie. “Go on in there. Janssen, you and Wallie come too. You’ll have to tie him up.”

  The rope lay in jagged segments all over the floor. Johnnie’s boot pushed at one of them cheerfully. Janssen and Wallie looked woebegone.

  “What’s the matter?” Trudy asked.

  “He cut the clothesline!” Janssen informed her.

  Johnnie grinned. “What you going to do? Splice it?”

  “Sit down.” Trudy pushed. “In that chair. Take your belts, boys. Strap him to it.”

  “My belt?” Janssen held on to its Sam Browne magnificence. Wallie gazed at his, transferred his attention to the despoiled rope, and stepped backward.

  “You heard me,” Trudy said. “Do as I say.”

  Slowly, unhappily, the two guards removed the leather. They weren’t fooling when they approached Johnnie. They hated his guts. If Trudy hadn’t been present they’d have jumped him and he knew it. The straps bit into his ankles, crunched his wrists.

  Trudy rammed the gun into her waistline. “That ought to do it. You may rejoin His Highness.”

  “And you?” Janssen inquired.

  She put both hands on her hips and lifted red hot and blue eyes to him. “If you’re not careful, Louie Janssen, you’ll lose those bars on your shoulders. Even if Magda is making a play for you. Stop trying to think. Obey orders. Get out of here before I lose my temper. I’m remaining to question the prisoner and I don’t want your big ears in on it. Is that clear? Beat it. Blitz. Leave that door open and go.”

  Janssen and Wallie clattered. Trudy didn’t move until she heard the sliding panel of the closet replaced. Then she ambled over, slammed the door. She returned to Johnnie. “Where are the papers?”

  “What’s the idea of tying me up?” he demanded.

  “If you’d had any sense you wouldn’t have tried to get loose in the first place. You’re safer up here. If you can catch a little sense you’ll stay tied up this time.”

  “You think this is fun?”

  “I think it’s a lot safer here than below just as I told you. If the F. B. I. agents decide to break in you’ll have a much better explanation if you’re tied up in the attic than if you’re holding his princely hand downstairs.”

  Johnnie hawed. “You were seeing shadows. That F. B. I. stuff is a lot of bunk. Magda thought it up to get Rudo to leave. After I told her you were trying to snake him.”

  “You told her that?”

  “Because you’d seen her smooching with Ruprecht.”

  “You told her that!” In another minute she’d pop him one.

  “Well, you asked me to get Rudolph away.”

  “You didn’t have to go that far. Letting her think I cared what she and Rupe were doing. I don’t care that.” She spat. “Now where are those papers?”

  “If you’ll loose my hands—”

  “I won’t and if you don’t tell me where those papers are quick”—she flipped up the gun again—“you’re going to have half an ear less in three seconds.”

  �
�They’re where they’ve been. Reach in my inside pocket.” He scowled. If she’d release his hands alone he’d take a particular pleasure in holding her up by the heels until she hollered Uncle. The brat.

  She swished the envelope under his nose, turned it over and over. “Did you open it?”

  “It’s sealed, isn’t it?” he glowered.

  She seemed to be weighing it on her hand. Finally she ripped the seals.

  He warned her, “You can’t seal it up again if you do that.”

  “I don’t intend to. When it’s found, no one is going to know who had it.” She sat down at the table, read carefully through the papers, read with a puzzled scowl. “Is this all there was in it?”

  “’S all.” After he’d answered her, he realized she’d stuck him with that one. But she didn’t pay any attention. She was rereading the documents. “You’re sure this is all? Because there’s nothing wrong with these, Johnnie, not a thing.”

  “That’s what I figured.”

  “You said you didn’t open it.”

  “I’ve got x-ray eyes,” he grinned. “How about letting loose my hands so I can smoke?”

  “Hold on.” She darted into the hall.

  Well, there’d been no harm in asking. She had vanished. He heard doors opening, closing. And then suddenly she was there again. She had a key in her hand. She turned it in the door.

  He tried not to duck when she walked over to him. He kept telling himself she was only a blonde chick. But he couldn’t help the feathers blowing up and down his spine. Not when she went behind him. And then all at once his hands were free. He couldn’t believe it. He looked at them, rubbed at his wrists. “That bastard buckled too tight.”

  “What did you expect? You kicked him. Undo your own feet.”

  He was wary. He didn’t get this. He asked, “You won’t shoot?”

  She looked like a kid but her eyes were wise as hell. “Don’t be an ass,” she said. Her eyes were looking not into his but down into his soul. “I need your help.”

  2.

  Trudy perched on the table and riffled the precious papers. Johnnie walked around getting the blood to circulating in his ankles.

  “I don’t get it, Johnnie,” she admitted.

  “What did you expect to find?” He stood on his toes.

  “Treachery. I distinctly heard Dorp tell Theo to keep that envelope on him and tell no one. Later I heard Theo tell someone over the phone that Rudolph would never reach Europe. That’s all I heard. It wasn’t in the car. It was before we left the house. I didn’t get a chance to pick his pocket until we were at Ferenz’s. But there isn’t anything here to stop Rudolph.” She tapped her knuckles against her teeth. “I must reach Ruprecht.”

  “You haven’t yet?”

  “He isn’t in the bars. That was a smoke screen to keep them quiet below. I know where he is.”

  “Call him.”

  “No phones. He’s in one of two places. One’s a little beerstube up on Columbus. Just a hole-in-the-wall. He likes it there. The other—” She bit her lip. “The other is a woman’s apartment. On West End. That’s where you come in.”

  “Me?”

  “You’ve got to go get him.”

  “I got to get the police.”

  “I’ll call them. You get Rupe.”

  “Listen, honey—”

  “I know. But I’ll take care of details. I’d do it myself only I don’t dare leave. I don’t know what they might think up while I was away. You’ll have to do it.”

  “But honest,” Johnnie argued, “I don’t know a thing about where Columbus is or the West End or nothing. I’ve never been in New York before tonight.”

  “It’s easy. Look. You just walk down to the end of the block and that’s Columbus. Turn left. Middle of the block, right hand side. You can’t miss it. Go there first. If Hans hasn’t seen Rupe tonight then you walk over—”

  “Wait a minute.”

  “All right.” She repeated directions. “You have it?”

  He nodded. That much was clear.

  “If he isn’t there, walk back over to Broadway. That’s the other direction. Go downtown to a Hundred and Third Street. It isn’t far. Then turn right and walk the same direction you did to Broadway, west. West End’s the next street. It’s an apartment house. The Dragham. The name is”—she raised her nose—“Edna Riggens.” She went on very fast. “She’s a dreadful person but Rupe likes her. He likes so many people. Mostly women. That’s half his trouble. You will go get him, won’t you?”

  “Sure I’ll go,” Johnnie was hearty. “There’s nothing I’d like better than to go.” He eyed her. “But not without my own clothes.”

  She eyed him right back again. She was little and tough but she knew when she was beaten. Right now. “All right,” she nodded. “You sit tight. I’ll fetch them.”

  She unlocked the door, closed it after her. But she wasn’t taking any chances on him. He heard the key turn in the lock. He lit a cigarette. At long last he could break out of here. He’d deliver the message to Rupe and then make tracks for Times Square. He’d probably never find Bill or Hank at this hour but that wasn’t important. The main thing was to get away.

  The key rattled in the lock. Trudy reentered bearing his uniform on a hanger. She said, “Pick up your shoes outside the door and lock it again.”

  He did. She handed over the uniform. For a hurry-up job and the shape it had been in, it looked pretty good. It didn’t even smell too much of cleaning fluid. He sniffed, “How long has this been back?”

  “For hours,” she said airily.

  “Then why in thunderation—”

  “I wanted you here.” Her cobra smile vanished quickly. “I had a hunch I’d need help, playing a lone hand against this field.” She urged, “Well, go on. Get dressed.”

  “Where?”

  Scorn lifted her nose. “Since when are you so particular? Go on. I’ve seen your underwear before tonight.”

  He pulled off a boot. “There’s no more privacy here than at a reception center.”

  She didn’t pay any attention to him. She was walking up and down, her hands behind her back. “You will find Rupe for me and bring him back, won’t you?”

  “I’ll see he gets here. But I don’t see any reason why I should walk back into this bear trap. I’ve been waiting for hours to get out of the dump.”

  “Because I need you.” She stopped in front of him. “Don’t you see it’s Rupe and me against the field? And if you two don’t return—”

  He pushed her out of his way. “Are they Nazis?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know what Dorp is. Maybe he’s a Nazi. Maybe he’s of the Terrorists. He brought Rudolph here to kill him.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “If he’s a Nazi and can get rid of Rudolph, they can put a puppet king on the throne. The Terrorists want a president.”

  “What about Ruprecht?” Under cover of the shirt, he transferred the cigar.

  “He doesn’t want to be king. He’ll abdicate in favor of anyone. He’ll do anything to keep from being king.”

  Johnnie took an inner squint at it. “Why didn’t some of you tell Rudolph what it was all about? Why did you let him walk into this?”

  “I didn’t know, stupid. I didn’t know until tonight that anything was wrong. Of course I didn’t believe all that stuff about Rudamia wanting him but I knew he wasn’t safe in Mexico with the Nazis gunning for him, and he couldn’t come here. His government-in-exile told your state department they absolutely would not have Rudo in their hair. So I thought it would be fine if he could be sent as far as Switzerland. My mother’s there and she would keep an eye on him. The others still don’t know there’s anything wrong. Magda wanted Rudo to come so she could get her claws on the crown. Otto’s a royalty boy. He wants to play Metternich for twenty-five more years in Rudamia. If he’s the one who puts Rudo back on the throne, he’s set, don’t you see? And Ferenz—well, I guess he has so much in the hole now
that he has to keep the Ruffeni heirs in the saddle until they pay off. He’s the one that found Dorp and Dorp’s running the show. Rupe and me haven’t had anything to say.”

  “You could tell them now,” Johnnie suggested.

  “Tell them anything!” she snorted. “Don’t you understand? Dorp is Ferenz’s pet They’re all so used to doing what Furry says—because of the money of course—they’d never believe me.”

  Johnnie turned his back to button his trousers. “But how you going to keep Dorp from killing Rudolph? If that’s what he wants.”

  She frowned. “I’m going to stick right with him. He’s waiting for Rupe to show up with the papers. Something about those papers means death for Rudo. I can’t fathom it but I know it’s true. Dorp’s not going to make a move until he knows for sure they won’t turn up. As long as he believes he can put Rudolph on the Clipper, he won’t risk his fat neck.”

  “What do you mean he’s not going to move? Theo’s dead, isn’t he? He wasn’t killed because he was Theo. You know that. Dorp or whoever had the gun thought it was Rudo sneaking out. Bang.”

  “That’s true,” she admitted. “But that was different. It was because of the F. B. I., not Rudamia. You get Rupe for me and—”

  “And what?”

  “He’ll snake Rudolph out of here. Then—”

  “What?”

  “Leave it to me.” She was a chubby pink cherub but he didn’t doubt her abilities.

  “O. K. I’ll get him.” He jerked his tie under the second button.

  “And you’ll come back with him?”

  “I don’t know. But I’ll fetch Rupe for you. And you’ll call the police right away? We don’t want to get in any serious trouble.”

  “I’ll call them. Don’t worry about that.”

  “How do I get out without being caught?”

  “That’s easy.” She walked to the far wall, shoved it open. There wasn’t any door you could see, just wall, but it opened. She reclosed it. “The house next door is Dorp’s too. Just in case of emergencies. He didn’t tell me but I found out. No one lives there but an old lady—a cousin of Dorp’s. She’s in Brooklyn for the week end. You just go on through and out the front door.”