“You can imagine what it did to me,” Reg said, feeling his throat tenderly. “If I hadn’t used my head, I’d been stiff by now. I heard someone rush past me—I guess it was Hench—and then I heard the vault door slam. I knew what that meant if they rubbed me out. The noose was pretty tight by now and I couldn’t breathe. I kept my balance and I staggered towards the guy who was hauling on the rope. By doing that I managed to keep some slack on the rope, but not much. I felt myself blacking out and then—why I hadn’t thought of it before I don’t know—I remembered I was holding your gun. I started shooting. That did it. These two killers don’t like anyone who hits back. They scrammed. The moment the guy let go of the rope I was okay. I gave ‘em a couple more shots to help them on their way and then I came back to find out what had happened to you two. The door was locked and the key had gone, but after a while I found it lying in the grass where Hench had dropped it, and here I am.”
I drew in a deep breath. “You didn’t see who the other person was?” I asked.
Reg shook his head. “No—all I’m sure of is there was someone else with Hench.”
Audrey put her hand in mine. “Don’t you think we should go? They might come back.”
“We’re going in a moment,” I said, squeezing her hand. “There’s just one more thing to do and then we’ll scram. You got a flashlight, Reg? Mine’s nearly done.”
He gave me a small pocket affair. “What’s on your mind?” he asked anxiously. “I’ve had more than enough of this place.”
“You’ve got the key of the vault?”
“Yeah.” He held up the key so I could see it.
“Close the door and stand with your back to it. I’m opening one more of these coffins.”
“Aw, you’re crazy,” he said, but he closed the door and put his back against it.
Audrey sat down on the step and rested her head against the stonewall. She looked white and drawn, but she didn’t raise any objections.
I went over to the coffins again and set to work on the coffin next to the one I had already opened. In five minutes or so I had drawn all the screws and I lifted the lid. One glance was enough.
“Reg,” I called, “come here. Do you know who this is?”
He crossed the vault and stood at my side. “Ohmigod,” he said under his breath, and turned away. “That’s Luce McArthur.”
I lowered the lid and wiped my hands with my handkerchief; I was sweating ice.
“That’s good enough,” I said. “I’m not looking at the others. It’s a safe bet they’re all here. Come on, we’re going home, but we’ve got to get a police guard on this vault or the killer may try to hide ‘em again.”
Reg opened the vault door and stared into the darkness. It was beginning to rain. We crowded behind him and stood listening. The thick smell of tuberoses, carnations, lilies, violets and jasmine saturated the hot, still air. The thunder was now a faint distant rumble, but rain fell in heavy isolated drops, making the sound of hundreds of taps on a slack drum.
“Do you see anything?” I whispered.
“Not a thing, but I don’t fancy walking through this darkness with a couple of killers hiding behind a tombstone waiting to jump on us,” Reg said uneasily.
“Suppose we spend the night here?”
I considered this, but I didn’t think Audrey could stand another six hours in the vault.
I shook my head. “We’ll go,” I said. “If we keep together, they’ll leave us alone. Maybe they’re miles away by now.”
I stepped into the pouring rain and the other two followed me. I shut and locked the vault, walked up the steps, passed through the iron gate and locked that.
I put the key in my pocket.
“Come on,” I said, taking Audrey’s hand. “Let’s go.”
In the beam of the flashlight sheets of black rain fell on the sodden cinder path. Willow trees dripped water dismally on us. On the distant horizon lightning flickered, lighting the grey, weeping clouds.
We walked steadily down the path, our ears pricked, and our hearts thumping. There was no sound in the burial-ground but the crunching of gravel under our feet and the steady beat of rain on the leaves and foliage.
The attendant’s white lodge loomed out of the darkness and we knew we were nearly there.
“I want that book,” I whispered to Reg. “You two wait by the window.”
Audrey clutched me. “No . . . we’ll come with you. We’re not separating for a moment.”
“Okay,” I said and paused to push up the window.
Five minutes later we were all in Audrey’s car, speeding down the road towards our hotel. I had the attendant’s register on my knee. Reg sat behind us, mopping himself with a sodden handkerchief and muttering under his breath.
“Tomorrow finishes it,” I told them, “and it depends on you, honey, how it finishes.”
“You tell me what to do,” Audrey said quietly, “and I’ll do it . . . only no more graveyards, please.”
I patted her hand. “It won’t be graveyards,” I said, “but it won’t be much better.”
While I was speaking I spotted an all-night drugstore and I pulled up outside.
“I’ll have a word with Beyfield,” I went on. “I want that vault guarded.”
I was lucky to catch Beyfield as he was leaving. He didn’t sound very enthusiastic when he knew who was calling.
“By tomorrow night,” I told him, “I’ll have this case sewn up. If you want to be in on the ground floor you can help me now. If you don’t want to help me, I’ll take all the credit and you’ll get a hell of a ribbing in the press.”
“What’s the idea?” he demanded. “If you know anything you come over to headquarters or I’ll pinch you as accessary.”
“Don’t talk like a dope. I’ll spill everything tomorrow night, but not till then,” I snapped hack. “I want you to detail a couple of men to watch Crypt Twelve in the Cranville Cemetery. Get ‘em there right away. All they have to do is to stick around and sec no one tries to get in. I’ve got the key, but maybe there’s a duplicate. I’ve enough evidence in that vault to split the case wide open.”
He got excited. “The girls are in there, huh?” he demanded.
“Yeah, but hold everything until tomorrow night. I haven’t got the killer yet. If you blow the lid off now you’ll scare the killer into hiding. Even now he may be too scared to go ahead with the next murder. Will you give me until then?”
He finally agreed. “Okay, Spewack,” he said. “I’ll fix it, but we take over tomorrow night.”
“Sure,” I said, grinning at the telephone, “you’ll take over all right.”
I hung up and went out into the rain again.
I was up early the next morning, and leaving Reg and Audrey still in bed I went out to send off a long telegram to Colonel Forsberg. Then I went to a hospital equipment store and placed an urgent order with them.
By the time I returned to the hotel it was just after eleven o’clock. I tapped on Audrey’s door.
“Come in,” she called.
I found her sitting up in bed, a breakfast tray on the table beside her. She laid the morning paper down and smiled at me.
“Where have you been?” she asked, stretching out her hand.
I sat down on the bed and took her hand in mine. I thought she looked pretty good.
“I’ve been getting organized,” I said. “Among other things I’ve bought the licence.”
She laughed. “You haven’t?”
I nodded. “I sure have,” I said. “You don’t think I’d let a chance like this slip through my fingers, do you? You said you’d marry me if we got out of that vault: Well, that’s what you’re going to do.”
“I suppose it’s all right,” she said, pulling me to her. “It won’t be all fun being married to a detective, but at least I’ll know most of the answers.”
We had a nice intimate session together for the next five minutes and t
hen she pushed me away.
“Now let’s concentrate on business,” she said. “What’s going to happen?”
I lit a cigarette, smoothed down my hair and grinned at her.
“Plenty,” I said. “For one thing you’re having your last bachelor date. After tonight you’ll never go out with any other man but me. That’s something to look forward to.”
“You mean—Ted?”
I nodded. “Yeah. We’re going through with this. Maybe we’ve scared Ted. Maybe he won’t try anything, but if he does—then we’ve got him.”
“Do you really think he’s the killer?” she asked. “I still can’t believe it.”
“He must be. It clicks. I think we’ll find he’s a sexual lunatic. Hench’s covering up his crimes by hiding up the bodies,” I said, seriously. “I hate asking you to do this, but unless we catch him red-handed he might beat the rap.”
“What have I got to do?”
“You’ve arranged to go out with him tonight, haven’t you? Well, all I want you to do is to keep the date. The rest—unless I’m mistaken—he’ll do. You have nothing to worry about. Both Reg and I’ll be right behind you.”
“That sounds simple enough,” Audrey said, “but you will watch out, won’t you?”
“I’ll watch out,” I said, and kissed her. “Take it easy and don’t be in a hurry to get up. There’s nothing for you to do until tonight. I’ll see you later.”
I found Reg pacing up and down in our room. He looked up eagerly when I came in.
“What’s cooking?” he asked. “Where have you been?”
“Fixing things,” I told him. “We can’t do much now until tonight. It all depends on Ted. If he doesn’t show up, then we’ll have to do it the hard way. If he does and starts anything—we’ve got him.”
“Audrey’s the bait, huh?”
I nodded. “She’s got guts,” I said. “I wish I didn’t have to ask her to do it.”
Just then the telephone rang. The desk clerk told me Beyfield wanted to see me.
I made a face at Reg. “Show him up,” I said into the telephone, and hung up.
“Beyfield’s on his way up,” I told Reg. “I hope he isn’t going to be difficult.”
A few minutes later Beyfield came in. He was wearing the same black and white striped suit and his big fleshy face wore a sour, suspicious look.
I waved him to the only armchair.
Reg sat on the window-ledge and I stood by the empty fireplace.
Beyfield sat down heavily. He didn’t take off his hat. He looked at Reg and then at me.
“I suppose you guys know what you’re doing,” he said, unpeeling paper from a package of chewing gum. “I haven’t told the chief what’s going on, and it’s worrying me.” He fed the strip of gum into his mouth and began to chew.
I eyed him thoughtfully. “I’m nearly ready to crack this case,” I said, “but right now the situation is tricky.”
“You’d better crack it,” he said sourly. “Macey’ll play hell if you foozle it.”
“Did you get those guards on the vault?”
He nodded. “A swell assignment. They loved it. They stopped there all night in the pouring rain listening to the stiffs turning in their graves. I hope you weren’t fooling when you said the girls were in that tomb.”
“I wasn’t,” I said grimly. “I saw ‘em myself.”
“So it’s Esslinger?” He looked at me sharply.
I shook my head. “Not Max,” I said.
He waited, but I didn’t say anything more. We all stared at each other while the clock ticked off the minutes.
“The boy, huh?” he asked at last.
“Maybe. I’ll know tonight.”
He chewed some more and then said: “You’re smart. McArthur’s a friend of mine—that’s why I’m giving you a break.”
I thanked him.
“Macey wouldn’t give you a break. He’d bust open the vault,” Beyfield went on. “I’m sticking my neck out. You’d better crack this case.”
“Even if I don’t, I’ve found the bodies. That’s more than you’ve done,” I reminded him.
“Yeah,” he said. “Cranville’s punk.” He brooded for a while and then went on: “I guess this’ll finish Macey, and a good thing too.”
“I’m not interested any more in Cranville,” I said. “I want to get this killer fixed and then I’ll blow.”
“It’s where I have to live,” Beyfield explained, stretching out his long legs. “I don’t want Wolf running this town, and if Esslinger’s washed up, he might.”
“Esslinger’s washed up all right,” I said. “He’ll have to go. His brother-in-law’s tied up with the killings, and that alone is enough.”
“Sure is,” he said gloomily. “Maybe we’ll find some other guy to stand for mayor. I don’t want Wolf . . .”
“Maybe we could fix Wolf too,” I said, and went on to tell him about Edna Wilson.
He listened thoughtfully and then squinted at me. “Not much you’ve missed,” he said. “If that’s straight, we could fix Wolf.”
“It’s straight all right,” I said.
He got to his feet. “Okay, I’ll do something about that.”
“Have a word with Latimer,” I said. “He could fix it. A front-page story in the Cranville Gazette would blow the lid right off this town. Maybe they’d make you Chief of Police if you played it right.”
For a second a sour smile lit his face. “I’ve even thought of that,” he said. “Yeah, I’ll have a word with Latimer.”
“Want to be in on this?” I asked.
He looked at me questioningly.
“You could come along tonight. I don’t want the credit so long as Colonel Forsberg knows I’ve done my job,” I explained.
His face lit up. “Sure,” he said.
“Okay. Meet us here about seven o’clock. The three of us ought to be able to handle it.”
“I’ll be here,” he said, and moved to the door; then he paused. “I don’t like private dicks,” he went on, staring at the wall above my head, “but you ain’t such a bad guy.”
I laughed at him. “You don’t have to worry about me,” I said. “Look at the dough I’m earning.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I was forgetting that.” He nodded again and went out, closing the door behind him.
Reg snorted. “The big cheese,” he said. “He sees where he can horn in and he’s horning in. Why did you give him a break?”
I lit a cigarette and sank into the armchair, which was still warm from Beyfield’s great body. “Why not?” I said. “After all, we can only go so far. After that it’s a police job. So long as he fixes Macey and Wolf, why should we care?” I inhaled and then sent a long stream of smoke to the ceiling. “Like to come to New York, Reg? I guess Colonel Forsberg could use you.”
Reg stared at me. “You kidding?”
I shook my head. “There wouldn’t be much for you in this place now,” I pointed out. “Audrey and I are getting married.”
When he got through with his congratulations, I said: “How’s about it? Want to come?”
He nodded. “You bet,” he said. “I’ll come all right.”
I stood up. “That’s fine. Well, stick around. We can’t do much until tonight,” and I went to the door.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“Me?” I grinned at him. “Be your age. I’m going to see my wife.”
Just after six o’clock I entered Audrey’s room with a square box under my arm.
She was sitting in front of her dressing table in a flame wrap, doing her hair.
“Where have you been?” she asked, swinging round and holding out her arms.
I set down the box, kissed her and sat down in the nearby armchair. “I’ve been busy,” I said. “Heard from Ted?”
She nodded. “He telephoned an hour ago and asked me to meet him at Ciro’s Club at eight.”
“So it
’s on,” I said, controlling my excitement. “Did he say anything?”
“Nothing that’d help,” she said. “He was friendly and seemed excited about seeing me. He kidded me a lot, but nothing more. You know, I still can’t believe…”
“We’ll soon see,” I said. “What are you wearing?”
“I thought a dress.” She looked puzzled. “Why? Do you want me to wear something special?”
“I do,” I said. “I want you to wear a white suit and a high-neck shirt or even a light sweater with a roll collar.”
“It’s too hot for that,” she protested, but seeing the look in my eye, she paused. “You mean it’s important?”
“You bet I do,” I said. “I want you in white so I can see you in the dark and I want you to wear a polo neck sweater to hide this.” I picked up the box and opened it.
“What on earth is it?” Audrey exclaimed.
“Just a little idea I had,” I said, taking out a plaster cast of her neck and shoulders. It was well made, strong, and in two pieces. “Now sit still a moment and let me try it on.”
“But why? What do you want me to wear that ghastly thing for?”
“With that around your neck,” I said quietly, “no one, try as he may, could strangle you. You don’t think I’m going to take any chances, do you?”
She gave me a quick, startled look, but said nothing. She opened her wrap and I fitted the cast on one shoulder. It fitted well. Then I put the other half on her other shoulder and fixed the straps. Her throat was completely protected from an inch or so below her ears. The cast did not touch her neck and did not restrict movement. I was pretty proud of it.
“But I can’t spend the whole evening in this!” she gasped. “Ted would notice it.”
“You don’t have to,” I said. “I wanted to see if it fitted. Before you leave the club, go to the ladies’ room and put this on. I’ll have it ready and I’ll give it to you at the right time. He won’t notice it in the dark.”
“How sweet you are!” she said. “Did you really think of this yourself?”
“Don’t kid me,” I said, grinning. “You’re going into danger, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. With that you’ll be all right. They can hang you from the roof and you’ll just laugh at them.”
1945 - Blonde's Requiem Page 22