“And if he did do it?”
I grinned into the mist. “Well, that Viking will get something from me and it won’t be a refund. A Viking funeral, maybe.”
Billy stayed open till nine-thirty and it was almost that. As we neared, he was just a small figure overwhelmed by the corner newsstand’s many magazines, particularly the side displays of comic books. Famous faces smiled at us as we approached. They didn’t care about the rain either, but then they were protected by the overhang of the stand.
He was arranging and stacking stuff and didn’t see us at first. When he heard our wet footsteps, and turned toward us, the wizened little guy in the plaid cap and flannel jacket had a stack of newspapers in his arms. Seeing Velda, Billy grinned and hugged those papers like he did her in his dreams.
“Hiya, Velda,” he said, the way a farmer says Aw Shucks. “When you gonna throw this bum over?”
She beamed at him and put something sultry in it. “I would, Billy, but then who would have me?”
He grinned goofily. “I think you know. I think you do.”
Then he acknowledged me with a regular smile; he was standing there between us, like a paperback between a couple of big bookends. He lowered those papers to fig leaf level.
“Y’know, Mike, that pic the News ran of you, after that cabbie took your bullet? Much better.”
I nodded toward Velda. “I took your criticism to heart, Billy. My faithful secretary here sent around a newer shot to all the papers, professionally done—not snapshots from paparazzi rats.”
“That kind of off-the-cuff stuff sells a lot of papers, Mike. You got a good business goin’. Don’t begrudge me mine.”
Right now, this late, there was no business. Lately the city had a habit of emptying out everywhere except the theater district, even before dark. Traffic on the rain-slicked street seemed steady but light.
“Listen,” I said, a hand on his shoulder, “I have a lead on that hit-and-runner of yours. How would you like to put his ass away for a long damn time?”
His whole face smiled. “Nothing better. What’s the deal, Mike?”
“I may have him identified.”
“You got a picture?”
“No, that’s the thing. The guy is a ghost where the papers are concerned. Hy Gardner tried every photo morgue in town looking for a pic.”
“Hy Gardner,” he sighed. The little man shook his head and his half-a-smile was bittersweet. “Them was the days.”
“Weren’t they just?” I patted his shoulder. “So now if this is the guy, Billy, you’re gonna have to put the finger on him. Look right at him, and not in a line-up, either, and say yay or nay. You up to that?”
He was grinning big. “If you’re at my side, Mike, I ain’t afraid.”
I glanced around. What few cars were going by kept right at the limit, taking advantage of the lack of competition, their headlight beams grainy with mist, chasing the pools of light they cast on the reflective surface. If it got any colder, they might get an icy surprise. Meanwhile, the sidewalks remained nearly empty but for the three of us in front of Billy’s comic-book-lined stand.
“You mind shutting down to do this, Billy?”
He frowned. It was against his principles to close up early.
I said, “You can’t do business in this rain, anyway, Billy my boy. We’ll grab a cab and go over to the guy’s place.”
His eyes widened. “What, he knows we’re comin’?”
“Oh, hell no.” I grinned. “It’ll be a big surprise. But he’ll let me in, don’t you worry.”
“You got that big .45 on you, man?”
“Always.”
“Safety off, one in the chamber?”
“You got it.”
“Then like somebody wise once said, ‘What me, worry?’”
Velda put a hand on Billy’s shoulder and said, “Thanks, Billy. This is very important.”
Billy lifted the stack of papers and hugged them again just as the dark blue Lincoln slowed at the light in the nearest northbound lane, right next to us. The driver leaned out the window as if to ask quick directions, and that was when I saw the ski mask, and I was going for the .45 in my raincoat pocket, an act that damnit slowed me down some, and Velda was clawing her purse for the .32, but the extended snout of the silenced automatic was already pointing out the window and three coughs, like a kid with asthma, told me I had put Velda and Billy in harm’s way, just by standing with them.
I had a complex thought that lasted a fraction of a second, and it was how I was going to die in the next instant, the light switch on my life going off, and my arrogance had done it, my belief that I was smarter and bigger and badder than anybody, but nobody is smarter and bigger and badder than three bullets rocketing their way at you.
Only the bullets didn’t hit me.
They hit Billy, thunking into those papers he was holding, missing his arms and chewing up newsprint, dotting an I on a headline, the power of those tiny guided missiles taking the little man down onto the pavement in a pile, armful of papers scattering, as faces on magazines smiled and looked everywhere but at him.
And the Lincoln was gone, jumping the light, flashing a license plate spattered with mud on a vehicle otherwise spotless. Other cars were going through an intersection the shooter was on the other side of, and the .45 in my hand couldn’t blow him a kiss without risking collateral damage.
Anyway, I was distracted by Velda, who never got her gun out, doing something I’d only heard her do a few times.
Screaming.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Velda’s scream trailed into the night as she quickly pulled herself together and joined me, bending over the fallen little man. I peeled the stack of papers away and three slugs stuck out of Billy’s heavy padded jacket like misplaced metallic buttons. Just as the cabbie’s skull had caused a sniper’s bullet to thump me harmlessly in the chest, the thickness of all that newsprint had slowed this deadly trio way down.
But Billy was unconscious and breathing ragged, hit hard by the rounds even if they had stopped short of his body.
“They didn’t penetrate,” she said, relieved and a little astounded. Her face was moist with mist. “Is he all right?”
I plucked the slugs out, dropped them in my trenchcoat pocket. “He’s alive, but he may have broken bones or internal bleeding. We need to get him help.”
“When the police get here,” she said, a little confused as she stated the obvious, “they’ll call an ambulance.”
I looked across my fallen friend at Velda and put a hand on her shoulder. “We’re going to call one first.”
“What?”
“That all-night drugstore on Forty-ninth. Get over there and use the phone and call the ambulance service we use. You know the one. Get a wagon over here right now. We’re taking over.”
I saw the doubt flicker on her face, but then she just nodded, her gypsy ringlets flicking moisture at me, and rose and went off at a brisk pace.
I called out, “Tell them to take Billy to our favorite private hospital! The one outside Newburgh!”
“Figured that,” she called, her back to me, and I watched till she was swallowed by the night and the mist.
I got up and went to the little stool Billy used and took the seat cushion off and rested it under his head. Then I sat on the cushion-less stool and lit up a Lucky and thought about killing some people.
The black-and-green-and-white patrol car streaked up the slick street with its siren playing banshee till it rolled to a stop. Two uniforms, one tall and young, the other medium-size but heavy-set and around my age, rolled out.
I gave them a quick report and said, “I already called for the ambulance.”
This seemed to satisfy them, but when the heavy-set cop asked for my identification and I handed over my open wallet, his eyes went big, taking in my P.I. badge and ticket.
“Mike Hammer,” he said, the way most people say “goddamnit.”
“You may want to inform my friend Captain Chambers d
irectly about this,” I said, hoping to head off any unpleasantness.
He had a voice like tearing cardboard. “How the hell many shooting incidents have you been in this week anyway, buddy?”
I shrugged, as I took back the wallet. “Depends on how you’re counting. It’s technically four, but I only returned fire in two.” I blew out smoke but resisted the temptation to do it in his face. “Why don’t you call it in to Pat Chambers before this gets disagreeable?”
The younger guy, kneeling over Billy, said, “He’s alive and there aren’t wounds that I can see.”
“Like I said,” I said, “that stack of newspapers saved him.”
“And he’s out like a light, breathing heavy,” the young cop continued. “Don’t see any spent slugs. Holes in his jacket where maybe they hit.”
His older partner noted all that but kept his eyes on me. “You were the target here, Hammer?”
“Ask the shooter. Or better still, turn this over to somebody in plainclothes.” This time I did let him have the smoke in the pan, but inconspicuously, like maybe it was an accident. “Call Pat Chambers, for instance. Or did I say that already?”
Finally he trundled over to the patrol car and radioed it in to Chambers.
I told the young cop, “There’s a kid who fills in for Billy sometimes called Duck-Duck Jones. He also works as a swamper at a dive called the Clover Bar.”
“I know of it. What the heck kind of handle is ‘Duck-Duck?’”
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s a nickname, particularly since his upper teeth stick out to here. I’d advise getting hold of the kid and having him get over here to lock the stand up and be ready to fill in for Billy, if he’s hospitalized for a while.”
The young cop was nodding. “Good idea… Jeez.”
“Jeez what?”
“Will you look at the dish walking down the street? Pretty girl like that shouldn’t be out alone, though.”
I looked behind me and Velda was on her way back, closing an already short distance. “This one can take care of herself. She’s my secretary. I sent her off to call it in.”
“I didn’t figure she was a streetwalker,” he allowed. “Too classy looking.”
“I’ll tell her that. She’ll be highly complimented.”
I left the callow cop to figure that one out and went over to meet Velda far enough away that we could talk freely.
“Okay, Mike,” she said, almost whispering. “Ambulance should be here any time. Why did I send for it? I mean, I assume you mean to whisk Billy away and keep him out of Pat’s hands. Why?”
“Who do you think those bullets were for?”
“Well, you of course.”
“Wrong. These pro shooters are generally right on target. If that cabbie the other day hadn’t stuck his head between me and that bullet, you’d be at a funeral-home visitation about now. No, honey, the guy in that Lincoln shot exactly who he meant to shoot. He just wasn’t counting on Billy having that fat stack of papers to slow the slugs.”
Her mouth made a scarlet O. “Billy!… You mean, because he witnessed that…”
“I knew you’d catch up, sugar.”
She was frowning at me, not angry, but her mind working fast. “Are you saying Leif Borensen hired your murder, and Billy’s? What’s the connection?”
“We are. Think about it.”
She didn’t have to think long, not with those wheels turning like they were. “My God, Mike—your reputation! Your well-deserved, well-known reputation for getting even. Billy’s your friend, our friend. If somebody took Billy out, you’d be all over it.”
“That’s right. Hitting me first, or trying to, was a preemptive attack.”
But she was shaking her head, having trouble making some of the pieces fit together. “Mike, why didn’t that contract killer shoot you tonight as well as Billy? And why not take me down as well?”
I flipped a hand. “Could be a couple of reasons. Maybe it was just a coincidence I happened to be around when the hit on Billy went down, and the shooter knew only that his target was our friend at the newsstand. Or… it could be something even more sinister.”
Her eyebrows took a hike. “More sinister than that?”
“Yup. Keep in mind our friend on the phone last night. He’s been having bad luck with the hired help, in addition to which he’s now deemed me worthy of his personal attention. That may have been him tonight.”
“But he could have killed you, Mike!”
“No. This is a game to him. A challenge. He’s playing with me, Velda. Cat and mouse, and he thinks I’m the mouse. Only he’s got a sewer rat by the tail. He figures he can get to me psychologically. Better men, and women, have tried. I have the same psychology as the .45 in my pocket—set me in motion and I go off.”
The ambulance came screaming up. It was similar enough to the city variety that the two cops thought nothing of it when a pair of attendants in white brought a stretcher out and strapped Billy on and hauled him up and into the back of their vehicle. They’d done enough jobs like this for me, and select others, to know to move fast and give any questions from the cops the most perfunctory answers.
But these cops accepted the ambulance at face value, assuming it was from a nearby hospital. They didn’t notice the upstate plates, or the lack of certain designations on the side panels. Just not plainclothes material.
“Velda,” I said softly, “go home, pack a bag, and drive up to that hospital right now. Get there ASAP, deal with the docs, and camp out in Billy’s room. He may still be on the firing line and will need protection. I’ll see you later tonight or in the morning, after I’ve dealt with Pat.”
Her eyebrows went up again. “You’ve been pushing that friendship to the breaking point.”
I nodded. “It may take some fancy footwork to stay out of stir this time. I really am a material witness on this one.”
She nodded, sucked in damp air, and gave me a kiss on the mouth before heading off to catch a cab.
“Where’s she going?” the fat cop asked.
“Home.”
“You said she witnessed this, too!”
“She did. Why, did you want to talk to her? Oh… well, there’s a Yellow. Guess she’s on her way. Sorry. My oversight.”
“Is that what it is. I wonder if Captain Chambers will see it that way, smart-ass?”
* * *
Another patrol car arrived in about five minutes and gave me a lift over to headquarters. This time I only spent fifteen minutes on the bench outside Pat’s office. Not time enough to stretch out for a snooze. That was okay. I didn’t feel like sleeping.
When the door opened, he gave me a long-suffering look and a thumb over a shoulder. I followed him in, closing the door behind me, and slid into the visitor’s chair opposite his desk. He took his time getting to his swivel chair and all but fell into it.
Pat, a consummate professional whose suits were off the rack but well-selected, looked like an unmade bed. He was in his shirtsleeves and his tie was loose and wrinkled. He needed a shave and his eyes were bloodshot.
He growled, “You’re having a hell of a week, Mike.”
“Maybe, but I look better than you.”
He closed his eyes. He opened his eyes. He said, “That’s because you don’t have to go around cleaning up after yourself. You just wait for me and the rest of the NYPD to do it for you, and if you make a remark about being a taxpayer, I’ll slam your ass in the drunk tank.”
“You need to get home and get some rest, buddy. What are you doing here, this close to midnight?” I started to get up. “We can do this tomorrow.”
“Sit!”
“I’m not a damn spaniel.”
“Sit anyway.”
I sat.
“Mike,” he said, “I’ve seen the statement you gave to the officers at the scene. Is there anything you’d care to add to it?”
That statement had been factually accurate. So I said, “No. Other than maybe, for hitmen, these gu
ys don’t seem to be able to hit much of anything they aim at.”
He ignored that. “Let’s say I accept everything in your statement. I may want a more formal one, stenographer and the works, but for now… let’s say I accept it.”
“Let’s say that.” I dug a Lucky out of the deck and lit it up. It wasn’t my fault that having a cigarette in my lips gave me a smirk.
Pat said, “Why don’t you add just one little detail. Why don’t you tell me where Velda ran off to, just after the shooting? She was there when it went down, at Batson’s side just like you were. Where did you send her, Mike?”
I gestured vaguely. “That all-night Rexall’s on Lexington and Forty-ninth.”
“To get you some aspirin?”
“No, to call the incident in.”
“Our dispatcher has no record of that.”
“Velda probably didn’t give her name. She was a little flustered. She likes Billy.”
“Velda. Flustered.” He shook his head. “As it happens, we do have a witness, a pedestrian, who called us from a phone booth to report the shooting, and he did give his name, which wasn’t Velda Sterling.”
“I’d be surprised if it was.”
Pat breathed in and breathed out, like a dragon out of lighter fluid. “Do you think I don’t know that she called some ambulance service you use? Do you think I don’t know that, for some insane reason, you decided to spirit Billy Batson away?”
“I don’t know what you know. What am I, psychic?”
“Skip the psyche. You’re just sick.”
I grinned and the Lucky bobbled. “Decent comeback for a guy who looks about ten minutes shy of passing out. How about some coffee? We could both use it. I’ve got a smoke for you, if you want to start again.”
He reached for the phone like he was going to throw it at me, but instead ordered up some coffee for us. He even made sure mine got milk and sugar. What a pal.
Then he hung up, folded his hands like he was about to lead us in prayer, and said, “I know you have a private hospital you use, somewhere in town, when you want to keep somebody under wraps. You think I don’t, Mike?”
Well, it wasn’t in town, but that was more than I thought he knew, all right.
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