by Joe Gores
Spade's face did not change. He shrugged and took the envelope from his pocket. He started to hold it out to Gutman, hesitated, opened the envelope, and took out one thousand-dollar bill. He put that bill into his trousers-pocket. He tucked the envelope's flap in over the other bills and held them out to Gutman. "That'll take care of my time and expenses," he said.
Gutman, after a little pause, imitated Spade's shrug and accepted the envelope. He said: "Now, sir, we will say good-bye to you, unless"-- the fat puffs around his eyes crinkhed--"vou care to undertake the Constantinople expedition with us. You don't? Well, sir, frankly I'd like to have you along. You're a man to niy liking, a man of many resources and nice judgment. Because we know you're a man of nice judgment we know we can say good-bye with every assurance that you'll hold the details of our little enterprise in confidence. We know we can count on you to appreciate time fact that, as the situation now stands, any legal difficulties that come to us in connection with these last few days would likewise and equally come to you and the charming Miss O'Shaughnessy. You're too shrewd not to recognize that, sir, I'm sure."
"I understand that," Spade replied.
"I was sure you would. I'm also sure that, now there's no alternative, you'll somehow manage the police without a fail-guy."
"I'll make out all right," Spade replied.
"I was sure you would. Well, sir, the shortest farewells are the best. Adieu." He made a portly bow. "And to you, Miss O'Shaughnessy, adieu. I heave you the rara avis on the table as a little memento."
XX.
If They Hang You
For all of five minutes after the outer door had closed behind Casper Gutman and Joel Cairo, Spade, motionless, stood staring at the knob of the open living-room-door. His eyes were gloomy under a forehead drawn down. The clefts at the root of his nose were deep and red. His hips protruded loosely, pouting. He drew them in to make a hard v and went to the telephone. He had not looked at Brigid O'Shaughnessy, who stood by the table hooking with uneasy eyes at him.
He picked up the telephone, set it on its shelf again, and bent to look into the telephone-directory hanging from a corner of the shelf. He turned the pages rapidiy until he found the one he wanted, ran his finger down a column, straightened up, and lifted the telephone from the shelf again. He called a number and said:
"Hello, is Sergeant Polhaus there? . . . Will you call him, please? This is Samuel Spade He stared into space, waiting. "Hello, Tom, I've got something for you. . . . Yes, plenty. Here it is: Thursby and Jacobi were shot by a kid named Wilmer Cook." He described the boy minutely. "He's working for a man named Casper Gutman." He described Gutman. "That fellow Cairo you met here is in with-i them too. . . . Yes, that's it. . . . Gutman's staving at the Alexandria, suite twelve C, or was. They've just left here and they're blowing town, so you'll have to move fast, but I don't think they're expecting a pinch. . . . There's a girl in it too--Gutman's daughter." He described Rhea Gutman. "WTatch yourself when you go up against the kid. He's supposed to be pretty good with the gun. . . . That's right, Tom, and I've got some stuff here for you. I think I've got the guns he used. . . . That's right. Step on it--and luck to you!"
Spade slowly replaced receiver on prong, telephone on shelf. He wet his lips and hooked down at his hands. Their palms were wet. He filledhis deep chest with air. His eyes were glittering between straightened lids.. He turned and took three long swift steps into the living-room.
Brigid O'Shaughnessy, startled by the suddenness of his approach, let her breath out in a little laughing gasp.
Spade, face to face with her, very close to her, tail, big-boned and thick-muscled, coldly smiling, hard of jaw and eye, said: "They'll talk when they're nailed--about us. We're sitting on dynamite, and we've only got minutes to get set for the police. Give me all of it--fast. Gutman sent you and Cairo to Constantinople?"
She started to speak, hesitated, and bit her lip.
He put a hand on her shoulder. "God damn you, talk!" he said. "I'm in this with you and you're not going to gum it. Talk. He sent you to Constantinople?"
"Y-yes, he sent me. I met Joe there and--and asked him to help me. Then we--"
"Wait. You asked Cairo to help you get it from Kemidov?"
"Yes."
"For Gutman?"
She hesitated again, squirmed under the hard angry glare of his eyes, swallowed, and said: "No, not then. We thought we would get it for ourselves."
"All right. Then?"
"Oh, then I began to be afraid that Joe wouldn't play fair with me, so--so I asked Floyd Thursby to help me."
"And he did. Well?"
"Well, we got it and went to Hongkong."
"With Cairo? Or had you ditched him before that?"
"Yes. We left him in Constantinople, in jail--something about a check."
"Something you fixed up to hold him there?"
She looked shamefacedly at Spade and whispered: "Yes."
"Right. Now you and Thursby arc in Hongkong with the bird."
"Yes, and then--I didn't know him very well--I didn't know whether I could trust him. I though-it it would be safer--anyway, I met Captain Jacobi and I knew his boat was coming here, so I asked him to bring a package for me--and that was the bird. I wasn't sure I could trust Thursby, or that Joe or--or somebody working for Gutman might not be on the boat we came on--and that seemed the safest plan."
"All right. Then you and Thursby caught one of the fast boats over. Then what?"
"Then--thien I was afraid of Gutman. I knew he had people--connections--everywhere, and he'd soon know what we had done. And I was afraid he'd have learned that we had left Hongkong for San Francisco. He was in New York and I knew' if he heard that by cable he would have phenty of time to get here by the time we did, or before. He did. I didn't know that then, but I was afraid of it, and I had to wait here until Captain Jacobi's boat arrived. And I was afraid Gutman wouhd find me--or find Floyd and buy him over. That's why I came to you and asked you to watch him for--"
"That's a lie," Spade said. "You had Thursby hooked and you knew it. He was a sucker for women. His record shows that--the only falls he took were over women. Am-id once a chump, always a chump. Maybe you didn't know' his record, but you'd know you had him safe."
She blushed and looked timidly at him.
He said: "You wanted to get him out of the way before Jacobi came with the loot. What was your schenic?"
"I--I knew he'd left tfie States with a gambler after some trouble. I didn't know what it was. but I thought that if it was anything serious and he saw a detective watching him he'd think it was on account of the old trouble, and would be frightened into going away. I didn't think--"
"You told him he was being shadowed," Spade said confidently. "Miles hadn't many brains, but he wasn't clumsy enough to be spotted the first night."
"I told him, yes. Whcn we went out for a walk that night I pretended to discover Mr. Archer following us and pointed him out to Floyd." She sobbed. "But please believe, Sam, that I wouldn't have done it if I had thought Floyd would kill him. I thought he'd be frightened into leaving the city. I didn't for a minute think he'd shoot him like that."
Spade smiled wolfishly with his lips, but not at all with his eyes. He said: "If you thought he wouldn't you were right, angel."
The girl's upraised face held utter astonishment.
Spade said: "Thursby didn't shoot him."
Incredulity joined astonishment in the girl's face.
Spade said: "Mihes hadn't many brains, but, Christ! he had too many years' experience as a detective to be caught like that by the man he was shadowing. Up a blind alley with his gun tucked away on his hip and his overcoat buttoned? Not a chance. He was as dumb as any man ought to be, but he wasn't quite that dumb. The only two ways out of the alley could be watched from the edge of Bush Street over the tunnci. You'd told us Thursby was a bad actor. He couldn't have tricked Miles into the alley like that, and i-ic couhdn't have driven him in. He was dumb, but not dunib enough-i for that."
He ran his tongue over the inside of his lips and smiled affectionately at time girl. He said: "But he'd've gone up there with you, angel, if he was sure nobody else was up there. You were his client, so he would have had no reason for not dropping the shadow on your say-so, and if you caught up w'ith him and asked him to go up there he'd've gone. He was just dumb enough for that. He'd've looked you up and down and licked his lips and gone grinning from ear to ear--and then you could've stood as close to him as you liked in the dark and put a hole through him with the gun you had got fron Thursby that evening."
Brigid O'Shaughnessy shrank back fron him until the edge of the table stopped her. She looked at him with terrified eyes and cried: "Don't--don't talk to me like that, Sam! You know I didn't! You know--"
"Stop it." He looked at the watch-i on his wrist. "The police will be blowing in any minute now and we're sitting on dynamite. Talk!"
She put the back of a hand on her forehead. "Ohm, why do you accuse me of such a terrible--?"
"Will you stop it?" he demanded in a low impatient voice. "This isn't the spot for the schoolgirl-act. Listen to me. The pair of us are sitting under the gallows." He took hold of her wrists and made her stand up straight in front of him. "Talk!"
"I--I-- How did you know he--he licked his lips and looked--?"
Spade laughed harshly. "I knew Miles. But never mind that. Why did you shoot him?"
She twisted her wrists out of Spade's fingers and put her hands up around the back of his neck, pulling his head down until his mouth all but touched hers. Her body was flat against his from km-ices to chest. He put his arms around her, holding her tight to him. Her dark-lashied lids were half down over velvet eyes. Her voice was hushed, throbbing: "I didn't mean to, at first. I didn't, really. I n-icant what I told you, but when I saw Floyd couldn't be frightened I--"
Spade slapped her shoulder. He said: "That's a lie. You asked Miles and me to handle it ourselves, You wanted to he sure the shadower was somebody you knew and who knew' you, so they'd go with you. You got the gun from Thursby that day--that night. You had already rented the apartment at the Coronet. You had trunks there and none at the hotel and when I hooked the apartment over I found a rent-receipt dated five or six days before the time you told me you rented it."
She swallowed with difficulty and her voice was humble. "Yes, that's a lie, Sam. I did intend to if Floyd-- I--I can't look at you and tell you this, Sam." She pulled his head farther down until her cheek was against his cheek, her mouth by his ear, and whispered: "I knew Floyd wouldn't be easily frightened, but I thought that if he knew somebody was shadowing him either he'd-- Oh, I can't say it, Sam!" Si-ic clung to him, sobbing.
Spade said: "You thought Floyd would tackle him and one or the other of them would go down. If Thursby was the one then you were rid of him. If Miles w'as, then you could see that Floyd was caught and you'd be rid of him. That it?"
"S-something like that."
"And when you found that Thursby didn't mean to tackle him you borrowed the gun and did it yourself. Right?"
"Yes---though not exactly."
"But exact enough. And you had that plan up your sleeve from the first. You thought Floyd would he nailed for the killing."
"I--I thought they'd hold him at least until after Captain Jacobi had arrived with the falcon and--"
"And you didn't know then that Gutman was here hunting for you. You didn't suspect that or you wouldn't have shaken your gunman. You knew Gutman was here as soon as you heard Thursby had been shot. Then you knew you needed another protector, so you can-ic back to me. Right?"
"Yes, but--oh, sweethcart!--it wasn't only that. I would have come back to you sooner or later. From the first instant I saw you I knew--"
Spade said tenderly: "You angel! Well, if you get a good break you'll be out of San Quentin in twenty years and you can come back to me then."
She took her cheek away from his, drawing her head far back to stare up without comprehension at him.
He was pale. He said tenderly: "I hope to Christ they don't hang you, precious, by that sweet neck." He slid his hands up to caress her throat.
In an instant she was out of his arms, back against the table, crouching, both hands spread over her throat. Her face was wild-eyed, haggard. Her dry mouth opened and closed. She said in a small parched voice: "You're not--" She could get no other words out.
Spade's face was yellow-white now. His mouth smiled and there were smile-wrinkles around his glittering eyes. His voice was soft, gentle. He said: "I'm going to send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means you'll be out again in twenty years. You're an angel. I'll wait for you." He cleared his throat. "If they hang you I'll always remember you."
She dropped her hands and stood erect. Her face became smooth and untroubled except for the faintest of dubious glints in her eyes. She smiled back at him, gently. "Don't, Sam, don't say that even in fun. Oh, you frightened n-ic for a moment! I really thought you-- You know you do such wild and unpredictable things that--" She broke off. She thrust her face forward and stared deep into his eyes. Her cheeks and the flesh around her mouth shivered and fear came back into her eyes. "What--? Sam!" She put her hands to her throat again and lost her erectness.
Spade laughed. His yellow-white face was damp with sweat and though he held his smile he could not hold softness in his voice. He croaked: "Don't be silly. You're taking the fail. One of us has got to take it, after the talking those birds will do. They'd hang me sure. You're likely to get a better break. Well?"
"But--but, Sam, you can't! Not after what we've been to each other. You can't--"
"Like hell I can't."
She took a long trembling breath. "You've been playing with me? Only pretending you cared--to trap me like this? You didn't--care at all? You didn't--don't--I-love me?"
"I think I do," Spade said. "What of it?" The muscles holding his smile in place stood out like wales. "I'm not Thursby. I'm not Jacobi. I won't play the sap for you."
"That is not just," she cried. Tears came to her eyes. "It's unfair. It's contemptible of you. You know it was not that. You can't say that."
"Like hell I can't," Spade said. "You came into my bed to stop me asking questions. You led me out yesterday for Gutman with that phoney call for help. Last night you came here with them and waited outside for me and came in with me. You were in my arms when the trap was sprung--I couldn't have gone for a gun if I'd had one on me and couldn't have made a fight of it if I had wanted to. And if they didn't take you away with them it was only because Gutman's got too much sense to trust you except for short stretches when he has to and because he thought I'd play the sap for you and--not wanting to hurt you--wouldn't be able to hurt him."
Brigid O'Shaughnessy blinked her tears away. She took a step towards him and stood looking him in the eyes, straight and proud. "You called me a liar," she said. "Now you are hying. You're lying if you say you don't know down in your heart that, in spite of anything I've done, I love you."
Spade made a short abrupt bow. His eyes were becoming bloodshot, but there was no other change in his damp and yellowish fixedly smiling face. "Maybe I do," he said. "What of it? I should trust you? You who arranged that nice little trick for--for my predecessor, Thursby? You who knocked off Miles, a man you had nothing against, in cold blood, just like swatting a fly, for the sake of double-crossing Thursby? You who doublecrossed Gutman, Cairo, Thursby--one, two, three? You who've never played square with me for half an hour at a stretch since I've known you? I shouid trust you? No, no, darling. I wouldn't do it even if I could. Why should I?"
Her eyes were steady under his and her hushed voice was steady when she replied: "Why should you? If you've been playing with me, if you do not love me, there is no answer to that. If you did, no answer would be needed."