by P. N. Elrod
I counted again until I could look at him and not twist his head off. There were still questions needing answers.
“Upshaw… did you kill Lena Ashley?”
“What?” This from a startled Nevis. He transferred his focus to me. “What makes you think he—”
“I don’t, but I’m asking all the same. Why the hell not?”
He had no reply and subsided, watching Upshaw with new interest.
I repeated my query.
“No, I didn’t kill her,” Upshaw murmured, his blank eyes looking at nothing. “Not nobody. This was my first…”
“He could be lying,” said Nevis, but without much conviction.
I shook my head. “He’s too wet-eared to lie. I didn’t much figure him for it, anyway.”
“Then why ask?”
“Just covering all the bases. You never know.” And that negative answer took away my last suspect. Unless someone else turned up, Lena’s murderer would go unpunished.
But at least we had Shivvey Coker, or would before the night was out.
“Where’s Shivvey?” I asked Upshaw.
“Waiting at the Ace.”
An exclamation of disgust from Nevis.
I shot him a look. “Can you think of a better place to lie low than one the cops have shut down?” I was ready to kick myself, since I’d not thought of it.
“He’ll give me the money there,” said Upshaw.
Or more likely give the coroner another corpse. Coker could put one of those .22 bullets into Upshaw’s head, a suicide in a fit of remorse over his murders. Maybe there would be another grenade planted on his body to clench things. The cops would have Nevis’s killer, and, on a good day, considering Lady Crymsyn’s history, might even blame Upshaw for Welsh Lennet’s explosive demise. It would have been a puzzling bonus for Coker: how I’d managed to survive only to be blown up with his boss, but he’d not have worried about it for long. The new responsibilities of running the Ace would have kept him profitably busy.
We’d see about that.
I drove. Nevis was too nerved, and Upshaw was huddled down in the backseat of his green Ford being agreeably unconscious. It cost me a twinge or three behind the eyes to deal with the both of them, but I’d talked Nevis out of doing murder for the time being and put Upshaw out for the count. Neither of them would remember much about tonight except what I’d told them. Upshaw would only know that he’d been asked by Coker to do a minor tailing job—not murder—on Nevis and had fallen asleep while sitting in his car.
Nevis would recall the grenade attack but Shivvey had been the one with the pitching arm. It seemed the best for all concerned. Sparing Upshaw’s life didn’t mean that I’d forgiven him. The truth was I’d done it for Rita’s sake. She seemed to like him and didn’t need to attend another memorial service so soon after Lena’s.
Once Shivvey was dealt with, things could settle down to business as usual. Upshaw could go back to dancing, and Nevis could run his club. Shivvey, some still-virtuous part of me hoped, would soon turn himself in to the cops with a full confession about the barbershop murders. This would happen with a nudge from me and only after I’d gotten the records book from him. No need to complicate things. My landlord in jail on tax fraud charges was something I could do without.
“Back door?” I asked Nevis as I began a circle around the Flying Ace’s block.
“Yeah, he’d leave it open. We usually did for special work.”
I didn’t bother asking him what that work might be, just filed it away for a future conversation. Since the darkened club—with police department signs posted on the doors and windows—was very visibly closed, parking wasn’t the usual problem tonight. I found a spot close to the back and cut the motor.
“Lemme go in first,” I said on the walk toward the alley.
“This is my fight,” Nevis protested.
I paused him. “The shape you’re in you couldn’t go two rounds with a drunk hamster.”
“It’s me he tried to kill; I want to break him in two.”
“You won’t miss a thing, I promise, but I’ve got a better chance of getting the drop on him than you. You watch my back, and I’ll see to it he’s awake when you walk in. Make a good entrance.”
That provided him an acceptable out as well as appealed to his vanity, so he gave me the nod and stepped to one side.
I reflected, as I approached the club’s door, that I was falling into the role of mob muscle just a little too easily. Maybe I’d been hanging around with guys like Nevis a whole lot too much. Their casual, if practical acceptance of violence to solve most problems was not only rubbing off, I was enjoying it far too much.
My furtive pleasure ground to a quick stop as I rounded the corner and came face-to-face with Rita Robillard standing in the alley. She was still darkly fetching in her mourning clothes, and in the deep shadows between the buildings was invisible to everyone but me. She held a good-size revolver clutched in one gloved hand.
“You!” we said in unison.
I gaped down at the gun. She didn’t shift its aim from my midsection.
“Rita, honey, why the hell are you here?”
“I’m asking you the same.”
“I told you—”
She scowled. “Yeah, yeah, a lotta mugs tell me a lotta things. It don’t mean I gotta believe ‘em.”
“You’re trying to find Nevis? Is that it?”
“Uh-huh. Sooner or later he’s gotta come back here. After what you fed me at the services I wanted to see for myself what he had to do with Lena… and I’ll know that when I see his face.”
“Know what?” asked Nevis, coming up. The immediate effect his presence made was to shift the muzzle from my midsection to his. “Hey, Rita, what is this?”
“A misunderstanding,” I said, but didn’t get any further. The lady with the gun was running things for the moment, particularly when she swung it up to point it right between his eyes.
Despite this he didn’t look very alarmed. “Is this a joke? Rita—”
“You—” She got that much out. She was visibly trying to put the words into the right order. “Booth, did you kill Lena?”
“What?”
“Did you?” Her voice rose and her hand trembled.
“No, I did not. Who put that crazy idea into your head?”
Her gaze touched on me for an instant.
“Covering the bases?” he asked, looking at me with no little disgust.
I shrugged, having no need to defend myself. “Rita, I’ve talked with him since seeing you, he had nothing to do with it. I was wrong. I promise you he’s clean.” Of Lena’s death, anyway.
“You’re sure?”
“Scout’s honor.”
“Really sure?”
Insufficient light to work with to compel her to believe, but whether or not she recalled it I’d forged a very strong bond of trust between us last night. That she so readily turned to me for reassurance was proof of its actuality. My word would be enough for her. “He did not kill Lena.”
“Damn!”
“Huh?” Nevis, just a fraction behind things, but then he was tired.
“She was all worked up to shoot you,” I informed him after Rita lowered the revolver. “Be glad she’s not and let her have her disappointment.”
“Well, if he didn’t do it, who did?” she demanded. “Shivvey? Jack, was it Shivvey? Is that why you told me to keep clear of him?”
Again, I regretted having been unable to adjust her memory about our last interview. “This is something we can talk about later.”
“Why? Why not now?”
Any second she could blurt out something about that damned records book. Nevis didn’t need to know about it just now. If ever.
Before I could come up with a reasonable placation, he stepped in. “We’re here on business, Rita. And you know what that means.”
Another scowl. Thankfully it was one of grudging acceptance. “Yeah, I get it. I just don’t want it.” She op
ened her big purse and put the gun inside. If she’d been packing that thing at the service, then it was no wonder she’d walloped the photographer flat. “One of you mugs call me and tell me what’s going on.” She began to turn away, then paused. “Booth, I’m sorry I did that. Ya believe me?”
“Yeah, I believe you, now beat it.”
“Couldn’t we have a drink before you start all your business? I could really use a beer.”
“I would, doll, but the cops didn’t leave anything after the raid. I’ll buy you one later.”
“Me too,” I said, taking her arm and leading her toward the other end of the alley. “You got a ride home?”
“I took the El in. There’s a stop just up the—”
“Great. You take it right back again.”
“This is a bum’s rush, and don’t think I don’t know it,” she said crossly.
“You got that right, honey, but me and your boss have got business. We’ll get together afterward and have a drink to Lena.”
That promise sat well with her, and she became more cooperative. I walked her to within sight of the El and waved her on, then hurried back to the alley.
Nevis was no longer alone. The door to the club was wide-open, spilling out a fan of faint light from some distant source within. Shivvey Coker stood on the threshold. He had a gun pointed at Nevis. This time Nevis looked worried. He held his hands clear of his body and kept himself very still.
Focused on each other, neither of them noticed me in the dark, and it seemed prudent to leave things as was. I got fairly close on foot, then vanished and floated the rest of the way, moving quick. Coker could pull the trigger any instant he chose.
I bumped and blundered along until I was exactly behind him, but he was moving now, backing up.
“That’s it,” he said. “Come on and easy does it.”
I wasn’t prepared for the surge of rage that flooded me at the sound of Coker’s voice. All I wanted to do was go solid and smash his face in. Roaring instinct said kill him, kill the man who’d tried to kill me. Reason, thin and small, said wait, learn more. For the crucial moment I hesitated. It was long enough to hold me in check until curiosity kicked in. I wanted to know what they’d have to say to each other. Things would be more candid between them without my presence.
“Come on. Shut the door. Don’t slam it.”
Had to remember that Coker was speaking to Nevis, not me. The door closed softly, the latch snicking firmly into place.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Nevis asked. He sounded more irked than afraid.
“The office,” Coker told him.
They walked to the office; another latch snicked.
“Have a seat,” he said expansively. “On the couch. Take a night off from the desk work.”
“It’s not too late to cut a deal, Shivvey. I can be generous.”
Coker laughed. “I’m gonna miss your jokes.”
“Yeah, well, what have I got to lose?”
“Nothing at all, but you won’t win. Not this game.”
“You’re holding off. What are you waiting for?”
“I got a friend coming in.”
“Little Tony the dancer? ‘Fraid not. He’s been sidetracked.” Nevis was taking a chance with that one. I hoped he wasn’t speeding up his imminent demise.
Silence for a moment as Coker digested the bad news. I positioned myself next to him. He stood before the desk, the better to face down the couch-seated Nevis. I thought about blanketing Coker. When I touched people while in this form the effect was a profound icy-to-the-bone chill. Coker might have a hair trigger on his gun; it could go off if he shivered too hard. Stranger things had happened.
“What’d you do to Tony?” he asked, sounding casual.
“Nothing. Yet. Sure you don’t want to deal?”
“I might change my mind. Where is he?”
“Don’t kid a kidder, Shivvey. You don’t give a tinker’s damn about the little bastard. What you want to know is if he’ll rat on you because your game with the grenades didn’t work.”
Coker gave a snort. “He won’t talk.”
“He already did. You should have offered to pay him more.” Nevis was buying himself time, then, probably hoping I’d come charging in to the rescue, or at least provide a diversion so he could make his own move. Seated on that low couch had him at a disadvantage, which is why Coker put him there.
“So what’d he say?”
“Enough about you to get me in good with the cops. It was stupid to use grenades again, especially at Lennet’s old place. What the hell were you thinking? When they start sweating you you’re gonna need a friend with influence, not some jumped-up hoofer in a monkey suit. You need me, Shivvey. You need me alive and on your side.”
“Lennet’s place? What were you doing there?”
Damn. Maybe I shouldn’t have altered Nevis’s memory. What I’d put there didn’t jibe with Coker’s talk.
“Don’t change the subject,” Nevis purred. “You missed me tonight, and I could still kill you for it, but for old time’s sake I can let it slide.”
“You could kill me? I’m the one with the gun.”
“True, but I’m the one with the money. You’ll need it to get the Ace up and running again. Taking me out of the picture would complicate everything for you.”
“Not really. No one has to know you’re dead. With the cops giving you the eye like today, no one’ll blame you if you skip town and don’t leave an address.”
Nevis snorted. “You think with me out of the way you can waltz in here and take over like Gordy did with the Nightcrawler? That won’t happen for you, my friend. You like to play too much. And there’s not a lot of time off when you’re being boss. When you’re running things it means you have to be here all night every night, in good health or on your deathbed. You don’t have the head for the paperwork, or the patience to deal with every drunken asshole who thinks he’s Diamond Jim Brady on a roll. In a month the new would wear off for you along with all the fun, and you’d suddenly realize you’re not the owner of the club, the club owns you. It’s too late to get away then because you have to have the money like a train needs tracks.”
Jeez. And I thought I was good at hypnotizing people. Nevis had me half-convinced.
“Having this club means no more time for skirt-chasing unless you settle down with Rita, and she’s too smart to get stuck with you.”
“Shut up, Nevis.”
“If this annoys you, then that means I pegged it. Face the facts, Shivvey, you want the money, but not the work that goes with it. Believe me, you’re much better off with the job you’ve got. If you want a raise, you can have one; all you had to do was ask.”
Somewhere along the way Coker had lost control of the conversation, and I doubted that he was aware of it.
“I see now that’s what you tried to do with Lennet way back when. You figured to bump him and I get the blame and you take over running the club, only it didn’t work out like you wanted. Lennet’s joint gets boarded up and you’re out of a job, so you came over to my payroll, liked how I do things, and settled in for a few years. They were pretty good years—until Fleming opens the old joint up again and finds what’s in the cellar. Is that what set this off for you, Shivvey? Did his finding Lena set it off?”
Coker didn’t answer immediately. I wanted to see his face. He could be raising the gun right then.
“It did and it didn’t,” he muttered instead.
“Come on and spill.” Nevis sounded more like an understanding big brother than a man seated six feet away from a bullet.
“I figured if the cops put you away for her, then I might as well be here to take over. Just makes sense to make another try when the odds favor.”
“Yeah, that does make sense,” agreed Nevis. “I might have done the same thing myself. But they’re not going to put me away. Not enough evidence.”
That’s when Coker woke out of Nevis’s spell and laughed. “You don’t kno
w everything, Boss.”
“Fill me in. I’m not going anywhere.”
“No, you’re not. For one thing, you’re sweet little twist Lena was stealing from you.”
“Tell me what I don’t know.”
“Good, Nevis. I didn’t think you were that dumb. Why’d you let her get away with it? Were you in love?”
Nevis kept his temper against the inherent contempt. “It didn’t bother me is all. Anything else?”
“Oh, yeah. Plenty. Lena kept a record of every bet she made. I think it was some kind of insurance for her in case you decided to fall out of love.”
Great. One cat out of the bag. One can of worms opened wide. One pot of beans spilled to hell and gone all over the floor. I suppose I could edit Nevis’s memory later. What’s a splitting headache or two between friends?
“A record?”
“She had a little book. The only thing in it was your name and a lot of numbers and dates of all the work you had for her with the bookies. Very incriminating. It wouldn’t take the cops very long to—”
“You’re lying.”
I could almost see Coker’s shrug. “Doesn’t matter. I was going to give it to them to nail you to the wall, but then they’d close this place down for good. Or make it too expensive for me to pay them off.”
“So you forget the book and kill me instead? And who do you think they’d pick as the most likely suspect?”
“Me, of course. Only I’ll have plenty of alibi. Same as the other time.” He didn’t have to add that last bit. It was his way of informing Nevis his end was definitely nigh, just as it’d been for Welsh Lennet.
“The other time it went bust on you.”
“Not my fault. I got things better prepared now.”
“Sure you have. You think I wouldn’t know? Or allowed for it? You bump me, and you won’t see one thin dime off this place. I made a will.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Something happens to me, and it all goes to my uncle in San Francisco. I figure it might make up for some bad blood between us.”
“Well, you said it yourself, don’t kid a kidder.”
“You’ll find out the truth of it soon enough.”
“Maybe so,” Coker said after a minute. “But even if it does go to him, he’ll need someone local to run things. I still get the club. Why you shaking your head?”