The Hidden Hand of Death

by Lawrence J Epstein

  “No one knows you work with us, Oscar. I mean the police and the F.B.I. They seem to know every one of our regular couriers. That’s why you’ve been chosen for this task. It’s that vital.”

  “I won’t let you down. I won’t let the Reich down.”

  “That is spoken like a true patriot.”

  “Is there any password I need to use?”

  Huber laughed.

  “No, Oscar. You are new at this game aren’t you? That also gives me confidence. Just go into the shop. A woman will be there. There will be a man in the back room but you are not to see him. Just give your package to the woman and leave.”

  I put the package tightly under my arm and made a Nazi salute. I wondered if the Nazi salute was too much, but Huber made one back to me.

  I stared at Huber and saw the essence of mortal danger.

  I walked out to the streets which had suddenly become much more dangerous.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  I stopped a few doors down and half-turned, pretending to look at someone. I had been right. I was being followed. My tail was very thin with a wide fedora.

  I was glad I had made the necessary arrangements.

  I went over two blocks, walking slowly so my tail wouldn’t lose me.

  She was sitting in the restaurant waiting for me. I walked inside.

  “Hi, Ryder,” Gloria said. She was getting the usual number of stares.

  “I’m Oscar today.”

  “You do lead an interesting life. I wouldn’t mind being your assistant. Vinny is good to me, only he makes demands I don’t like.”

  “I’m sorry Gloria. I don’t need an assistant right now. I couldn’t pay you.”

  “You paid for this.”

  “It’s a specific case. Did you make the hotel reservations?”

  “Sure. I checked the room. Everything is just as you asked. I have to say I misjudged you. I didn’t think you’d be taking me to a hotel.”

  “I’m sorry to say, Gloria, as beautiful as you are, most of the time I’ll be out of the hotel room.”

  “Most men don’t treat me like that.”

  “I’m not like most men.”

  “You’re not kidding.”

  We walked to the hotel.

  “Put your hand through my arm, Gloria. Giggle every once in a while.”

  “My pleasure.”

  I sometimes looked in a store window to make sure we were still being followed.

  We checked into the hotel and went up to the room.

  “What do I do?” Gloria asked.

  “If it was me, I’d take a nap.”

  “I’m pretty sure I’ve never been paid to nap.”

  “You can put it in your memoirs.”

  Gloria lay down on the bed.

  I opened the window. As I had asked, the room was right next to the fire escape. I climbed out and went down. I walked several blocks and took a taxi down to Greenwich Village to the diner.

  When I got there, Gertie was just arriving for the late shift.

  “Good timing, Ryder.”

  “Gertie, I’m going to leave a note for a Mr. Madison.”

  “Oh, yeah. He gave me a number to call if you left a note.”

  “He never gave me his number,” I said.

  “It might be that he can arrest me and nobody wants to arrest you.”

  “Maybe. What would have happened if I arrived two hours ago?”

  “The other girl Abby would have called me and told me there was a note. I would have come in to get it and call Mr. Madison. Don’t worry, you wouldn’t have been left alone.”

  “I hope he’s giving you good money for this, Gertie.”

  “He’s giving me more money than I deserve. It’s going to a special hiding place. Pretty soon I’ll have my escape dough. At least I hope so.”

  Gertie paused. “Oh, I almost forgot. You got a letter that was sent here.” Gertie went behind the counter and got the envelope, returned, and gave it to me.

  It had no return address.

  I opened it.

  It was from Robert Johnson McTell.

  It read:

  “Dear Mr. Ryder,

  Hi. I hope you remember me. I’m the Negro who asked you to do something regarding my service in the Army. It was very helpful to speak with you. I can’t say where I’m writing from but I went ahead and got myself into the Army. I feel like part of a team with one goal. That is to win this war.

  Robert

  P.S. My feet are working great.”

  I put the letter back in the envelope, put that in my pocket, said bye to Gertie and rushed back to the hotel. I climbed in the window.

  Gloria was still lying on the bed.

  “You know, you can take a nap too, Mr. Ryder.”

  “Oscar. Remember that for today. I appreciate the offer. But I’m waiting for a call. I’m too nervous.”

  “Suit yourself. It’s your money.”

  The call came twenty minutes later.

  “Ryder?”

  “Yeah.”

  “This is Mr. Madison. We got your note. Tell me the whole story.”

  I repeated what Huber had told me in the bookstore.

  “You have the package?”

  “Sure. It’s right here.”

  “We need to see it. Now.”

  “Then send somebody.”

  “In ten minutes, a cleaning lady will knock at your door. She’ll say, ‘I’m from Honduras. Can I clean your room?’ You give her the package.”

  “Ah. Finally some cloak and dagger stuff.”

  “Stay by the phone. We have a room set up.”

  “Already? I wouldn’t want to mess with the FBI.”

  “No. You wouldn’t. Once we see it we’ll have orders for you. Is it all right to stay for you in the room for so long?”

  “If you saw the woman I’m with no one would question it.”

  “We can’t do that kind of stuff.”

  “I thought that’s why you got me.”

  “I guess it is.”

  “Mr. Madison?”

  “Yes.”

  “I need money. A lot of money.”

  “I’ll bring it to you myself.”

  The “cleaning woman” came and got the document. Twenty minutes later she returned it.

  I waited.

  The phone rang.

  It was Madison.

  I said, “Hold it a minute.”

  I looked at Gloria. “This would be a very good time for you to take a long, loud shower.”

  She nodded and went into the bathroom.

  I waited until he heard the shower turned on.

  “I’m here.”

  “You got gold. Our naval plans in the North Atlantic. We’d love to learn how they got the plans.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “You do what you were asked.”

  “Shouldn’t we give them fake plans?”

  “Normally we would. But the war has speeded up the spy game. We’re going to arrest them with the real plans and keep them in a safe cell overnight. Tomorrow we raid the bookstore. 9 a.m. Don’t be there. It’s going to be messy.”

  “Huber doesn’t go there every day.”

  “I know. We have his address.”

  “Madison, there’s a woman named Karolin. Don’t arrest her.”

  “We have to. It will look funny if we don’t. But we can let her go if she’s clean.”

  “She is.”

  “Good. You were first-rate, Ryder.”

  “Listen, Mr. Madison. About that money I need.”

  “I’ll leave a nice amount with Gertie. You’ll be able to eat in the diner for a year.”

  “Thanks.”

  When I hung up, I knocked on the bathroom door.

  “Okay, Gloria, you’re clean enough. Come on out.”

  She was finished in a few minutes.

  “You got any more assignments like this, Mr. Ryder? This is much better than I usually get.”

  “Al
l I can tell you Gloria is if I need someone again I’ll make sure you get the job.”

  She came over and hugged me.

  Then she kissed me on each cheek.

  “I think that’s how the French do it, and they’re our allies.”

  We walked outside.

  The tail, looking tired, was still there.

  I got a taxi for Gloria and went back to Yorkville.

  I wanted to be ready to meet Karolin.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  I was struck again by how much Karolin reminded me of Maggie.

  The restaurant she selected was small and clean. It wasn’t fancy.

  “Hi, Oscar,” she said.

  That name pained me. I wanted to scream the truth to her, to tell her I was fighting the Nazis and was not part of them.

  “Hi,” I mumbled.

  “How’s your reading going?” she asked.

  I thought she sounded awkward, and I feared the entire conversation would unwind that way.

  “I’m always reading when I can. It’s always going okay. Karolin, you seem very unhappy in the bookstore.”

  “I hate the Nazis. When I started this was just a German bookstore. I love books. I love the great German writers. I thought it was a good job.”

  “Why don’t you argue with them?”

  She laughed.

  “Argue with Nazis? Oscar, if I asked them how much is ten and ten and they said thirty, I could at least tell them they’re wrong. But they might answer ‘The Jews invented morality and that ruined humanity.’ They’re not even arguing on the same level. You understand? They don’t believe in arguments. They believe in their ideology and forcing everyone in the world to believe it.”

  I leaned forward.

  “Karolin, do you work tomorrow?”

  Her face bundled up in a look of surprise.

  “Of course.”

  “What time do you begin?”

  “Why, Oscar?”

  “I just want to know. Please tell me.”

  “I get to the store at 8:30, work on the inventory, and open the doors at 9 a.m.”

  “I’m going to ask you a favor. A really big favor. A giant favor.”

  “You want me to put aside a book for you?”

  “No, Karolin. What I want has nothing to do with books.”

  “All right. Then what is it?”

  “I don’t want you to go to work tomorrow.”

  “Do you want to take me somewhere, Oscar?”

  “I…No. I’m busy. I just don’t want you to be at the store when it opens.”

  “Why?”

  I was stumped. I had feared this moment.

  “We barely know each other Karolin. You have no reason to trust me or believe in me. You have every reason to think I’m unhinged for saying what I’m saying. So, I’m resorting to begging. Please don’t go to the store tomorrow.”

  “Oscar, it’s my job. I was brought up to do my job even when I didn’t want to. And now you ask me, with no reason whatsoever, to stop doing my job.”

  “I’m asking you to trust me.”

  “But about what?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Oh, it’s a secret.”

  “Yes, Karolin. It is a secret.”

  She sat still shaking her head back and forth.

  “I’m a real idiot. I have a perfect record with men. I’m always wrong. I thought you were a great guy, maybe someone I could get to know. It turns out you’re crazy, Oscar. I’m not going to miss work tomorrow. Or any other day.”

  She paused.

  “Look, just give me a sensible reason and I might listen. But you refuse to give me one. It’s like I would say to you stand on the table and you ask me why and I say I have a secret reason but I can’t tell you. Just stand on the table. You’d think I was crazy and you wouldn’t do it.”

  I sat quietly. Every fiber within me wanted to tell her, but I couldn’t take a chance. What if she was related to the owner Huber and felt obligated to tell him? No. The mission came first.

  Madison had said she’d be free if she was clean, but arrests get very confused. People get hurt, even shot. Who knew if she was clean?

  I wanted to pound the tabletop.

  Karolin was looking at my face.

  “Look, Oscar, I think it’s better if I just left.”

  “But Karolin…”

  She had already stood and turned her back as she headed for the door.

  Then she was gone.

  I went to my apartment and rested.

  I thought of Karolin and my head felt twisted with pain.

  At one I was up and ready. I had to deliver the stolen package.

  I went to the flower shop where I was supposed to deliver what I had.

  It was dark and locked.

  I knocked at the door.

  A well-dressed woman, oddly wearing a hat, opened the door.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Oscar.”

  “What book by Goethe do you like?”

  “The Sorrows of Young Werther.”

  “Come in.”

  She walked with me into a shop and sat down at a desk.

  “You have the package for me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good. Then please give it to me.”

  All of a sudden there was the sound of glass breaking and feet charging.

  The woman pulled a revolver from her desk.

  “You traitor.”

  She fired at me but I had ducked below the front of the desk.

  Two men charged into the office.

  The woman fired at them. They fired back and hit her arm.

  I thought they wanted her alive.

  It took a half hour before the man in back was captured.

  Madison came up to me. I told him again about Karolin. He made no promises, but he listened.

  I left and headed to the diner.

  It was mostly empty. Even the people ordinarily there seemed to have taken the night off.

  Gertie came over to me with a briefcase.

  “This has a lot of money in it for you, Ryder. I didn’t look and I didn’t ask any questions. That’s what’s safe for me. But I lifted it and it’s heavy.”

  I looked inside.

  “I’ll count it later, Gertie. This should keep me eating your food for a while.”

  “Good, Ryder. I’d miss you if you weren’t here. They gave me more dough. I never even asked for it. They said it was a bonus. I like getting bonuses. You want some food?”

  “Hamburger. Well-done. Lots of fried onions on it.”

  “Oh, so you’ve become a gourmet.”

  “I can afford it now Gertie.”

  “You don’t mind me saying so, Ryder, you don’t look so good.”

  “Life is tough. I try to fight back. Sometimes the punches I take get to me.”

  Gertie nodded.

  Then she walked away.

  I sat there thinking and planning and waiting for my food.

  The only other patron finished his meal and left the diner.

  Gertie came over and sat across from me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “I mean it, Ryder. You look really tired,” she said.

  I nodded. “I never finished one of my cases,” he said, “But when I do I want to re-examine what I’m doing.”

  “Tell me, Ryder, how did you get started in this? You’re smart enough to be a banker or a judge.”

  I shrugged.

  “A high school friend. You know that old saying that you should be careful who you pick out as your friends? It’s so true. He was a nice little kid. Somebody picked on him on the stairwell in high school. I stopped the kid who picked on Sandy. After that he thought he owed me a favor.”

  I took a long gulp of coffee.

  “It turned out Sandy’s father was in the rackets. A lot of people were. They needed money. The father offered me what seemed like a simple job. I had to deliver packages from one corner of the city to
another. I never had to or did I open the packages. I had no idea what was in them. So all I did was like a mailman. I took a package from person A to person B. I got what to me seemed like good money for this. I never ran into a cop. No one stopped me.

  “And then one day someone came to see me. He said people liked me. I didn’t ask questions. I was on time. I was polite. I didn’t steal or try to blackmail anyone. I never even thought of doing any of that you understand, Gertie.”

  “No, I wouldn’t think you would.”

  “So,” I said, “This man said I could be a big man. I could run one of the gambling places. I said I didn’t like those places. Desperate, sweating people who got hysterical when they lost. I turned it down. I left.

  “Six months later another man shows up. His friend has a problem he says. The guy’s dying and in great pain. He wants to kill himself only he doesn’t have the guts. He’s looking for someone to help him out.

  “The man who approached me offered a lot of money. He said I would be humane. All I had to do was drink with him and slip him a pill. That way he’d never know enough to be scared. Everyone would win the man said.

  “I was very young and very stupid. I did it. The next day I read in the papers how this guy in the mob was murdered. I look at the picture and it’s the guy I gave the pill. I can’t believe it. I’m a kid. Only now I’m also a murderer.

  “Everyone was happy with me. Evidently this guy I killed stole from other gangsters. He killed a bunch of innocents and that brought the cops. These guys who had hired me were gamblers. They were used to bribes or raids. They didn’t like this guy at all, and they finally figured out they had to get rid of him. Enter me, the stupid and naïve kid.

  “Anyway, I had done it and now I had a reputation. The cops never figured out who had killed the man, so I was free.

  “Of course another bad guy came along. Another killing had to happen. So they approached me. I said no. They said they would kill me if I didn’t do it. You see by then they thought of me as a sort of lucky charm because I hadn’t been caught the first time. You don’t threaten a lucky charm, but they did.

  “I still said no and then my neighbor was beaten up. I watched him in the hospital bed and then I knew that somehow life had trapped me.”

  “Did you kill the guy you were supposed to?”

  “I did. There were no more attacks on my neighbor. And so I had a job. Eventually, I started as a fixer and got a little bit away from the gamblers. But everybody knew me by then.