Well, I guess youre going to be busy, Wayde said, eyeing the cop standing at my office door. If theres anything I can do
Thanks, I said. Ill let you know.
Leaving him, I walked past the cop and into the outer office. Apart from match ends on the floor and cigarette butts anywhere but in the ash-trays, the room had a lonely empty look. I went into my office.
Lieutenant Retnick was sitting behind my desk. He regarded me with the usual cop stare as I came in, and then waved me to the clients chair.
There was a smear of dry blood on the back of the chair. I didnt fancy to contact with that so I sat on the arm of the chair.
You got a gun permit? he asked.
Yes.
Whats your gun?
A .38[28] police special.
He laid his hand, palm up, on the blotter. Give.
Its in the top right-hand drawer.
He stared for a long moment, then withdrew his hand. It isnt. Ive looked through your desk.
I resisted the temptation to wipe away the trickle of cold sweat that began to run down the back of my neck. Thats where it should be.
He took a cigar from a pigskin case, stripped off the wrapping, pierced the cigar with a match end, then fed the cigar into his face. All the time his small hard eyes locked with mine. She was shot with a .38, he said. The M.O. says she died around three oclock this morning. Look, Ryan, why dont you come clean[29]? Just what did this yellow skin have in her handbag?
Keeping my voice calm with an effort, I said, I may seem to you to be a dumb, stupid peeper, but you cant really believe I would be that dumb and that stupid to knock off a client in my own office with my own gun even if she had all the gold in Fort Knox[30] in her goddam handbag.
He lit the cigar and blew a stream of rank smoke at me. I dont know: you might. You might be trying to play it smart, kidding yourself you had dreamed up a water-tight alibi, he said, but there wasnt much conviction in his voice.
If I had killed her, I went on, I would have known the time she had died. I wouldnt have given you an alibi for eight-thirty, I would have cooked one up for three oclock.
He shifted around in my chair while what he used as a brain creaked under pressure.
What was she doing in your office at that hour in the morning?
Want me to guess?
Look, Ryan, we havent had a murder in this city for five years. Ive got to have some story to give the Press. Any ideas youve got, Ill listen to. You help us, Ill help you. I could arrest you and toss you in the tank on the evidence Ive got against you, but Im giving you a chance to prove Im wrong. Go ahead and guess.
Suppose she was from Frisco[31] and not here? Suppose she had to talk urgently with me? Dont ask me why or why she couldnt talk to a private dick in Frisco: just suppose this happened. Suppose she decided to fake a plane and come here so she could talk to me and suppose she made up her mind about seven last night. She would know she couldnt get here before I had left so she telephoned. Hardwick, having got rid of me, was waiting here to take the call. She told him she was flying here and would be here around three oclock. He said it was okay and he would be here when she did arrive. When she arrived at the airport, she took a taxi and came here. Hardwick listened to what she had to say, then shot her.
Using your gun?
Using my gun.
The entrance to this building is locked at nine. The lock hasnt been tampered with. How did Hardwick and the yellow skin get in here?
Hardwick must have arrived as soon as I had left and before the janitor locked up. He knew I was out of the way so he could sit right here and wait for the telephone call. When the time came for her to arrive, he went down and let her in. Its a Yale lock. Theres no trouble opening it from the inside.
You ought to write movie scripts, he said sourly. Is this the yarn youre going to tell the jury?
Its worth checking. She would be easily spotted at the airport. The taxi-drivers out there would remember her.
Supposed it happened the way you say but instead of this unknown Hardwick, you were the one who told her you would wait for her?
Hes not unknown. If youll check with the Express Messenger Service youll find he sent me three hundred dollars. You can check I was outside 33 Connaught Boulevard from seven-thirty until nine. After that time, although I was there, only one car passed me around two oclock, but I dont know if the driver saw me or not. At six the milk delivery man will tell you I was still there.
Im only interested in knowing where you were between one and four this morning.
I was outside 33 Connaught Boulevard.
He shrugged his shoulders. Just to keep the record straight, let me see what you have in your pockets.
I turned out my pockets, laying the odds and ends on the desk. He watched without interest. If I had stolen her virtue, I said, I wouldnt be carrying it around in my pocket.
He got to his feet. Dont leave town. I only need a puff of wind to throw you in the tank[32] as a material witness, so watch yourself.
He walked out of my office, through the outer room and into the passage. He left both doors wide open.
I collected my possessions and returned them to my pockets, then I pushed the door shut and sat on my desk and lit a cigarette. Right now they hadnt a water-tight case against me, but they did have something. A lot depended on what they turned up within the next few hours. Although Retnick was a bird-brain, I had a feeling the killer was framing me for the murder and would drop another clue in front of Retnick that could be a clincher. The disappearance of my gun could only mean the killer had shot her with it and it might turn up where Retnick would find it.
I slid off the desk. This wasnt the time to sit around shaking my head at myself [33]. I had work to do.
I locked up the office and headed for the elevator. Against Jay Waydes glass-panelled door, I saw Retnicks shadow. He was talking to Wayde, collecting evidence against me. With a sense of urgency, I rode down to the ground floor, walked by the two cops at the door, then crossed the street to where I had left my car. I got in and slammed the door.
I was now as jittery as a junkie. I had a sudden urge for a slug of whisky. Drinking before six oclock wasnt my usual routine, but this was something special. I slid across the bench seat and opened the glove compartment. As I reached for the bottle, my heart gave a big kick against my ribs and my mouth turned as dry as a sun-bleached bone.
In the glove compartment lay my .38 police special and a lizard-skin handbag.
I sat staring, feeling a chill crawl up my spine. As sure as I was breathing, this handbag belonged to the dead Chinese woman.
3
At the back of police headquarters there is a large yard surrounded by an eight-foot high wall. Here, the police park their patrol cars, the riot squad trucks and the fast cars that rush experts to any emergency.
On one of the walls is a big notice that says in large red letters against a white background this park is for police vehicles only.
I swung my car through the open gateway and parked carefully beside a patrol car. As I cut the engine, a cop appeared from nowhere, his red Irish face showing violent fury.
I swung my car through the open gateway and parked carefully beside a patrol car. As I cut the engine, a cop appeared from nowhere, his red Irish face showing violent fury.
Hey! Whats the matter with you? Cant you read? he bawled in a voice that could be heard two blocks away.
Nothings the matter with me, I said as I removed the key from the ignition, and I can read even the long words.
I thought he was going to explode. For a long moment he opened and shut his mouth while he struggled to frame words violent enough for the occasion.
Before he could give utterance, I said, smiling at him through the open window of my car, Detective Lieutenant Retnick, the Mayors brother-in-law, told me to park here. Take it up with him[34] if you feel badly about it, but dont blame me if you get yourself kicked humpbacked.
He looked as if he had suddenly swallowed a bee. For two long seconds he glared at me, his mouth working, then he stalked away.
I sat staring into space for perhaps twenty minutes, then a car came into the yard and parked within ten feet of me. Retnick got out and started towards a door that led into the grey stone building that was police headquarters.
Lieutenant
I didnt raise my voice but he heard me. He looked over his shoulder at me. He stiffened as if someone had goosed him with a branding iron, then he came over fast.
What do you imagine you are doing here? he demanded.
Waiting for you, I said.
He considered this, staring intently at me. Well, Im here now what?
I got out of the car.
You searched me, Lieutenant, but you forgot to search my car.
He became very still, breathing heavily through his pinched nostrils, his hard watchful eyes alert.
Why should I search your car, shamus?
You wanted to know what the yellow skin, as you call her, had in her handbag that had tempted me to shoot her in my office with my gun. You didnt find it in my office nor in my pockets. I should have thought a really keen cop would have checked my car to make sure I hadnt hidden the motive for murder there. So Ive brought the car along just in case you wanted to be a really keen cop.
His face tightened with fury.
Listen, you son-of-a-bitch, he mouthed. I dont take smart talk from a cheap peeper. Ill get Pulski to handle you! Hell take the shine off your wit! Youre too goddam smart to stay in one piece!
Better look in the car first before you feed me to your meat-grinder, Lieutenant. Look in the glove compartment. Itll save time.
I stepped away from the car, letting the car door swing open.
His eyes smouldering, Retnick leaned into the car and yanked open the glove compartment. I watched his reactions. His fury died. He didnt touch either the gun or the handbag. He looked for a long moment, then turned to me.Is that your gun?
Yes.
Her handbag?
It adds up, doesnt it?
He studied me, puzzled.
What the hells this? You ready to make a statement admitting you killed her?
Im laying the cards face up as theyre dealt to me, I said. I cant do more than that. Its up to you what you make of it.
He bawled to the cop guarding the gate. When the cop came over, Retnick told him to get Pulski fast.
While we waited, Retnick again looked at the gun and the handbag without touching them. I wouldnt give two bits[35] for your chance of survival now, shamus, he said. Not two bits.
I wouldnt give two bits myself if I hadnt come here to show you what I found, I said, but since Ive come, Ill gamble two bits but no more.
Do you always lock your car? he asked, staring at me as his brain creaked into action.
Yes, but I have a duplicate key in the drawer where I keep my gun. I didnt look but I bet it isnt there now.
Retnick scratched the side of his face with a rasping sound. Thats right. When I looked for the gun, I didnt see any key.
Pulski came pounding across the yard.
Give this car the works[36], Retnick said to him. Check everything. Careful how you handle the gun and the handbag. Better let Lacey look at the gun. Get moving.
He nodded to me and we walked across the yard, up the three steps, through the doorway into a dimly-lit white-tiled passage that smelt the way all cops houses smell.
We tramped down a corridor, up a flight of stairs, down a corridor and into a room the size of a hen coop. There was a desk, two chairs, a filing cabinet and a window. It was as cosy and as comfortable as an orphanages common room.
Retnick waved me to an upright chair while he eased his way around the desk and sat in the chair behind it.
This your office? I asked interested. Id have thought you being the Mayors brother-in-law, they would have fitted you up with something more plush.
Never mind how I live: concentrate on your own misfortunes, Retnick said. If thats the gun that killed her and thats her handbag, youre as good as dead.
Do you think so? I said, trying to make myself comfortable on the upright chair. You know for ten minutes, maybe even longer, I struggled against the temptation of ditching the gun and the handbag in the sea and if I had ditched them, Lieutenant, neither you nor all the bright boys who take care of the law in this city would have been any the wiser[37], but I decided to give you a break.
What do you mean by that?
I didnt ditch them because they had been so obviously planted in my car. It all adds up to a plant the whole set-up. If I had ditched them, you might not be able to break the case.
He cocked his head on one side: he was good at doing that.
So I have the gun and the handbag: what makes you think Im going to break this goddam case?
Because youre not going to concentrate on me, youre going to look for the killer and thats what he doesnt want you to do.
He brooded for a long moment, then he took out his cigar case and offered it to me. This was his first friendly act during the five years I had known him. I took a cigar to show I appreciated the gesture although I am not by nature a cigar smoker.
We lit up and breathed smoke at each other.
Okay, Ryan, he said. I believe you. Id like to think you knocked her off, but its leaning too far backwards. Id be saving myself a hell of a lot of trouble and time if I could believe it, but I cant. Youre a cheap peeper, but youre not a fool. Okay, so Im sold. Youre being framed.
I relaxed.
But dont count on me, he went on. The trouble will be to convince the D.A.[38] Hes an impatient bastard. Once he knows what Ive got on you, hell move in. Why should he care so long as he gets a conviction? There didnt seem anything to say to that so I didnt say it.
He stared out of the window that gave onto a view of the back of a tenement building with badly washed laundry hanging on strings and baby carriages on balconies.
Ive got to dig around before I can make up my mind about you, he said finally. I can book you as a material witness or I can ask you to stick around voluntarily. Whats it to be?
Ill stick around, I said.
He reached for his telephone. I want you, he said when a voice sounded over the line.
There was a pause, then the door pushed open and a young plain-clothes man came in. He was the eager-beaver[39] type. I could see, so far, police work hadnt soured him. He looked at Retnick the way a friendly dog looks for a bone.