Dark Passage (22 page)

Parry turned and faced the wall, holding
his hands high. Arbogast came over and in four seconds checked him
for a gun.

Then Arbogast stepped back . “So that was
what I had in mind. But you pulled something I wasn’t ready for and
that made things tough for me. Not too tough, because I wasn't out
cold when you got in the car with that girl. I saw the car going
away and at first I didn't know what to make of it. But I'm no
dope. That was a classy-looking car and there had to be money
behind it. So I took the license number in my head. I got a good
head for that sort of thing. You beginning to see the way I had it
laid out?”

“I’m beginning to see you're a man who
plans for the future.”

“Always,” Arbogast said. “Anything that
looks like it might lead to something. A fellow’s got to be a few
moves ahead of the game. It's the only way to get along in this
world. Well, I had that license number in my head but I was in my
underwear and I knew I couldn't go far that way. But you left your
grey pants there and they fitted all right and I was wearing a
sleeveless jersey and I still had my socks and shoes so that was
all right, too. So I got in the car with that license number in my
head and I made a U-turn and went back down the road aways and took
another road. There was nothing for me to worry about because all
my cards were in the Studebaker and if they stopped me and asked
questions I could tell them I had a fall and banged up my face. But
it didn't matter, I wasn't stopped. I took a roundabout way to
Frisco and when I got in town I made a telephone call.”

“Oh.” Parry said. “there’s another party
in on it.” “No.” Arbogast said. “You don't need to worry about
that. It's just that I belong to an automobile club. It's not a big
club but it's convenient and it has a knack of getting a line on
people. So here's what I did. Now get this, and you'll see how it
happens that a guy can go along for years living on breadcrumbs and
out of a clear blue sky a jackpot comes along and hits him in the
face. I called up this automobile club and told them a grey Pontiac
convertible slammed into me and busted my car and made me a
hospital case and then kept on going on a hit-run basis. I gave
them the license number and I wanted to know if it was worth my
while to start action. They told me to wait there and they'd call
back in ten minutes. When they called back they said I should go
get myself a lawyer because I really had something. They said she
was a wealthy girl and they gave me her name and address. They said
she was listed for a couple hundred thousand at the inside and I
ought to collect plenty. You staying with me?”

“I’m right alongside you.”

“That’s dandy,” Arbogast said. “Now stay
with me while I go out of that telephone booth telling myself I'm
in for a thousand or two. Or maybe four or five if I can rig up a
good story. Stay with me while I walk down the street and while I
pass a newsstand. Then I'm walking away from that newsstand and
then I'm spinning around and running back to that newsstand and
throwing two bits into the tin box and forgetting to pick up
change. And there I am, looking at the front page, looking at those
big black letters and looking at your face.”

“You must have been glad to see
me.”

“Was I glad to see you? You asking me was
I glad? I’m telling you I almost went into a jig. Then I pulled
myself together and I started to think. What I don't understand was
how she got connected with you at that particular place in the
road. But I'm no dope. She must have seen you getting out of the
car or else you waved to her when she passed in the Pontiac.
Something like that, but I wasn't bothering myself about it. All I
had to do was keep my eyes open and my head working and stay with
her. So I did that. I had some money from a job I did in Sacramento
and I got myself some clothes. I really splurged, because I knew
I'd soon be coming into some high finance. But I didn't think in
terms of a room. No, because I knew the Studebaker was going to be
my home for a while, parked outside the apartment on the other side
of the street. So there I am, parked there on the other side of the
street and playing it conservative and taking my time. I saw her
Pontiac parked outside the apartment and that was fine, but I
wanted to make sure you were still with her. Late that night I saw
you coming out of the apartment and that was what I'd been waiting
for. I saw you getting into a taxi.”

“You followed me.”

“No. I’m no dope. I knew you'd come
back.”

“Who told you?”

“Nobody told me. Just like I say, I had my
head working. That’s all I need. That's why I always work alone.
All I need is my head. I knew you'd come back because she was in on
it with you and you had to come back sooner or later. So I stayed
there and early in the morning I was there in the Studebaker and I
was watching that street with both eyes. And I saw you coming down
the street.”

“You couldn’t know it was me. My face was
all bandaged.”

“Look.” Arbogast sounded like a patient
classroom instructor. “I recognized that brand new grey suit. I
checked the suit and your build and I figured it out in no time at
all. You had something done to your face and that’s no new story
with fellows in your position. I knew you were going to lamp the
Studebaker and I wasn’t worried about that but I didn't want you to
lamp me. Not yet, anyway. So I ducked and stayed on the floor. When
I got up I saw you going into the apartment house. Then I knew I
had to keep you guessing, the two of you, I had to handle it like a
spider, getting you in, not too fast, nothing hurried about it,
just coaxing you in. I took the Studebaker down a block and parked
it there so you couldn't see it from the window. And from there I
watched the apartment house. And the only thing that bothered me
then was maybe when you came out with your new face you wouldn't be
wearing that grey suit. But I couldn't do anything about that. So I
waited and then along comes another jackpot when I buy a paper from
a boy and I read all about that Fellsinger job. And that doubled
the pot, because now she wasn't only tied in with a jailbreak, she
was connected with a murder. You see what I had on her?”

“But I didn’t do it.”

“I don’t care whether you did it or not.
The cops say you did it. That's enough for me. Anyway, I was still
sort of bothered about that business of you coming out of the
apartment wearing a different suit, so I decided to have a talk
with you before anything like that could take place. I went up to
the apartment and I rang the buzzer. That was during one of those
times after she went away in the Pontiac to go shopping. You see I
used to watch her going away and coming back with packages and I
knew you were going to be there for a while. So there you have me
ringing the buzzer and then changing my mind, saying to myself to
hold off for a while, play it the way I'd been playing it, taking
it slow. How did I know there wasn't a third party up in that
apartment? Or a fourth party? Or a mob? What I had to do was take
my chances with that suit situation and wait it out until I could
get you alone and away from the apartment. With all that money
involved I could afford to stay in with those aces back to back and
just waiting there for somebody to raise. And that raise came this
morning when the grey suit came out of the apartment house. I
wasn't even looking at the face. I followed the grey suit. I
followed the taxi. Downtown the grey suit got out of the taxi and
the whole thing was going nicely until that dick got hold of you in
the diner. I saw you give him a bribe. How much did you give
him?”

“Two hundred.”

“You see what I’m getting at? If you could
afford two hundred she must have handed you at least a couple
thousand. Whoever she is, she's got feeling for you. She'll do what
you say. That's why I'm arranging it the way I am. That's why we'll
go there together and you'll do the asking. Now look, don't get
smart.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You just keep your hands up, that’s
what's the matter. You're not dealing with no dope. I played it
shrewd all the way and I aim to keep on playing it shrewd. I didn't
miss a trick. I followed you from the diner and I followed you on
that taxi ride to and from Golden State Park and I followed you on
that department-store trip and I followed you here. At the desk I
said I had a message for the man who just came in wearing a grey
suit and they asked did I mean Mr. Linnell and I said yes. That
puts us here together where I wanted us to be. So now you can turn
around and we’ll talk it over face to face and we'll see what we
got.”

Parry turned and faced Arbogast and said,
“You’ve still got that question of a third party or even a
mob.”

Arbogast smiled and shook his head. “You
wouldn’t be checking in here alone if there was a mob. You'd either
want someone with you or if there was a boss the boss would want
someone with you. I know how these things go. Let's call it the way
it is. It's you and the girl and me and nobody else.”

“I won’t argue with you.”

Arbogast widened the smile. “That kind of
talk is music to me. Who did that job on your face?”

“I’m not saying.”

“It’s high-class work.”

“What good is it now?”

“Don’t talk like a dope,” Arbogast said.
“You're going to be better off now than you ever were. As soon as I
get the sixty thousand I'll be clearing out and you'll be set. All
right, what do you say?”

“You’re holding the gun.”

“Now you’re using your head. I'm holding
the gun. I'm holding the high cards. And as soon as I rake in the
chips I walk out of the game.”

“You make it sound simple.”

“Sure, because that’s the way it is. It's
simple. Why make it complicated?”

Parry wanted to think that it was simple.
He wanted to conclude that once she gave Arbogast the sixty
thousand everything would be all right. And yet he knew that once
Arbogast got the sixty thousand he would ask for more and keep on
asking. The man was made that way. This was the first real money
Arbogast had ever come up against. For Arbogast it was a delicious
situation and Arbogast would want it to remain that way.

Parry told himself what he had to do. He
looked at Arbogast and he told himself he had to get rid of
Arbogast. He had foxed Arbogast once and maybe he could do it
again.

“No,” Arbogast said.

“No what?”

“Just no, that’s all. The only way you get
rid of me is sixty thousand. That's the only way. Look at the gun.
If you try to take it I put a bullet in you. If you try to run away
I put a bullet in you. And I make myself five thousand. Either way
you die and either way I make money.”

Parry told himself he had to get rid of
Arbogast because Arbogast would keep on bothering her. Arbogast
wasn’t interested in him. He wished Arbogast was interested in him
and only him.

Arbogast said, “All right, what do we
do?”

“We’ll go there,” Parry said.

“That’s fine,” Arbogast said. ” You'll
stay just a bit ahead of me and you'll remember there's a gun
behind you.”

They walked out of the room. In the
elevator Arbogast remained slightly behind Parry. In the lobby
Arbogast was walking at the side of Parry and half a step behind.
On the street it was the same way. The street was bright yellow
from hot August sun following the heavy rain. The street was
crowded with early morning activity and horns were honking and
people were walking in and out of office buildings and
stores.

“Let’s turn here,” Arbogast
said.

They turned and walked up another street,
then down a narrow street and Parry saw the Studebaker parked
beside a two-story drygoods establishment.

“You drive,” Arbogast said. He took keys
out of a pocket and handed them to Parry.

Parry got in the car from the pavement
side and Arbogast came sliding in beside him. Parry started the
motor and sat there looking at the narrow street that went on ahead
of him until it arrived at a wide and busy street.

“The whole thing won’t take more than an
hour,” Arbogast said.

The car moved down the narrow
street.

“And remember,” Arbogast said, “I’ve got
the gun right here.”

“I’ll remember,” Parry said.

The car made a turn and it was on the wide
street. Parry took it down three blocks and turned off.

“What are you doing?” Arbogast
said.

“Getting out of heavy traffic,” Parry
said.

“Maybe that’s a good idea.”

“Sure it’s a good idea,” Parry said. “We
can't afford to be stopped now. As long as we're started on this
thing we might as well do it right.”

The car made another turn. It was going
past empty lots. There were old houses here and there. The sun was
very big and very yellow and it was very hot in the car.

“I can’t start worrying about her,” Parry
said.

“You gotta be selfish,” Arbogast said.
“That’s the only way to get along. Even if she means something to
you. Does she mean anything to you?”

“Yes.”

“How bad is it?”

“It’s not too bad. I'll manage to forget
about her.”