Ed McBain_87th Precinct 22 (20 page)

“He’s with The Coaxial Cable.”

“Yeah?” Willis said.

“Yeah.”

“Well, what’s that?” Willis said.

“What’s
what?”

“What’s it supposed to
mean?”
“What’s
what
supposed to mean?”

“What you just said. Is it some kind of code or something?”

“Is what some kind of code?” Donner asked.

“The Coaxial Cable.”

“No, it’s a group.”

“A group of
what?”

“A group. Musicians,” Donner said.

“A band, you mean?”

“That’s right, only today they call them groups.”

“Well, what’s the coaxial cable got to do with it?”

“That’s the name of the group. The Coaxial Cable.”

“You’re putting me on,” Willis said.

“No, that’s the name, I mean it.”

“What does Di Fillippi play?”

“Rhythm guitar.”

“Where do I find him?”

“His address is 365 North Anderson.”

“That’s in Riverhead?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know he’s our man?”

“Well, it seems he’s a big bullshit artist, you know?” Donner said. “He’s been going around the past few weeks saying he dropped a huge bundle on the championship fight, made it sound like two, three G’s. It turns out all he lost was fifty bucks, that’s some big bundle, huh?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“But he’s also been saying recently that he knows about a big caper coming off.”

“Who’d he say this to?”

“Well, one of the guys in the group is a big hophead from back even before it got stylish. That’s how I got my lead onto Di Fillippi. And the guy said they were busting some joints together maybe three, four days ago, and Di Fillippi came on about this big caper he knew about.”

“Did he say what the caper was?”

“No.”

“And they were smoking pot?”

“Yeah, busting a few joints, you know, social.”

“Maybe Di Fillippi was out of his skull.”

“He probably was. What’s that got to do with it?”

“He might have dreamt up the whole thing.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Did he mention La Bresca at all?”

“Nope.”

“Did he say when the job would be coming off?”

“Nope.”

“Well, it’s not much, Fats.”

“It’s worth half a century, don’t you think?”

“It’s worth ten bucks,” Willis said.

“Hey, come on, man, I had to do some real hustling to get this for you.”

“Which reminds me,” Willis said.

“Huh?”

“Get rid of your playmate.”

“Huh?”

“The girl. Next time I see you, I want her out of there.”

“Why?”

“Because I thought it over, and I don’t like the idea.”

“I kicked her out twice already,” Donner said. “She always comes back.”

“Then maybe you ought to use this ten bucks to buy her a ticket back to Georgia.”

“Sure. Maybe I ought to contribute another ten besides to the Salvation Army,” Donner said.

“Just get her out of there,” Willis said.

“When’d you get so righteous?” Donner asked.

“Just this minute.”

“I thought you were a businessman.”

“I am. Here’s my deal. Let the girl go, and I forget whatever else I know about you, and whatever I might learn in the future.”

“Nobody learns nothing about me,” Donner said. “I’m The Shadow.”

“No,” Willis said. “Only Lamont Cranston is The Shadow.”

“You serious about this?”

“I want the girl out of there. If she’s still around next time I see you, I throw the book.”

“And lose a valuable man.”

“Maybe,” Willis said. “In which case, we’ll have to manage without you somehow.”

“Sometimes I wonder why I bother helping you guys at all,” Donner said.

“I’ll
tell
you why sometime, if you have a minute,” Willis said.

“Never mind.”

“Will you get the girl out of there?”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re going to send me fifty, right?”

“I said ten.”

“Make it twenty.”

“For the birdseed you just gave me?”

“It’s a lead, ain’t it?”

“That’s all it is.”

“So? A lead is worth at least twenty-five.”

“I’ll send you fifteen,” Willis said, and hung up.

The phone rang again almost the instant he replaced it on the cradle. He lifted the receiver and said, “87th, Willis speaking.”

“Hal, this is Artie over at the school.”

“Yep.”

“I’ve been waiting for Murchison to put me through. I think I’ve got something.”

“Shoot.”

“La Bresca talked to his mother on the phone about five minutes ago.”

“In English or Italian?”

“English. He told her he was expecting a call from Dom Di Fillippi. That could be our man, no?”

“Yeah, it looks like he is,” Willis said.

“He told his mother to say he’d meet Di Fillippi on his lunch hour at the corner of Cathedral and Seventh.”

“Has Di Fillippi called yet?”

“Not yet. This was just five minutes ago, Hal.”

“Right. What time did he say they’d meet?”

“Twelve-thirty.”

“Twelve-thirty, corner of Cathedral and Seventh.”

“Right,” Brown said.

“We’ll have somebody there.”

“I’ll call you back,” Brown said. “I’ve got another customer.”

In five minutes, Brown rang the squadroom again. “That was Di Fillippi,” he said. “Mrs. La Bresca gave him the message. Looks like pay dirt at last, huh?”

“Maybe,” Willis said.

From where Meyer and Kling sat in the Chrysler sedan parked on Cathedral Street, they could clearly see Tony La Bresca waiting on the corner near the bus stop sign. The clock on top of the Catholic church dominating the intersection read twelve-twenty. La Bresca was early and apparently impatient. He paced the pavement anxiously, lighting three cigarettes in succession, looking up at the church clock every few minutes, checking the time against his own wrist watch.

“This has got to be it,” Kling said.

“The payoff of the burley joint summit meeting,” Meyer said.

“Right. La Bresca’s going to tell old Dom he’s in for a three-way split. Then Calooch’ll decide whether or not they’re going to dump him in the river.”

“Six-to-five old Dom gets the cement block.”

“I’m not a gambling man,” Kling said.

The church clock began tolling the half-hour. The chimes rang out over the intersection. Some of the lunch hour pedestrians glanced up at the bell tower. Most of them hurried past with their heads ducked against the cold.

“Old Dom seems to be late,” Meyer said.

“Look at old Tony,” Kling said. “He’s about ready to take a fit.”

“Yeah,” Meyer said, and chuckled. The car heater was on, and he was snug and cozy and drowsy. He did not envy La Bresca standing outside on the windy corner.

“What’s the plan?” Kling said.

“As soon as the meeting’s over, we move in on old Dom.”

“We ought to pick up
both
of them,” Kling said.

“Tell me what’ll stick.”

“We heard La Bresca planning a job, didn’t we? That’s Conspiracy to Commit, Section 580.”

“Big deal. I’d rather find out what he’s up to and then catch him in the act.”

“If he’s in with the deaf man, he’s
already
committed two crimes,” Kling said. “And very big ones at that.”

“If he’s in with the deaf man.”

“You think he is?”

“No.”

“I’m not sure,” Kling said.

“Maybe old Dom’ll be able to tell us.”

“If he shows.”

“What time is it?”

“Twenty to,” Kling said.

They kept watching La Bresca. He was pacing more nervously now, slapping his gloved hands against his sides to ward off the cold. He was wearing the same beige car coat he had worn the day he’d picked up the lunch pail in the park, the same green muffler wrapped around his throat, the same thick-soled workman’s shoes.

“Look,” Meyer said suddenly.

“What is it?”

“Across the street. Pulling up to the curb.”

“Huh?”

“It’s the blond girl, Bert. In the same black Buick!”

“How’d
she
get into the act?”

Meyer started the car. La Bresca had spotted the Buick and was walking toward it rapidly. From where they sat, the detectives could see the girl toss her long blond hair and then lean over to open the front door for him. La
Bresca got into the car. In a moment, it gunned away from the curb.

“What do we do now?” Kling asked.

“We follow.”

“What about Dom?”

“Maybe the girl’s taking La Bresca to see him.”

“And maybe not.”

“What can we lose?” Meyer asked.

“We can lose Dom,” Kling said.

“Just thank God they’re not walking,” Meyer said, and pulled the Chrysler out into traffic.

This was the oldest part of the city. The streets were narrow, the buildings crowded the sidewalks and gutters, pedestrians crossed at random, ignoring the lights, ducking around moving vehicles with practiced ease, nonchalant to possible danger.

“Like to give them all tickets for jaywalking,” Meyer mumbled.

“Don’t lose that Buick,” Kling cautioned.

“You think I’m new in this business, Sonny?”

“You lost that same car only last week,” Kling said.

“I was on
foot
last week.”

“They’re making a left turn,” Kling said.

“I see them.”

The Buick had indeed made a left turn, coming out onto the wide tree-lined esplanade bordering the River Dix. The river was icebound shore to shore, a phenomenon that had happened only twice before in the city’s history. Devoid of its usual busy harbor traffic, it stretched toward Calm’s Point like a flat Kansas plain, a thick cover of snow uniformly hiding the ice below. The naked trees along the esplanade bent in the strong wind that raced across the river. Even the heavy Buick seemed struggling to move through the gusts, its nose swerving every now and again as the blonde fought the wheel. At last, she pulled the car to the curb and killed the engine. The esplanade was silent except for the roaring of the wind. Newspapers flapped into the air like giant headless birds. An empty wicker-wire trash barrel came rolling down the center of the street.

A block behind the parked Buick, Meyer and Kling sat and looked through the windshield of the unmarked police sedan. The wind howled around the automobile, drowning out the calls that came from the radio. Kling turned up the volume.

“What now?” he asked.

“We wait,” Meyer said.

“Do we pick up the girl when they’re finished talking?” Kling asked. “Yep.”

“You think she’ll know anything?”

“I hope so. She must be in on it, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. Calucci was talking about splitting the take up the middle. If there’re three people in it already …”

“Well, then maybe she’s old Dom’s girl.”

“Substituting for him, you mean?”

“Sure. Maybe old Dom suspects they’re going to dump him. So he sends his girl to the meeting while he’s safe and sound somewhere, strumming his old rhythm guitar.”

“That’s possible,” Kling said.

“Sure, it’s possible,” Meyer said.

“But then,
anything’s
possible.”

“That’s a very mature observation,” Meyer said.

“Look,” Kling said. “La Bresca’s getting out of the car.”

“Short meeting,” Meyer said. “Let’s hit the girl.”

As La Bresca went up the street in the opposite direction, Meyer and Kling stepped out of the parked Chrysler. The wind almost knocked them off their feet. They ducked their heads against it and began running, not wanting the girl to start the car and take off before they reached her, hoping to prevent a prolonged automobile chase through the city. Up ahead, Meyer heard the Buick’s engine spring to life.

“Let’s
go!”
he ahouted to Kling, and they sprinted the last five yards to the car, Meyer fanning out into the gutter, Kling pulling open the door on the curb side.

The blonde sitting behind the wheel was wearing slacks and a short gray coat. She turned to look at Kling as he pulled open the door, and Kling was surprised to discover that she wasn’t wearing makeup and that her features were rather heavy and gross. As he blinked at her in amazement, he further learned that she was sporting what looked like a three-day old beard stubble on her chin and on her cheeks.

The door on the driver’s side snapped open.

Meyer took one surprised look at the “girl” behind the wheel and then immediately said, “Mr. Dominick Di Fillippi, I presume?”

Dominick Di Fillippi was very proud of his long blond hair.

In the comparative privacy of the squadroom, he
combed it often, and explained to the detectives that guys belonging to a group had to have an image, you dig? Like all the guys in his group, they all looked different, you dig? Like the drummer wore these Ben Franklin eyeglasses, and the lead guitar player combed his chair down in bangs over his eyes, and the organist wore red shirts and red socks, you dig, all the guys had a different image. The long blond hair wasn’t exactly his own idea, there were lots of guys in other groups who had long hair, which is why he was growing the beard to go with it. His beard was a sort of reddish-blond, he explained, he figured it would look real tough once it grew in, give him his own distinct image, you dig?

“Like what’s the beef,” he asked, “what am I doing inside a police station?”

“You’re a musician, huh?” Meyer asked.

“You got it, man.”

“That’s what you do for a living, huh?”

“Well, like we only recently formed the group.”

“How recently?”

“Three months.”

“Play any jobs yet?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“When?”

“Well, we had like auditions.”

“Have you ever actually been
paid
for playing anywhere?”

“Well, no, man, not yet. Not actually. I mean, man, even The Beatles had to start
someplace
, you know.”

“Yeah.”

“Like, man, they were playing these crumby little cellar joints in Liverpool, man, they were getting maybe a farthing a night.”

“What the hell do you know about farthings?”

“Like it’s a saying.”