Lady, Here's Your Wreath (16 page)

     Ackie moved over to Blondie and put his arm round her. I guess that guy was still pretty high.
     Flanaghan stepped round me and peered into the car. Ackie took a quick look at him over his shoulder and moved closer to Blondie. He effectively screened Blondie from Flanaghan.
     He said in a loud voice, “Hey I Wake up, honey. There's a cop askin' after your health.”
     I took off my hat and wiped my forehead.
     Flanaghan pushed in closer.
     “You all right, baby?” Ackie bawled.
     Then out of the silence that followed a horrible soprano voice floated out of the car. “Sure I'm all right. Tell the officer to go take a pill.”
     With horrified fascination I saw Blondie nod her head twice and move her arm a little.
     Satisfied. Flanaghan stepped back. “I guess that dame's as stiff as a board,” he said. “You'd better get her home.”
     I shoved some money into the hand of the old guy and slid under the wheel. “I'll be seeing you some time,” I called, and I engaged the gears. The car shot away from the service station fast, leaving Flanaghan scratching his head, looking after us.
     Ackie said in a faint voice, “You wouldn't call this dame a hot one now. I'm about frozen to death.”
     I said, “For the love of Mike keep quiet, you bum.”
     We drove the rest of the way in silence. When we reached Blondie's apartment it started to rain. Big drops the size of nickels came splashing down on the street. That was the one break we had had on the journey. Rain as hard as this would keep the streets cleared.
     I swung open the car door and climbed out. “Wait until I get the door open,” I said.
     Ackie said, “Sure, leave me with the corpse every time.”
     I went over to the front door. In the faint light I could just make out the glitter of the plate. I thought she wasn't going to need that any more. I only had a vague idea of how I was going to get in, but when I tried the handle the door opened. I stood hesitating, then I stepped inside. I ran up the stairs quickly to Blondie's room. There was no one in the bedroom and the room was in darkness.
     Down I went again and called to Ackie. “It's okay. We'll get her out.”
     Handling Blondie this time wasn't so bad. It was just like you had got hold of a wax dummy. When I got my arm round her, she was as hard as wood. I eased her out. She had stiffened in a sitting position, her hands folded in her lap.
     Ackie said, “You get one side, I'll handle the other.”
     We got her under the arms and ran across the pavement with her. I had to take her up the stairs, there wasn't room for the three of us. I can tell you when I reached her bedroom I was mighty glad.
     Ackie said behind me, “Put her in a chair. She'll sit more natural that way.”
     Then the bathroom door opened quickly and Katz slid into the room. He took just one look at me and went for his gun.
     

     
     IF A GUY PULLS a rod on you in a small room and starts popping at you, there is only one thing to do, apart from saying your prayers. You've got to start throwing anything you can lay hands on at him as hard and as fast as you can.
     Well, there I was stuck in the doorway with Blondie like a marble statue in my arms. Ackie was right behind me, but he couldn't do anything, not only because he was still pretty tight, but because I was in his way.
     I did the best thing I could do under the circumstances. I didn't like doing it, but when it's a question of stopping slugs or doing the right thing, I don't think much about behaviour. I tossed Blondie across the room into Katz's face.
     Just try tossing a big dame like Blondie across a room and see how you get on. I put everything I had into that heave and she went all right. She hit Katz where he kept his dinner, and he went over on the bed just like a shell had hit him.
     Blondie bounced off him on to the floor, where she lay on her side in a sitting position, looking like a waxwork figure who'd fallen off its chair.
     I dived across the room and landed on Katz. He tried to get his leg up to kick at me, but he was just too late. His rod had jerked out of his hand and had fallen on the floor somewhere. I thought Ackie would be bright enough to collect it.
     Katz got a grip round the barrel of my chest that surprised me. This guy looked a thin dope, but he'd got plenty of what it takes. Before I could grab him, he had tossed me away so that I came down hard on Blondie. I was too rattled to care much about that, and as I scrambled to my feet Katz swung his legs round and caught me in a scissor-grip round the neck. I knew all about those sort of tricks, and I had his shoe off and was giving his big toe the works before he could start to put on any pressure.
     “Sock into him,” Ackie yelled from the doorway. “Give him hell, Buddy.”
     It broke the hold all right, but I collected a stiff kick in the face as I was getting set to jump him. I was glad that the kick came from the foot without a shoe, otherwise I should have seen a few bright lights.
     Anyway, I went over backwards and it gave Katz time to get off the bed, then I went for him again. I was remembering Mardi now, so I hit that guy hard where it would hurt him. It did. He flopped on the bed, his eyes glazing. I had him by his long hair and snapped another wallop to his jaw just to make sure. He went out like a light.
     I stood over him, blowing on my knuckles.
     “I was just beginning to enjoy it,” Ackie said. “You shouldn't've washed him up that quick.”
     I went round the bed and gathered Blondie up. She'd lost her hat, but she still looked as suspicious and hard as ever. I put her in the one armchair and made sure that she wouldn't fall forward.
     Ackie leant against the doorpost watching. “Gee! This looks like one of those horror plays,” he said, jerking his head at Katz, lying flat on the bed, and then over to Blondie.
     “I've got to get this guy round. I want him to talk,” I said. “Lend a hand, Mo; we'll tie him up first in case he starts trouble.”
     Ackie's face brightened. “You goin' to give him the works?” he asked.
     “Yeah, I'm going to give it to him until he's come as clean as Aimee's surplice.”
     Ackie scratched his head. “You're sure headin' for trouble. This guy's the bad man of the town. He'll start something which might come awkward.”
     I didn't bother to answer. I knew that things would start to hum pretty soon, and as long as I was making them hum I didn't care. I ran through Katz's pockets. The first thing I turned up was a roll of money. I didn't have to count it. I knew that it was the five grand that Blondie had lifted off me. I showed the roll to Ackie. “That's why he was up here,” I said. “Just lining his pocket, the yellow punk.”
     “You keepin' it?”
     I shook my head. “I'm not takin' any chances. I'll leave it where I found it. If the cops are looking for me, that would be a fine one to pin on me.”
     “You think of everything, don't you?” Ackie looked at me admiringly. He was nearly sober by now, and I guess the drink was dying on him hard.
     “Go into the bathroom and get some towels. I want to fix this bird.”
     Ackie came back after a moment with a couple of towels. “Nice joint this, ain't it?” he said.
     I grunted and took the towels from him. I tore them in two and trussed Katz. I made a good job of it. Ackie leant over the bed-rail and watched. I knew Ackie was scared, but he wasn't saying anything. He just stood and watched. I knew he was thinking that if we didn't get away with this, we were going to get into a pretty tight jam. I thought it mighty white of him to come in with me.
     I hauled off and slapped Katz across the face twice. He moved his head, muttered and then opened his eyes. As soon as he saw me he sat up. I put my hand over his face and slammed him back on the bed. Even though he was just coming to the surface he'd got enough savvy to try and bite me.
     “Get a grip on yourself,” I told him, “I want you to do a little talking. If you're smart, you'll start right away, but if you think you can get away with anything you're going to get the works.”
     Katz drew his breath in with a sharp little hiss. His eyes half closed and his mouth became a slit in his white face. “You're crazy to start this, Mason,” he said. “Why, you punk, you sure must be crazy to think you can get away with this.”
     I was in no mood to talk turkey to this guy. I gave him a punch right in the middle of his face to show him I wasn't playing.
     A thin trickle of blood came from his nose and ran down to the side of his mouth. He put his tongue out and carefully licked his lips. I guess that guy hated me as much as he could hate anyone.
     I sat down on the edge of the bed, close to him. “I don't care if I have to rip you to bits,” I said, speaking softly, “but you're going to talk. Where's my wife? Where's Mardi Jackson?”
     He didn't know. I felt a cold chill of disappointment grip me when I saw the expression in his eyes. He didn't say anything, but I knew he wasn't bluffing. The question had come as a surprise, I could tell that.
     “All right,” I said, “I'll try again. What's behind the Mackenzie racket?”
     This time he shifted his eyes. “You go to hell,” he said. “You ain't makin' me talk.”
     I said to Ackie, “Sit on his legs.”
     Ackie came round the bed like I'd asked him to sit on a rattlesnake. He didn't look at Katz, but he pinned him just the same. I jerked off Katz's sock and looked at him. “When you're ready to talk, just let me know,” I said, “I ain't in no hurry.”
     I took a cigarette from my case and lit it. When the end was glowing, I took it out of my mouth and mashed it on his foot. If Ackie hadn't been sitting on him, I guess that guy would have bounced off the ceiling. I guess these tough guys are all the same. He just curled up, the sweat jumping out of his face.
     “Okay... okay....” he said hoarsely, “I'll talk.”
     “There's your rattlesnake,” I said to Ackie. “Just yellow right through.”
     Ackie stood up and sneered. “Why, you punk,” he said, “we ain't even started on you yet.”
     “Leave him alone, Mo. You talk rough to this guy an' he'll take his hair down and weep.”
     Katz just lay on the bed glaring at us.
     I threw the cigarette into the fireplace. “Come on,” I said, “What's behind the Mackenzie racket?”
     It took some time to drag it out of him, but I got it out of him at last. The set-up was simple once you got the key.
     The Mackenzie Fabric Inc. was an enormous clearing-house for stolen goods. It worked like this: with the big imports from China and England of clothes and silks, all kinds of stolen articles were smuggled in the bales. In the same way articles stolen in America could be shipped out to the various continental agencies representing Mackenzie Fabrics abroad.
     Spencer was the big shot. It was his job to buy or to sell whatever came into his hands from the various gangs operating throughout the States. With most of the high officials getting a rake-off in the form of dividends, the racket was watertight.
     I knew that once Katz got free he'd stop at nothing to finish us both. We knew too much now ever to be safe. There was only one way and that was to see that Katz was under cover long enough to give me the time to bust the racket.
     I didn't fancy knocking him off in cold blood, but at the moment I couldn't see what else I could do. Ackie was watching me and he understood what I was thinking about.
     “Leave it to me,” he said, “I guess it'd be easy to frame him for twenty-four hours.”
     I looked at him hard. “Twenty-four hours ain't so long,” I said. “It's going to take most of that to get into action.”
     Ackie shrugged. “That's as long as we can hold him, I guess,” he said. “We just gotta make things move.”
     The longer we argued about it the more time we wasted, so I let Ackie go ahead with his idea.
     “We get this bird down to the station house and book him under assault. I can tip the sergeant to keep him under cover for a bit. He's a pal of mine an' he'd lose a rat like that for a little while.”
     I stood up. “Okay... let's go.”
     Katz wasn't putting up a beef. He went with us down the stairs, his hands still tied behind him. Ackie went first, then Katz and then I followed. Before leaving the room I made certain that we'd left no tell-tale clues that might hook us up with Blondie's death, then with one last look at the still figure in the chair I snapped off the light and followed Katz down.
     When we got to the Street door I rammed his gun into his back. “Don't start anything, brother,” I said. “We've got nothing to lose and I'd like the chance of putting a slug into you.”
     He hobbled across the pavement and got into the car. I got in beside him and Ackie got under the wheel.
     “If there's any liquor left,” I said, “I guess a slug apiece wouldn't come hard.”
     Ackie groped around and shook his head. “There ain't none,” he said dispiritedly. “Ain't that hell?”
     “Well, go on... the sooner we get this bird put away the better.”
     During the run to the station house I was busy thinking. The first thing I'd got to do was to find Mardi. Nothing else mattered as long as I found her. Then I'd got to find enough evidence to bust up Spencer. If I wanted a clear field, I'd gotta do that within twenty-four hours. Not an easy programme, but I guess I had to do it.
     If Spencer hadn't kidnapped Mardi, who had? I might be wrong thinking that Spencer hadn't done it, but Katz hadn't known anything about it, and Katz was Spencer's right-hand man. Maybe the fat guy and Gus had pulled it, but even then Katz would have known about it. And that was one thing I was sure about. Katz knew nothing about it at all.
     I suddenly remembered. I could see Mardi's frightened face and I remembered what she had said. “You don't know Sarah Spencer. I'm scared. She's dangerous. She won't stop at anything.”
     Sarah Spencer! I sat up. Was she at the bottom of all this? Was it she who had taken Mardi away from me? The more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed to be. By the time we got to the station I was itching to get after that dame.
     Ackie drove round to the back entrance and got out. “You stay here,” he said. “I want to see if the coast's clear.”
     I looked at Katz and dug him in the ribs with the gun. “You're soon going to have a nice long rest,” I said, “an' I hope you'll have plenty to think about.”
     Without looking at me, he said, “You won't last long now, Mason. If you think you can buck this racket you're nuts. You're the nearest thing to a corpse I've ever put my eyes on.”
     When he'd got that little lot off his chest, he laughed. Oh yes, this guy had got his nerve back, once he knew we weren't going to knock him off. I didn't like the sound of his laugh either.
     Ackie came out and jerked his head. “I'm glad I went in,” he said, keeping his voice down. “Lazard was in there. The smartest mouthpiece in town. If he'd spotted this guy coming in, he'd have sprung him so fast he'd've made you dizzy.”
     I looked at Katz uneasily. A lot depended on keeping this guy out of mischief.
     “Where's this Lazard now?” I asked.
     “He's just comin' out. We'll wait until he's scrammed, then we'll go on in.”
     While Ackie was saying this, I saw a figure come out through the rear exit. A short, fat figure with a large gallon hat on his head. Katz saw him the same time as I did and he let out a hell of a squawk.
     I spun round and hit him as hard as I could in his face. I guess Katz was expecting it because he ducked down and my fist crashed against the bony structure of his forehead. It felt like I had hit a brick wall and a white-hot pain shot up my arm. The force of the punch stunned Katz and he sank limply against the cushions of the car.
     Ackie said softly, “He's comin' over.”
     Lazard had heard the squawk and he stood listening; then he moved cautiously towards us. Ackie took a step or two from the car to intercept him.
     “What's goin' on here?” Lazard asked. He'd got the real oily voice of a kike.
     Ackie stood squarely in his way. “Nothin' that'd interest you,” he said shortly. “Suppose you drift, brother. I don't like guys askin' questions.”
     Lazard peered at him. “Why, Ackie,” he said, “what the hell are you doin' here?”
     “Scram, brother,” Ackie said patiently. “You're in the way.”
     This guy Lazard was smart all right. He said with a little grit in his voice: “If you're holdin' someone against their will, I guess it is something to interest me.”
     Katz was coming out of his trance. I said very softly to him' “One yap from you, an' I'm goin' to wrap this gun around your mug.',
     In the meantime Lazard was trying to edge round Ackie. They looked like they were going into a slow motion of an African dance. Ackie got mad suddenly. “If you don't scram,” he said suddenly, “I'm going to do things to you.”
     The threat in his voice brought Lazard up short. He took two steps back quickly. “I guess you're drunk,” he said. “You be careful, you can get into a lot of grief being that way.”
     He stood hesitating for a moment, then he turned and walked away.
     We stood and watched him go in silence, then I relaxed a little. I wiped off my hands on the sides of my coat. “I don't like that, Mo,” I said.
     Ackie cursed a little. “We gotta watch that guy. I'll go in and fix the sergeant. You wait here.”