Miss Shumway Waves a Wand (13 page)

Myra examined Bogle thoughtfully. “What you need is an ermine dicky, Sam,” she said. “It would set off that dress suit.”

Sam was looking at her with undisguised admiration. “Gee!” he exploded. “That dress you’ve nearly got on is the horse’s hoofs!”

“Never mind that,” I broke in. “We’ve got a little brain work ahead of us,” and I gave Ansell the photograph.

He studied it and then passed it to Bogle. “That’s Mr. Maddox handing over the reward, I suppose,” he said.

I nodded. It surprised me he didn’t say anything about the girl in the picture. He just glanced thoughtfully at Myra, pursed his lips and then studied his small brown hands.

Bogle, however, had plenty to say. “What’s she doing in this picture?” he demanded. “How did she get to New York anyway and if she’s got the cheque, where is it?”

“That isn’t me, you dope,” Myra snapped. “Haven’t you got eyes in your head?”

Bogle blinked. “Sure,” he said. “Well, if it ain’t you, that dame’s certainly borrowed your geography. Who is she?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Myra returned grimly. “And when I find out, even a plastic surgeon won’t be able to put her right.” She reached for her drink and lowered a good two inches of the liquor down her throat.

I looked over at Juden. “We’ve got to do something, P. J.,” I said. “For one thing, if I don’t put myself right with Maddox, he might have a grudge against me. I wouldn’t like that to happen.”

“He’s got one already,” Juden returned. “You may as well know, Ross. I’m sorry, but you’re out.”

I stared at him. “What do you mean… out? How about my contract?”

“That falls due at the end of the month,” Juden returned, looking unhappy. “He’s not renewing it. He says you’ve cost him plenty as it is.”

“The ungrateful rat,” I said bitterly. “After all I’ve done for him too!”

“Anything might happen to change his mind by the end of the month,” Ansell broke in. “I shouldn’t let it prey on your mind.”

“I know that kind of a guy,” Bogle added. “You ought to call on him and kick his teeth in. That’ll give him different ideas.”

“I think you’d better keep away from him,” Juden said, shaking his head. “He could get you on the blacklist if he wanted to.” He got to his feet, scratched his head and then said, “Before I go, wasn’t there something about a story? Wasn’t that why I came down?”

“Yeah,” I said. “But, now I’m out, I’m sticking to that story. Catch me making a present of anything to Maddox.”

“That’s not the way to go on,” Juden said. “If you’ve got a story, you’d better let me have it.”

“Not now. Maybe, later.”

He studied my face and decided that it was no use pressing me. “Okay,” he said, “I’ll be getting along.” He looked over at Myra, frowned, and ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know what to make of her,” he said, almost as if he were talking to himself. “You wouldn’t have a twin, would you?” he asked her hopefully.

“No,” Myra said. “Then, I just give up. You can waste a lot of time with a problem like this. Time’s money to me.”

“Well, so long, P.J.,” I said, shaking hands. “If I’m broke I’ll look you up.”

“Sure, anything like that.”

“Okay. Keep out of hospital.”

“Sure, last time I was in there, I took a turn for the nurse,” he returned and went off laughing like a hyena.

“That guy’s got nurses on the brain,” I said, relaxing. “Oh well, let’s forget him. I guess we’ll all get drunk. It’s a fine welcome to find your job’s been thrown in your face.” Myra finished her drink, gasped, and then waved violently to the barman. “Don’t you dare blame me,” she said. “I didn’t lose you your mouldy job.”

“I never said you did,” I said wearily. “Well, I’ve got to think of something…”

“You’re going to help me find this blonde harridan. How would you like that?” she asked.

“It’s an idea,” I said. “But, not a very profitable one.”

The barman came over.

“Four Tiger breaths,” Myra said. “And make them large ones.”

“You like it, madam?” The barman showed his pleasure.

“No,” Myra said, with a shudder. “But it likes me.”

I looked at the other two. “What have we got out of this so far? A couple of miracles and a talking dog. Surely, we can turn that little lot into hard cash?”

Ansell said, “We’ve got a great deal more than that. The first thing to do is to find Hamish Shumway and the girl who’s impersonating Myra. We must waste no time in doing it.”

There was an odd note of urgency in his voice which made me glance at him sharply. I had not seen him look so worried before.

“What have you got on your mind?” I asked.

“Plenty.” He paused while the barman came with the drinks and then when he had gone he went on “There’s evil in Nagualisrn. I feel some of that evil has broken loose.”

“I wish you would be quiet,” Myra said crossly. “You’re always the skeleton at the feast. To-night, we enjoy ourselves. To-morrow we go to New York.” And she raised her glass,

“The toast is frustration and confusion to killjoys!”

We drank.

PART II

During those three days, we were all busy trying to find Myra’s father. Consequently, we didn’t see much of each other.

In spite of this, I was aware of a subtle change that had come over Myra. She was kinder and she did not pick quarrels with Bogle. She looked different somehow, although I did not stop to analyse just why she did look different. She also clung more strongly than ever to her policy of honesty, which unsettled us all.

The first real indication that things weren’t right happened on the third night of our stay in New York. I had been around the various Press Clubs hoping to pick up some clue to Shumway and I guess I must have been doing myself rather well. I wasn’t exactly tight, but I’d had enough to make me hesitate about ascending the stairs in the dark. Also, I couldn’t find the light switch.

I was standing in the lobby trying to make up my mind whether I’d go up on my hands and knees or sleep in the living-room, when I heard the sound of someone coming up the steps to the apartment. A moment later the front door opened and someone came in.

“Who’s that?” I said, peering into the darkness.

There was a faint gasp and I recognized Myra’s voice.

“Put the light on, will you?” I said, “I’ve been searching for the switch for the last five minutes.”

She didn’t say anything, but ran upstairs. I could just make out her shadowy form as she slipped past me.

“Well, that’s a nice way to treat a guy,” I said, “can’t you even say hello?”

By this time, she’d reached the top of the stairs and had disappeared.

Feeling a little mad and wondering what made her behave like this, I took the stairs with a rush and eventually got to the top. I went straight to Myra’s room and knocked on the door. There wasn’t any sound, so I opened the door and put my head round. The room was in darkness.

“Myra?” I called, “What are you up to?”

A sleepy voice came from across the room, “What is it?”

I groped for the switch and turned it on.

Myra sat up in bed. She was in a pair of gay pyjamas and she looked at me crossly. “What’s the big idea?” she snapped, “take that drink sodden face out of here and put it under a pillow.”

I stared at her. “But, you passed me a moment ago,” I said, feeling startled, “do you usually get into bed in two seconds?”

She sat further up in the bed. “You’re tight,” she said. “I’ve been asleep since eleven o’clock. Go away!”

I came into the room. “Seriously, sweetheart,” I said, “someone came upstairs. I thought it was you. Damn it, I’ll swear it was you.”

“This sounds mightily like the silk-worm gag,” she said, “get out of my room before I toss you out, you drunken heel!”

This brought me up short. I looked at her. This was the Myra I’d known in Mexico. A sudden change had come over her from the Myra I’d known during the past three days.

“Take it easy,” I said, “I’m not as tight as all that,” and I walked over to where her clothes were lying. I touched her dress. It was warm. “You’ve just got out of this,” I said, picking it up.

“Where did you get that from?” she asked, startled, “I put all my clothes away before I went to bed.”

“Yeah? Well, there’s a complete outfit on this chair. Look, one of us is nuts and it ain’t me.”

She climbed out of bed and came over. “But, I haven’t had these things out of my trunk since we came here,” she said, uneasily.

“Okay,” I said dropping the dress. “Forget it. I don’t want to know where you’ve been tonight. You don’t have to lie so hard.”

“I’m not lying!” she said angrily, “you’re trying to make a fool out of me!”

“I couldn’t do that,” I said, suddenly feeling too tired to argue. “Go to sleep,” and I walked out and left her.

I don’t mind telling you it preyed on my mind. I couldn’t get to sleep and I began imagining all kinds of things. I could have swore that whoever it was who’d gone upstairs had been Myra. Yet it didn’t seem possible for her to get into bed and feign sleep in so short a time. Yet, that was what she must have done.

Why had she pretended to be asleep? What had she been up to? Or was she speaking the truth? That’s how it went on in my mind for nearly the rest of the night. But, I did eventually get some sleep.

The next morning, while I was shaving, Doc Ansell came into my room.

“Hello there,” I said as I mowed my beard with an electric razor. “Have I got a hangover or have I?”

“I’ve been thinking,” Ansell said, sitting on the foot of the bed. “I’m not happy about certain things.”

“What things?”

“That girl in the photograph,” Ansell said slowly, “how do you explain she’s the image of Myra?”

I selected a necktie and wandered over to the mirror. “I don’t,” I said.

“That’s just the point. She hasn’t a twin and you’ll never make me believe that some other girl, no relation of hers, could look like her.”

“Well, that’s what’s happened,” I said. “Maybe, Shumway got hold of an actress who’s made herself up to look like Myra. A guy like him would do a lot for all that dough.”

Ansell shook his head, “I think there’s more in it than that,” he said, “I’m not saying you haven’t hit on the explanation, but I don’t think so.”

“Quit beating about the bush,” I said, facing him, “what are you getting at?”

“Haven’t you noticed a change in the girl recently?” he asked.

Then I remembered what happened last night. “There was a change,” I said slowly, “but now she’s back where she started.”

“I don’t understand,” he said. “What happened last night?”

I told him.

He sat listening, his face grave and his eyes worried. When I’d finished, he smacked one hand into the other. “Then I’m right!” he said. “There are two of them. Strange and powerful influences are around.”

“Now, don’t start that,” I said irritably. “It’s bad enough…”

“Did you ever read a book called ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’?” I stared at him, “I guess so, but what has that…?”

“Plenty,” Ansell broke in, “you remember it’s a story of the separating of the good and evil in man. Did you know that the Naguales have this power? I think that’s what’s happened to Myra.”

I put my coat on slowly and looked at myself in the mirror. I wasn’t looking too good in the hard sunlight. I looked pale and there were smudges under my eyes.

“If you can’t talk sense, you’d better shut up,” I said at last.

“It’s only because you refuse to believe,” Ansell said quietly. “Ignorance breeds fear. You’re becoming frightened.”

I sat on the edge of the bed. I could see he wouldn’t let it go, so I thought we might as well have it out.

“Give me a retake,” I said.

“This is what I think’s happened,” Ansell said. “Quintl has separated the good and bad in Myra and has put each of these components into materialized form. The form naturally follows the original pattern. So we have two Myras, both of them exactly alike, but one has all the good qualities that a human being possesses while the other has all the bad ones. Now, do you understand?”

“It’s crazy,” I said, hating every bit of this.

Ansell shook his head, “It isn’t, if you know about these things. If I told you that the dog would talk, you wouldn’t have believed it. Now, you admit you accept it as a fact.”

“Yeah,” I said, thinking again of what happened last night. “So you really think she can become two people or rather possess two different bodies when she wants to?”

“I think so. Perhaps not when she wants to, but when she’s not aware of what’s happening and is off her guard. Let’s put it that way.”

“That would account for what happened last night. They’ve become one again.”

“But what has the other one been doing?”

“That’s something we’ve got to find out. That’s where Myra’s danger lies.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s go back to first principles,” Ansell said. “We have all latent evil in our make-up. Some of us haven’t the same control over this instinct as others. It depends on our training, our environment and our strength of character whether this instinct gets the upper hand. If the evil in us is segregated without the restraining influence of our instinct for doing good, then something entirely primitive has been created and may cause a lot of destruction. I’d hate to see Myra suffer for something she hasn’t done.”

This was beyond me. “Something she hasn’t done?” I repeated.

“Yes. Suppose now, the other Myra, the Myra in the photograph, takes it into her head to commit a crime. Might not the Myra we know get the blame for it?”

“Why should she?”

“It depends if the other Myra is seen while committing the crime,” Ansell returned.

“They’re exactly alike. The finger prints would be the same. Both girls are easily recognized. Can’t you see what danger there might be in all this?”

I drew a deep breath, “You’re looking for trouble,” I said. “This business is too much for me. What we’ve got to do is to get after Shumway. Now, come on, I smell breakfast.”

“Wait,” Ansell said. “What about this fellow Kelly? Maybe, we can get on to him.”

“Maybe, we can,” I said. “We’ll talk it over at breakfast.”

In the living room, Bogle was setting the table “All ready, Bud,” he said to me. “Pried ham and eggs, whaddayssay?”

“Sounds fine,” I said. “Isn’t Myra coming down?”

“Naw,” Sam said, going into the kitchen. “A dame like that likes to lay around in bed. Besides, it takes her half the morning to get up. I like to get breakfast over with.”

When he had gone, I said to Ansell, “Old Sam’s getting like a gawdamn housewife. Do you think he’s going soft or something?”

Ansell shook his head absently. “He always wanted to have a place of his own,” he said.

“Many a time, in the desert, he’d talk about setting up home. Funny thing, isn’t it? Yet he’s mixed with the toughest thugs of Chicago. And now look at him, running around, keeping the house clean, cooking and waiting on Myra.”

Just then Sam came in with a tray and put the food on the table. He then shot back into the kitchen, came out again with a smaller tiny and carried it off to Myra’s room.

“Kelly,” I said, with my mouth full. “That’s an idea, Doc. I wonder if we can get a line on him.”

“Maybe your paper would know,” Ansell returned, pouring out the coffee. “Anyone there you can ask?”

I thought for a moment, “Yeah, Dowdy’s the guy. He’s sort of secretary to Maddox. He ought to know something.”

Sam came back, whistling cheerfully and pulled a chair up to the table. He sat down, “That dog murders me,” he said “Jeeze! You never seen anything like it. He’s in with the kid and they’re talking away like a couple of professors. What they find to talk about, beats me.”

“Never mind about them,” I said, pushing the plate of fried ham over to him. “So long as they don’t fight, what does it matter? I admit I don’t find Whisky too easy to talk to. Maybe, it’s because he kind of embarrasses me.”

“He’s a smart guy, that dog,” Bogle said, spearing the ham with his fork. “He’s got a political mind.”

“You wouldn’t know this fellow Kelly?” Ansell asked. “The one who’s helping Shumway.”

“Kelly?” Bogle repeated. “There’s millions of Kelly’s. I know two or three of ‘em, but unless I saw the guy, I couldn’t say.”

“Don’t worry about it, Doc,” I said, helping myself to more coffee. “I’ll go down to the Recorder as soon as I’ve finished. Maybe, I’ll get something.”

“Yeah,” Bogle broke in, “ain’t it time we found this Shumway guy? When we do get him, he’ll have spent all that jack.”

“We’re doing our best,” Ansell said. “You don’t seem exactly full of ideas, Sam.” He pushed his plate away and wandered over to an armchair. He sat down and began to read the newspaper.

Whisky wandered in, “Hey-ho,” he said, with a flick of his tail “What’s buzzin’, cousin?”

“Don’t,” I said, pushing back my chair and lighting a cigarette. “Try to speak pure English if you’re going to speak at all. I think Sam’s accent is affecting you.”

“Don’t be a prig,” Whisky returned, wandering over to Sam, “Well, my old,” he went on to Sam, resting his long muzzle on Sam’s knee, “What have you got for my breakfast? That ham looked a little fat to me.”

“I’ll cut the fat off,” Sam said. “Don’t worry about a little thing like that, or I’ve got a steak. Howjer like that?”

“Mmm,” Whisky said. “Let’s go find it. That sounds like something.”

They went off into the kitchen.

“The airs and graces that dog gives himself kills me,” I said. “Steak for breakfast! He’ll get too fat.”

“Too fat for what?” Sam asked, putting his head round the door. “You be careful what you’re saying. You ain’t no hour-glass yourself.”

“From where I’m standing,” Whisky added, pushing his snout round the door, “that bulge in your waist line looks like a six-course lunch the waiter forgot, to take out of the casserole.”