by David Goodis
“What message? From where?”
“From the grave,” McDermott said. “From your father.”
Corey shivered.
“Your father,” McDermott said. “Your father who was my closest friend. Who was a real policeman. Who was absolutely pure in his heart and considered the badge something sacred.”
Corey shivered again and he felt a twinge very high on his thigh near his groin.
He heard McDermott saying, “The mob that put your father in the grave was the Third Street Dragons. The leader of the Third Street Dragons was taken to the morgue tonight and that’s where he shoulda been taken long ago.”
Then McDermott said, “That’s why I signed you in with the Squad. I was hoping you’d get the message. It couldn’t come from me. It hadda come from someone closer to you. Inside you. Deep inside.”
Corey nodded very slowly. He gazed past the detective-sergeant. His voice quivered just a trifle as he mumbled, “Will you do me a favor? A personal favor?”
“Depends.”
“Lemme hold onto the badge. Lemme stay with the Squad.”
“I’ll think about it,” the detective-sergeant said. He smiled dimly, put his hand on Corey’s shoulder and pressed down hard. Then he placed some money on the counter and they walked out of the diner. They went across the street to the city hall courtyard and got into a squad car. About ten minutes later the car came to a stop at Fourth and Addison. Corey got out. The car made a U-turn and started back toward the bridge. Corey walked down Fourth toward the rooming house where he lived.
Approaching the rooming house, Corey saw someone sitting on the doorstep. It was Carp. His head was bent forward and he was dozing. Then he opened his eyes and saw Corey. He said solemnly, “A most welcome sight, indeed. I’m quite pleased to observe that you’re still among the living.” And then, getting up from the doorstep, Carp applied tender fingers to a slight bump on the side of his head.
“Who gave you that?” Corey asked.
“Nellie,” the little man said. “I knocked on her door and asked for your address. She was somewhat annoyed at being awakened so early in the morning. After considerable discussion, she replied to my query and—” he broke it off as he saw the look on Corey’s face. He murmured, “There is something you wish to tell me?”
Corey nodded slowly. He said, “Grogan’s done. There ain’t no Grogan no more. I put a bullet in him.”
The little man closed his eyes for a moment. He didn’t say anything. Corey stood still, waiting for a comment. Finally the little man looked at him and said slowly, very distinctly and with quiet formality, “It will benefit the neighborhood. It will be of considerable benefit. As a resident of this neighborhood I wish to express my deepest gratitude.” Carp bowed ceremoniously. Then he turned and walked away.
Corey Bradford stood there for some moments; then he headed south on Fourth, going toward Ingersoll. Specifically, he was heading toward the first-floor back of 617 Ingersoll.
At the door of the first floor back he knocked several times, and presently the door opened.
Lillian stood there in the doorway, wearing a tattered robe and blinking the sleep from her eyes. She muttered, “Whaddya want?”
“Can I come in?”
“What for?”
“Some things I gotta tell you.”
Lillian started to close the door. Then she looked at him. It went on like that for a while. Then she opened the door wider and said, “All right, come on in.”
THE END
68595030003798PORJN
ANOTHER CRIME FICTION CLASSIC
AVAILABLE UNCUT AND UNEDITED
FROM CHALK LINE BOOKS
From the pen of one of the greatest crime fiction writers of them all, Jim Thompson. Sharecropper Hell takes the reader on a dizzying journey through the hell of sharecropping life in rural Oklahoma. Nineteen-year-old Tommy Carver desperately wants to make something of himself, but he’s got some mighty tall odds stacked against him—a brutal sharecropper father, a secret love affair with his wealthy landowner’s daughter, a step-mother devoid of maternal instincts, and even his own short-tempered, prideful ways. The odds only get worse when Tommy is fingered for murder in this shocking, twisting tale that explores sex, American Indian rituals, simmering race politics in mid-20th century Oklahoma and, of course, crime.
Featuring the evocative illustrations of artist Martha Kelly, Sharecropper Hell is available from all ebook retailers.
Coming Soon from Chalk Line Books
The Killing by Lionel White (made into a classic noir film by Stanley Kubrick) and more by Charles Williams, Jim Thompson, Lionel White, James M. Cain, James O. Causey, Peter Rabe, and many others.
THE GREATEST CRIME PHOTOGRAPHER OF ALL TIME -- WEEGEE
Weegee not only captured the gritty underbelly of New York City in his explosive photographs, but he lived it as well. This long out-of-print autobiography, brought back as an ebook with complete and unabridged text by Devault-Graves Digital Editions, was written toward the end of Weegee’s life before he was the photographic legend he is today. Here he tells the story of how an impoverished Jewish immigrant named Arthur Fellig from Zlothev, Austria, came to grips with one of the toughest cities in the world and made it his own. In wisecracking prose that is a match for his unblinking ferocity behind the camera, Weegee candidly and without reserve tells readers about documenting the grisly street executions by Murder, Inc., tenements up in flames, child killers, lovers in the back rows of movie theaters, and the sexual misadventures of streetwalkers, pimps, and transsexuals, all in a voice that had seen it all and loved it all. Fans of Weegee’s photography will not want to miss his story—told in the way only Weegee himself could tell.
The new Devault-Graves Digital Editions version of Weegee: The Autobiography contains a wealth of new material for readers. Included are: extensive annotations and endnotes, an original Afterword by author and critic Ed Ward, a bibliography of Weegee’s photography books, a guide for further study on works about Weegee, and a guide for further study of books by and about other neorealist photographers such as Diane Arbus. Available at all ebook retail outlets.
JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
We will be glad to place you on our emailing list to receive updates about new Chalk Line releases, products such as our very cool t-shirts, and other things pertinent to our vintage crime fiction. If you join us you will only receive Chalk Line-related information. Your name and email address will not be forwarded to any third party or other emailing list.
Contact us at: [email protected] and ask to be placed on our Chalk Line email list.
OTHER EBOOKS YOU MIGHT ENJOY FROM DEVAULT-GRAVES DIGITAL EDITIONS
Big Sur by Jack Kerouac
Tristessa by Jack Kerouac
Do You Sleep in the Nude? by Rex Reed
People Are Crazy Here by Rex Reed
Conversations in the Raw by Rex Reed
Valentines & Vitriol by Rex Reed
Weegee: The Autobiography
Yiddish for Goyim: The Power Shmoozer’s Guide to Hollywood by Noe Gold
Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson by Tom Graves
