Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories

by Elmore Leonard

  At Shemane's. He's been waiting there since noon.

  Why didn't he call you before this?

  He's been hoping she comes home so he can give her the third degree. I told him if his car's in front of the house, park in town by the OK Cafe and I'll pick him up. I want to look around the house, maybe get an idea where they went.

  Louly said, So you'll be at Shemane's.

  For a while, Carl said. You want to come?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Shootout at Shemane's

  Sunday, half past four in the afternoon, the Tedesco brothers were on their way to Shemane's:

  Tutti driving Maurice's La Salle, Bones in the back seat taking their Thompsons apart to fit in the cases. We get there, Bones said, open the trunk and I'll throw 'em in.

  Tutti thought they ought to wait. See Teddy first, before he left for Tulsa. Bones said uh-unh, Shemane first, Teddy when they got around to him.

  I expected they'd chase after us, Tutti said, the gun towers watching every move we made.

  Teddy said they get tourists all the time, Bones said, wanting to see what a POW camp looks like. Point out the Krauts to their kids've never seen any before.

  Tutti said, Tourists with a tommy gun sticking out the window?

  He didn't feel good about looking for Seminole Avenue, spending this time in Okmulgee, dragging out their stay while the colored boy Maurice was face down in that shallow creek, his hairy coat spread open, floating on the water. It was clear as day to Tutti they shouldn't ought to be here. But he wasn't gonna argue with Bones. When Bones didn't get his way he became ugly.

  Tutti found Seminole, crept the La Salle at 10 miles an hour while he looked at house numbers, found the one Bones said was Shemane's and pulled up in front, two stories, big enough to be a boarding house. Tutti said, You ready?

  I told you, Bones said, open the goddamn trunk and I'll throw 'em in.

  *

  Gary said, Why they doing that here?

  He stood a few feet away from the front window. The time he started to edge closer Carl took hold of his arm.

  They don't need machine guns, Carl said, so this must be a social call. They might've known Shemane when she was Teddy's girlfriend.

  Gary looked at Carl. But isn't anybody home. They'll ring the bell a couple times and leave. He said, Won't they?

  Carl kept his gaze on the Tedescos standing by a La Salle he hadn't seen before: the brothers talking, the heavyset one, Tutti Fruitty, nodding his head. Carl said to Gary, That's what you want to do? Be quiet as a mouse till they go away? You don't care to know what they want here?

  If Teddy hired those guys, Gary said, maybe he's meeting them here.

  I called his hotel, Carl said. He'd checked out, told them he had to be in Tulsa.

  Gary said, Leaving his girlfriend Shebang here by herself.

  Shebang, Carl said. You know she charged you two bills for all night? Stay here till they ring the bell, then go over and open the door.

  You want me to open it... Where're you?

  I'm by the sofa.

  I keep my hat on?

  Asking it since Carl wasn't wearing his. Yeah, leave it on.

  Show my star?

  They know who you are.

  I ask what they want?

  I'll start talking, you come back by the window, get an angle on them. Carl turned his head to Gary. You broke in the back door, punched in one of the panes...?

  That's all, and reached in to unlock the door.

  Carl watched the Tedescos coming toward the porch in their suits buttoned up, hat brims snapped down. He said, I have to run out to the kitchen.

  The doorbell rang.

  It rang again before Gary stepped over to the door, opened it and stood looking at the Tedesco brothers looking at him. That was all they did, looked at each other, till Frankie Bones said, You remember this boy?

  The other one, Tutti, said, 'He's the squirt Teddy says was a bullrider.

  It caused Gary to think: Damn right, he strapped on to rodeo bulls that tried to kill him, and said to these two in their dress-up suits, I'm here investigating a Breaking and Entering. What do you fellas want here?

  They didn't answer. Both Tedescos were looking past Gary, so Gary turned enough to see Carl by the sofa across the room, not even looking this way, getting a cigarette from a pack on the cocktail table and lighting it, Carl with his hat on, his suitcoat hanging open.

  *

  Carl said, Step inside so my partner can close the door. He watched them pause on the stoop, Bones giving an aside to Tutti. And you can tell me what you want here. Now they came in looking around the living room up to the ceiling while they loosened their suitcoats, got them to hang open.

  Bones said, Shemane upstairs?

  She's resting, Carl said, doesn't want to see anybody.

  You hear him? Bones said. She's resting.

  Between tricks, that's what they do, Tutti said, and looked at Gary by the window again saying, The squirt told us you're looking at a B and E. She upset about it? Bones's got something he wants to show her.

  Yes, I do, Bones said, grinning but trying not to.

  You stopped off and had a few, Carl said, but you were here before that, weren't you? Stood on the porch and realized you better not ring the bell. She looks out, sees a couple of bozos from Detroit she won't open the door. So you went around back and busted in. But then you thought uh-oh, breaking in and entering the house wasn't a good idea. It wouldn't sit right with Shemane, and it could get you hard time at McAlester. You're thinking Shemane must've heard the glass break in the kitchen door and it scared her to death. You don't want to walk in on her and make a bad impression, so you decide to go somewhere and have a drink, come back and do it right this time. Ring the doorbell.

  Carl watched the two gunmen glance at each other wanting to know what was going on here, Bones saying, Where'd he get all that? And Tutti saying, He's the one's scared, he can't shut up.

  Now I'm wondering what you had in mind for Shemane, Carl said and waited while they stared at him, Carl believing they'd already decided how they'd play it. He said, You mutts gonna talk to me? and glanced at Gar y f acing them from the front window, Gary's hands hanging free. Tutti Fruitty and Mr. Bones, Carl said, We can hand 'em over on the B and E, lock 'em up till their hearing.

  Bones said, This boy never shuts up, does he?

  You want to arrest us, Tutti said, go ahead and try. Otherwise we're walking out. Carl said, Who's the car belong to? They didn't bother to answer, movin g n ow in a lazy kind of way, turning to the door. The La Salle, Carl said. With th e m achine guns in the trunk.

  That stopped them.

  Carl watched them get ready and come around drawing their revolvers to see his .38 pointed at them. He took Bones first, shot him through the heart and shot Tutti high in the chest and shot him again. By the time Gary had pulled his gun the two were lying on the hardwood floor.

  Most times when you're late, Carl said to him, you're dead. And you were late.

  Gary, frowning, said, I didn't know what you were doing, egging them on like that, getting them to pull their guns?

  This boy, Carl believed, was a long way from becoming a hot kid. He said to Gary, When you know it's gonna happen, you work it to happen when you want it to, while they're still getting around to it.

  Gary was nodding, but still frowning as he thought about it. He said, But how'd you know-- and stopped. The phone was ringing, on the desk by the front window.

  Carl thanked God for this small blessing as he went over and picked up the phone. He said hello and waited, not hearing a sound. He said, I'm a friend of Shemane's. I'm watching the house while she and her mom- they saved up their gas stamps and are taking a motor trip.

  Is that right? It was Teddy Ritz. You got fired from the marshals and now you're a watchman? He said, Listen, there's something I better tell you. Those two clowns from Detroit, they wanted me to pay 'em to take you out.

  How much?
/>   Five bills. I said, 'You crazy? He's a friend of mine.' But here's the thing, the way you antagonized them, I think they'd do it for nothing.

  When did I antagonize them?

  At the hotel, you called the one Tutti Fruitty. Those guys, it doesn't take much to set 'em off. So watch yourself.

  I appreciate your telling me, Carl said. They're not your bodyguards anymore?

  I let 'em go.

  Where'd they get the La Salle?

  Teddy took a moment to say, A La Salle?

  With machine guns in the trunk.

  I have no idea what they're doing now, Teddy said. I'm worried about Shemane. Where you think she went?

  Carl said, You tell her about Warsaw, what the Krauts are doing to the Jews?

  Everything. She says it's only the SS and the Gestapo doing that.

  So she knows all the Krauts aren't nice guys?

  I convinced her.

  Then how come she took off at four this morning with two Krauts in the Lincoln? You're sure?

  Everything points to it.

  Jurgen. Who's the other one?

  Otto the SS officer.

  I'd like to meet him, Teddy Said. With a baseball bat.

  He's Jurgen's buddy.

  You put out a be-on-the-lookout-for?

  This morning, an All-Points, Carl said. It's Sunday... But a green Lincoln Zephyr---

  V-Twelve, Teddy said, I bought her that car. No, it shouldn't be hard to spot. He said, You think Shemane goes for this Kraut?

  *

  Eight o'clock Sunday morning Shemane pulled into the Eastwood Court- Cool and Shady, Native stone cottages with radios, and a Popular-priced Cafe- two miles east of Ft. Smith on highway 22. She said, Everybody up, and told Jurgen and Otto and her mom, Here's where we hide out till tomorrow. We lost the tail, whoever that was in the army car, but you know he's put out a bulletin on us. Hot Springs is only 120 miles, but four hours creeping behind Sunday drivers. I think the chances are we'd get stopped.

  Jurgen said, Have you done this before?

  I have friends, Shemane said, this happens to all the time. I'm going to check us in. The rooms are two-fifty, do we need two or three?

  Shemane's mom, sleepy-eyed, said, Why pay for a room we won't use? Otto the SS officer shrugged, half asleep or pretending, said something to Jurgen in German, and Jurgen, smiling, said that Otto's remark, essentially was to agree to the arrangement.

  After I check us in, Shemane said, I'm going to hide the car.

  *

  Shemane drove part of a mile back to Ft. Smith to NORM'S ALL-NITE SERVICE and had to pound on the glass door with the heel of one of her spectators to rouse the grease monkey who came with an awful breath. Shemane handed him a 20-dollar bill and said she'd like her car put in the garage on a hoist, all day. She said, If it needs the oil changed, go ahead. But if you tell one soul the car's here, or any cops that might come looking, I'll have you killed. Shemane smiled and patted the grease monkey's cheek.

  They'd brought gin and bourbon and what you mixed with them. Shemane put it all in her mom and Otto's room for their social gatherings and getting into heart to hearts. She and Jurgen could walk out any time they felt the need.

  Shemane told Jurgen she loved him and liked him and was proud of him and she didn't even know him. And he didn't know her, what she thought about. Could he see her as a fugitive? That's why she couldn't count on him down the road, though it wasn't a bad idea. Jurgen said they'd talk on the phone and write letters. She said, Then I'll know where you are. He said he trusted her, they could stay in close touch until the war was finished, and if they still had-The hots for each other, Shemane said. I can come by your house---

  If I don't drag you in and rip your clothes off we'll have a nice visit, do some catchin' up. Either way, I have to take care of my mom. Her mom sitting on the arm of Otto's chair, the only good one in the room, giving him a sip of her martini and a drag off her cigarette, letting him put his nose to her skin to take in her scent- Otto the SS major who hadn't been this close to a woman since Benghazi.

  *

  Monday morning Shemane kissed Jurgen till his eyes opened, kissed him all over his face and rolled out of bed. She gave Jurgen the paper to look at car ads while she got dressed, slipping a black v-neck sweater on over her bra.

  What one would you love to have?

  I don't see a Mercedes-Benz.

  Look at Rollie Regal Motors, the guy wearing the toupee. He's got a low-mileage '41 Studebaker 4-door with overdrive, radio and heater for 14 hundred.

  That's a lot of money.

  Don't worry about it, Mom's loaded.

  Shemane walked to the dealership on Grand Avenue in her high heels that hurt like hell but were part of the show, once she was seated next to Rollie Regal's desk with her legs crossed. She told Rollie she'd buy that '41 Studebaker in a minute if it wasn't so dear. Rollie said he could offer her a '37 Studie for six-seventy-five. Shemane sighed, sitting with her coat open, and brought out a wad of bills from the v-neck of the black sweater, counted out 700 dollars on Rollie's desk and sat back.

  I have to keep enough to put down on this house trailer I want, since I'm gonna be living here a while, by myself. But I need a good car since I'll be driving to Hot Springs to entertain at private parties. I'm an exotic dancer.

  Oh, is that right? Rollie said. How exotic are you exactly?

  I get bare naked, Shemane said. Soon as I move into the trailer I can show you my act. If you want.

  *

  Shemane and her mom said long goodbyes to their German fellas and watched them drive off in the '41 Studebaker that cost Shemane six bills and some vamping, but no t m uch. She said to her mom, You think you'll see Otto again?

  Not in a million years, her mom said. How about Jurgie?

  Maybe, Shemane said.

  She gave the grease monkey another twenty, got the car and drove back to the Eastwood Court, Cool & Shady, to get her mom and the provisions and the few clothes they'd brought along, an outfit for Hot Springs. She got out of the Lincoln at the same time the sheriff's car turned into the court.

  Chapter 14

  Conclusion

  Are You Going After Jurgen?

  Shemane and her mom rode in the back seat of the U. S. government Chevrolet, two polite FBI agents in front- a marsha l t railing behind in the Lincoln Zephyr- everybody going back to Tulsa but without much conversation. Shemane was asked what she and her mother were doing in Ft. Smith. Shemane said, We were on our way to Hot Springs, hon. She said, You sure it's me you're looking for? All I do is dance bare naked. It got the driver checking her out in the rearview mirror and the other agent turning to ask Shemane, You actually dance without a stitch of clothes on?

  I have nothing to hide, Shemane said.

  *

  Here was the Tulsa marshal Bob McMahon with police and FBI reports and newspapers on his desk-- headlines screaming HUNS ESCAPE POW CAMP! And NAZI LOVE NEST REVEALED- while Carl Webster stood at the map of America that covered a wall, Carl looking at the spread of country between Ft. Smith, Arkansas, and Detroit, way up north.

  McMahon said, You told the Okmulgee police the Tedesco brothers broke into the Morrissey house looking for Shemane, didn't find anybody home and came back later, when you and Gary Marion happened to be in the house. You accused them of having a contract to take out Shemane? How'd you know that?

  It's how those scudders made their living.

  They pulled on you and you shot them. I thought you got over wanting to use your weapon. Gary says you egged them on.

  He kept talking about shooting outlaws, Carl said. The time comes, all he does is watch. I tried to explain to Gary, when you know it's about to happen, you want to have something to say about it. What've you got him doing?

  Court duty, McMahon said, and moved on to Teddy Ritz. The Bureau's seeing him about the Tedesco brothers, find out why he brought them to Okmulgee with Thompsons.

  They haven't figured that out? Carl said. I wan
t to ask Teddy why the two mutts shot that kid Maurice and took his car. I asked Tutti and Frankie Bones where they got the La Salle with machine guns in the trunk. That was when they drew on me.

  According to McMahon, Shemane planned to sue the paper for calling her home, where she took care of her mom, a Nazi Love Nest. She told the agents she only saw Jurgen once, when he came to the back door hungry, asked if she could spare something to eat and she thought he was a vagrant. She never laid eyes on the other one, Penzler, before they showed his mugshot. And no, she did not drive them to Ft. Smith. Shemane said she was taking her mom to Hot Springs for the baths, Gladys not having much pep lately. The agents thought the mother acted like she had a buzz on. Shemane said it was her mom's arteries hardening up on her.

  With the newspapers all featuring the escape, McMahon wondered if the two had a chance of getting away.

  Jurgen'll want to go to Detroit, Carl said. He told me his family has a lot of German friends there. Every Sunday they'd go to a rathskeller called the Dakota Inn and sing songs in German. Even knowing it's the first place I'll think of, I'm pretty sure he'll head for Detroit and hope to disappear. Carl said, You know if agents checked the Ft. Smith car lots? I like the idea of Shemane buying Jurgen a car.

  Nobody saw the two guys anywhere in town, McMahon said. Not even at the motor court where the women stayed the night. There wasn't one bit of evidence to place the escapees in Ft. Smith, the report says, 'So Agents did not make an exhaustive search a t t his time.' You're the only one, McMahon said, who thinks the two guys were with Shemane.

  She's all they had, Carl said. I'm gonna see her this afternoon, and I hope Teddy, before I take Louly to the station. Her leave's up tomorrow.

  If the Bureau can't locate the Germans, McMahon said, I'm betting they'll want you on the case. How would that set with you?

  Carl shrugged and McMahon took it as an answer.

  *

  The meeting of Louly and Shemane took place in the hotel coffee shop. Shemane looked up from her club sandwich to see a redheaded woman marine approaching, coming to her table, and Shemane said, You're Carl Webster's wife, aren't you?