Dead Man Calling

by Gavin Black

  “He wanted to find out where the plans were. He thought I had them hidden somewhere here.”

  “And are they?”

  “No!”

  “So he went away without getting the truth out of you?”

  “Of course he did! I wouldn’t have told him … if … When it was worst I said he could kill me if he wanted to. I told him that. He knew I meant it. He knew I hated him. For a moment I thought then he would kill me. I …”

  “You’ve had a hell of a time,” I said, sitting down on the bed and taking her hand. “Marla, where are the plans?”

  She lifted the compress. “What?”

  “You know where they are. I think you’ve got them.”

  “No! But I do know where they are. I’m not telling anyone. Not now. They don’t belong to anyone here now Mikos is dead. They belong to that Swedish company and they’re getting them back!”

  “You mean you’re giving them back? Very virtuous of you.”

  She sat up then. I could see she was angry.

  “You think I’m a cheap blonde, don’t you? All right, I’ll tell you. I was supposed to help steal those plans for Harry. I had a job to do, just a simple job, to spy on Mikos and let them know what was happening.”

  “And you did that?” I asked.

  She lay back again.

  “You won’t believe me. I can see you sitting there—the man who would never be such a fool as to believe someone like me. No, I didn’t do my job. I should have had the guts to tell Harry to go to hell, I know. But I didn’t reach that standard. I wanted Joe. I wanted to get out of this country. So I played Harry along. I pretended to be doing what they wanted.”

  “Why do you say ‘they’ when you mean Harry?”

  “Because Harry wasn’t in this alone. Oh, he had a big mouth. He loved to talk about himself. But I knew that he hadn’t thought this up. He was just being used. I doubt very much if he really knew who was using him. He got orders from someone he passed on to me. He was told every step, and some of the things he had to do scared him. Like killing Mikos.”

  There was silence in the room which went on until I said:

  “You’re sure it was Harry?”

  “Oh, of course I’m sure. I’ve been sure all along. When you told me in the Benten Building. I knew then. But tonight Harry told me. He was half crazy, like a man drunk with something. I think it was fear as much as anything. Things weren’t going the way he wanted. Somebody had the heat on him. He told me he killed Mikos and meant to kill you, too, at the Daibutsu. I suppose you’ve guessed that was Harry?”

  “Yes. Marla, you must know who is behind this.”

  “I don’t. I swear I don’t. And I can guess what you’re thinking. Why didn’t I go to the police? Or tell them tonight? Oh … there’s only one answer. Joe. Joe, Joe! That’s all I’ve had for long enough. That and my hope of getting out. I’ve kept myself clear for Joe, as much as I could. Doesn’t it turn your stomach, such weakness?”

  She stabbed out the cigarette into an ashtray on the bedside table. Then she put her feet on the floor. She swayed when she stood, and I caught her, holding her, tighter than I needed to. She looked up in surprise and I bent and kissed that smashed mouth.

  “Paul? What …?”

  She almost shook herself free.

  “I don’t want you to feel so alone.”

  She went over to the wash-basin, leaning on it, running a tap, staring at herself in the mirror. It wasn’t easy to come back from where she had been, but she was making the effort. I went on sitting on the bed, watching her, seeing her put up a hand to touch swollen flesh.

  “Paul, supposing the police come back again? They might. They said I was to stay here …”

  “I don’t think they’ll be back for a time. It’s safe enough. And I think I’ll stay until you’ve told me all you know.”

  “Nothing I know will help you. I can’t guess who killed Harry. I just can’t.”

  “I’ve been playing the guessing game, too. At one time I was pretty sure Clynder killed Mikos. But now I know he didn’t do that. And he couldn’t have killed Harry, because he was in the police station, or I think so.”

  “He was. The police told me they were holding him. They told me about you forcing Clynder to drive you up to Tokyo. Anyway I never thought of Al.”

  “Why?”

  “Oh, I suppose because he’s big and soft with drink. He’s not a killer, Paul.”

  “Who could be? Reggie?”

  The door just swung back then. In the opening was Reggie Spratt, holding a Colt automatic beamed in my direction.

  “I don’t like that at all,” he said. “And this will teach you, Paul, always to lock the door when you call on a lady.”

  He came in and shut the door behind him, leaning back on it. He wasn’t smiling, he was tense with nerves and this showed, not his calm self at all, though he made a bid for that line again.

  “That bulge in your pocket will be Clynder’s gun. Don’t reach down for it. Marla, just stay where you are, like a good girl. Go on with the repairs if you like. I’m sorry they’re so necessary. I’d have been here sooner myself, but the police got in first. I had to wait downstairs. In fact I’ve had to do a hell of a lot of waiting and I’m getting rather impatient. So I’ve stirred up a little action.”

  I was feeling the kind of sickness that hits you when you’ve been a careless fool. It was worse because I’d had that warning, and been hunting for Reggie. Finding Marla had blotted out the thought of him. I didn’t think it would be an idea to risk getting my fingers round Clynder’s gun. Something in the way Reggie held his told me that.

  “Reggie,” Marla said from the wash-basin. “Put away that pistol. You can’t believe that Paul …?”

  “My dear, you keep out of this for the moment. I was just saying that I wanted a little action. Well, I’ve triggered it off. I’ve been doing a bit of listening outside this door. Japanese construction methods make that rather easy. When I’d heard enough I went and phoned the police. I should think we’ll hear the cheery whine of sirens at any minute. It’s my belief that with my little news half the police cars in Tokyo will come swooping on this hotel.”

  “And you’ll be upped to the ninth order of the cherry blossom for meritorious civil conduct,” I said.

  Reggie smiled for the first time.

  “Could be, old boy. Don’t put your hand down suddenly. I want the police to find that gun on you.”

  “You can’t hand him over!” Marla cried out. “You can’t!”

  “I can, and I’m going to. I don’t believe he killed anyone, I’ll admit that. But Paul has been frightfully obtrusive recently. And speaking purely as a business rival I think he’s better out of the way for the time being. You see I want those plans and any competitor I can eliminate is a great help. Selfish, of course, and afterwards I promise I’ll rally round to help a fellow countryman out of the soup and all that sort of thing. When I have the contract for the diesel in my pocket. I think Paul would probably have taken this advantage if he had been in my shoes. Wouldn’t you?”

  I didn’t say anything. Marla was clearly very distressed.

  “I’ll tell the police everything I know, Reggie!”

  “If you do, my dear, I think you’ll be in grave danger of the clink yourself. As an accessory. What about Joe then?”

  Marla stood very straight, her face ghastly in the glare from that tube of light.

  “I’ll cover you with the police,” Reggie said gently. “Armed man in your room and what not. And you still groggy from what happened earlier.”

  “And then what?” Marla asked. “What’s your price?”

  “The plans.”

  “So you’re working for Nip crooks, too?”

  “On the contrary, I’m working for a very respectable firm in Coventry called Repton and Wilson. I should think Paul has heard of this concern, they have a worldwide reputation. And they’re the last people who would wish their agent to steal the plans fro
m the Swedes. I can assure you we’ll pay the price, but I have a strong feeling that just at the moment the man who holds the plans is in the strongest bargaining position. I’m sure Paul would agree. It’s why he wants them, too.”

  I didn’t say anything. I was waiting for the sound of sirens. The window was a little open and we were high up. I knew we’d hear them from a good distance, a wailing on the night, the Japanese equivalent of the flying squad coming.

  Ohashi was no hope. He was down there waiting for me, and even if he came into the hotel he wouldn’t get up here. The clerk wouldn’t give a Japanese Marla’s room number. Ohashi wouldn’t know where to go.

  The sirens began, distantly. Marla took a step forward.

  “Reggie, let him go! Please.”

  “Certainly not.”

  The phone rang, by the bed.

  “You answer it, Marla,” Reggie said.

  She went over quickly and took the receiver.

  “Hallo? Hallo? Why … Susie!”

  I was quite near in my chair, and Susie’s voice was loud, reaching me like a thin peeping, but the words audible enough.

  “Marla, are you alone?”

  Marla looked at me then, and for some reason I nodded. Reggie moved across the room, keeping me covered, but suddenly interested in that call.

  “Yes, Susie, I’m alone. Why?”

  “I’m nearly out of my mind. I don’t know how to tell you this. I can’t seem to find the words.”

  “Susie, where are you phoning from?”

  “Home, of course. Here in Kamakura. Marla … Joe’s gone!”

  Marla sucked in her breath. Then her voice came fast.

  “What are you talking about? How can he be gone? Where can he have gone to …?”

  “You don’t understand, Marla. He was taken from his room. I got a phone call ten minutes ago. A man’s voice I didn’t know. They had the boy, whoever they are. I was to phone you and say that you’re to bring the plans and leave them …”

  Susie was crying at the other end of the wire. Marla, here, wasn’t. She stood stricken, her battered mouth slack, staring across the room. I thought the receiver might fall from her hands.

  “Marla, are you there? Oh, I couldn’t believe it. I went into Joe’s room. The window on to that roof over the terrace, it’s open. They must have lowered Joe, I don’t know. I can’t think. I haven’t phoned the police. I was scared to. I just did what they told me. I thought I had to do that. Marla, what are you going to do? Will you give them those plans, whatever they are? Have you got them?”

  “I know where they are,” Marla said, her voice dead, heavy.

  Behind her voice the wailing was growing out there in the night.

  “Marla, will you come down here? Will you do what they say? You’ve got to, for Joe, haven’t you?”

  “Yes, I’ve got to for Joe.”

  “Marla, come here afterwards. Come right to my house. I’ll be nearly crazy. But I won’t phone the police. I won’t do anything until you tell me. For Joe’s sake. Isn’t that right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “And you’ll bring the plans?”

  “I’ll get them.”

  “You’re to put them in front of the Daibutsu. In the incense stand, the right-hand one. And you’re to come alone. No one with you. How will you get down here?”

  “I’ll hire a car,” Marla said, still with that dead calm. “I’ll come now. Right away.”

  She put down the phone. The wailing of those sirens coming for me was pouring through the windows now. I didn’t give a damn about Reggie then, I went to Marla and took her by the shoulders.

  “It’s all right,” I said. “It’s all right. You’ve got to keep that in your head.”

  “They’ve got Joe. They don’t mind killing …”

  “Stop it, Marla! We’re going to get them, and Joe.”

  “But how can we? We don’t know anything. We can’t even guess who’s behind this.”

  “I’m doing some guessing now. Listen to me. Susie said she was phoning from her house. She’s lying! She couldn’t be. I cut the wires to the phones in her house tonight. She couldn’t have had them fixed. Don’t you see what this means?”

  “No!”

  “Neither do I,” said Reggie, still standing with his gun.

  “It means Susie’s mixed up with them in some way. Joe wasn’t taken from his bed by anyone coming through the window. If he’s not in that beach house now it’s because Susie took him somewhere.”

  “Paul, Susie’s my friend, I don’t believe …”

  “You should vet your friends more carefully. I’ll tell you another thing. I went to the ‘Happy Days’ tonight because Susie practically told me to. She brought the conversation round to that Zuroff woman when there was not much point in it. A plant if you like. She guessed I was going to Tokyo on pretty thin leads so she gave me a good fat one. And banked on my using it. Reggie, let’s get out of here, the three of us.”

  He looked at me.

  “If you’re gone when the police get here I’ll be in the soup as well.”

  “Sure,” I said, meeting his eyes.

  He took a deep breath, as though he was angry.

  “Come on then, blast you!”

  The first of the cars came howling up the Asubira drive.

  “Marla, show us that way down that Harry used to use. Got your car, Reggie? I didn’t see it in the car park.”

  “That’s because I didn’t want to advertise. It’s in a back lane.”

  Marla didn’t stop to pick up a thing, we went straight out into the hall, and along it to what seemed a service door opening on to a steep stair. The night was alive now with the howling of the hunt, the sound of it reached us even as we clattered down concrete steps. When we were on the last flight a door almost directly at the foot of it opened and a man came out carrying a huge zinc waste can. He stared at us for a moment, then dropped the can and slammed the door. We could hear him yelling on the other side of it.

  The back door was open, The police hadn’t got round to it yet. They might have thought they could safely use the lifts. When the servant’s yelling reached them they’d change their minds.

  Only Marla knew where she was going. She got us into a back lane, empty except for a thin cat, and no car.

  “I don’t know where the hell I am,” Reggie said. “This isn’t the lane.”

  “We’ll try one over,” Marla gasped. “That way.”

  Reggie had been right about half the mobile police converging on the Asubira. It sounded like that now. People would be coming out of their houses to see what was happening. As we ran we could hear voices behind the board fences. And then, just when we saw the Armstrong-Siddeley, a gate slid back and a round face peered at three running foreigners.

  “A description of the car,” Reggie panted.

  We fell into it, all of us in the front seat. I was leaving Ohashi, I couldn’t help it. There was no reason why a Japanese youth with a scooter shouldn’t be in the hotel grounds, bound for a drink in the smart bar. He’d have to use his own wits. And it certainly wouldn’t help him to be with me now.

  The lane led into the main road by the Asubira. Reggie slid the car out into it.

  “Keep down, you two, right down. I don’t think the police will have a description of us for a bit. And this is the only way out of Surugadai I know. We’ll have to take it.”

  Marla and I sat on the floor and I put my arm about her shoulder.

  “Stop worrying about Joe,” I said. “Susie was fond of him in her way. I saw that. She won’t let him be harmed, I’m sure of it.”

  “They were my only real friends,” Marla said. “I can’t …”

  “Don’t think about it. We’re on the way now.”

  “I hope we stay on it,” Reggie said from above us. “Here come another two police cars.”

  We heard them all right. I could feel that Reggie was driving with a certain decorum now, like a tired business man on his way
home from a heavy night. He was right to do this while we were still in the area of the Asubira, but I wanted to hear that engine under me humming. My nerves were tightened, too, by the thought of that round face peering at us from a gate. Reggie’s car was so damn’ easy to describe. I’d never seen another like it in Tokyo.

  “There’s one thing about organising a concentration of the mobile police,” Reggie said. “You know then where they are. In this case behind us.”

  I couldn’t share his optimism.

  “Reggie, we’ll be sitting ducks if we try to get to Kamakura in this.”

  “The idea was just occurring to me. A clock up there says quarter after eleven. The boozers’ special leaves Tokyo Central at twenty-seven past. We can just make it.”

  And that’s what we did, leaving the Siddeley in shadow and running across the plaza, into the station which wasn’t echoing at all now, most of the big night trains away. We had to wait for almost a minute before our train pulled out, sitting at one end of an almost empty coach, with Marla on one seat facing two men with guns in their pockets.

  I wasn’t sure that she was conscious of us at all. She sat with her hands folded into fists and touching and she looked down at them. She might have been keeping her head lowered to hide her face, but I didn’t think so. I was sure that in this lull in action, when there was nothing for us to do but wait, she was going through the peculiar misery which comes to those who see a section of their lives as a pattern to a grim end. I’ve had that feeling myself, and the helplessness from it, the knowledge that you are being some way pushed along, with all your gestures of resistance to that movement dissipated and made trivial. Marla could probably have borne the horror for herself, but she couldn’t manage to do it for her child. With her fears for Joe at the moment were those other fears, perhaps almost constant, for his future. He was Harry’s child, she must have faced that on a hundred nights, perhaps after Harry had left from one of those unannounced visits, when he came with his key from his own bestial living.

  I haven’t hated many men, but I hated Harry, to whom I had spoken once. I felt I could see him whole, and the evil that moved with him. There was nothing about Harry’s life that a psychiatrist couldn’t explain away, there were plenty of excuses for him, and he had come into living with a host of disadvantages. But so have a lot of other people who haven’t sold out to the devil.