Soft Centre

by James Hadley Chase

  ‘You’ve guessed, haven’t you? She was a harlot. That’s all there is to it.’?‘We found an address book among her possessions,’ Terrell said. ‘It contains some two hundred names. I take it, these men were her clients?’

  Joan Parnell shrugged.?‘How do I know? All I do know is she made a lot of money and spent a lot of money. We didn’t meet very often.’

  ‘It’s just possible,’ Terrell said, ‘that the dead woman might not be your sister. I’d be glad if you’d come with us and identify her.’

  Joan Parnell grimaced.?‘I hate the sight of death. Oh, well, I’ll come.’

  It was while they were driving to the City morgue that Terrell asked, ‘Did your sister have any particular boy friend?’ He was watching Joan and saw her hesitate.

  ‘If you mean did she have a pimp, then she didn’t,’ she said finally. ‘There was a man she lived with for a couple of years. She was crazy about him until he walked out on her. I had warned her about him, she wouldn’t listen…she never listened to me. I knew he would drop her in time.’

  ‘Who is he?’?‘Lee Hardy; he’s some kind of bookmaker.’

  Terrell and Beigler exchanged glances.

  Terrell asked, ‘How long ago was it since he dropped her?’?‘About three months. He got himself another woman. Sue went on a bender when he threw her out.

  She didn’t sober up for three weeks.’?‘Would he have any reason to murder her?’?‘Not unless she made a nuisance of herself. He is a man who could do anything… anything rotten.’

  Terrell absorbed this. He was still thinking about it when the car arrived at the morgue. Minutes later, they were standing behind the sheet- covered body. Beigler hovered in the background.

  Carefully, Terrell turned down the sheet to reveal Sue Parnell’s dead face. He looked questioningly at Joan who had lost colour.

  ‘That’s my sister,’ she said, her voice suddenly harsh. Before Terrell could prevent her, she caught hold of the sheet and flicked it off the naked and mutilated body. She stood as if turned to stone as Beigler hurried forward to help Terrell recover the body.

  ‘So that’s it!’ she exclaimed. ‘I had an idea you were keeping something from me!’ She turned to Terrell, her eyes blazing with fury that startled him. ‘You listen to me! You find this killer! If you don’t, then I will! No man is going to get away with doing that to my sister! All right, she wasn’t much, but you don’t do that to any woman and get away with it no matter how low she is!’ She turned and ran with unsteady steps out of the morgue.

  ‘Go after her and take her home,’ Terrell said. ‘We’ll talk to her again later.’

  Beigler hurried after Joan. He was in time to see her get into a passing taxi. As the cab moved away, he caught a glimpse of her white gaunt face and her glittering eyes.

  He went thankfully back to Terrell who was locking the door of the morgue. ‘She’s gone… took a taxi,’ Beigler said.?‘Let’s see if Hess has anything to report, then we’ll talk to Hardy.’

  The two men walked over to where the police car was parked.?*****

  Val and her father drove back to the Spanish Bay hotel. She was tense and unhappy. She felt her father’s sympathy had switched away from her while she had been with Chris and she braced herself, knowing what was coming.

  It wasn’t until they were back in the hotel suite that Travers said in a quietly modulated voice, ‘Val… I think you should pack right away and come back with me. I have to catch the five o’clock plane. Will you hurry? We can talk on the plane.’

  ‘I’m staying here, Daddy. What should I do in New York with Chris out here?’

  Her father restrained an impatient gesture.?‘I’ve talked to Gustave,’ he said. ‘He says there is a chance of Chris eventually recovering, and I want you to grasp this as it is very important—in the meantime this odd blackout Chris has had makes it necessary for him to be under restraint. As he is willing to be a voluntary patient, he need not be certified, but if he shows signs of wanting to leave the sanatorium, he would have to be.’

  ‘That’s all the more reason why I should stay here and see him every day,’ Val said steadily.

  ‘I don’t think Gustave wants you to see him every day, Val.’?‘He can’t stop me.’

  Travers stared down at his well shaped hands, frowning.?‘Well, Vat, I suppose I’ll have to tell you. Chris could become violent.’

  Val got to her feet and walked to the window. She stood with her back to her father. There was a long painful silence, then Travers said, ‘Come on, darling, get packed. Time’s running out.’

  She turned. The determination in her eyes dismayed him.?‘Did Dr. Gustave tell you that?’?‘About him becoming violent? Oh, yes. If you insist on seeing Chris, you won’t be able to see him alone.’

  ‘I don’t understand. I’ve always seen him alone. Is this something new then?’?‘I’m afraid so. This blackout is a warning signal. With the kind of brain injuries he has, it seems that if he has another blackout he could easily turn on anyone who is intimate with him. It’s one of these odd quirks that I don’t actually understand. Gustave said there would just possibly be homicidal tendencies. You couldn’t stay with him or visit him without a nurse in attendance. You don’t want to visit him under those conditions, do you?’

  ‘I am going to visit him under any circumstances,’ Val said. ‘I am staying here.’?‘Poor Val. You do love him, don’t you?’?‘Yes, I love him. If I were in his place, I’d hope so much that he wouldn’t desert me. Let’s not talk about it. I am staying, Daddy.’

  Travers got to his feet.?‘Then I’ll get off. I can catch an earlier plane. Keep in touch with me. I don’t know what you’ll do down here on your own. I don’t know if you’d like one of your friends to come down and join you, but I suppose you’ll manage as you always seem to manage.’

  ‘I’ll be all right. I’d much sooner be on my own.’?‘You are never alone, Val. You have me.’ He looked hopefully at her. ‘You have, haven’t you?’

  ‘Yes, I have you,’ she said.

  From the expression on her face, and from the tone of her voice, he realised bitterly that the hope he had had of replacing Chris, of getting her to return to his big, lonely house, of taking up their lives together once more was just bitter dust.

  *****

  Lee Hardy was no stranger to the police. They knew him to be an unscrupulous gambler who ran a minor Wire Service, who managed to make a deal of money and who was shrewd enough to operate just within the Law.

  Terrell and Beigler called at his two room office on N.W. 17th Avenue. The pert blonde who handled the battery of telephones and ran the office when Hardy was on the race track told them that Hardy had just that moment left for home.

  The two police officers went out into the hot street, climbed into the police car and drove fast to Bay Shore Drive where Hardy had a four room penthouse overlooking the Biscayne Bay.

  Hardy came to the door himself. He was a tall, powerfully built hunk of beef, dark, tanned, with staring blue eyes, a dimple in his chin and would obviously be devastating to most women.

  He met the hard, cold stare of the policemen with an expansive, flashing smile. He had on a red and gold patterned dressing-gown over his tanned, hairy nakedness. His feet were thrust into heelless slippers of soft red leather.

  ‘Chief ! Well, what a surprise! Come on in. You’ve never visited my humble sty before, have you? Come on in… and you too, Sergeant.’

  The two men walked into a vast lounge, expensively furnished with a terrace overlooking the bay. Down one side of the room, protected by a glass screen, orchids of every colour and description grew in long, colourful ropes. The decor of the room was of white and lemon yellow.

  Reclining on a vast settee of yellow and white stripes was a beautifully built girl whose jet black hair reached to her golden tanned shoulders. She had on a white wrap, pulled off her shoulders and that fell away from her legs, revealing naked, tanned thighs.

  Staring at her, Beigler guessed
she would be around twenty-three or four. She had one of those faces that made you think of a Pekinese dog… attractive, but very complex.

  ‘This is Gina Lang.’ Hardy said. ‘She takes care of my blood pressure.’ He gave his flashing smile. To the girl, he said, ‘Stay right where you are, Pekie. These gentlemen are from police headquarters. Chief Terrell and Sergeant Beigler.’

  The girl eyed the two police officers, and then squirmed a little further down on the settee. She reached out a small, well shaped hand for a glass full of lime juice and gin. She then looked pointedly away.

  ‘Well, gentlemen,’ Hardy said. ‘What will you drink?’?‘You know a woman named Sue Parnell?’ Terrell asked in his cop voice.

  For a brief second, Hardy’s smile slipped, but it was back immediately although both Terrell and Beigler had seen the question had come as a shock.

  ‘Sue Parnell? Well, now… should I know her?’ Gina turned her head to stare at Hardy. Her black eyes were uncomfortably searching.

  ‘Don’t stall,’ Terrell snapped. ‘Do you know her?’?‘Why, yes… an old, old flame that flickered out,’ Hardy said. ‘You didn’t say what you would drink.’

  ‘She was murdered last night,’ Terrell said.

  Hardy’s smile slid off his face the way water leaves a sink.?‘Murdered? Sue? For God’s sake! Who did it?’

  Neither Terrell nor Beigler were impressed with this act. They knew Hardy to be one of the trickiest punters on the Coast.

  ‘Where were you last night?’ Terrell asked as Beigler sat down and took out his notebook. ‘You don’t think I killed her, do you?’ Hardy exclaimed, staring at Terrell.?‘I’ll ask the questions. Come on, Hardy, you’re wasting time.’?‘Where was I last night?’ Hardy said and moved to the settee. He sat down, close to Gina’s naked feet. ‘Why… I was right here… wasn’t I, Pekie?’

  Gina sipped her drink. She looked at Hardy thoughtfully while Hardy stared back at her, the muscles of his neck tense.

  ‘Were you?’ She spoke with an exaggerated drawl. ‘Last night? How should I remember what you did last night?’

  ‘Just think a moment,’ Hardy said, and Terrell saw he was controlling his temper with difficulty.

  ‘Let me remind you: we ran off that movie I made when we were down at Key West. That was around eight o’clock. I then spent an hour editing it while you listened to that new L.P. I bought you. Then we ran the movie through again. That was a little after ten o’clock. Then we played five hands of Gin and you beat me… remember? Then we went to bed.’

  Gina looked at Terrell, then at Beigler, then back at Hardy.

  ‘The only thing I remember is that we went to bed,’ she said. ‘Going to bed with you is always an experience.’

  Hardy drew in a long, deep breath. He made a helpless gesture towards Terrell.?‘Pekie, this is important.’ There was a rasp in his voice. ‘Don’t go vague on me. These gentlemen want to know where I was last night. I haven’t any other witnesses but you. I was with you from half-past seven until this morning that’s right, isn’t it?’

  Again the long, uncomfortable pause, then Gina said, ‘Yes, that’s right, you were. I remember now distinctly.’

  Hardy turned to Terrell.?‘So I was here. What happened to Sue for God’s sake?’

  Terrell stared at Hardy. This was an alibi he disliked most…one he couldn’t check.?‘Did you have any telephone calls last night?’?‘No.’?‘Did you go out to eat?’?‘No… Gina fixed the meal here.’?‘Did anyone call on you?’?‘No.’?‘So I have only this woman’s word and yours?’?‘I hope it’s enough.’

  Terrell turned to Gina.?‘If this man has had anything to do with the murder and you have lied about him being here last night, you can be charged as an accessory after the fact… carries quite a rap. Want to change your mind?’

  Gina sipped her drink before saying, ‘I’m not in the habit of lying.’?‘Well, you have been warned,’ Terrell said. He nodded to Beigler and the two men walked out of the apartment.

  When the front door closed behind them, Hardy said, ‘Thank you, Pekie, that was damn well done.’

  ‘Wasn’t it?’ she said and reached for a cigarette. While she lit it, he went over to the cocktail cabinet and made himself a stiff whisky. As he came back and sank into a lounging chair near her, she went on, ‘Just who is Sue Parnell?’

  ‘Nobody,’ Hardy said and switched on his flashing smile. ‘A tart if you’re all that interested. Just nobody.’

  She stared at him.?‘I see. Where actually were you last night, Lee?’

  He made an uneasy movement.?‘Pekie… I told you. I was out with the boys.’?‘Then why didn’t you tell that cop?’?‘He would have checked. A couple of the boys are in trouble. They wouldn’t want to talk to Terrell.’

  ‘Nice friends you go around with, don’t you?’?‘It’s business, Pekie. They aren’t friends. They put business my way”?‘You didn’t get in until half-past three. You could have murdered this woman, couldn’t you?’

  ‘I could have, but I didn’t. Let’s .drop it, shall we?’ he said, a rasp in his voice.?‘I wouldn’t like you to describe me as an old, old flame that flickered out… a nobody… a tart,’ Gina said quietly. ‘I wouldn’t Like that at all.’

  ‘I wouldn’t talk that way about you, Pekie… you know that.’?‘Well, if you did, if the flame flickered out, darling, I could always tell that cop I made a mistake in the days, and that it was Thursday and not Friday we did the things you said we did.’

  They stared at each other for a long moment. The hardness in her black eyes startled him and he felt a sudden sinking feeling.

  ‘Come on, Pekie, let’s drop it. Let’s go to a movie or something. Look, I’ll take you to the Coral Club… how would you like that?’

  ‘Did you take Sue Parnell there?’

  He got to his feet. Blood rushed into his face and all his smoothness went away. He looked vicious and ugly.

  ‘Now listen, Gina…’?‘Pekie, darling. You always call me that, and don’t look so mad. No, we won’t go to the Coral Club tonight. You run off and play with your boy friends. I’ll amuse myself on my own.’ She got off the settee and carrying her drink, she went across the lounge and into her bedroom.

  Hardy stood motionless, his hands opening and closing, then he went into his bedroom and slammed the door.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The Hare Investigating Agency advertised that they offered superlative service with quick results. The Agency was controlled by Homer Hare, assisted by Lucille, his daughter, and Sam Karsh, his son-in-law. They were regarded by the police and by those who had had dealings with them as ‘The Unholy Trinity’. Homer Hare, nudging sixty-five, was an immense man, grossly fat with a turnip shaped head, a bulbous nose, shrewd little eyes and a drooping moustache that half hid a cruel, avaricious mouth.

  His daughter, aged twenty-eight, was small and bony. The sharpness of her features and the brightness of her little black eyes gave her the appearance of a dangerous and suspicious ferret.

  Her husband, Sam Karsh, could have been her brother. He had the same ferrety face, the same dark greasy hair and the same muddy complexion. If he hadn’t been offered a job as well as a wife, it wouldn’t have occurred to him to have married Lucille. He had a roving eye for any blonde who came up to his high standards, but as he made a reasonable living working with Hare, he accepted Lucille with as bad a grace as possible.

  On the second morning after the murder at the Park Motel, Homer Hare sat in his specially built desk chair, designed to accept his enormous bulk, and regarded Joan Parnell with startled surprise.

  ‘But this is a murder case,’ he said in his wheezy soft voice. ‘We don’t usually take on murder cases. For one thing the police don’t like an Agency to move in and for another, they have the organisation to solve a murder whereas we are necessarily handicapped.’

  Joan Parnell giving off a strong aroma of gin, made an impatient movement.?‘There are other Agencies,’ she said. ‘I’m not going to beg
you to work for me. I’m paying a thousand dollars as a retainer. Are you taking the job or not?’

  Hare blinked.?‘My dear Miss Parnell,’ he said hurriedly, waving his great hands that looked as if they had been fashioned out of dough, ‘if there is one Agency that could help you, it is us. Just what do you want me to do?’

  ‘Of course I’ll handle it,’ Hare said and pulled a scratch pad towards him. ‘I have read the facts in the papers of course, but let me see if you can tell me anything further that might help. First of all, tell me about your sister.’

  An hour later, Joan Parnell got to her feet: On the desk lay five hundred dollars in twenty dollar bills.

  ‘You shall have the other five hundred next week,’ she said. ‘For this money, I want some action.’

  Hare regarded the money with a loving smile.?‘You’ll get it. Miss Parnell. We specialise in quick results. We will have something for you by next week.’

  ‘If I don’t get it, you don’t get any more money,’ Joan said curtly.

  When she had gone, Hare dug an enormous thumb into a bell push on his desk.

  Sam Karsh, followed by Lucille, notebook in hand, came in.?‘We have a job,’ Hare said and pointed to the bills on the desk. ‘The Parnell murder.’ Karsh sat down. He pushed his hat to the back of his head, He was a man who would rather go around without his trousers than without his hat. There were times when he was drunk, that he went to bed with his hat on, and would turn vicious if his wife attempted to remove it.

  ‘What’s the matter with you?’ he demanded. ‘A murder case? You gone nuts? We’re in bad enough trouble with the cops as it is. You aiming to lose us our licence?’

  ‘Relax,’ Hare said. ‘We’re handling this. You leave it to me. I’ll talk to Terrell. This woman has money. She’s paid five hundred, and next week, she’s parting with another five hundred. That’s the kind of cabbage we need very, very badly.’

  Karsh eyed the money and grimaced.?‘I don’t like it. Terrell is only waiting his chance to slit our throats, but okay, so we take the job. Where does that get us? What can we do better than the cops?’