He searched all the papers again, this time for obituaries. There was no mention of Arthur Gilbert.
At noon he went out to buy the noon editions, again for the late afternoon editions, and later for the evening papers. There was still no mention of the robbery and no obituary item on Arthur Gilbert.
By then he was so puzzled, he would have been tempted to drive over to Manhattan and drive past the liquor store to see if Gilbert was still in evidence, except for one thing; he couldn’t have gotten there before nine-thirty p.m., and he knew the store would be closed. It would have to wait until tomorrow.
Saturday morning he bought all the papers again. When there was still no report of the robbery, he searched through each paper item by item to see if there was mention of Arthur Gilbert’s death, for he could conceive of no other reason that it hadn’t been reported. He didn’t find an obituary on the liquor store proprietor, but he did find something of interest in the personal column.
The item read: “If N.B., who visited my liquor store at closing time Thursday night will phone Circle 1-62006, he will learn something of great financial advantage. —A.G.”
“N.B.” could stand for nose bandit, Cannon reflected. “A.G.” could be Arthur Gilbert. Checking the other papers, he found the same ad running in all of them.
In the hallway outside his room there was a pay telephone, and on a small table next to it was a stack of telephone directories. He checked the Manhattan liquor store, and there it was: Circle 1-62006. He returned to his room to think the matter over.
It was evening before he came to the decision to phone the number. By then his curiosity was so aroused that he couldn’t resist. But, in the event that it was some kind of police trap, he took the subway to Grand Central Station and phoned from one of the booths there. He made the call at 8:45 p.m.
When a pleasant voice said, “Gilbert’s Liquor Store,” Cannon said tersely, “I saw your ad.”
There was a swift indrawing of breath, then Arthur Gilbert said with a peculiar mixture of relief and eagerness, “There’s no one else here, so we can talk.”
“Then start talking.”
Gilbert said, “You noticed there was nothing in the papers about our—ah—meeting, I suppose.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I didn’t report it. As a demonstration of good faith in case you saw the ad. I have a business proposition for you.”
“Yeah? What kind?”
“A job for you. No risk, and the take is twenty thousand. We split fifty-fifty. Interested?”
Cannon was silent for a moment. Then he said, “This is a new one. A victim wanting to go partners with the guy who knocked him over.”
In a reasonable tone the liquor dealer said, “You’re the only person in your—ah—profession I’ve ever had contact with. If I had known how to contact someone with your talents, I would have done it long ago, because this plum has been waiting to be plucked for some time. I risked forgetting the amount you took the other night in the hope that I could get in contact with you. It was a real risk too, because it’s going to take some fancy bookkeeping to cover the shortage.”
There was another silence on Cannon’s part. Then he said, “Why didn’t you mention this job the other night?”
Gilbert said dryly, “You have a reputation for being rather trigger quick. I thought of it, but I’m a cautious man. I thought it probable that if I tried to shift the subject of conversation, you’d put a bullet in my back before you understood what I was getting at.”
“I might have,” Cannon admitted. “I like people to listen and not interrupt when I’ve got a gun on them.”
“I was still thinking of it five minutes after you left, and regretting that there was no way to get in touch with you. Then, just as I was reaching for the phone to call the police, I thought of placing a personal ad.”
Cannon said abruptly, “We’ve talked enough for now, in case you’ve got cops tracing this call. I’ll phone you Monday.”
He hung up.
Back in his room Cannon considered the conversation from all angles. If the police were using Arthur Gilbert to set a trap, it seemed a rather far-out scheme. Cannon had never heard of a case where a victim was employed in an attempt to gain the confidence of a stickup artist.
The more he thought about it, the more he was inclined to believe that Arthur Gilbert actually was prepared to finger some job. Trying to put himself in the liquor dealer’s place, he was unable to find any illogic in the man’s actions. Convinced that all men were as basically dishonest as himself, it didn’t seem in the least odd to Cannon that a seemingly law-abiding merchant would make himself accessory to armed robbery providing he had to take no personal risk. Cannon sincerely believed that fear of consequences was the only thing which prevented many ostensibly honest men from employing his own method of making a living.
Perhaps Arthur Gilbert had often daydreamed of how easy it would be to knock over the twenty grand he was now prepared to finger. He wouldn’t have the guts to do it himself, of course, or, as he had pointed out over the phone, the underworld contacts to pass on his information to anyone who could use it. The thought of all that easy money would merely lie in the back of his mind, awaiting an accidental encounter with a real pro to give it concrete substance.
It was worth checking out in any event, Cannon decided. Providing he could make contact with Arthur Cannon without risk.
Turning his thoughts to this problem, it didn’t take him long to work out a plan for making safe contact. If it was a police trap, by now Gilbert would have reported to the police that the Nose Bandit had promised to phone again Monday. The fuzz would expect no further attempt at contact before then, and they certainly wouldn’t expect it in any way other than a phone call at the store.
The only defect he could see in his plan to make contact was that it involved letting Arthur Gilbert see his face without disguise, something no other victim had ever done. But there was a solution to that. Once their business was finished, he could make another call at the liquor store some night and dispose of Gilbert.
He tabled the matter until Monday morning.
Though Cannon knew what commuter train Arthur Gilbert took home in the evening, because he had once followed him home and had sat two seats behind him on the train, he didn’t know which train he took in the morning. It couldn’t be a very early one, though, as the man didn’t arrive at the liquor store until noon.
To be on the safe side, Cannon was parked at the station on Long Island at nine-thirty a.m.
When Cannon had followed the liquor dealer home, Gilbert had climbed into a parked station wagon when he got off the train. Lacking a car to follow him the rest of the way, Cannon had to content himself with checking the phone book. As only one Arthur Gilbert was listed on Long Island, he knew the man’s address, but on the chance that Gilbert’s home was under police surveillance, he thought it safer to wait at the train station rather than attempting to trail him clear from his home.
It seemed that Gilbert caught the ten a.m. train, for it was nearly a half hour before Cannon spotted his station wagon pulling into the parking area. The man was alone, and, since no other car followed him into the area, he didn’t seem to be under surveillance.
Cannon reached the gate a step behind the liquor dealer. He was on his heels as the plump man entered a car. When Gilbert took a rear seat next to the window, Cannon sat next to him. The liquor store proprietor gave him a casual glance, then opened a morning paper.
As the train started to move, Cannon studied the other nearby passengers. At this time of day there were as many women as men, most of them having the appearance of housewives off on shopping trips. The men all appeared to be businessmen, and none so much as glanced at Gilbert. By the time the conductor had come by to collect Cannon’s fare and punch Gilbert’s commuter ticket,
Cannon was satisfied that no police officer had the liquor dealer under observation.
In a quiet voice Cannon said, “Let’s resume our conversation.”
Gilbert gave him a startled look. Carefully he folded his newspaper and laid it on his lap. He studied his seat-mate with fascinated eyes.
“Don’t look a hole in me,” Cannon said.
The liquor dealer emitted held breath. “You gave me a jolt, Mr.—ah—I don’t suppose you want to mention your name. It’s going to take me a moment to get used to you. I’m not a very courageous man, and frankly you scare me silly.”
“You didn’t act very scared the other night,” Cannon said suspiciously. “And you don’t look scared now. In fact, you look pleased.”
“Oh, I am,” Gilbert assured him. “But nevertheless you make me uneasy. I just conceal my emotions rather well.”
This seemed logical to Cannon. Since he had begun to gain news headlines, most of his victims trembled with terror the moment he appeared. Gilbert’s calmness had bothered him a little, and he was glad to know it was all front. He liked to be feared.
He asked, “What is this job?”
“Robbing my home.”
Cannon stared at him. “Come again?”
“First I had better explain my circumstances,” Gilbert said. “My wife has all the money in our family.”
“Yeah?”
The liquor dealer gave his head a wry nod. “When you marry for money, Mr.—I keep forgetting you have no name—you earn every cent of it. That little liquor store I run was financed by my wife, a sort of a bone she tossed me to give me something to do. Once a month her brother comes down to audit the books. If there’s a nickel short, she knows it. That’s what I meant when I told you I was taking a real risk in covering a shortage of over five hundred dollars. The total receipts are turned over to Emily and I get doled out an allowance. The house is in her name, the boat, the station wagon and the other car. Everything.”
Cannon frowned. “How come you put up with that? No guts?”
Gilbert flushed slightly. “It isn’t quite as bad as I make it seem. I have the use of everything she owns. Plus membership in an exclusive country club. Plus charge accounts in a dozen stores, so I can buy all the clothes I want. But cash I don’t have. You’ll never find me with more than fifty dollars in my wallet. Just once I’d like some real money of my own to spend without supervision. I’d like to spread my wings a bit before I’m too old to enjoy spending.”
Cannon said without cynicism, “You’ve got some doll lined up, huh?”
Gilbert smiled a trifle sheepishly. “I’d rather not discuss my precise need for money. At any rate, my wife keeps a substantial sum in the house at all times, seldom less than twenty thousand dollars. It’s in a wall safe in her bedroom.”
“I’m no safe cracker,” Cannon said dubiously.
“You don’t have to be. I’ll give you the combination.”
Cannon’s eyes narrowed. “If you know the combination, why don’t you lift it yourself?”
“Because she’d know I took it. No one but the two of us know it. She’d throw me out of the house.”
“With twenty grand, you could afford to be kicked out.”
Gilbert smiled bitterly. “You don’t know my wife. She would have me prosecuted and thrown in jail. And even if I got away with it, it wouldn’t be worth it. I’m her sole heir and she’s worth three-quarters of a million dollars. She’s also not well. I prefer to stay in her good graces.”
Cannon nodded. “Okay. What’s the setup?”
“My wife is a semi-invalid and spends most of her time in her room. She had a slight stroke a couple of years ago and is paralyzed from the waist down. She has a practical nurse to take care of her when I’m not there, but Miss Prentice goes home as soon as I get in from work. Late at night the two of us are usually alone in the house. We seldom have a guest.”
“I see. You want me to walk in some night and stick you up?”
“Not when I’m there,” Gilbert said dryly. “It’s going to be a little more complicated than a simple stickup. We’ll set a specific time and I’ll arrange to be over next door at her brother’s. She doesn’t object to my leaving her alone for short periods, as long as she knows where I am. She has a bedside phone, so she can always reach me, you see.”
Cannon gave him a bleak grin. “All right. Set a time.”
Gilbert pursed his lips. “How about tonight? I get home about eleven p.m. and the practical nurse leaves as soon I get there. Don—that’s Emily’s brother—never goes to bed until the late show is over, so there will be nothing odd about my dropping in him at midnight. I do it often. Emily watches it too, as a matter of fact. You’ll probably find her in her wheelchair in front of the portable in her room when you walk in. I’ll leave by the side door. If you take a station by the garage, you’ll see me leave and can use the same door to enter the house. I’ll leave it off the latch.”
“How do I get to her room?”
“The side door is on the east side of the house. Walk straight ahead down a hall to the stairs. At the top of the stairs turn right. Emily’s bedroom is the second door on the right and the safe is behind the picture on the north wall. A word of caution, though. Don’t let her hear you until the instant you open her door. That shouldn’t be difficult, because there is wall-to-wall carpeting throughout the house. But walk softly anyway. She keeps a gun in her bedside stand, and I don’t want any shooting. In spite of her strictness about money, I’m really rather fond of the old girl. I want your promise that you won’t harm her.”
Cannon said, “I never harm anybody who behaves.”
When Gilbert looked a little dubious, Cannon said, “If you’re thinking about those three, I had reasons. That smart punk in the filling station tried to jump me. The woman in that drugstore started to scream her head off. And the old man in the delicatessen wouldn’t tell me where he kept his cash box. I don’t use my gun unless it’s necessary.”
Cannon’s reasons for killing didn’t seem to reassure Gilbert much. He continued to look dubious. He said, “Well, it can’t possibly be necessary in this case. She can’t jump you because she can’t move from her chair without assistance. And she can’t scream because she speaks only in a bare whisper. Her stroke partially paralyzed her vocal chords. I want your assurance that you won’t harm her or the whole deal is off.”
“I told you I don’t gun people for nothing,” Cannon said irritably. “That psycho killer stuff is just to make news. What’s the safe combination?”
Gilbert gave his head a slow shake. “You don’t get that until the last minute. You might get the idea to walk in before I got home and clean the safe without cutting me in. I wouldn’t want you to try it with Miss Prentice there. She might try jumping you or screaming. And I don’t want anyone killed. You meet me when I walk out the side door and I’ll give you the combination.”
Cannon shrugged.
“Now you can’t simply walk to the safe and open it,” Gilbert said. “Emily would wonder how you knew the combination. You’ll have to fake being a professional safecracker. Put your ear to the safe as you turn the knob and so on. Will you do that?”
“I’ll put on an act,” Cannon agreed.
“You won’t have to worry about Emily giving an alarm even after you leave,” Gilbert said. “If you cut the phone cord in her room, she’ll be quite helpless. Hers is the only extension on the second floor, and she can’t get downstairs in her wheelchair. She can’t even scream. She’ll simply have to wait until I return. I’ll stay over at Don’s until one a.m. in order to give you plenty of time for a getaway. All you have to do is lift the ten thousand dollars from the safe and walk out.”
“Ten thousand?” Cannon said with a frown. “I thought it was twenty grand.”
Gilbert smiled
slightly. “You’ll have to forgive me for my lack of trust, but how do I know you’d arrange to get my split to me? I haven’t the slightest idea who you are or how to get in contact with you. I’ll remove my half before you arrive. Emily always wheels her chair to the stairhead with Miss Prentice when she leaves, so I’ll have an easy opportunity.”
Cannon’s last lingering doubts about the liquor dealer’s good faith evaporated. Though his manner hadn’t indicated any distrust of the arrangements, ever since the conversation started Cannon had been searching for some hint that the whole thing might be an elaborate police trap. The realization that Gilbert didn’t trust him any more than he trusted the liquor dealer settled his suspicions once and for all.
There was one factor Gilbert apparently hadn’t considered though, Cannon thought with a grim inner smile. What was to prevent him from cold-cocking the liquor dealer as he came from the side door, relieving him of his ten thousand, then going inside for the rest?
A moment later he was startled to learn that Gilbert had considered this factor. The plump man said casually, “Incidentally, in case you have thoughts of getting the entire twenty thousand, the excuse I plan to use for going over to Don’s house is to show him my new shotgun. It’s a double-barrelled ten-gauge. I’ll have it in my hands when I walk out of the house. Loaded. As I mentioned before, I’m not a very courageous man, but I really wouldn’t have much fear of going up against a pistol with a shotgun. It would be a pretty one-sided duel.”
In spite of himself Cannon began to feel grudging respect for the careful planning Arthur Gilbert had done.
After a moment Gilbert added, “On the other hand, you don’t have to fear my double-crossing you by blasting with the shotgun when I walk out. The only way I can stay clear of suspicion is for you to rob the safe and get away clean.”
The Second Richard Deming Mystery MEGAPACK® Page 27
