by McBain, Ed
“How about you, Mr. Hemmings? Know anybody named Erhard Bachmann?”
“No,” Hemmings said.
“Mr. Worthy?”
“No.”
“Only one here who knows Bachmann seems to be you, Mr. Grimm. Do you also know Rosalie Waggener?”
“No,” Grimm said.
Ollie glanced at the clock. It was three minutes to 7:00.
“Why do you suppose she gave five hundred thousand to your packer?”
“I have no idea,” Grimm said.
“You didn’t send her to Germany, did you?”
“Me?” Grimm said. “Me?”
“Did you?”
“Of course not. I don’t even know her. How could I…?”
“Oh, that’s right,” Hawes said. “You couldn’t have sent her to Germany.”
“That’s right,” Grimm said.
“Because Alfie did.”
“Alfie?” Hemmings said, and leaned forward.
“Alfred Allen Chase,” Ollie said. “Your partner.”
“What!” Hemmings said.
“Shut up, Oscar,” Worthy said.
“Alfie gave the money to Rosalie,” Hawes said.
“To take to Bachmann,” Ollie said.
“You didn’t know that, huh, fellows?”
“No,” Worthy said.
“No,” Hemmings said.
“Did you know it, Mr. Grimm?”
“No,” Grimm said.
“But you do know Alfie Chase, don’t you?”
“How would I know Alfie Chase?”
“Maybe because you met him in prison,” Hawes said.
“In Castleview,” Ollie said.
“Maybe because you wrote to each other all the time.”
“Maybe because you worked out a little deal together.”
Worthy, Hemmings, and Grimm looked at each other again. Grimm was beginning to realize that his partner, Alfred Allen Chase, had undoubtedly known about the impending warehouse fire and had not warned him. Worthy and Hemmings were beginning to realize that their partner, Alfred Allen Chase, had been involved in a side deal with Grimm. The cops did not as yet know what that side deal was, but Hemmings and Worthy knew, and the knowledge wasn’t sitting too well with them, judging from the scowls on their faces. It was at this moment that Steve Carella walked into the squadroom with Chase himself. Chase took one look at his multiple assembled partners and seemed ready to bolt for the door.
“This won’t hurt but a minute,” Carella said behind him, and nudged him toward the desk.
“Everybody know everybody?” Ollie said. “Steve, this is Mr. Worthy and Mr. Hemmings, and I believe you know Mr. Grimm. Gentlemen, Detective Steve Carella. And, of course, you all know Alfie Chase because he’s your partner.”
“Everybody’s partner,” Hawes said.
“You son of a bitch!” Hemmings said, and leaped from his chair, and reached for Chase’s throat. His outburst served as the signal for the two other men to spring into action. Worthy came at Chase with a bunched fist, and Grimm simultaneously kicked him in the shin. It was only with some difficulty that the detectives rescued Chase from what might have turned out to be the first squadroom lynching in the history of the Police Department. Ollie slammed Chase down into a swivel chair behind the desk and said, “What’s it all about, Alfie?” which Carella and Hawes thought highly comical, but nobody else even smiled.
The poker game was finished. It was now time to count the chips and turn them in for money—which was, after all, the name of the game.
They questioned Alfred Allen Chase alone in the lieutenant’s office. They told him many truths and many lies. They started off with a lie.
Q: According to your partners, you’re the real heavy in this thing, Alfie. You’re the one who told Charlie Harrod to burn down Grimm’s warehouse, you’re the one who…
A: That’s a lie.
Q: Charlie wasn’t working on your instructions?
A: No. It was their idea. Robbie and Oscar. They’re the ones who got Charlie to do the job.
Q: To burn down Grimm’s warehouse?
A: Yeah, and his house, too.
Q: Why?
A: Because they found out about him.
Q: About the Bremerhaven deal, do you mean?
A: Yeah.
Q: About the deal with Bachmann?
A: Yeah. They really spilled everything, didn’t they? Some partners.
Q: You want to tell us your side of it?
A: My side of what?
Q: The deal with Bachmann.
A: Go ask Grimm.
Q: We’ve already asked him. We want your side of the story.
A: What’d the stupid bastard tell you?
Q: What makes you think he’s stupid?
A: Because he’s stupid, that’s why.
Q: You’re the one who burned him out, how does that make him stupid?
A: I didn’t burn him out, they did.
Q: Why’d they do it, Alfie?
A: I told you. They found out about the deal, and they figured the only way to scare him off was to burn down first his warehouse and then his house. Any other time, they might have let him get away with it, but not now when the market’s so tight.
Q: When did they find out?
A: The end of July.
Q: Who told them? Bachmann?
A: No, why the hell would he? He had his deal, he had his money, he was happy.
Q: Then who told them?
A: Some fink they know in Germany. He put a call through to Robbie, figured he’d do Robbie a favor, get one back from him later.
Q: Told him that Grimm was dealing with Bachmann, is that right?
A: Yeah.
Q: What kind of deal was it, Alfie?
A: I thought you knew already.
Q: No. What was it?
A: Go find out. I thought they already told you. What the hell is this?
Q: We’ve got a call in to the Bremerhaven police, they’re going to search the cargo and get back to us. You might as well tell us.
A: (Silence)
Q: What do you say, Alfie?
A: The contract is in Grimm’s name. For having the animals packed. He’s the one you should hang this on. The contract’s your proof.
Q: You had nothing to do with it, is that what you’re saying?
A: Nothing at all. Nothing with the Bachmann deal, nothing with the fires. I’m clean. Grimm was doing business with Bachmann, not me.
Q: How’d Grimm happen to know him?
A: Well, Diamondback did a little business with him before.
Q: With Bachmann?
A: Yes.
Q: When?
A: About six months ago. I had nothing to do with that deal, either. It was all Robbie and Oscar.
Q: What kind of a deal was it?
A: Penny-ante, hardly worth bothering with. We netted two million three.
Q: We?
A: The company. We put eight hundred grand in the bank and split the rest three ways.
Q: In a safety deposit box?
A: The eight hundred? Yeah. They told you that, too, huh? Jesus!
Q: And the rest you split three ways?
A: Yeah. But I didn’t know where the money came from. I was clean then, and I’m clean now. I thought it was company profits.
Q: And your share was five hundred thousand?
A: That’s right.
Q: Why’d Diamondback keep the eight hundred thousand in reserve? For future deals with Bachmann?
A: I suppose so. But I didn’t know anything about what the company planned. I thought it was a legitimate development company. Those guys are trying to put everything on me, when all along they’re the ones who’re maybe involved in some criminal activity. Man, I’ve been in jail before, you don’t think I’d get involved in anything illegal, do you?
Q: You weren’t involved in any of these deals with Bachmann, is that it?
A: That’s exactly it.
Q: Not even
Grimm’s deal.
A: Right.
Q: Then why’d you send Rosalie Waggener to Germany?
A: Who told you that?
Q: Rosalie.
A: Said I sent her to Germany?
Q: That’s right.
A: She’s out of her mind.
Q: She said you gave her five hundred thousand dollars to deliver to Erhard Bachmann.
A: Oh.
Q: Did you?
A: Yeah, but that was a favor to Grimm. He needed somebody to take the money over for him, so I suggested Rosalie. I mean, we knew each other from prison, I figured I’d do him a favor.
Q: That’s not what Rosalie told us. Rosalie said it was your money.
A: Well, how would she know whose money it was?
Q: She said you were going to make millions.
A: Well, I don’t know where she got that idea.
Q: You’re not leveling with us, Alfie.
A: I’m telling you the truth.
Q: No, you’re not telling us the truth. The truth is you were Grimm’s partner in the deal.
A: Who told you that?
Q: Grimm.
A: That stupid bastard.
Q: Equal partners. Five hundred thousand each. Come on, Alfie. We know all about it.
A: (Silence)
Q: What do you say?
A: Can’t trust a goddamn soul. Boy, oh boy.
Q: Were you partners with Grimm?
A: Yeah, yeah.
Q: And it was your money Rosalie took to Germany?
A: Yeah.
Q: Why’d you risk sending her?
A: Nobody knew her there. She was using a phony name, there was no way she could be traced back to me. Besides, who was I supposed to send? That stupid bastard Grimm? Who let everybody over there tip to him in the first place?
Q: How’d he do that?
A: He told me he needed a cover, he needed to make it all look legit. Protection, he told me. So he actually signed a contract for having those wooden animals packed, would you believe it? And he used his right name on it!
Q: What’s so special about those animals, Alfie?
A: Nothing.
Q: The Bremerhaven police are right this minute…
A: What do I care? Grimm signed the contract, not me.
Q: You just admitted you were partners.
A: That’s right, but I didn’t know what kind of business he was doing over there.
Q: What kind of business was he doing?
A: I wasn’t involved in it.
Q: Nobody’s saying you were. What was it?
A: There’s half a million dollars’ worth of heroin inside those animals.
Q: The animals are hollow?
A: Not the other ones Grimm shipped in, but these, yeah. He had them hollowed out, and the dope put inside. The bottoms are plugged.
Q: Then Bachmann’s a dealer, right?
A: A merchant.
Q: And what you did was go to Grimm with a source for dope…
A: No, no.
Q:…knowing he had a way of bringing it in…
A: No, you got it all wrong. I was a businessman making an investment. I didn’t know what Grimm was involved in.
Q: You’re full of shit, Alfie.
A: (Silence)
Q: Alfie?
A: All right, I was trying to make a little money for myself, what the hell’s wrong with that? You know how much that scag would’ve been worth after it was cut? Eleven million dollars! And Jesus, what a sweet setup! I knew where to get the stuff, and Grimm already had a tested way of bringing it in. Every customs official on the dock knew he was running a legit operation, they never so much as glanced at that wooden crap he was importing. Hollow out the animals, stuff them with dope, plug them up again, and we’re home free. Perfect. We used to dream of a setup like that when we were in jail together.
Q: But your partners found out about Grimm, and you decided it was safer to sacrifice him than to…
A: Sacrifice him? He was a stupid bastard. It was his fault they found out.
Q: But you couldn’t risk their finding out it was you who’d double-crossed them in the first place.
A: I didn’t double-cross them. This was business, pure and simple. A two-way split is better than a three-way split any day of the week.
Q: You’re just an enterprising businessman, is that right, Alfie? First you double-cross one set of partners, and then you throw your next partner to the wolves.
A: What’d you expect me to do? You think Robbie and Oscar were kidding around? Getting Charlie to burn down the warehouse was the first warning. The house in Logan…
Q: Why’d Elizabeth Benjamin spend two nights with Reardon?
A: Because he was getting cold feet. They’d already given him five grand, but all of a sudden he was running scared. Liz went over with a little female persuasion.
Q: And the house in Logan?
A: That was the second warning. If Grimm had still tried to bring that shipment in, they’d have had him killed. The way they had Reardon killed after the fire.
Q: Did Charlie take care of that, too?
A: Charlie would’ve shoved his own mother off the roof for a nickel. He was a junkie, man. He needed lots of loot to keep that habit of his going.
Q: Didn’t he make enough with his pornography business?
A: Where’d you guys get all this stuff?
Q: Didn’t he?
A: He used to. But nowadays you can buy porn right in the open, so what’s so special about it? Charlie was on the skids, the Caddy was four years old, the threads were out of style. They supplied him with junk, and he did what they told him to do. In case you haven’t heard, the supply’s a little short these days. Which is why this would’ve been such a sweet deal if it wasn’t for that stupid bastard Grimm. Why’d he go to you guys, would you tell me that? Dumb, that’s why. He’s involved in an eleven-million-dollar dope deal, so he runs to the cops for help.
Q: He wouldn’t have run to us if you hadn’t burned down his warehouse.
A: I keep telling you I didn’t burn it down, they did. Send him back to jail, will you? You’ve got the contract, that’s all you need. Send him away for a million years. He’s a menace to society.
Q: But not you, huh, Alfie?
A: I was only in it for the bread. You’re the ones who taught me, man.
At a quarter past 9:00 Rosalie Waggener asked if it was all right if she went home. The detectives told her it was not all right. The detectives told her that they were charging Hemmings, Worthy, and Chase with arson and homicide, and Grimm, Chase, and herself with attempting to smuggle dope into the country.
“I had nothing to do with any dope,” Rosalie said.
“You paid for it,” Carella said.
“I was only a messenger.”
“For a jig pusher,” Ollie said.
“Knock off that kind of talk, will you?” Carella said.
“What kind of talk?”
“That bigoted bullshit,” Hawes said.
“Bigoted?” Ollie said. “White or black, they’re all the same to me, they all stink. That’s bigoted?”
“That’s not even equal but separate,” Carella said, and Ollie burst out laughing. He slapped Hawes and Carella on their backs, simultaneously, with both beefy hands, almost knocking over Carella, who was off balance to begin with. “I like you guys,” he said, “you know that? I really enjoy working with you guys.
Carella and Hawes said nothing. Since Ollie had just confessed to a monumental misanthropic outlook, Carella was wondering why he had now bestowed upon them the singular honor of his affection. Hawes, on the other hand, was wondering what mistake he’d made. Had he somehow indicated to Ollie that he’d wanted his friendship? Jesus, had he unwittingly done that?
“You know what I think I’m gonna do?” Ollie said. “I think I’m gonna put in for a transfer to the 87th. I really do like you guys.”
Again Carella and Hawes said nothing. Hawes was thinking
they already had an Ollie Weeks up at the old station house, and his name was Andy Parker, and if Ollie transferred to the 87th, Hawes would immediately ask for a transfer to the 83rd. Carella was thinking that Ollie’s addition to the squad would create a fine kettle of fish—Ollie himself, another jewel named Andy Parker, a black cop named Arthur Brown, and a Puerto Rican cop named Alexiandre Delgado. The potential mix was pregnant, so to speak. Carella shuddered at the thought.
