Like hell I’d be sorry. I wasn’t born yesterday. I turned the gun around in my hand and got behind the door. I didn’t have long to wait. The knob turned, a gun poked in with a guy behind it looking for a target, a leer of pure sadistic pleasure on his face. When I brought the butt of the .45 across his head the leer turned to amazement as he spilled forward like a sack of wet cement. The skin on his bald dome was split a good three inches from the thong hook on the handle and pulled apart like a gaping mouth. He would be a long time in sleepy town.
“You ought to get that trip fixed in the stairs,” I said to the fancy boy on the floor. “It drops like a trapdoor.”
He looked back at me through eyes that seemed to pulse every time his heart beat. Both his hands were on the floor, palms down, his body rising and falling with his labored breathing. Under a trim moustache his chin fell away a little, quivering like the rest of him. A hairline that had once swept across his forehead now lay like low tide on the back of his head, graying a little, but not much. There was a scar on one lip and his nose had been twisted out of shape not too long ago, but when you looked hard you could still see through the wear of the years.
He was just what I expected. “Hello, Mallory,” I said, “or should I say Nelson?”
I could hardly hear his voice. “W . . . who are you?”
“Don’t play games, sucker. My name is Mike Hammer. You ought to know me. I bumped one of your boys and made a mess of the other awhile back. You should see him now. I caught up with him again. Get up.”
“What . . . are you going . . . to do?” I looked down at the .45. The safety was off and it was the nastiest-looking weapon in existence at that moment. I pointed it at his belly.
“Maybe I’ll shoot you. There.” I indicated his navel with the muzzle.
“If it’s money you want, I can give it to you, Hammer. Please, get the rod off me.”
Mallory was the tough guy. He edged away from me, holding his hands out in a futile attempt to stop a bullet if it should come. He stopped backing when he hit the edge of the desk. “I don’t want any of your dough, Mallory,” I said, “I want you.” I let him look into the barrel again. “I want to hear something you have to say.”
“I . . .”
“Where’s Miss Grange . . . or should I say Rita Cambell?”
He drew his breath in a great swallow and before I could move swung around, grabbed the pen set from the desk and sent the solid onyx base crashing into my face.
Fingers clawed at my throat and we hit the floor with a tangle of arms and legs. I brought my knee up and missed, then swung with the gun. It landed on the side of his neck and gave me a chance to clear my head. I saw where the next punch was going. I brought it up from the floor and smacked him as hard as I could in the mouth. My knuckles pushed back his lips and his front teeth popped like hollow things under the blow.
The bastard spit them right in my face.
He was trying to reach my eyes. I tossed the rod to one side and laughed long and loud. Only for that one moment did he possess any strength at all, just that once when he was raging mad. I got hold of both his arms and pinned them down, then threw him sideways to the floor. His feet kicked out and kicked again until I got behind him. With his back on the floor I straddled his chest and sat on his stomach, both his hands flat against his sides, held there by my legs. He couldn’t yell without choking on his own blood and he knew it, but he kept trying to spit at me nevertheless.
With my open palm I cracked him across the cheek. Right, left, right, left. His head went sideways with each slap, but my other hand always straightened it up again. I hit him until the palms of my hands were sore and his cheek split in a dozen places from my ring. At first he flopped and moaned for me to stop, then fought bitterly to get away from the blows that were tearing his face to shreds. When he was almost out, I quit.
“Where’s Grange, Mallory?”
“The shed.” He tried to plead with me not to hit him, but I cracked him one anyway.
“Where’s the Cook girl?”
No answer. I reached for my rod and cradled it in my hand.
“Look at me, Mallory.”
His eyes opened halfway. “My hand hurts. Answer me or I use this on you. Maybe you won’t live through it. Where’s the Cook girl?”
“Nobody else. Grange . . . is the . . . only one.”
“You’re lying, Mallory.”
“No . . . just Grange.”
I couldn’t doubt but what he was telling the truth. After what I gave him he was ready to spill his guts. But that still didn’t account for Cook. “Okay, who does have her then?”
Blood bubbled out of his mouth from his split gums. “Don’t know her.”
“She was Grange’s alibi, Mallory. She was with the Cook dame the night York was butchered. She would have given Grange an out.”
His eyes came open all the way. “She’s a bitch,” he mouthed. “She doesn’t deserve an alibi. They kidnapped my kid, that’s what they did!”
“And you kidnapped him back . . . fourteen years later.”
“He was mine, wasn’t he? He didn’t belong to York.”
I gave it to him slowly. “You didn’t really want him, did you? You didn’t give a damn about the kid. All you wanted was to get even with York. Wasn’t that it?”
Mallory turned his head to one side. “Answer me, damn you!”
“Yes.”
“Who killed York?”
I waited for his answer. I had to be sure I was right. This was one time I had to be sure. “It . . . it wasn’t me.”
I raised the gun and laid the barrel against his forehead. Mallory was staring into the mouth of hell. “Lie to me, Mallory,” I said, “and I’ll shoot you in the belly, then shoot you again a little higher. Not where you’ll die quick, but where you’ll wish you did. Say it was you and you die fast . . . like you don’t deserve. Say it wasn’t you and I may believe you and I may not . . . only don’t lie to me because I know who killed York.”
Once more his eyes met mine, showing pain and terror. “It . . . wasn’t me. No, it wasn’t me. You’ve got to believe that.” I let the gun stay where it was, right against his forehead. “I didn’t even know he was dead. It was Grange I wanted.”
Even with his shattered mouth the words were coming freely as he begged for his life. “I got the news clipping in the mail. The one about the trouble in the hospital. There was no signature, but the letter said that Grange was Rita Cambell and she was a big shot now and if I kidnapped the kid, instead of ransom I could get positive information from York that his kid was my son. I wouldn’t have snatched him if it wasn’t so easy. The letter said the watchman on the gate would be drugged and the door to the house open on a certain night. All I had to do to get the kid was go in after him. I was still pretty mad at York and the letter made it worse. I wanted Myra Grange more than the old man, that’s why when those crazy lugs I sent after the kid lost him I made a try for her. I followed her from her house to another place then waited for her to come out before I grabbed her. She was in there when York was killed and I was waiting outside. Honest, I didn’t kill him. She didn’t know who I was until I told her. Ever since that time when York stole my kid I used the name Nelson. She started to fight with me in the car and hit me over the head with the heel of her shoes. While I was still dizzy she beat it and got in her car and scrammed. I chased her and forced her off the road by the river and she went in. I thought she was dead . . .”
The footsteps coming up the stairs stopped him. I whipped around and sent a shot crashing through the door. Somebody swore and yelled for reinforcements. I prodded Mallory with the tip of the rod. “The window and be quick.”
He didn’t need any urging. The gun in his back was good incentive. That damn warning trip. Either it went off someplace else or the boys on the doors got suspicious. Egghead was starting to groan on the floor. “Get the window up.”
Mallory opened the catch and pushed. Outside the steel railings of t
he fire escape were waiting. I thanked the good fathers who passed the law making them compulsory for all three-story buildings. We went out together, then down the metal stairs without trying to conceal our steps. If I had a cowbell around my neck I couldn’t have made more noise. Mallory kept spitting blood over the side, trying to keep his eyes on me and the steps at the same time. Above us heavy bodies were ramming the door. The lock splintered and someone tripped over the mug on the floor, but before they could get to the window we were on the ground.
“The boathouse. Shake it, Mallory, they won’t care who they hit,” I said.
Mallory was panting heavily, but he knew there was wisdom in my words. A shot snapped out that was drowned in a sudden blast from the orchestra, but I saw the gravel kick up almost at my feet. We skirted the edge of cars and out in between the fenders, then picked an opening and went through it to the boathouse. The back of it was padlocked.
“Open it.”
“I . . . I don’t have the key.”
“That’s a quick way to get yourself killed,” I reminded him.
He fumbled for a key in his pocket, brought it out and inserted it in the padlock. His hands were shaking so hard that he couldn’t get it off the hasp. I shoved him away and ripped it loose myself. The door slid sideways, and I thumbed him in, closing the door behind us. With the gun in the small of his back I flicked a match with my fingernail.
Grange and Cook were lying side by side in a pile of dirt at the far end of the boathouse. Both were tied up like Thanksgiving turkeys with a wad of cloth clamped between their jaws. They were out cold. Mallory’s mouth dropped to his chin and he pointed a trembling finger at Cook. “She’s here!”
“What the hell did you expect?”
His face grew livid until blood flowed afresh from his mouth. Mallory might have said something in anger if the match had not scorched my finger. I dropped it and cursed. He pulled away from the gun at the same time and ran for it. I took four steps toward the door, my arms outstretched to grab him, but he wasn’t there. At the other end of the room one of the girls started to moan through her gag. A knob turned and for a second I saw stars in the sky at the side of the wall. My first shot got him in the leg and he fell to the floor screaming. In the half-light of the match I hadn’t seen that side door, but he knew it was there. I ran over and yanked him back by the foot, mad enough to send a bullet into his gut.
I never had the chance. There was a blast of gunfire and my rod was torn from my grasp. The beam of a spotlight hit me in the eyes as Dilwick’s voice said, “Freeze, Hammer. You make one move and I’ll shoot hell out of you.”
The light moved over to the side, never leaving me. Dilwick snapped on the overhead: one dim bulb that barely threw enough light to reach both ends. He was standing there beside the switch with as foul a look as I ever hope to see on a human face and murder in his hands. He was going to kill me.
It might have ended then if Mallory hadn’t said, “You lousy rat. You stinking, lousy rat. You’re the one who’s been bleeding me. You son of a bitch.”
Dilwick grinned at me, showing his teeth. “He’s a wise guy, Hammer. Listen to him bawl.”
I didn’t say a word.
Dilwick went over and got my gun from the floor, using his handkerchief on the butt, never taking his eyes from either of us. He looked at me, then Mallory, and before either of us could move sent a shot smashing into Mallory’s chest from my .45. The guy folded over in a quarter roll and was still. Dilwick tossed the still-smoking gun down. “It was nice while it lasted,” he said, “but now it will be even better.”
I waited.
“The boss had a swell racket here. A perfect racket. He paid us off well, but I’m going to take over now. The hell with being a cop. It’ll make a pretty story, don’t you think? I come in here and see you shoot him, then shoot you. Uh-huh, a very pretty story and nobody will blame me. You’ll be wrapped up cold for a double murder, first that copper and now him.”
“Sure,” I said, “but what are you going to do about Grange and her pal?”
Dilwick showed his teeth again. “She’s wanted for York’s murder, isn’t she? Wouldn’t it be sweet if they were found dead in a love tryst? The papers would love that. Boy, what a front-page story if you don’t crowd them off. Grange and her sweetie doing the double Dutch in the drink instead of her cooking for the York kill. That would put a decent end to this mess. I got damn sick and tired of trying to cover up for the boss anyway, and you got in my hair, Hammer.”
“Did I?”
“Don’t get smart. If I had any sense I would have taken care of you myself instead of letting that dumb bunny of a detective bollix up things when you were tailing me on that back road.”
“You wouldn’t have done any better either,” I spat out.
“No? But I will now.” He raised the gun and took deliberate aim at my head.
While he wasted time thumbing back the hammer I tugged the snub-nosed .38 from my waistband that I had taken from the punk with the wrecked face and triggered one into his stomach. His face froze for an instant, the gun sagged, then with all the hatred of his madness he stumbled forward a step, raising his gun to fire.
The .38 roared again. A little blue spot appeared over the bridge of his nose and he went flat on his face.
Mine wasn’t the only gun to speak. Outside there was a continual roar of bullets; screams from the house and commands being shouted into the dark. A car must have tried to pull away and smashed into another. More shots and the tinkling of broken glass. A man’s voice screamed in agony. A tommy went off in short burps blasting everything in its path. Through the door held open by Mallory’s body the brilliant white light of a spotlight turned the night to day and pairs of feet were circling the boathouse.
I shouted, “Price, it’s me, Mike. I’m in here!”
A light shot in the door as hands slid the other opening back. A state trooper with a riot gun pointed at me slid in and I dropped the .38. Price came in behind him. “Damn, you still alive?”
“I look it, don’t I?” Laughing almost drunkenly I slapped him on the shoulder. “Am I glad to see you! You sure took long enough to get here.” Price’s foot stretched out and pushed the body on the floor.
“That’s . . .”
“Dilwick,” I finished. “The other one over there is Mallory.”
“I thought you were going to keep me informed on how things stood,” he said.
“It happened too fast. Besides, I couldn’t be popping in places where I could be recognized.”
“Well, I hope your story’s good, Mike. It had better be. We’re holding people out there with enough influence to swing a state legislature, and if the reason is a phony or even smells like one, you and I are both going to be on the carpet. You for murder.”
“Nuts, what was all the shooting about outside?”
“I got your message such as it was and came up here with three cars of troopers. When we got on the grounds a whole squad of mugs with guns in their hands came ripping around the house. They let go at us before we could get out of the cars and there was hell to pay. The boys came up expecting action and they got it.”
“Those mugs, chum, were after me. I guess they figured I’d try to make a break for it and circled the house. Dilwick was the only one who knew where we’d be. Hell, he should have. I was after Grange and the Cook girl and he had them in here.”
“Now you tell me. Go on and finish it.”
I brought him up to date in a hurry. “Dilwick’s been running cover for Mallory. When you dig up the books on this joint you’re going to see a lot of fancy figures. But our boy Dilwick got ideas. He wanted the place for himself. He shot Mallory with my gun and was going to shoot me, only I got him with the rod I took off the boy whose car I flipped over. Yeah. Dilwick was a good thinker all right. When Grange didn’t show up he did what I did and floated down the river himself and found how the eddies took him to the shore. At that time both he and Mallory were figuring on
cutting themselves a nice slice of cash from the York estate. Grange was the only one who knew there was evidence that Ruston wasn’t York’s son and they were going to squeeze it out of her or turn her over to the police for the murder of York.”
Price looked at the body again, then offered me a cigarette. “So Grange really did bump her boss. I’ll be a so-and-so.”
I lit the butt slowly, then blew the smoke through my nostrils. “Grange didn’t bump anybody.”
The sergeant’s face wrinkled. He stared at me queerly.
“This is the aftermath, Price,” I reflected. “It’s what happens when you light the fuse.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I didn’t hear him. I was thinking about a kidnapping. I was thinking about a scientist with a cleaver in his skull and the chase on for his assistant. I was thinking about Junior Ghent rifling York’s office and coming up with some dirty pictures, and then getting beat up. I was thinking about a shot nicking Roxy and a night with Alice Nichols that might have been fun if it hadn’t been planned so my clothes could be searched and my skull cracked afterward. I was thinking about a secret cache in the fireplace, a column in the paper, a cop trying to kill me and some words Mallory told me. I was thinking how all this might have been foreseen by the killer when the killer planned the first kill. I was thinking of the face of the killer.
It was a mess. I had said that a hundred times now, but what a beautiful mess it was. There had never been a mess as nasty as this. Nope, not a dull moment. Every detail seemed to overlap and prod something bigger to happen until you were almost ready to give up, and the original murder was obscured by the craziest details imaginable. Rah, rah, sis boom bah, with a fanfare of trumpets as the police come in and throw bullets all over the place. Was it supposed to end like this? I knew one thing. I was supposed to have died someplace along the line. The killer must be fuming now because I was very much alive. What makes people think they can get away with murder? Some plan it simple, some elaborately extreme, but this killer let things take care of themselves and they wound up better than anyone could have hoped for.
The Mike Hammer Collection, Volume 3 Page 54
