by Michael Mayo
It was hard for me to read exactly what Jacob was thinking. He stood up and kind of smiled when he first saw her, but that turned into a calculating suspicious frown in two heartbeats. She turned from Pauley to him and said, “Good to see you, Jakey.”
He said, “You too, Soph.”
More confusion spread across Pauley Three Fingers’s face. He had no idea what was going on between them.
Jacob said, “Weeks told me I was in for a surprise. He knew what he was talking about. I never thought I’d see you again. Everybody said you ran off with Benny, but I thought you were dead. Tell me what happened.”
She crossed her arms across her chest. “I followed the instructions that night and drove to the place on the map, Miner’s Camp Number Three. Another car met me there, and I followed it a long way up into the mountains. We ended up at a little cabin that the gang had been using as a hideout. There were three of them—two white men and a half-breed, the one I followed. All of them had guns. They’d tied poor Benny to a chair. He looked like hell, and right off they started arguing about how they were splitting up the money and whether they should let us go or kill us. They locked me up in an outbuilding, and I heard them arguing and fighting all night long, and finally, I heard shots. A lot of shots.
“The next morning, the half-breed came into the outbuilding and locked a chain around my ankle. He said they were all dead. They’d killed each other, and he didn’t care because they’d just been renting his place. Now I was going to stay there and be his squaw.”
“Do you mean he …”
“Do I have to spell it out for you, Jakey? Yeah, he did everything you think he did, and he kept me locked up for ten months before he got careless and I found a knife.”
The best lies are almost the truth. She must have rehearsed the story to herself a hundred times because she delivered it with the right anger and bitterness.
Jacob bought it, I think. He looked at Weeks.
Weeks shrugged and said, “It’s screwy but it squares with what happened and what we know.”
Jacob said, “But that doesn’t explain all this,” waving his hand at the waxy mess.
Pauley found his voice and stepped up. “She doesn’t have to explain anything. She’ll take care of this, and I’m here to help her.”
Laughing, Anna said, “You son of a bitch, you broke into my room and stole every dollar you could get your hands on. In a pig’s ass you’ll help me with anything.”
Without my noticing, the grandmother had joined the group. She reached out and slapped Anna and called her something in a language I couldn’t understand, but I knew it was a curse. She tried to slap her again, but holding the baby on her hip, she couldn’t move her free arm very well. Anna blocked the slap and muttered something to her grandmother.
The old woman spat more curses back at her and finally said in English, “A woman does not like this talk to her husband which is the father of her only child.”
The only child bawled, and it seemed like everybody was yelling at everybody else to shut the hell up. Pauley was sidling over to the money. I noticed Ellis coming from the stairs. He heard the raised voices, walked into the middle of everything, and yelled, “Pipe down!”
Nobody did. This was turning into a four-alarm Chinese fire drill.
When Ellis realized that the Saengers had tiptoed away, he really got pissed. Pauley Three Fingers being close at hand, the cop slammed him down into a chair.
“All right,” Ellis said in his big cop voice, “somebody explain this. Seems to start with you, Quinn.”
Following Anna’s lead, I explained that I had received these two boxes from Railway Express. Anna didn’t give anything away when I said “two.” All the people who worked for me examined their fingernails or found something fascinating to look at up near the ceiling. I told Ellis I couldn’t be sure who sent them. Over the past couple of days, several parties had approached me and said that they were the rightful owners.
“Actually,” I said, “the first one was Detective Betcherman. Right after that bomb went off, he put the arm on me. He said that he knew an item had been delivered to the speak and he was part of the deal. Those were his exact words. The next night, somebody plugged him in a warehouse on the East River. You remember, there was another dead guy in the warehouse, and he had papers made out in my name. From the way he was dressed, I’d say there’s a good chance he was one of these Saenger fellows from Chicago.”
I explained how one of the Saengers had thrown in with the Free Society of Teutonia and the Nazis and the other Germans, while other parts of the family, probably including the guy who planted the bomb, were in it for themselves and hated the Krauts.
“Can it,” said Ellis pointing at the stuff on the bar. “Maybe that’s true and maybe it ain’t, but it doesn’t tell me what this is or who it belongs to.”
Without dwelling on boring details, I said we’d picked it up that afternoon and found that the crate contained a big block of sticky brown wax. There appeared to be something inside, so we did a little work using this and that and discovered that paper money was embedded in the wax. Since so many people, including the deceased detective, claimed a piece of this, I decided to invite them here to make their case.
“Johann Klapprott bowed out early on, but his associate Luther and his fellow thugs, some of them anyway, are still around.”
He scowled. “I’ve got more people on the way. Who are you?” he said to Pauley Three Fingers. “You look familiar. I’ve seen you somewhere before. Where was it?”
I gave him a hint. “Did you catch the attempted stickup of a mail truck about, what, five, six years ago?”
Pauley said, “I did my time.”
“That’s right, I was in uniform then. You wrecked the car, you and that other guy.”
“Yeah,” Anna said. “One of the highlights of his extensive criminal career.”
“You don’t have any room to talk,” he answered. “You were there. If you hadn’t distracted me, it would have been perfect.”
“You are a lying son of a bitch. Go back to that skinny bitch, Hildy.”
He jumped up and got right in her face. “Don’t say that. You know it isn’t true. I explained that.”
“You didn’t explain shit, you slimy little weasel. Now just get the hell out of here. None of this concerns you.”
She hauled off and hit him with her fist. He slapped her back. Until that moment, I hadn’t understood how much they loved each other. Ellis waded in to break it up and shoved Pauley into the bar. The bastard whirled back around with the German’s nickel-plated pistol in his three-fingered mitt. In the same motion, he grabbed Anna around the waist, pulled her in front of him, and stuck the muzzle into her ribs.
In a calming tone, Ellis said, “Don’t be crazy, son. Put it down.”
Pauley looked around until he spotted the older woman and said something to her in her language. She smiled and said something in agreement and hurried over with the squalling baby, shoving Weeks and Jacob out of the way. Anna struggled against him. He tightened his grip, leaned down, and whispered something that made her stop. I picked up the Smith. Anna saw what I was up to and shook her head. The old woman moved in so close I didn’t have a clear shot at him anyway.
The boy who went after Pauley at the bus station slipped through the crowd and glared at Pauley with pure anger.
His voice breaking, Pauley Domo said, “The money belongs to my wife, so it belongs to me, too. Isn’t that right, darling?”
She nodded.
“And Quinn is going to loan us his car.”
I didn’t say anything. Anna said, “Please, Jimmy, I can straighten this out.”
Jacob said, “The hell you can. That’s my money.”
She said, “Let me handle this. You don’t understand. She’s your daughter.”
Jacob’s mouth open
ed in surprise, and he almost dropped his cigar. Either he hadn’t had a good look at the baby or he was even worse at judging kids’ ages than I was. I didn’t think the lie would last. He was figuring it out already.
There were too many guns in the small room. I could see that Ellis and Weeks were unbuttoning their coats to get at the holsters on their belts. Malloy had his Luger hidden under his jacket, and Connie had the riot gun at her shoulder. Too much could go wrong there.
I stood up and said, “Frenchy, Malloy, take the crates. When you get downstairs, give him the keys.”
Everybody looked like I was nuts.
“It’s all right.” I got up and made my way through the crowd to the bar. Pauley turned, keeping Anna between us.
I said to Frenchy, “You and Malloy take the crates. Remember, we’ve got to change elevators on the sixty-first floor.”
They all started talking at once. Pauley’s voice came out louder than the others. “You heard the man. Just stay out of the way.” The boy faded to the back of the crowd and scurried for the stairs.
I held the elevator doors open as Frenchy and Malloy got on, followed by the grandmother and the baby and Pauley Three Fingers and Anna. She looked as angry as I’d ever seen her.
The doors closed. I pushed 61, and the car lurched down. When the doors opened, I was the first one out. I saw two guys were ducking out of sight behind corners. Yeah, my brilliant plan just kept getting more and more brilliant.
The offices were dark, and only a few of the hallway lights were turned on, so the open area in front of the elevators had a dim, shadowy look. You could catch a little reflected light off the shiny stainless steel eagles out on the balcony where Ellis and I had been. A hard wind thudded against the wide glass doors.
Pauley still had a tight grip on Anna, and the old woman with the baby stayed right at his side. The little girl had stopped crying by then and sucked her thumb. Frenchy and Malloy shifted the heavy crates they held and moved away from the others. Pauley Domo turned when he heard me walking toward them.
“That’ll do, guys,” I said. “You can put them down there by the doors.”
Pauley’s head looked like it was on a swivel as he tried to watch me and see what Frenchy and Malloy were doing. They dropped the crates and stepped back smartly. Malloy pulled his Luger but kept it at his side.
I got the Smith out of my pocket and cocked it. “Do you want me to shoot him?” I asked Anna as I aimed at his head.
She started to say something but stopped.
Pauley said, “I thought we had a deal. I’m serious about this.” He twisted around behind her, giving me no clear shot.
I said, “You’ve got two choices and you better make up your mind fast because we’re going to have more company soon. You can let Anna go and take a crate and scram out of here on your own. Or you can keep dancing around here and either Malloy or I will shoot you. Malloy is the guy behind you with the Luger aimed at your spine. What’s it going to be?”
He never had a chance to answer. I heard running footsteps from somewhere close, and Luther and three of his pals barreled around a corner behind Frenchy and Malloy. They knocked my guys to the ground and swarmed over Pauley and the women. Luther stopped and tried to pull the lid off one of the crates.
I took a slow breath and shot the closest thug in the center of the chest. For the second time that night, the sound of the gunshot made everyone freeze for a short moment. Everyone but me. I cocked the pistol and took aim at another Kraut who turned and ran before I could pull the trigger.
Then Luther was on me. He knocked me on my ass. Both the gun and my stick clattered away. I rolled as Luther tried to kick me in the ribs. I guess he was still so angry about his nose that he tried too hard. The toe of his shoe hurt like hell where it caught me, but it didn’t hit square. He either hit a wet spot on the floor or the momentum of the kick pulled him around and his other foot slipped out from under him. I was on my feet before he was, and my knucks were still on my left hand. The big bandage in the middle of his ugly mug was much too tempting to resist. He howled even louder than before when I pasted him.
The bastard didn’t stay down. I found the gun and my stick on the floor. By the time I’d collected them, he was getting to his feet. Pauley and Anna had disappeared. Frenchy and Malloy were mixing it up with Luther’s guys. On my way past him, I clipped Luther across the ear with my stick. It barely slowed him down.
Frenchy was half as big as the Kraut who’d jumped him but was pounding the guy against the wall. Malloy was getting the worst of it, so I came up on his guy and caught him on the back of the neck with my knucks. Malloy pushed him away and he collapsed. I turned back to Luther. He was on his feet and reaching for his gun in a big shoulder holster.
Ellis came up behind to him and said, “Don’t touch it. Hands behind your head.”
Luther did as Ellis said and then spun around and took a swing. He tagged Ellis on the chin. That really made him mad. He slugged Luther in the midsection, and the big shit went down to his knees again. Ellis got out the cuffs and ratcheted them on Luther’s wrists none too gently behind his back.
I tried to find Anna and Pauley Domo. The old woman and the baby were still standing close to Frenchy and the crate he’d been carrying. The other box of money was gone. Somebody yelled something I couldn’t understand. Through the glass doors, I saw figures moving out on the balcony.
When I got out there, I saw it was Pauley, Anna, and the boy. The crate was on its side near the doors. Waxy chunks had spilled out. The top had come off, and Pauley held it in front of him like a shield. The boy was going after him with a knife. Anna was trying to calm them down. The kid’s blood was up, and he was having none of it. Pauley Domo had a queasy look. He backed away from the kid but kept an eye on the low barrier at the edge of the balcony. It was about two feet high, and I guess he could tell how easy it would be to go over. The gusting wind didn’t help.
The kid held the knife low and level and kept it moving back and forth in a narrow arc. He feinted at Pauley Domo’s legs, and the older guy backed away toward a corner where one of the eagles jutted out. They danced side to side, each giving a little ground, but the kid was more aggressive. He attacked with the blade. Pauley Domo retreated and then came back swinging the wooden lid. They didn’t have much room to work with. The balcony was no more than ten feet deep.
Anna came up behind the kid and said, “Eddy, stop it, leave him alone, this is wrong.”
The kid paid no attention until she grabbed at his shoulder, and he shoved her away without looking.
Anna stumbled back toward me, hit the box, and stepped on one of the waxy clumps of bills. She staggered back toward the edge. It caught her just at the knee, and she went over onto the shiny back of an eagle gargoyle. The red silk slid across the smooth steel, and it made a muffled, hollow rattle. She twisted and before I knew it, her legs were dangling over nothing, and she got one hand onto the lip of the square cutout on the back of the thing. It was sixty-one floors down to the Lexington Avenue pavement.
Pauley saw her, but the kid didn’t know what had happened and kept slashing. I got right up to the edge and knelt down to be level with her, but I couldn’t reach her with an outstretched arm. I glanced down for a dizzying, terrifying, gut-churning second at the car lights on Lex so far below us. At first, she didn’t even see me; she was concentrating so hard on her hands where they gripped the metal edge. The wind whipped at her dress. It tore at her shoulder, and I could see the muscles of her arms clenching. She pulled herself part of the way onto the flat top, but her hips slid back as she fought to keep her grip. I reversed my stick, yelled her name, and held the crook end out to her.
Her knee caught a narrow ledge that ran along the side of the eagle’s neck, and she was able to raise herself up enough to let go with one hand and reach for the stick.
“Go ahead, I’ve got you,” I
said. She got one hand around the crook and then the second. I pulled. Her knee slipped off the ledge, and I took all of her weight. For an awful moment that lasted forever, she slid back and almost pulled me over the edge. I was able to brace myself against the low wall, but I couldn’t get the leverage to pull her in.
“Don’t look down!” I yelled. “Look at me, look at me.”
I don’t know how long we stared at each other, but my shoulders were screaming when Pauley Domo and the kid got their arms around me and pulled both of us back up.
Anna wound up on her stomach, flat on the back of the eagle. Then I was able to tug her across with the stick.
As we caught our breath, we were too spooked by what had happened to stand up while we were out there on that narrow, windy balcony, so we crawled back inside.
Jacob, Mercer Weeks, and everybody else from upstairs were waiting for us.
Chapter Nineteen
They didn’t know what had just happened. The way the light inside reflected off the glass doors, it was hard to tell what was on the other side.
Ellis took Jacob and me and Mercer Weeks to one side and said we should move everything back upstairs. “Look, this place is going to be packed with police in a few minutes. You,” he said to Jacob, “are not going to be mentioned in any of the reports. If anybody asks, the Cloud Club is off-limits.” Jacob and Weeks left. Frenchy and Malloy took the crates to the elevator. Anna and everyone else followed them.
“Have you got a good story?” I asked when they were gone.
“I got a tip when I was at your place earlier tonight that a suspect in the warehouse shooting would be here.”
“You won’t have to worry about pinning it on Luther,” I said. “Bring him over here.”
Ellis dragged Luther to his feet. I opened his coat and pulled the broom-handle Mauser out of his shoulder holster. I handed it to Ellis. “He killed Betcherman with this.”
