The Bind

by Stanley Ellin

  “I wouldn’t swear to it.” Magnes placed two bowls of soup on the table and sat down to his. He tore a piece of black bread in half and buttered it thickly. “Thank God, my doctor don’t believe in cholesterol. You ever been out on the Tamiami Trail?”

  “No.”

  “Well, it’s like driving in a tunnel, you know what I mean. Straight across to the Gulf, the canal on one side, the swamps on the other. You want to tail somebody on it, you could stay a mile back of him and still not have a worry. The one place to watch out for is where Route Ninety-four cuts off south from the Trail about forty miles out of Miami. Crosscut is a few miles down Ninety-four. And I didn’t see anybody back of me on it.”

  Jake said: “It would be a break if you did shake him off. But that was yesterday morning. Where the hell have you been since then?”

  Magnes took a large bite of his bread. “Where? Believe it or not, I was hunting in the swamps with my shikker friend from the bar and that old ragbag from next door to Dobbs. My rummy is up to his eyeballs in booze when we walk out of the bar, and he’s got a bottle along with him in the bargain. By the time we get to Crosscut he’s like my brother. He’s falling all over me with love. So he puts my car keys in his pocket, I’ll have to stay and hunt with him and the old man. Tell him no, he aims his gun right at me, because I don’t love him the way he loves me. So I went hunting all day for deers and half the night for alligators, and I slept at the old man’s place on a mattress, it stunk so much from piss I had to hold my nose to fall asleep. When we got back here this morning I dumped my shikker off at Flagler Street, and I went to see what the government people have about that hammock where Dobbs’ shanty is. The old man had told me it’s just called Dobbs Hammock, and it turned out there’s no such place on the government maps. The government man said maybe one of those Monroe County game wardens could find it in a swamp buggy. Anyhow, Dobbs still got to come back to Crosscut regular for supplies, so that don’t matter.” Magnes waggled his spoon at Jake. “And you don’t have to sit with such a look on your face, wise guy. You think it’s a joke an old man with a bad heart goes through such a mishegas?”

  “Me?” Jake said innocently. “You’re reading me wrong, Magnes. What I’m thinking is that some people have all the luck.”

  “Oh sure. That kind of luck I gladly wish on Nasser.”

  “All the same, there are people who go shooting and people who get shot at. Who would you say are the lucky ones?”

  “Shot at?” Magnes said. “You?”

  “They put two slugs through the back window of the house Saturday night. And sliced up a couple of tires on the Jag.”

  Magnes pursed his lips in a silent whistle. “So the party is getting rough. Were they shooting for keeps?”

  “Probably not.”

  “The girlie all right?”

  “Fine.”

  Magnes said accusingly: “But at a time like this to leave her alone somewhere, Dekker? When they’re starting to move in on you?”

  “I told you she was fine. She’s at the library over in Miami checking out the latest on Thoren, and nobody’ll bother her there. Now do you want to hear the latest, or do you want to go hold her hand?”

  “I’m listening. And if you don’t like cold soup, you can eat and tell me at the same time.”

  Jake told it in detail, starting with the discovery of the ticket to the dog track and winding up with his analysis of Thoren’s past. When he had told it all, Magnes sat in morose silence for a long while. Then he said softly: “A dirty, rotten Nazi. A butcher. A soap maker. You know what? So help me God, I’m sorry he’s dead. A hundred times better if he was alive, with those hoodlums squeezing a little blood out of him every day of his life.”

  “You don’t seem very much surprised about him,” Jake remarked.

  “Why should I be? If it turned out he was a Jew living somehow on Daystar Number Two, I would be surprised. But that a Nazi shouldn’t be right at home there?” Magnes shoved his plate away. “I got no appetite any more.” He pointed a bony forefinger at Jake. “And his wife knows what he was, Dekker. My one satisfaction now will be seeing she don’t collect a penny of that insurance. And his kids don’t see a penny of it. So far, this has been a job of work for me. From here on, I give you my word, it’ll be a positive pleasure.”

  Jake said: “That’s my good luck. And what about Raymond Beaudry? You think there’s any chance at all he’s tied in with Gela and Dobbs?”

  “No.”

  “He’s in a good position to be their tip-off man, right there in the middle of the family. And meeting him at the dog track like that—”

  “I still say no. Remember, this shvartzeh has been with the family for years, but the blackmail didn’t commence until Thoren ran into Dobbs. Dobbs is the one to nail down. And fast. I’ll contact a game warden about taking us out to this hideout of his, and I’ll send another man up to Belle Glade to help locate the woman. I’ll have it set up tomorrow both ways.”

  Jake said: “What you’ll do is cool off and play it my way. I still have to find out exactly what Dobbs had on Thoren before I put the squeeze on him.”

  “The Nazi business. Illegal entry. Why should it have to be more than that? Because you made up your mind Thoren was involved in a murder? You futz around with that angle, Dekker, you’re only wasting time.”

  “Magnes, I know Thoren by now damn near as well as he knew himself. If he was faced with anything but a sure long-time jail sentence, he would have battled it out. This is a guy who had no nerves. He was hard as nails. So ten-thousand-a-month blackmail and then suicide for the windup says he must have pulled something that would get him that sentence.”

  Magnes lowered his chin to his chest and peered at Jake from under his eyebrows. “You mean it’s like two of a kind? No nerves, hard as nails—you figure you know what he would do, because you know what you would do?”

  “What I figure is not to show my hand to Dobbs until I fill it. When I tell him to come along with me and have Mrs. Thoren sign that release or else I turn him over to the cops, he has to know I’m not bluffing.”

  “And what about the lady?”

  “She’s got no choice at all. Either she signs away that money to keep the story hushed up, or she doesn’t sign and loses out on the money anyhow when Thoren’s death is declared a suicide. And gets the story into the papers in the bargain.”

  Magnes narrowed his eyes. “That’s very fancy chess playing, Dekker. But why? You want to give this woman a break, keeping it out of the papers? Or is Maniscalco the kind would cut you out of your payoff if you don’t personally hand him her release?”

  Jake said: “He claims I have to hand him a release because it’s the only way he can get Guaranty to authorize payment to me. I claim he’d cut me out of a five-dollar payoff if he could.”

  Magnes nodded wisely. “I thought that was it. What it comes down to is you’re selling him that release. So all right, but I don’t want to be stuck with whatever you promise the woman. The way I want it, you get the release and take the plane back to New York, and then I go to the newspapers with the whole story. Daystar Number Two don’t like publicity except when they run a fancy party for charity? Chob dir in bod. They’ll get publicity from this until it comes out of their ears.”

  “It’s up to you,” Jake said. “Once I’m gone, you can do what you want about it.”

  “I will. But there’s still one another thing on my mind. Pooch Gela. Who do you think shot up your place? Who lost the Thoren woman for me because he put my boy in the hospital? You show your hand to Dobbs, and first thing he runs right to Gela.”

  “If I’m stupid enough to let him. For that matter, Gela’s in a bind, too. He must know that if he knocks me off, Guaranty will really tie up that money tight. And work right along with the cops down here.”

  “He must know,” Magnes said heavily. “Also he must know to spell cat c,a,t, but I wouldn’t bet very much on it. Still, this is your lookout. But what about the girl
ie?”

  “What about her?”

  “You told me you’d think about sending her back to New York. I notice she’s still around.”

  Jake shrugged. “That was her choice.”

  “Her choice. Did you tell her the heat was on? Did you tell her it could get even hotter before this job is cleaned up?”

  Jake said: “I didn’t have to. She knows everything there is to know about the job. And she was right there when those slugs came through the window.”

  “Naturally. Where you are, she wants to be. This is a baby, Dekker. An infant. She don’t know anything except she’s crazy about you. But if, God forbid, one of those bullets went through her head, it wouldn’t bother you? You’d take such a risk just to get a little piece now and then? Because don’t tell me it’s more than that.”

  “I don’t have to tell you anything, Magnes, except that for someone who hates to waste time, you’re wasting a lot of it. How about getting back to business?”

  “Is that your answer? The girlie stays, no matter what?”

  “Yes,” Jake said. “As long as she wants to.”

  Magnes looked at him curiously. “The way you say it—Tell me the truth, Dekker. Am I wrong about it? That kid means more to you than I figured?”

  “If there’s a wedding, Magnes, consider yourself invited. But don’t stand and wait too long for it to happen.”

  “A wedding.” Magnes bobbed his head admiringly. “Very slick, the way you duck a question. Because I happen to know such things don’t matter bubkis nowadays, even with a nice girl from a respectable family. She picks out her man, she buys a bottle of pills, and she’ll skip the wedding part. But why duck the question? You think it’s a disgrace to have some real feelings for a woman?”

  “That was quick,” Jake said. “A minute ago she was an infant.”

  “True. Because if she chases after you like somebody in a fan club, she’s an infant. But if she really means something to you, she’s a woman. Either way, Dekker, a professional killer got that house on Daystar marked. You want to keep the girl around, at least get her away from there. I can fix it up so she’ll stay in a nice hotel without a soul knowing. Better that than to leave her alone in your place any more.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Jake said, and when Magnes threw up his hands and said, “Ahh, go talk to a wall,” Jake said, “That’s what I seem to be doing right now, isn’t it?”

  “All right, big man, so we’ll talk business. What business?”

  “I want you to arrange a meeting for me with Frank Milan.”

  “Some joke,” Magnes said.

  “And soon. By tonight, if you can.”

  “By tonight. And tomorrow morning I’ll fix it so you can eat breakfast with the Pope.”

  Jake said: “One reason I signed you on was because you guaranteed you could contact anybody down here for me. With no exceptions. And Milan’s not hiding out. He was right there next to me in that sauna at the Royal Burgundian.”

  “Sure. And if you said hello to him there, he might even say it back. But if you said two words more, you’d be hustled away from him so fast you wouldn’t know how it happened.”

  Jake said coldly: “You’re not so bad at ducking questions yourself. Now let’s have it. When’s the soonest I can get together with Milan?”

  “When he’s done having you checked out. And believe me, if he’s even interested in having you checked out considering what he already knows, it would take at least a few weeks.”

  “You know that’s not soon enough,” Jake said.

  “You’re the one in a rush. For him it’s soon enough.”

  Jake thought it over, then abruptly pushed back his chair and stood up. “Where’s the phone? Not the hotel phone, your private line. I want to call Maniscalco. You can charge it to me.”

  “Him? You think he could do any better than me when it comes to making contacts down here?”

  “No, but there’s somebody else here who can get me together with Milan. Only Maniscalco has to back up my play.”

  Magnes cocked his head inquiringly. “Somebody else? Who else?” He pointed at the bedside table. “On the bottom shelf there. You just lift the cloth. You mean you’re working with somebody else down here I don’t even know about?”

  “No, it’s just kind of a buddy of mine. A guy who takes a lot of interest in me.” Jake dialed the number, told Maniscalco’s girl Friday who it was, and was handed over to him without delay. “That you, Jake?” Maniscalco went into a spasm of coughing and said through it: “Lousy cold. You’re lucky to be down there out of this cruddy weather. What’s the word?”

  “The word is somebody might check me out with you today, Manny. Will you be in the office the rest of the afternoon?”

  “And half of the night. But what—”

  “No, just listen. Whoever it is, you’ll have to tell him I’m on Guaranty’s payroll as an investigator and I collect bonus money besides. Ten percent. And if he asks if I’m married, tell him I am. You got that?”

  There was an ominous silence. Then Maniscalco said: “I got it and I don’t like it. You know our agreement. We never use your name, you never use our name. That still goes.”

  “Manny, for once in your life don’t be such a goddam company man. This is important. It has to be done.”

  “Nothing has to be done that winds up with Guaranty backing up any free-lancer. You want them to do that for you, sign on with them. You start working here any day you name. You want to play it solo, don’t ask them to bail you out. That’s the name of the game, Jake. You can’t have it both ways.”

  Jake said softly: “You chicken bastard, if you don’t go along with me on this, you’ll blow the whole case. And I’m just about ready to wrap it up.”

  “Wrap it up?” Maniscalco went into another fit of coughing and finally brought it under control. “You mean you’ve got the goods on Thoren? He was really being hit for enough blackmail to make him suicide? What’s the story?”

  “That I’ll tell you after I hand you the release.”

  “Oh? You’re that far along with it, you’re already playing cagey? That sounds like happy news, my friend.”

  “So far it is. If you want it to stay happy, cover for me when you get that call, Manny. Don’t think about it until you lose all your nerve. Just do it.”

  Jake banged down the phone, and Magnes said irritably: “So tell me. Who’s this old buddy can get to Frank Milan in no time at all? Do I know his name at least?”

  “I don’t even know it myself,” Jake said.

  48

  From the vantage point of the hotel’s porch, the ancients seated on it beadily watching every move he made, he looked up and down Ocean Drive for the green Chevy with the elongated aerial. Then he saw it. South of the hotel a big building was under construction, a luxury condominium according to the sign posted before it. Its skeleton extended from Ocean Drive almost to the tide line, chewing up a large hunk of open beach. A truck parked in front of it was unloading steel pipe, and the aerial of the Chevy showed behind the truck.

  Jake walked down the block to it. The car’s closed windows and the heat ripple from its exhaust indicated that its driver had the motor turning over and was sealed inside in air-conditioned comfort. He was young, in his mid-twenties at most, and had a long-nosed, narrow face, the eyes too close together, the hairline mustache doing nothing to beautify it. He seemed overdressed for his job in a plaid sports jacket and broad, vividly colored tie.

  If he was disconcerted at the way Jake was studying him through the window, he didn’t show it. Face blank, head back against the headrest, hands limply draped over the steering wheel, he sat there and let himself be studied. But when Jake pulled open the door and leaned inside, he moved fast enough. The sudden hard pressure drilling into his chest, Jake saw, was the muzzle of an automatic. The hand gripping it was noticeably white at the knuckles. “What the hell you think you’re doing?” the driver snarled.

  Jake remained as
he was, half in, half out of the car. He said amiably: “Looking for a few words with you. Better in here than out in that sun. You can fry your skull bald in that sun.”

  The driver’s face screwed up in disbelief. “Wha’?” It sounded like the drawn-out, ascending blat of a muted saxophone.

  Jake said: “Ah, come on. You know me, I know you, what do we have to play games for? And I don’t pack a gun, and I’m not trying to make any deal with you where you double-cross Frank Milan, so relax. Put that thing away and let’s talk.”

  “Mister, you want to know something? You’re bugs.”

  “Not enough to be worried about an automatic dug an inch deep into me. Where’d you learn about guns anyhow? You ought to know you can’t fire an automatic jammed this hard against anything. A revolver, yes. Not this thing.”

  The man flashed a quick look down at the gun in his hand. When he looked up his expression suggested that he was both shaken by this information and suspicious of it. “You crazy bastard,” he said in alarm as Jake relentlessly forced himself into the seat against the thrust of the gun, “You’re just askin’ for it. Get outa here.”

  Jake said: “So you really didn’t know it.” He clamped the man’s wrist in an iron grip to keep the gun jammed into himself. Then he carefully reached back with his other hand, found the door handle and swung the door shut behind him. “Of course, if you could get a little room for this thing, you could put a hole right through me. Then Frank would hand you your head on a plate. The orders were just to tail me, not nail me, weren’t they?”

  The man desperately tried to pull back on the gun. All he succeeded in doing was wedge himself deeper into the tight corner between the steering wheel and the seat, his back against the door there, Jake crowding him almost body to body. “You crazy bastard, leggo, you hear?” There was panic in his voice now. The car was cold with the air conditioner working full blast, but a heavy sweat suddenly showed on his face.

  Suddenly he jabbed bony fingers at Jake’s eyes. Jake blocked the hand in midair and slowly, steadily turned it back against the wrist until the man yelped with the pain of it.