The female police captain agreed, “count me in Spade, what’s the angle.?”
“Do your thing and chase up this address on this telephone number.” she tilted the slip of note paper so that the light of the phone booth fell onto it, making the fading ink a little more visible. “Dombey Two-five-eight-zero-nine. Then pick up an extra gun or two for yourself and meet me alone.”
“where”
“get a plain car. Go down to Market until you pass Glendale Avenue. I’ll hitch a ride if that O.K.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Parish promised hanging up the phone.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Louise Parish looked like she had always done, a police-woman with attitude. Life in Liberty over the last two years had moulded her for the task; the time with Ben Morgan and the Policewoman’s Bureau had sculpted her character in deep lines visible on her face. Unfortunately those line also showed her age. She was still slim and agile enough to be deadly if needed. With strong yet nimble fists, all the better for when the situation needed a bit of street level persuasion. Her eyes were her biggest weapon though, showing a strong stubborn lioness like character.
The promotion had taken its toll on her looks though showing a faded beauty behind experience. Her once deep browns of her hair where now flecked with streaks of silver grey. The two years since Contentment had catapulted her onto the front page, and made her a spearhead for several major cases, which all got solved making her a minor celebrity to those in the law enforcement community and in the dirt sheets, as any case she was involved in always sold double the papers on the street. Parish through did her best to ignore celebrity, instead chose to do her best and ignore the limelight as best she could, and just get on with the job.
As The Queen Of Spades vaulted a fence and in one easy move hopped onto the running board of Parish’s still moving machine. As the car kept going straight passing the desired meeting spot, seeing each brought a renewed rush of confidence, which said one thing They both still had it!!
Parish wasted no time with words or their usual idle greeting. “That number you gave me- it’s a motel come rooming house over on Lexington Street. Want to go there?”
Peggy slipped into the seat, nodded. “So, who killed Rogers, Spade?” Parish grunted. “I’ll bite. It was supposed to be Joe Christie an’ Freddie Harmsworth.”
“Not them, alibi… funny storey actually.”
Parish glanced sideways “How do you know, Spade? Wasn’t your friend Malone robbing a bank?”
Parish always had a hunch who the Queen actually was. And that had earned her the right to know Peggy’s secret. That secret had brought them as close as sisters right up until the Queen’s retirement.
“Christie and Harmsworth framed Jack on that, Parish.” She briefly filled Parish in on everything that had happened to Jack and her since the crooks paid them a visit, while they were tucked up. Talking in the third person was hard for Peggy, especially when she was trying to keep a secret, however lose it was when it came to the female detective.
Parish wasn’t surprised “that’s the kind of thing Christie would do, no shock there, Spade. Christie isn’t a thug, but he’s punched his way out of two many arrests, to leave a guy the way the poor night-watchman was I saw the photos in the arrest docket Jack’s faced with, not pretty at all no, that was just violence for the sake. Not his style or his partner for that matter.”
“that’s the rub Parish” Peggy growled “that poor shmuck, was either beaten to death and then hog-tied, which frankly would be amateur hour, and these two aint’ no rookies. Because any fool could have seen he was on his way to halo town and them golden gates. Or else the other way it would have gone down would have been bound, gagged and then played as a pináta and that would be just be needless brutality.”
“That’s what I can’t figger,” Parish contributed.
She took a gun out of her coat pocket and pushed it towards her caped friend, who shook her head. “got my own Parish but thanks” she said to the detective. “I doubt either of us will need heat; I’ve pinched him Christie a dozen or so times an’ never had to use one. But you never know.”
Peggy took out The Queen Kiss and spun the barrel, flipped open the cylinder and checked the load, she holstered it. She was about to speak, when Parish suddenly slowed the car down.
“What’s this” she growled “Parish, look there’s the dead wagon in front of the rooming’ house we were heading for.”
Peggy suddenly felt a queer, unfamiliar tightening around her diaphragm, as she glanced through the windscreen. She hadn’t felt like this since Jack had been taken by The House Of Games. It was a feeling she always hated. Quickly taking off her domino mask so not to be spotted she looked and saw a small crowd stood in a great semi-circle around the coroners small black truck and uniformed policeman were seeking no clear a path for traffic.
“Looks like we were a few beats, to late.” Parish commented dryly. She pulled over to the curb and stopped. “Peggy be a doll and wait here. I’ll have a prowl see what I can find out, check the joint out and rustle up the leaves.” She slipped out the side-walk, pulling the collar of her jacket up melting into the gathering of onlookers. Peggy slumped in her seat, and after a quick check in the car found a cigarette and light it up. But she already had a hunch what Parish would find, but when the detective came back from her snoop it just underlined Peggy’s hunch.
“Christie and Harmsworth just got plugged” she grunted laconically “Resisting arrest…?”
Peggy felt a little sick. Then suddenly it came to her that she had not eaten since the day before. As though the seasoned detective read her mind, Parish suggested: “Let’s get a cup of Java what you say Peg.”
Without waiting for a reply, she pulled the car into a swift U then drove until she found the pair a small, corner carriage diner car the remnants of Liberties once grand train service that circled the town. Now the sole carriage was all that remained. Coffee warmed the pair bolstering them, Peggy stirring her coffee as if in a trance. The repetition helping her think and put in some kind of order. “I counted on Christie.” Peggy mused glumly
“He was Jack’s only alibi. Now that dirty rat Pelham got all the cards; he’s about to clean house and in a big way. He’s going to clean up the Rogers affair, by pinning it on the recently departed Christie and Co. and then bumping them off. Jack’s going to be the sacrificial lamb for the murder of Stevenson.”
“It’s bad no doubt about that” Parish admitted.
“Bad, Hell” Peggy retorted with a rueful grin “It’s terrible. Now I see why Pelham turned Jack lose; he wanted Jack to lead them to Christie’s hideout. With them out of the way, looks like Jack’ll be next, using the resisting arrest card again I’d wager to knock him off. Well that’s if they can find him.”
Parish shook her head, “listen, Peg I know Jack is your whole world, nobody’ll knock him off while your with me promise. If you want I can send a black and white his way. Someone I trust but its up to you. “Thanks Parish, but you can’t cover him all the time, only one way to deal with this...”
“That’s what I was thinking’, Peggy” Parish said quietly “The safest place for your friend right now is in jail, the whole voluntary custody play. I think it’s his best shot. Just give me the nod, let me book him for I don’t know… Suspicion. Then I can take over the case, sort it out all legit. Have the ladies at the P.W.B look into it. Pelham may have pull in the male bull pen, but us ladies play a different game. We will prove Jack’s crystal.”
Peggy laughed without pleasantry “No offence and you know I trust you but Christie and Harmsworth tried to let someone prove them innocent, Parish. But they got a free ride in the official meat-wagon. No, I’ll go it alone for-” the caped crime fighter said pausing in front of Parish.
“say, Mrs” said the waiter “you’re wanted on the phone.”
Peggy frowned “you must have made a mistake. No one knows I am here. What name did they ask for
?”
“its a jock by the sounds. Didn’t ask for you by name. He just said there was a blond bombshell, sitting with a cop.” Parish sniffed “Well honey it must be for you.”
Peggy rose, walked to the rear of the carriage dinner, clapping the phone to her ear she growled “Hello..”
“It’s you gum-shoe in a cheap suit.” came the oh so familiar voice of her husband. “I just thought you maybe interested to know that two shall we say small brained gorillas have been following you.”
Peggy started “where are you Jack?”
“Across the street, in some two-bit saloon, you silly doll. Where else would your husband be, if there’s a saloon near by I there would be a drink in my hand… anyway Peg I know you need a knight in shining armour from time to time Mrs Queen Of Spades. I followed you after you shot me, not good doll by the way. This pair picked your scent when you and Parish where at the Christie murder.”
“Pelham?”
“don’t think so Peg. They much to green and sleek looking. One – the tall one – walks with a limp in his left leg. The other is fat and tubby. He seems to walk on his heels.”
“Where are they now?”
“Green Sedan halfway down the block. Now, little miss crime fighter will you go to Europe with me?”
Peggy grinned wryly. “Can’t right now diaries a tad full. But will you please go home and rest up this dame don’t need her knight with a sore head. Put your feet up and take a day.”
“Who’s filled your dairy Mrs Malone?”
“two rookies in a green sedan. Mr Malone,” said Peggy as she put down the receiver.
Peggy’s first impulse was to repeat to Parish. But the Queen’s angels spoke up and changed her mind. The copper noticing it and offering a quizzical sidelong glance.”
“someone you know?” she inquired.
Peggy shrugged. “Some two bit cheese artist, who saw us enter. Wanting to date both of us up. Called from the bar across the street.”
“that’s the hell of being- two diamonds in a city of rough.” grunted Parish, then changed the subject by asking. “Well, what did you say to him?”
Parish offered Peggy a cigarette, but she declined “told him thanks but well, no and before you ask again about Jack in a cell, even if it was for his own good I have to say; I think I’ll take my chances where I can fight for Jack, the only way I know how. Jack’s framed for a bank job and a murder, neither one he committed. I know that Christie and Harmsworth didn’t kill Rogers. They’re a pair of sleaze bag crooks I admit, and yes maybe there better off as worm food, perhaps, but they didn’t murder Rogers.”
“All of which doesn’t help you or Jack” Parish out in dryly.
“Admittedly, but it does explain things. For instance, Jack did commit a felony, the technical term like I told him was compounding a felony, when I foolishly asked Jack to square that bank job by playing the Samaritan gig.
Even a regular Liberty City Cop has to break the law from time to time, especially when city hall throws red tape at them. Usually its ignored, but when it’s a private dick he get shoved up the river three ways from Friday.”
“You haven’t any evidence as to who killed Rogers,” Parish pointed out.
Peggy shook his head “Not yet.”
“the not yet, is the issue really isn’t it” Parish spat. Peggy needed to take a moment, “got it in one.” she said as she sat back down to think.
“Peggy if, you hunch is right , and if the reason they released Jack was so he or you would lead them to Christie and his partner, then Jack served your purpose an’ his and quite possibly your numbers are up. If that’s true you won’t have a chance to get an investigation started, Peggy. No, you better come in with me and call your man to. Its the only call I can see.”
Peggy, grinned then shook her head, her blonde curls falling yet again perfectly as she stood back up. “By the way detective, do you know a couple of mugs, one tall—that walks with a limp in his left leg, the other short and squat and gives the strange impression of walking on heels.”
Parish frowned, her delicate yet strong feelings massaged her temples “sounds like Lance Rué and Charlie Lei. Rué a tall flashy-lookin’ wop from Coast City. Lei is an oriental stoolie on the street for Pelham, well that was before he was bumped up to the money rackets.”
“Lei still stool?”
Parish snorted “you tell me, kid.”
“guns?”
“without a doubt- Rué defiantly. Lei prefers to kick like some Johnny Chen from a Yella’ film. But he not really a threat.
Parish pushed herself towards the door, pulled out a few dollars and flipped the coins towards the counter. “thank for the coffee” she said to the waitress.
“Hey, Parish thanks again for everything but I prefer to go it alone. There’s a lot of angels to this and there’s least if you follow me your not risking your pension and dare I say yours and Morgan wedding fund. So don’t lose it and what could be a flop bet.”
Parish smiled dryly “Morgan’s waited this long, what the hell, the dress will always be there. Oh and Peggy, have I ever told you, your as headstrong as me.”
Peggy grinned, swung back out of the booth, leaving Parish staring after her, barged outside. She cast a quick but detailed glance across the street, but could see no signs of Jack. A playful smile began to show, from the corner of her mouth, then she let her gaze wander a little further down the block. The sedan was parked within a hundred or so yards of where she stood, he smile vanished as she put her mask again, darting to a side street. So she she could get a closer look without being clocked herself. She felt for her holsters feeling the Queen’s Bite, feeling her dark angel crying out to be allowed to play.
But pulling the angel back in check, Peggy began to feel restrained, almost as if she was caught in a giant spiders web, which was slowly wrapping around her. All she wanted to know was why, if her man was the sacrificial goat why they following her, did they know who was behind the mask? If so how? What was the end game and how did they find her at the diner so quickly? Know one knew that the queen was back in town, know one except Parish. For the briefest of moments Peggy thought about just saying, to hell with it and letting her dark angel out to play and charging her tail head on, but thankfully reason won out. That would literally be suicide and wouldn’t help either of the Malone’s, he would be in the iron house and well she quite possibly could be taking a long dirt nap, permanently. A passing garbage truck drove down the street, buying Peggy a second or two to dive into a nearby back garden and relive them of a coat, from a handy washing line. Follow me now, she thought dryly. Then lady luck seemed to be on the crime-fighters side, in the form of a cruising cab which now hunkered on the back seat gave her chance ot meditate on things. Up until the moment that the cab driver caught her signal and turned the corner, asking the dame in the back seat where she wanted to go, Peggy really had no clue, it was all happening so fast and she was finding it hard to keep up, that’s what two years out of the game does honey! She mocked to herself. Then picking the first location to pop into her head, told the driver to take her to a small cabin, out in the mountains, right on the very edge of Liberty City, and near the Great Peak Nature Reserve. As the cab driver turned back to his task of piloting the swaying taxi cab, the unmasked Peggy took the risk of taking a hasty glance out of the rear window, and to her dismay her tail had managed to swing in behind them. Following at a steady pace two cars back.
Unlike the Queen’s glory days when she always had a plan, the Queen Of Spades was void of even a slither of a plan, going literally by the passing moment, acting on watered down instinct and nerve. The tiny cabin was all she could think of, mainly for the isolation it offered; she wanted to get whoever was behind this, not to mention her tale alone. Some place where there were no witnesses or things that might causes disturbances later on down the line. It was situated on the edge of a small lake that fed into the nature reserve; Jack and Peggy had spent there honeymoon there and la
ter bought it as their, go-to place. She first wanted to find out exactly who and why she was being tailed, she fished out a slim cigarette and holder tapping the nicotine hit into the holder, rhythmically against the window. Suddenly it hit her like a bolt from the almighty Pelham! Pelham had released her man on a writ, when he most probably could have been held there longer. Pelham had sent his stole pigeons cops to follow her, and now two men dressed like two silver screen hoods start following her. She felt kind of insulted really, didn’t she deserve a decent tail, a decent challenge? No, instead Pelham scrapped the bottom of the rookie bowl and came up with these clowns. There was only one possible explanation – Pelham knew Rogers was close to herself and Jack, and if Pelham had done his homework knew about the Queen, and most probably the Viper too. With his resources could easily find out that the Viper and The Queen Of Spades had worked together a fair few times, and pulled each others asses out the fire when needed. So all that being the case probably got an illegal wire on their calls and such. That would explain the appearance of the two rookie tails.
Chapter Twenty-Three
An almost dark cynical smile broke through the perfection of Peggy’s face. She could use more direct methods in cleaning all this up, maybe even let the angels out to play without restraint. After all if they were working with Pelham, they were as bent as he was and didn’t deserve to hold the badge. Her fingers slipped into his coat pocket and massaged the chequered butt of the Queen’s Bite. Perhaps Lance Rué could be induced to wag his tounge and sell out his boss. The cab suddenly swung into a clearing and stopped before the little wood cabin. Peggy stepped out and handed the driver a bill, she liberated from Parish when she was in the ladies room.
“Want I should wait, miss?” asked the man at the wheel.
Peggy grinned, shaking her head “No, honey it’s okay I’m expecting...friends.” she waved the cab away and mounted the small steps into the wide veranda that wrapped around all but one side of the cabin. She opened the front door, dropping the coat and donning the mask once more! Then walked softly and swiftly through the dust-covered living room and let herself out a rear door. A short run brought her to the fringe of a small wooded area that resting against the lake and formed almost a hedge around the cabin. She took out the Bite and padded in a great sweeping arc, until he came to a spot where she commanded a view of the front of the cabin.
The Queen and The Viper Page 20
