When Somebody Kills You

by Robert J. Randisi

  ‘He’s dead,’ Jerry said.

  ‘What’s that to me?’

  ‘We don’t know,’ I said. ‘What is it to you?’

  ‘What is it to me? Nothing.’

  People repeat when they lie. It’s a pattern. It gives them time to think about their answer.

  ‘Herron,’ I said, ‘if somebody’s been following Judy, breaking into her house, and you haven’t seen anyone suspicious, that means one of two things to us.’

  ‘Which are?’

  ‘Either you’re very unaware of your surroundings, or …’

  ‘It’s you,’ Jerry ended.

  ‘It’s me … what?’

  ‘Tryin’ to scare her.’

  ‘W–why would I do that?’

  ‘To get her to marry you,’ I said. ‘To make her think she needs you to be safe.’

  ‘Th–That’s … that’s sick.’

  ‘I agree,’ I said. Jerry and I stared at him.

  ‘Y–You can’t think that I’d do that to Judy,’ he said. ‘Why would I?’

  ‘You need her money,’ I said.

  ‘And her contacts,’ Jerry added.

  ‘You and your buddy, Brandon.’

  ‘Henry?’ he said. ‘He works all the time.’

  ‘In television, lately,’ Jerry said. ‘Lots of parts playin’ Indians.’

  ‘He didn’t sound very happy about it when we talked to him,’ I said. ‘Not happy at all with his career trajectory.’

  ‘So you think … what? I’m going to marry Judy and use her money to support myself and Brandon?’

  ‘You said it,’ I replied.

  ‘That’s ridiculous,’ Herron said. ‘I love Judy. I demand to know where she is so I can speak with her. You’re obviously trying to poison her against me.’

  ‘Did you know about the blackmail?’ I asked. ‘Did she tell you?’

  ‘What blackmail? What are you talking about?’

  ‘Some time ago Begelman told Judy somebody had taken compromising photos of her,’ I said. ‘He wanted her OK to pay a fifty-thousand-dollar blackmail demand.’

  ‘Did she let him?’

  ‘She did.’

  Herron shook his head. ‘He probably kept the money for himself.’

  ‘A private detective named Jimmy Jacks was chosen to make the drop.’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘The payoff,’ Jerry said.

  ‘And?’

  ‘Now he’s dead.’

  ‘W–What?’ Herron was aghast. ‘What happened? Did the police kill him?’

  ‘The police never knew about him,’ I said. ‘They know nothing about the blackmail. It looks like the blackmailer, whoever he was, killed Jacks and his girlfriend.’

  ‘Christ!’ Herron put his hands over his mouth. I had no idea how good an actor he was.

  ‘Was it you?’ Jerry asked.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Did you kill them?’

  ‘You think … you think I tried to blackmail Judy?’ he asked.

  ‘You’d be in a position to take some revealing photos, wouldn’t you?’

  He launched a haymaker at me. If it had hit me, it might have done some damage, but Jerry hooked the arm with his, elbow to elbow, and stopped the blow.

  ‘Hey,’ I said, ‘we were just askin’.’

  Herron yanked his arm away from Jerry’s and pointed his finger at me. ‘I demand to talk to Judy.’

  ‘I’ll have her give you a call,’ I said.

  Jerry and I headed for the door.

  ‘That’s it?’ Herron asked.

  ‘For now,’ I said. ‘Unless we find out you had something to do with it, after all. The blackmail, the murder. All of it.’

  ‘I’m innocent of everything.’

  ‘Then you’ve got no worries,’ I said, as Jerry opened the door. ‘Have you?’

  FORTY-SEVEN

  We stopped by the pool.

  ‘Whataya think?’ Jerry asked.

  ‘I was surprised when he threw the punch.’

  ‘Why? Because he’s a homo?’

  ‘No,’ I said, ‘that has nothing to do with it. I just didn’t think he had that in him.’

  ‘I guess anybody does, if they get mad enough.’

  ‘You think he was acting?’ I asked. ‘You watch a lot of movies, a lot of TV.’

  ‘If he was,’ Jerry said, ‘he was pretty convincing.’

  ‘So if it wasn’t him behind the blackmail,’ I said, ‘we have to concentrate on the managers.’

  ‘The Bagel guy.’

  ‘And Fields,’ I said. ‘We can’t just forget about him. After all, they are partners.’

  ‘So? Them next?’

  I nodded. ‘Let’s do Begelman first.’

  We walked away from the pool, heading for Zack’s cab.

  ‘Can we stop for a bagel on the way?’ he asked.

  ‘You know,’ I said, ‘that actually makes sense to me.’

  It was getting late for business. I wondered if we’d still find Begelman at his office, or if we’d end up having to go to his house. As it turned out, his receptionist was still there, and said that he was, too. She showed us into his office.

  ‘Thanks, Marie,’ he said. ‘You can go home now.’

  ‘Goodnight, sir.’

  ‘Goodnight.’

  She gave me a look, then left the room.

  ‘Pretty girl,’ I said.

  ‘Aspiring actress,’ Begelman said. ‘They all are – receptionists, secretaries, assistants – all trying to get discovered.’

  ‘I haven’t seen a secretary,’ I said, ‘either time we’ve been here.’

  ‘I had one,’ he said. ‘She actually did get discovered by a producer who came up here for a meeting. Snatched her away from me. I haven’t replaced her yet.’

  ‘So she’s an actress now?’ Jerry asked.

  ‘That all depends,’ Begelman said, ‘on how well she does in the audition. The guy probably has her on her knees, or her back, by now.’ He sat back in his big desk chair. ‘What can I do for you gentlemen now?’

  ‘The PI you said delivered the money to the blackmailer has been found. He’s dead.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ Begelman said. ‘Will the police be questioning me?’

  ‘We don’t know.’

  ‘You didn’t tell them about me?’

  ‘We haven’t told them about the murder,’ I said. ‘Jimmy Jacks and his girlfriend were both killed. We haven’t called it in, but we should.’

  ‘No!’ he said. ‘Don’t. That would involve Judy.’

  ‘Mr Begelman,’ I said, ‘we need to know who else you spoke to, besides Jacks.’

  ‘I … I only spoke to someone on the phone once. It was after I received the photo in the mail.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  ‘He told me how much he wanted, and that he’d be sending someone in to collect it and bring it to him.’

  ‘And you agreed? Right away?’

  ‘Yes,’ Begelman said. ‘I didn’t want to take a chance on that photo getting out.’

  ‘So you agreed even before you spoke to Judy.’

  He hesitated, then said, ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did you make the payoff before you informed her?’

  ‘I had to,’ he insisted. ‘I didn’t have time.’

  ‘OK, never mind that,’ I said. ‘How soon after you agreed did Jacks show up?’

  ‘I don‘t know,’ he said. ‘Hours, I guess.’

  ‘Give me a timeline, Begelman,’ I said.

  ‘I got the call around … three in the afternoon. Jacks showed up here after hours – around six.’

  ‘And in those three hours you got fifty grand together?’

  ‘Yes,’ Begelman said. ‘We had some on hand. I went to the bank and got the rest.’

  ‘You did that yourself?’

  ‘Yes. I didn’t want anyone else to know about it.’

  ‘What about Fields? Did you let him know?’

  ‘Not till after.’

&nbs
p; ‘You were able to lay your hands on fifty grand without talking to your partner or Judy first?’

  ‘As it happens,’ Begelman said, ‘yes.’

  ‘And then Jacks showed up to collect?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And you just handed the money over,’ Jerry said. ‘How’d you know he was the right guy?’

  ‘Well … he had the photos and the negatives.’

  ‘And he gave them to you?’ Jerry asked.

  ‘When I paid him, yes.’

  I looked at Jerry. He shook his head, which I assumed meant he had no more questions.

  ‘All right, Mr Begelman,’ I said. ‘I think we’re done, for now.’

  ‘And you’re not going to notify the police?’ he asked.

  ‘We probably will,’ I said, ‘but we’ll do it anonymously. We don’t want to connect Judy to this.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Begelman said.

  ‘We’re doin’ it for her,’ Jerry said, ‘not for you.’

  When we got down to the street, Jerry said, ‘I don’t like him.’

  ‘That makes two of us.’

  ‘And I don’t believe him.’

  ‘About what?’

  ‘The way the payment was made,’ Jerry said, ‘and the way he got the negatives back.’

  ‘If there were any negatives at all.’

  Jerry nodded. ‘He could’ve faked the whole thing to make fifty grand.’

  ‘But why not more?’ I asked. ‘If he’s gonna take the chance – steal not only from Judy Garland but from his partner – why only fifty grand?’

  ‘Maybe,’ Jerry said, ‘he only needed fifty grand at the time.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘but for what?’

  FORTY-EIGHT

  It was getting late and it had been a long day. We decided to leave Fields till morning and just pick up some food to take back to the bungalow. Naturally, that led to a discussion of what we should get. Aside from actually eating food, Jerry’s favorite thing was talking about it.

  ‘How about Chinks?’ he asked, in the back of the cab.

  ‘Fine.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Sure,’ I said, ‘it sounds fine. I’ll bet Zack knows a good place.’

  ‘You don’t wanna maybe suggest somethin’ else?’ he asked.

  ‘Nope,’ I said. ‘Chinese is fine.’

  He fell silent, obviously disappointed that I wasn’t going to argue.

  ‘Hey, Zack,’ I called, ‘know a good place for Chinese food?’

  ‘I know a great one!’

  ‘OK,’ I said, ‘let’s stop there.’

  ‘You got it.’

  We drove for a few minutes, and then Jerry asked, ‘How about Mexican?’

  We settled on Chinese, arrived at the bungalow with a couple of bags of it, along with some wine and a bag of donuts. As we entered, Boyd stuck the barrel of his gun in our faces.

  ‘Oops,’ he said, ‘sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be,’ Jerry said. ‘Yer on yer toes.’

  ‘Whataya got?’ he asked.

  ‘Chinks,’ Jerry said.

  ‘Chinese food,’ I rephrased.

  Boyd grinned. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, ‘stuff like that don’t insult me. I like Mex, Wop, Chinks, all kinds of food.’ He followed us to the kitchen.

  ‘You eat a lot?’ Jerry asked, sounding surprised.

  ‘Sure I do,’ Boyd said. ‘I eat like a horse. Why wouldn’t I?’

  ‘I dunno,’ Jerry said. ‘I just thought maybe, you know, because of your size.’

  Boyd looked confused. ‘Whataya mean?’

  ‘I mean, ya know,’ Jerry said, ‘you’re … kinda short.’

  ‘I ain’t short at all!’ Boyd argued. ‘I’m five seven.’

  We both looked at him. If he was five three, it was a lot. Apparently, he felt that five seven was a lot better.

  ‘What size are you?’ Boyd asked Jerry.

  ‘Six-six.’

  That shut Boyd up. Apparently, he couldn’t think of any reason to run Jerry down for being six and a half feet tall.

  ‘I’ll tell Judy we’ve got food,’ Boyd said.

  ‘You think he’s on the level?’ Jerry asked, removing cartons from the paper bags.

  ‘About what?’

  ‘He don’t know he’s short.’

  ‘I think he knows it,’ I said, ‘and he doesn’t like it. So don’t keep remindin’ him about it.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Jerry said. ‘It might be fun, pokin’ at him.’

  ‘He’s a tough little guy, Jerry.’

  ‘Ya think?’ Jerry asked. ‘I wonder how tough a guy that small can be?’

  ‘OK,’ I said. ‘I think I’m gonna stay out of this one. You guys can form your own little relationship.’

  Jerry went to the cabinet and got some plates and glasses.

  ‘That smells divine,’ Judy said, coming into the kitchen, followed by Boyd.

  ‘Have a seat,’ Jerry said. ‘We’re gonna eat what the Chinks call family style. It helps to have a long reach.’ He looked at Boyd. ‘That gonna be a problem for you?’

  Boyd grinned at him tightly and said, ‘I’ll manage, Godzilla.’

  ‘Godzilla had tiny little arms and hands,’ Jerry said. ‘I think you mean King Kong.’

  ‘Well,’ Boyd said, ‘since King Kong had a tiny little brain, I guess you’re right.’

  Jerry laughed and looked at me. ‘See? I told you he’d be fun.’

  I looked at Judy, but she just smiled a ‘boys will be boys’ smile.

  Jerry opened all the boxes, set them in the center of the table, and then we all sat down and began passing them around.

  Jerry and Boyd continued to fence while we ate. As it turned out, they liked each other, though they never would have admitted it. Boyd gave as good as he got, and the exchanges seemed to amuse Judy.

  ‘Did you talk to David?’ she asked, when there was a lapse in the banter.

  A quick look passed between Jerry and me. We hadn’t discussed how much we’d tell Judy.

  ‘Judy, when are you getting married?’

  ‘This month,’ she said. ‘In a few days.’

  ‘Didn’t you say that a couple of days ago?’

  ‘Mark and I hadn’t actually set a firm date,’ she said. ‘But it will be this month.’

  I fell silent, concentrated on my moo goo gai pan.

  ‘Did you talk to Mark?’ she asked. ‘And David?’

  I hesitated, then said, ‘Yes.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘Herron still claims he doesn’t know anything,’ I said, ‘hasn’t seen anyone around you. He also says he didn’t know Jimmy Jacks.’

  ‘The dead detective who made the payoff?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘See?’ she said. ‘I listen.’

  ‘Yes, you do.’

  ‘What about David?’

  ‘He told us about the blackmail.’ I explained to her how he had gone about making the payment, how he claimed to have spoken to the blackmailer only once, and then handed the money off to Jacks.

  ‘Can I say somethin’?’ Boyd asked.

  ‘Go ahead,’ I said. ‘Make any contribution you can.’

  ‘You was thinkin’ maybe Jacks was the blackmailer himself?’ Boyd asked.

  ‘That was one idea,’ Jerry said.

  ‘Well, what about Begelman?’

  ‘That’s the other idea,’ Jerry said.

  ‘You think David faked the existence of the photo and stole the fifty thousand for himself?’ Judy asked.

  ‘It’s a theory,’ I said, ‘but could he have done that without Fields being involved?’

  ‘It’s very possible,’ she said. ‘I told you Sid wants us to sue David and Freddie. He’s sure David is stealing from me, and he doesn’t think David could do it without Freddie knowing about it.’

  ‘Maybe we should talk to Sid,’ I said to Jerry. ‘He sounds like he’s got a lot on the ball.’

  ‘He’s a very smart man,’ Judy said.
‘And he still loves me.’

  ‘Why’d you get divorced?’ Jerry asked.

  ‘Sid … he drank, gambled. We fought. Sometimes he got … abusive …’ She waved her hand, not wanting to talk about it anymore. ‘In any case, he’s concerned about me and wants to help me get away from David and Freddie.’

  ‘Can you?’ I asked.

  ‘We have a contract,’ she said, ‘but Sid thinks he can break it, and maybe even sue them.’

  ‘But he needs some ammunition.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘All right,’ I said, ‘we still have to talk to Fields again tomorrow. Is Luft in town?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then we’ll talk to him, too.’

  ‘I’ll call them both, let them know you’re coming.’

  ‘How are Freddie Fields and Begelman relating to each other?’

  ‘They have different duties when it comes to the business,’ she said. ‘But if David is stealing and Freddie doesn’t know about it, he’ll help you.’

  ‘Good. Now, let’s get to something really important,’ I said.

  ‘What’s that?’ she asked.

  ‘Stop hogging the fried rice.’

  FORTY-NINE

  Jerry made some coffee to have with donuts, and this time I scored a jelly. We kept up the conversation about our situations, deciding to keep Boyd and Judy in the loop as far as the open contract went.

  ‘So the car,’ Boyd said, ‘that was about the contract, and Jimmy Jacks and his girl – you figure that’s gotta be connected to the blackmail.’

  ‘It’s gotta figure that way,’ Jerry said.

  ‘OK, then, I got a question.’

  ‘Go ahead,’ I told Boyd.

  ‘If there was no blackmail, and this guy Begelman just kept the fifty grand, how does that involve Jacks? He’d only be involved if there actually had to be a drop. And that’d be the only reason to kill him.’

  Jerry looked at me as if he expected me to have the answer.

  ‘All I can figure,’ I said, ‘is that Begelman called Jacks, hired him to make the drop, then picked up the money himself, just so it’d look like a legit blackmail payoff.’ The irony of using ‘legit’ and ‘blackmail’ in the same sentence did not escape me.

  ‘So then Begelman killed Jacks and the girl?’ Boyd asked.

  ‘I can’t believe that,’ Judy said. ‘I mean, stealing? Yes. Murder? No.’

  ‘If she’s right,’ Boyd said, ‘then who killed Jacks and why?’