David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and '50s (Library of America)

by David Goodis

  “I didn’t mix much in Quentin.”

  “You should of mixed. It’s always a good idea to mix. That’s the only way to learn things. Especially in a place like Quentin. And you don’t need to tell me anything about Quentin. They put me in there twice. And I learned things I never knew before. I learned tricks that got me out of more jams than I can count. You got some shrewd boys in Quentin.”

  “Where can I get the papers arranged?”

  “Well,” Arbogast said. “Let’s see now. There’s a guy I know in Sacramento but that won’t do because you’d have to give my name and I can’t act loose in Sacramento for a while yet. Then there’s a guy in Nevada, in Carson City, but I did a job in Carson City a few weeks ago so I’m still hot there so that lets Carson City out. So let’s see now. Las Vegas is out because I’m wanted there and let’s see, maybe if we come back to California, but, no, I’m still hot in Stockton and Modesto and Visalia, it was all little jobs but these small town police are terriers, that’s exactly what they are. And don’t go thinking they’re dumb, because they’re anything but dumb. Don’t go calling them dopes. Especially in some of these little California towns. I tell you California is plenty mean and the sooner I get out when I get the cash——”

  “Get what cash?”

  “The two hundred thousand, I mean the sixty.”

  “You mean the sixty thousand dollars.”

  “Sure, that’s what I mean. The sixty. What did you think I meant?”

  The car was going very slowly now and the lots were very empty. There was thin wooded area going away from the lots on the left and on the right the nearest houses were away past low hills and almost at the horizon. In front the bumpy road was all yellow dirt going ahead slowly as the car went slowly, going ahead toward more stretches of empty lots. The sun was banging away a hard and bright yellow steadiness that seemed to splash and throw itself around, thick and wriggling and squirming in its hot stickiness.

  “I figured you meant the sixty,” Parry said. “We’ll turn soon. There’s an intersection down ahead.”

  The car crawled. Under the hot sun the empty lots were very bright and yellow and quiet. The grinding motor was a sphere of sound complete in itself and apart from the quiet of the empty lots.

  “Where’s that intersection you were talking about?”

  “We’ll come to it.” He wondered how long he could stretch this out.

  “I don’t see anything out there,” Arbogast said.

  “It’s there,” Parry said. He half-turned and saw Arbogast sitting beside him, leaning forward and looking ahead and trying to see an intersection. Then Arbogast was looking at him and waiting for him to say something and he said, “I wish you could think of a place.”

  “What kind of a place?”

  “A place where I could get those papers arranged.”

  “Yeah,” Arbogast said. “That’s something you’ll need to do. You can’t overlook that. You’ll need papers and cards. Let’s see now, let’s see if I can help you out. You’ll be going through Nevada by train or maybe bus is better. Yeah, that’s what you better do. You better use one of those two-by-four bus companies. Let’s see if I can think of a place. You can’t do anything in California and I can’t think of any place in Nevada. Let’s see, you’ll be buying that car in Arizona, in Benson, so let’s see what’s north of Benson. Yeah, there’s a place. There’s a guy I know in Maricopa.”

  “Maricopa?”

  “Yeah. You ever been there?”

  “I was born and raised there.”

  “Come to think of it, you did tell me. Yeah, that day I picked you up you said Maricopa when I asked you where you came from. It’s funny, aint it?”

  “It’s one of those things.”

  “It just goes to show you we’re always going back. You went away from Maricopa and now you gotta go back there. How long since you left there?”

  “About seventeen years.”

  “And now you’re going back. Out of all the places you could go it’s gotta be Maricopa. That’s really something.”

  “Who do I see?”

  “Well, this printer I know. He did a few license jobs for me and some guys I sent to him. He knows his work and he’s tight as a rivet. He’ll remember my name. It’s been more than a year now but he’ll remember. He’ll give you what you want and he’ll take your money and that’s as far as it goes. You look him up when you get to Maricopa. His name’s Ferris.”

  “What?”

  “Tom Ferris.”

  “That name’s familiar,” Parry said.

  “What?”

  “That’s right,” Parry said. “Tom Ferris, the printer. I remember him.”

  Arbogast slapped a hand on a knee. “Now what do you think of that?” he said. “You know him. That takes it. I tell you, that takes it. You’re gonna go back to Maricopa and you’re gonna see your old friend Ferris. Good old Ferris is gonna fix up those papers for you. Well, I’ll tell you something. That takes it.”

  “Tom Ferris.” Parry smiled. He shook his head slowly.

  “And he prints fake cards and papers for guys on the run,” Arbogast said. “He prints the town paper and people think he’s as straight as they come. You’d never believe it, would you?”

  Parry stopped smiling. He said, “How do I work it?”

  “It’s easy,” Arbogast said. “You just go there and look him up. Get him alone and tell him Arbogast sent you. Tell him what you want and the price you’re willing to pay. That’s all he wants to know. It’s gonna cost you about three hundred for a license and a few other cards and papers that you’ll need to have. He knows all about it. He knows just what you need. He’s been doing this work for years.”

  “How long will it take?”

  “Maybe an hour. He’ll go to work right away. You can’t tell me it aint worth a few hundred.”

  “It’s worth every cent of that,” Parry said.

  “Sure. Well, I’m telling you, that takes it. Now where’s that intersection?”

  “Right up ahead.”

  “I don’t see it.”

  “It’s there.”

  “I tell you I don’t see it,” Arbogast said. “There’s no intersection. What are you trying to pull?”

  “We’ve got to stay away from traffic.”

  “That don’t mean we gotta go to the South Pole. I’m telling you there’s no intersection up ahead.”

  “I’m telling you there is.” He brought the car to a stop, readied himself.

  “And I say no,” Arbogast said. “And I’ve got the gun. Look. Go on, look at it.”

  “All right,” Parry said, “it’s your car. It’s your gun.” He reached forward to release the emergency brake and then without touching the emergency brake, he sent his hands toward the wrist of the hand that held the gun. Arbogast was raising the gun to fire but Parry had hold of the wrist and was twisting it. Arbogast wouldn’t let go of the gun and Parry kept twisting and Arbogast let out a yell. And Parry kept twisting and Arbogast let out another yell and then he dropped the gun and it fell on the space of empty seat between Parry and Arbogast. With his free hand Arbogast grabbed at the gun and Parry kept twisting the wrist of the other hand and Arbogast’s head went back and he yelled and kept on yelling and forgot about taking the gun. Parry released Arbogast’s wrists and snatched at the gun and took it. He got his finger against the trigger and he pointed the gun at Arbogast’s face.

  17

  ARBOGAST LOOKED at the gun. He started to go back. He kept going back until he came against the door and then he tried to push himself through the door.

  “Just stay where you are,” Parry said.

  “Don’t shoot me in the face,” Arbogast said.

  Parry lowered the gun and had it aimed at Arbogast’s chest.

  “How’s that?” Parry said.

  “Look,” Arbogast said. “Let me go now and I promise you I’ll keep on going and I’ll never bother you again.”

  Parry shook his head.
<
br />   “Please,” Arbogast said.

  Parry shook his head.

  “I had an idea you were going to pull something like this,” Arbogast said.

  “Why didn’t you do something about it?” Parry asked.

  “Why did I have to start with you in the first place?” Arbogast said.

  “I can answer that,” Parry said. “You’re a crook.”

  “There’s honor among crooks,” Arbogast said. “Believe me, there is. And if I give you my word I’ll go away and won’t bother you——”

  Parry shook his head.

  “Are you going to shoot me?” Arbogast said.

  Parry shook his head.

  “What are you going to do?” Arbogast said.

  Parry gazed past Arbogast’s head. He saw the stretch of empty lot very yellow under the bright yellow sky and beyond the lot the beginnings of woodland. He said, “Get out of the car.”

  “What are you going to do with me?”

  “Open the door and get out,” Parry said.

  “Please——”

  “Do as I tell you or I’ll be forced to shoot you.”

  Arbogast opened the door. As he stood there on the side of the road he looked up and down and he saw nothing but emptiness. Then Parry was turning off the motor and coming out there with him and closing the door. And they stood out there together and Parry had the gun pointed at Arbogast’s chest.

  “Let’s take a stroll,” Parry said.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Into the woods.”

  “Why?”

  “I want us to be alone. I don’t want any interference.”

  “You’re going to shoot me,” Arbogast said.

  “I won’t shoot you unless you make a try for the gun,” Parry said.

  They were walking across the empty lot, and Parry had the gun aimed at Arbogast’s ribs.

  They weren’t saying anything as they walked across the lot. Then they were past the lot and they were going through the woods. It was moist in the woods, very sticky and very hot. They were going slowly.

  They went about seventy yards into the woods and then Parry said, “I guess this is all right.”

  Arbogast turned and looked at the gun.

  Parry looked at the place on Arbogast’s middle where the gun was aiming. Parry said, “Did you kill Fellsinger?”

  “No.”

  “Did you follow me to Fellsinger’s apartment?”

  “No.”

  “But you knew Irene Janney had money. You knew she had two hundred thousand dollars.”

  “Yes, I knew that. I told you.”

  “And you wanted to get your hands on that cash.”

  “I’ll admit that.”

  “All right then, it checks. Part of it, anyway. Two hundred thousand is something out of the ordinary. You could have figured it this way—you could have said to yourself she’d get a year or two for helping me get away. But if I killed somebody while I was loose then she’d be in real trouble and she’d get maybe ten years or even twenty. And you had your mind set on that two hundred thousand. So maybe you followed the taxi when I left her apartment.”

  “No.”

  “Maybe you followed the taxi and when I went in there you followed me and you were hiding in the vestibule and watching to see what button I pressed. Then after I left you pressed that same button. And here’s what you could have been thinking—that the taxi driver would be a witness. At least when the police gave him my description he’d say I was the man who came to the apartment house at a certain hour that night. So the taxi driver would be one thing and my fingerprints here and there would be another. You knew I wasn’t going up there to kill Fellsinger and you knew I was going up there to see somebody who would help me. You didn’t know it was Fellsinger but you knew it was a friend of mine. And you knew the police would tie me in and when they got my fingerprints and when they got a statement from the taxi driver they would come right out and say I did it. You knew all that. So maybe you went up there and killed Fellsinger.”

  “No.”

  “It’s got to be. You admit you were watching her apartment house. You admit you were waiting for me to come out. That checks. You had your car there. And that checks. And you could have followed me to Fellsinger’s apartment. And you had a reason for killing Fellsinger. Because you knew I’d be blamed and that would bring her in on it. So that checks.”

  “No,” Arbogast said. “I didn’t kill Fellsinger.”

  “Then who did? Somebody did, and it wasn’t me. So who was it if it wasn’t you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Whoever killed Fellsinger followed me there, went up and killed him after I went away. I know that much. So let’s go back. You were outside her apartment house. You saw me get in a taxi. You saw the taxi going down the street. Did the taxi pass you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you follow the taxi?”

  “No. I told you no.”

  “You just stayed there and watched the taxi going away?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You’re a liar. I walked three blocks before I got in that taxi.”

  “And I followed you for three blocks,” Arbogast said.

  “You said you stayed there.”

  “I said I stayed at the place where I saw you getting in the taxi. That was as far as I wanted to go. Look, here’s what I did. I saw you walking down the street. You made about a block, and then I put the car in gear and followed you. I stayed about half a block behind you and I had the car in second and I was just creeping along and watching you. Then you were about three blocks away from the apartment house and you were getting in that taxi.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I pulled up at the curb.”

  “And then what did you do?”

  “I stayed there. I watched you going away in the taxi.”

  “And then what?”

  “I made a turn and went back to the apartment house. I parked on the other side of the street, far down the block.”

  “You say you made a turn. What kind of a turn? Around the corner?”

  “No,” Arbogast said. “It was a U-turn.”

  Parry examined Arbogast’s eyes. Parry said, “You’re sure it was a U-turn?”

  “I’m giving it to you straight. I made that U-turn and went back and parked across the street from the apartment house. I knew you’d come back.”

  “How did you know?”

  “I’m no dope. You had a perfect set-up there. You got new clothes out of it, and I knew you were getting money out of it. And when they gave me the lowdown on her they told me she was single and that meant you were alone with her up there so it was perfect for you and you’d be a dope to walk out on it. What I figured was you’d stay there until things calmed down and then you’d make a break out of town.”

  “Now you’re sure you made a U-turn? You’re sure you didn’t go around the corner and up the next block and then down?”

  “Look,” Arbogast said. “If I made a turn around the corner and up the next block and then down it would’ve brought me on the same side of the street as the apartment house. You lamped the car, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “You saw it was on the other side of the street?”

  “Yes,” Parry said.

  “The front of the car was facing you, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right, that proves I made a U-turn. And what’s all this about a U-turn?”

  “Two U-turns.”

  “Well, sure it was two U-turns,” Arbogast said. “I was parked on the other side of the street when I saw you coming out of the apartment house. I had to make a U-turn to follow you, didn’t I? And I had to make another U-turn to come back.”

  “You made the first U-turn right away?”

  “No,” Arbogast said. “I told you I waited until you were about a block away.”

  “You had your headlights off ?”

  “They
were off. I’m not a dope.”

  “That second U-turn. Tell me about it.”

  “What’s there to tell about a U-turn? You turn the steering wheel and you turn the car around and that’s all there is to it.”

  “That second U-turn. Did you make it right away?”

  “No. Like I told you I stayed there and watched the taxi going away.”

  “You’re trying to tell me you saw the taxi going away and you just stayed there and watched it go away. That doesn’t make sense.”

  “My car can’t do more than thirty.”

  “All right, that does make sense,” Parry said. “But you didn’t know the taxi would go past thirty. So again it doesn’t make sense. There was a reason why you didn’t follow that taxi and I know what it is and you know I know what it is. You saw a car going after that taxi.”

  “What do you mean a car?”

  “A car. A machine. An automobile. You saw it following the taxi. That’s why you waited there. You saw that car going down the street with its headlights turned off. You didn’t know who it was but you knew it was going after the taxi. So here’s what you thought. You thought it could be the police. Then again maybe it wasn’t the police. And as long as you weren’t sure you decided to make a U-turn and go back and watch the apartment house and wait for me. You figured maybe the taxi would shake the car and maybe I’d come back and even if I didn’t come back there was a chance I’d stay on the loose. And even though I was on the loose you had something on her. And as long as you had something on her you were going to stay in the neighborhood and watch the apartment house. So that night you were playing for say ten or fifteen thousand. The next morning when you saw me coming back with the bandages on my face you knew you were still in it for ten or fifteen. Later that day you were patting yourself on the back and saying I’m no dope because a morning paper told you of a man murdered the night before and the police said I did it. So then you knew you were in it for all she had. You saw yourself with every cent of her two hundred thousand. Now all you see is a gun. And all you know is you’ve got to tell me about that car.”