My Gun Is Quick Page 16

  And Nancy was just a blackmailer at heart.

  Nuts, I still didn’t care what she was. For a little while she was my friend. Maybe Feeney didn’t kill her, but he had it in mind, which was the same thing to me and he was going to pay for it. I had liked the blonde, too.

  I blew a ring at the ceiling and Lola stuck her finger through it. She was waiting again, giving me time to think. Aloud, I said, “The camera, Lola, where could it be?”

  She answered me with a question. “Didn’t Nancy imply to you that she was up against it for some reason?”

  The redhead had, at that. “Uh-huh. Business was bad, she said. Feeney might have conceivably been driving her customers away purposely. He tried it with me that first night She needed dough. She hocked the camera.”

  Each thought brought a newer one. The puzzle that had been scattered all over the place was being drawn in on the table by an invisible vacuum cleaner. Ghostly fingers were picking up the pieces and putting them in place, hesitating now and then to let me make a move. It was a game. First he’d put in one, then I’d put in one. Then he let me put in two, three, urging me to finish the puzzle myself. But some of the pieces would fit in two places, and you’d have to hold them out until you were sure.

  The old biddy at Nancy’s rooming house said she showed up with a couple of bucks and nothing else. She was broke. Where did she come from? Was she trying to get away from Feeney Last ... only to have him catch up with her anyway? Like Cobbie Bennett said, the grapevine had a loud voice. It could certainly keep track of a redheaded prostitute. So she moved around trying to get away from him and couldn’t. Some place behind her she had left the wealth of pictures he was after and they were still there. Still there waiting to be found and right now somebody was looking for them and taking his time because he thought I was dead. Feeney Last was in for a big surprise.

  Lola slipped her arm around me. “Is it finished?”

  “Almost.” I relaxed in peaceful anticipation.

  “When?”

  “Tomorrow. The next day. It’ll be soon. Tomorrow we’ll pick up the trail. First, I’ll have to get a new gun. Pat’ll fix me up. Then we’ll begin.”

  “Who’s we?”

  “Me and you, sugarpuss. I’m supposed to be dead, remember. A corpse can’t go roaming around the streets. Tomorrow you’re going to run your poor legs to the bone checking every hock shop in town until we find that camera. There will be an address on the ticket, if it’s still around, and that’s what we want.”

  Lola showed her teeth in a grin and poked her legs out in front of her. Very temptingly she inched her dress up, letting me see the lush fullness of the calves, bringing it higher over her knees until the smooth white flesh showed over her stocking tops.

  Her eyebrows were lifted in a tantalizing way and she whispered. “Won’t that take a lot of walking?”

  It would take a hell of a lot of walking.

  I reached over and pulled her dress down, which wasn’t like me at all, but it was worth it because she threw her head back and laughed and I kissed her before she could close her mouth and felt her arms tighten around my neck until it hurt again.

  I pushed her away roughly, still holding her close and she said, “I love you, Mike, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

  I wanted to tell her the same thing, but she knew it was coming and stopped me with her mouth again. She stood up then, holding out her hands so she could pull me to my feet. While I watched she transformed the sofa into a bed and brought out a pillow from her bedroom. I kicked off my shoes and tossed my coat and tie on a chair. “You go to bed,” I said, “we’ll hold the wake some other night.”

  “Good night, Mike.” She blew me a kiss. I shook my head and she came back for a real one. I lay down on the sheets trying to figure out whether I was a jerk, just plain reformed, too tired or in love.

  I guessed it was because I was too tired and I fell asleep grinning.

  Chapter Eleven

  IT WAS THE SOUND of coffee bubbling and the smell of bacon and eggs sizzling in a pan that awakened me. I yawned, stretched and came alive as Lola walked in. She was just as lovely in the morning as she had been last night. She crooked her finger at me. “Breakfast is served, my lord.”

  As soon as she went back to the kitchen I climbed into my clothes and followed her. Over the table she told me that she had already called and told her boss that she was sick and was ordered to take the day off. Several, if she needed them.

  “You’re in solid, I guess.”

  She wrinkled her nose at me. “They’re just being nice to a good worker. They like my modeling technique.”

  When we finished she went into the bedroom and changed into a suit, tucking her hair up under her hat. She deliberately left off most of the make-up, but it didn’t spoil her looks any. “I’m trying to look like I can only afford to do my shopping in hock shops,” she explained.

  “They’ll never believe it, honey.”

  “Stop being nice to me.” She paused in front of the mirror and surveyed the effect, making last minute adjustments here and there. “Now, what do I do and say, Mike?”

  I leaned back in the chair, hooking my feet over the rungs. “Take the phone book ... the classified section. Make a list of all the joints and start walking. You know the camera ... it may be in the window, it may be inside. Tell the guy what you want and look them over. If you see it, buy it. Remember, what you want is the address on the ticket. You can make up your own story as you go along ... just make it good and don’t appear overanxious.”

  I dragged out my wallet and fingered off some bills. “Here. You’ll need taxi fare and grub money, plus what the guy will ask. That is, if you find it.”

  She tucked the bills in her pocketbook. “Frankly, what do you think of the chances, Mike?”

  “Not too good. Still, it’s the only out I know of. It won’t be easy to run down, but it’s the only lead I have right now.”

  “Will you be here while I’m gone?”

  “I may be, I don’t know.” I wrote down my home and office addresses, then added Pat’s number as an afterthought. “In case you find anything, call me here or at these numbers. If you’re in a jam and I’m not around, call Pat. Now, have you got everything straight?”

  She nodded. “I think so. Does the faithful wife off to work get a farewell kiss from her lazy spouse?”

  I grabbed her arm and hauled her down to me, bruising her lips with mine and felt the fire start all over again. I had to push her away.

  “I don’t want to go,” she said.

  “Scram.” She wrinkled her nose again and waved to me from the doorway.

  As soon as she left I went over to the phone and dialed the office. Velda started with, “I’m sorry, but Mr. Hammer isn’t here at the moment.”

  “Where is he?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say. He should ... Mike! Where the devil are you now? Why don’t you stop in and take care of your business? I never . . .”

  “Off my back, chick. I’m tied up. Look, have I had any calls?”

  “I’ll say you have. So far I haven’t had time to answer the mail!”

  “Who called?”

  “First off there was a man who wouldn’t give his name. Said it was confidential and he’d call back later. Then two prospective clients called, but I told them you were engaged. Both of them thought their business was so urgent you’d drop what you were doing and go with them.”

  “Get their names?”

  “Yes. Both were named Johnson. Mark and Joseph Johnson, neither related.”

  I grunted. Johnson was about the third or fourth most popular name in the phone directory. “Who else?”

  “There was a guy named Cobbie Bennett. I had a hard time getting his name because he was almost hysterical. He said he had to see you right away but wouldn’t say why. I told him you’d call back as soon as you come in. He wouldn’t leave a number. He’s called three times since.”

  “Cobbie! What co
uld he want? He said nothing at all, Velda?”

  “Not a thing.”

  “Okay, continue.”

  “Your client, Mr. Berin-Grotin, called. He wanted to know if his check got to the bank in time. I didn’t know about it so I said you’d check with him. He said not to bother if everything was all right.”

  “Well, everything’s not all right, but it’s too late to bother about now. You hold down the phone, kiddo. Give out the same answers to whoever calls. Keep one thing in mind ... you don’t know where I am and you haven’t heard from me since yesterday. Got it?”

  “Yes, but ...”

  “No buts. The only one you can feel free to speak to is Pat or a girl called Lola. Take their messages. If they have anything for me try to get me at home or here.” I rattled off Lola’s number and waited while she wrote it down.

  “Mike ... what is it? Why can’t you . . .”

  I was tired of repeating it. “I’m supposed to be dead, Velda. The killer thinks he nailed me.”

  “Mike!”

  “Oh, quit worrying. I’m not even scratched. The bullet hit my gun. Which reminds me ... I got to get a new one. ’Bye, baby. See you soon.”

  I stuck the phone back and sat on the edge of the chair, running my hand across my face. Cobbie Bennett. He was hysterical and he wanted to see me. He wouldn’t say why. I wondered which of the Johnson boys was the killer trying to make certain I was gone from the land of the living. And who was the caller with the confidential info? At least I knew who Cobbie was.

  I hoped I knew where I could find him.

  My coat was wrinkled from lying across the chair, and without a rod under my arm the thing bagged like a zoot suit. The holster helped fill it out, but not enough. I closed the door behind me and walked downstairs, trying to appear like just another resident, maybe a little on the seedy side. In that neighborhood nobody gave me a tumble.

  At Ninth Avenue I grabbed a cab and had him drive me over to a gunsmith on the East Side. The guy who ran the shop might have made Daniel Boone’s rifle for him, he was that old. At one time guns had been his mainstay, but since the coming of law and order he specialized in locks, even if the sign over the door didn’t say so.

  He didn’t ask questions except to see my license, and when he had gone over it to the extent of comparing the picture with my face, he nodded and asked me what I liked. There were some new surplus Army .45’s mounted in a rack on the wall and I pointed them out. He took them down and let me try the action. When I found one that satisfied me I peeled off a bill from my roll, signed the book and took my receipt and a warning to check with the police on the change in gun numbers on my ticket.

  I felt a lot better when I walked out of the place.

  If the sun had been tucked in bed I would have been able to locate Cobbie in a matter of minutes. At high noon it was going to be a problem. In a cigar store on the corner I cashed in a buck for a handful of nickels and started working the phone book, calling the gin mills where he usually hung out. I got the same answer every time. Cobbie had dropped out of sight. Two wanted to know who I was, so I said a friend and hung up.

  Sometimes the city is worse than the jungle. You can get lost in it with a million people within arm’s length. I was glad of it now. A guy could roam the streets for a week without being recognized if he were careful not to do anything to attract attention. A cab went by and I whistled at it, waited while it braked to a stop and backed up, then got in. After I told the driver where to go I settled back against the cushions and did exercises to loosen up my neck.

  I missed the redhead’s ring. I was doing good while I had it. Nancy, a mother ... a blackmailer? A girl down on her luck. A good kid. I could never forget the way she looked at me when I gave her the dough. I’d never forget it because I told her that kind of stuff was murder.

  I didn’t know how right I was.

  She must have had fun shopping for those clothes, being waited on, seeing herself in the mirror as a lady again. What had happened to her attitude, her personal philosophy after that? She was happy, I knew that. Her letter was bubbling over with happiness. What was it that meant so much to her ... and did I help change her mind about it?

  Nancy with the grace of a lady, the veneer of a tramp. A girl who should have been soft and warm, staying home nights to cook supper for some guy, was being terrorized by a gun-slinging punk. A lousy greaseball. A girl who had no defense except running forced to sell herself to keep alive. I did her a favor and her eyes lit up like candles at an altar. We were buddies, damn good buddies for a little while.

  The driver said, “Here you are, mister.”

  I passed a bill through the window and got out, my eyes looked up and down the street until I spotted a familiar blue uniform. I was going to have to do it the quickest way possible. The cop was walking toward me and I stared into a drugstore window until he went by, and when he had a half-block lead I followed him at a leisurely pace.

  A lot of people like to run down the cops. They begin to think of them as human traffic lights, or two faces in a patrol car cruising down the street hoping some citizen will start some trouble. They forget that a cop has eyes and ears and can think. They forget that sometimes a cop on a beat likes it that way. The street is his. He knows everyone on it. He knows who and what they are and where they spend their time. He doesn’t want to get pulled off it even for a promotion, because then he loses his friends and becomes chained to a desk or an impersonal case. The cop I was following looked like that kind. He was big from the ground up, and almost as big around. There was a purpose in his stride and pride in his carriage, and several times I saw him nod to women sitting in doorways and fake a pass at fresh brats that yelled out something nasty about coppers. Someday those same kids would be screaming for him to hurry up and get to where the trouble was.

  When the cop called in at a police phone I picked up on him. He turned into a lunch room, climbed on a stool and I was right beside him. He took off his coat and hat, ordered corn beef and cabbage and I took the same. The plates came and we both ate silently. Halfway through the two guys next to me paid up and left, which was the chance I waited for.

  One had left a tabloid on the stool and I propped it up in front of me, using it as a shield while I took my badge and identification card from my pocket. I only had to nudge the cop once and he looked over, saw the stuff I palmed and frowned.

  “Mike Hammer, private cop.” I kept my voice low, chewing as I spoke. “Don’t watch me.”

  The cop frowned again and went back to his lunch. “Pat Chambers will vouch for me. I’m working with him on a case.” This time the frown deepened and lines of disbelief touched his cheeks.

  “I have to find Cobbie Bennett,” I said. “Right away. Do you know where he is?”

  He took another mouthful of corn beef and threw a dime on the counter. The chef came over and he asked for change. When he had two nickels he got up, still chewing, and walked over to a phone booth up front and shut the door.

  About a minute later he was back and working on the corn beef again. He shoved the plate away, drew his coffee to him and seemed to notice me for the first time.

  “Done with the paper, feller?”

  “Yeah.” I handed it to him. He took a pair of horn-rimmed glasses from his pocket and worked them on, holding the paper open to the baseball scores. His lips worked as if he were reading, only he said, “I think Cobbie’s hiding out in a rooming house one block west. Brownstone affair with a new stoop. He looks scared.”

  The counterman came over and took the plates away. I ordered pie and more coffee, ate it slowly, then paid up and left. The cop was still there reading the paper; he never glanced up once and he probably wouldn’t for another ten minutes.

  I found the stoop first, then the house. Cobbie Bennett found me. He peered out of a second-story window just as I turned up the stairs and for a split second I had a look at a pale white face that had terror etched deep into the skin.

  The door was o
pen and I walked into the hallway. Cobbie called to me from the head of the stairs. “Here, up here, Mike.” This time I watched where I was going. There were too many nice places for a guy to hide with a baseball bat in those damn hallways. Before I reached the landing Cobbie had me by the lapels of my coat and was dragging me into a room.

  “Christ, Mike, how’d ya find me? I never told nobody where I was! Who said I was here?”

  I shoved him away. “You’re not hard to find, Cobbie. Nobody is when they’re wanted badly enough.”

  “Don’t say that, Mike, will ya? Christ, it’s bad enough having you find me. Suppose. . . .”

  “Stop jabbering like an idiot. You wanted me. So I’m here.”

  He shoved a bolt in the door and paced across the room, running his fingers through his hair and down his face. He couldn’t stand still and the fact that I parked myself in the only chair in the place and seemed completely at ease made him jumpier still.

  “They’re after me, Mike. I just got away in time.”

  “Who’s they?”

  “Look, ya gotta help me out. Jeez, you got me inta this, now ya gotta help me out. They’re after me, see? I can’t stick around. I gotta get outa town.” He stuck a cigarette in his mouth and tried to light it. He made it with the fourth match.

  “Who’s they?” I asked again.

  Cobbie licked his lips. His shoulder had a nervous twitch and he kept turning his head toward the door as if he were listening for something. “Mike. Somebody saw you with me that night. They passed the word and the heat’s on. I-I gotta blow.”

  I just sat there and watched him. He took a drag on the cigarette before he threw it on the worn-out carpet and ground it in with his heel. “Damn it, Mike, don’t just sit there. Say something!”

  “Who’s they?”

  For the first time it sank in. He got white around the comer of his mouth. “I dunno. I dunno. It’s somebody big. Something’s popping in this town and I don’t know what it is. All I know is the heat’s on me because I got seen messing around with you. What’ll I do, Mike? I can’t stay here. You don’t know them guys. When they’re out to get ya they don’t miss!”