Heaven Ran Last

Chapter IX

I gave her cab fare about one o’clock and sent her home. After that I couldn’t sleep until I’d taken three stiff drinks. They must have numbed me because I didn’t even dream...

The next morning I woke up with the feeling that something heavy was hanging over me. When I started thinking I knew what it was. I sent down for some coffee and the morning papers.

It was about eleven-thirty then. Everything would be in the papers. I put on a bathrobe and walked up and down the room. A lot had happened since I left Alice’s. Maybe it all happened the way I had it figured; but it might have gone wrong.

The bellboy who brought up the coffee was Junior, the sharpie with slick blonde hair and eyes like marbles.

“Gee, Mr. Ford,” he said, “that horse you gave me came in. Blue Angel, I mean.”

He pushed the tray over to the window. The two morning papers were folded neatly along side the silver coffee urn.

“Good for him,” I said. “What’d he pay?”

“Ten to one. I made ten bucks. That’s easier money than hopping bells.”

I sat down and poured myself a cup of coffee. My left hand moved over and touched the papers but I didn’t pick them up.

He was standing behind me and he said, “You haven’t got anything else for me, have you?”

ion>

“No,” I said. “I don’t know what’s good today.”

“Couldn’t you kind of make a guess?”

“Get out,” I said. I stood up and turned around. “Will you get out of here?”

He backed toward the door, looking white and scared.

“Sure, Mr. Ford. I’m sorry I bothered you.”

He closed the door behind him and I sat down again. I was shaking all over. I picked the papers up and spread them out.

He was on the front page all right. There was a picture of him and one of Alice and a shot of Lesser in her apartment with blood on his face.

I read the stories in both papers, then put them down and poured myself another cup of coffee. A little of the tight feeling was gone and my hands were steadier.

Everything looked all right. The stories had it that Frank Olsen, a recently discharged veteran, had come home unexpectedly and found a man with his wife. There had been a fight and the husband walked out, leaving the other man with two bullet holes in his head. Some neighbors had heard the shot and phoned the police. When they arrived they found Lesser dead and the wife just regaining consciousness.

They sent out an alarm for the husband immediately and a squad picked him up walking north on Sheridan Road near Howard Street.

He claimed he hadn’t shot the man but from the tone of the stories it was obvious the papers and the police were convinced he had. The police had questioned him last night and they had questioned his wife.

That was about all there was in the stories. I lit a cigarette and sat there a long time just thinking. I looked all right, but I had the funny feeling that I was too far away from the center of things. Here I was, sitting in a hotel room while coppers were asking him and her questions and another bunch of coppers were out in her neighborhood talking to people, snooping around, checking prints and digging into everything they could find.

It had all happened so fast that I hadn’t made any plans. I was pretty sure I hadn’t left anything that would lead to me but I couldn’t be sure.

I went back to the papers. There was a story by a feature writer on GI wives who cheated while their husbands were away. There was another about the gun. It was a German P-38 and the story made quite a point about the husband bringing it back from Nazi Germany to defend his wife’s honor.

I had enough of that. I tossed the papers in the waste basket and went into the bathroom and washed up and shaved. After that I tried to do some work but I couldn’t. The idea of calling up chumps to see if they wanted any horses seemed pretty silly right then.

About that time the blonde called. She was downstairs working and she wanted to know how I was after last night. I told her I was fine. She giggled and said she thought I’d be pretty tired. I felt nervous and irritated. What the hell, did she think a night with her was like playing quarterback against the Bears?

“How about tonight?” she said.

“Can’t make it,” I said. “I’ll give you a ring.”

She didn’t say anything for a minute. Then she said, “I’ll bet it’s one of your girls you got to see.” She laughed as if she were kidding but it didn’t sound that way.

“This is business, honey,” I said. There wasn’t any reason why I couldn’t see her. I just didn’t want to. I didn’t want to make any plans until I saw how things were going.

“Are you going to be busy all night?” she said.

“Yes. For God’s sake I told you that once.” I snapped the words at her. I was tense and nervous. Right then I realized how important she might be if anything went wrong and I knew I was acting like a damn fool.

“You know I want to see you, honey. You must know that,” I said. “But this deal for tonight has been set for a long time. How about tomorrow night?”

“That’s swell, Johnny,” she sounded a little better.

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll pick you up at your house. Around eight?”

She said okay and then said a few silly things about loving me a lot and finally she hung up and I went back to walking around the room.

I knew there was one thing that might cause trouble. If Frank came up with an alibi for the time of the shooting that would start the cops looking for someone else. Someone might have seen him down the street when the shot was fired. That would clear him completely.

Someone might have seen me go into the apartment after Frank left. Someone could have seen me running down the back way after the shot was fired.

That’s the angle you can’t figure. You never know who’s looking. There’s always some old woman sitting up with a bad stomach or some babe looking out at the moon. You don’t see them, you think you’re in the clear but they might have been watching all the time.

But I had an out if anything broke on this deal. The shot was fired at eight-thirty and I had the blonde ready to get up on the stand and swear I was with her at eight-thirty.

The phone rang again. I picked it up and said, “Johnny.” It was Alice. “Where are you?” I said. I felt the tightness coming back.

“At the drug store. You’ve seen the papers, haven’t you?”

“Yeah. What’s happening?”

“I was down at the station last night. Most of this morning, too. They’ve been asking me so many questions I’m simply groggy.”

“What about?”

“Lesser mostly. Frank says he didn’t do it, you know.”

“That’s what I read. What do the cops think?”

“I’m not sure. They seem convinced he did it, but they haven’t arraigned him yet.”

“Has he got a lawyer?”

“No”

“Okay, I’ll get him one.”

“Johnny — will that be wise?”

“Of course,” I said. “I’m afraid of him. And I want to know what’s going on, too.”

“All right.” She sounded tired. “When can I see you, Johnny?”

“Hang on now, baby. That’s out.”

She didn’t say anything for a while. Then she said, “I didn’t know it going to be like this,” and her voice was weary and discouraged.

“We’ve talked enough,” I said. “And get this, baby, from now on watch the way you use a phone. Any phone. Better let me call you from now on.”

“Couldn’t I see you tonight, Johnny? I need to talk to you. I feel I’ll go insane if I don’t see you.”

“Stop that,” I said as sharp as I could. “I’ll try and arrange to see you. But we’ve got to be careful. Got that?”

“All right, Johnny.”

She hung up and I stood there sweating. All we had to do was sit tight and we had this thing licked. But she wasn’t going to sit tight very long. She was nervous and if she didn’t see me it would make her worse.

I called a guy then by the name of Sam Marshall, one of the syndicate lawyers. When I got him I said, “Marshall, this is Johnny Ford. I want you to help out a pal of mine. Did you see the morning papers about this veteran shooting the guy his wife was playing around with?”

“I noticed the headlines,” he said. “That seems to be a veteran’s occupational disease. What about it?”

“That guy’s a friend of mine. He’s in a spot and I’d like you to do what you can for him.”

“You’re asking me to handle this case?”

“That’s it.”

He was quiet a while. Then he said, “I’m pretty busy right now, Johnny. You understand, too, that I don’t handle charity cases.”

“I don’t go around looking for handouts either,” I said. “How much do you want?”

“Don’t get sore.” He laughed. “I’ll look into it and let you know. Has he been arraigned yet?”

“According to the papers, no.”

“He’ll be at Eleventh and State then. I’ll call up the boys and see what’s doing. When I get some information I’ll call you back.”

“Okay,” I said.

There wasn’t anything more I could do. Things seemed to be going all right. I wasn’t sure I was making a smart move in hiring a lawyer for him, because some copper might wonder what my angle was. But I wanted to be close to developments. Marshall could keep me posted on what was happening from the inside.

I sat around the room the rest of the afternoon smoking one cigarette after another and drinking. About five Marshall called me back.

“I’ve got an appointment to see him tomorrow morning,” he said. “The State’s Attorney is annoyed because he won’t sign a confession. They’re going to arraign him tomorrow morning first thing on a first degree murder charge. They seem to think they’ve got a strong enough circumstantial case without a confession.”

“What do you think?” I said.

“I don’t know much about it yet,” he said. “All I know is that he claims he hit this fellow Lesser a couple of times and then slapped his wife and walked out. But at about the same time the neighbors heard a shot and when the police arrived Lesser had two holes in his head. What would you think?”

“Maybe he did it,” I said. “But I still want you to do what you can. Look, can you fix it so I can see him tomorrow when you go over there?”

“I imagine so. The sheriff will take him in custody after he’s arraigned. He’ll be taken to the county jail. Can you meet me out there about eleven o’clock?”

“Sure thing,” I said.

“See you then,” he said.

He hadn’t mentioned money but I knew he didn’t work for peanuts. I didn’t have much dough, but I could raise enough to take care of him. I just had to, that was all.

The rest of the night was hell. I almost went nuts thinking about all the things that might be happening. I go through it by making a drink every time I got thinking too much and I guess I finally just passed out on the bed.

The next morning I felt terrible but I was meeting Marshall so I shaved and dressed carefully. After that I went downstairs and got a large glass of tomato juice with Wooster Sauce in it and drank two cups of black coffee. I didn’t go into the lobby restaurant because I wasn’t in any mood to see the blonde.

The county jail is behind the Criminal Courts building at Twenty-Sixth and California. I went out there in a cab. The building is dirty looking, but it’s a jail so it probably wouldn’t look any better clean.

I went up to the warden’s office and told a guy there what I wanted and he told me to wait in the reception room. Marshall hadn’t been around yet, but the guy told me that Frank had just been brought in before the Grand Jury next door in the Courts building.

I waited about ten minutes before Marshall walked in, looking like a politician. He was a big guy, with slick dark hair and he was wearing a grey flannel suit with a silk shirt and a bright bow tie. He came over and shook hands with me and we talked about nothing much for a while.

Then he said: “I’ll go in and get things arranged. It shouldn’t take long.”

“Fine,” I said.

Marshall went into the warden’s office and I thought that over. It would be great if Frank got sprung! Just great. Everything we’d done shot right in the can. But I didn’t worry too much about that. If they indicted him for murder they’d work for a conviction. And they’d work hard. The chances were against him going to the chair but he’d do a stretch. That was my guess.

I lit another cigarette. While I was waiting a city detective, a guy by the name of Harrigan, walked into the room. He nodded at me and came over and sat down.

“What’s up, Johnny? Sins finally caught up with you?”

“That’ll be the day. No a friend of mine got himself in some trouble. I brought him down a lawyer, that’s all.”

Harrigan nodded his head and took a crumpled pack of Camels from his pocket, struck a match on the sole of his shoe and lit a cigarette. When he’d added some smoke to mine he stretched out his legs and settled back in the chair with a grunt.

“What kind of trouble?” he said.

“You must have read about it. He’s this guy Olsen that shot up a guy he caught with his wife.”

“Oh, him. Yeah, I was up with him most of the night. We just got an indictment against him for first degree murder. He seems like a pretty nice guy though.” He looked over at me, squinting through the smoke. “How well do you know him?”

“Pretty well. I knew him before he went into the army.”

“Know his wife?”

“Yeah. Do you think he’s going up for this?”

“Hard to tell. I was up with him until three-thirty and he didn’t talk. The chief wanted a confession and we thought we’d get one. But he stuck to his story. It’s a funny case.” He took another drag from his cigarette and blinked. “Dammit I’m tired,” he said.

I knew it might be a bad time to ask questions but I had to know what he meant.

“How do you mean, it’s a funny case?” I said.

“It’s just funny, that’s all,” he said. He didn’t open his eyes and he looked like he might go to sleep any minute. “There’s a few angles that aren’t right, but I imagine they’ll iron out eventually. A confession will take care of everything.”

“Do you think you’ll get it?” I said.

“Probably. Who’d you say his lawyer is?”

“I didn’t, but it’s Sam Marshall.”

He nodded. “Sam comes high, doesn’t he?”

“He’s just doing me a favor,” I said.

“I see. You were with Olsen last night, weren’t you, Johnny?”

That had to come and it didn’t mean anything. Frank would have told them that last night with the rest of the story.

“That’s right,” I said. “I was going to drive him and his wife down to the train. She didn’t come so he and I went alone. I guess he told you all of that.”

He nodded. “We’ll want you for a statement one of these days, I guess, but there’s no hurry. He told us all that, but he didn’t say anything about shooting this guy. That’s the trouble.”

He stood up then and yawned widely.

“I’m going home and get some sleep. See you around.”

“Yeah, take it easy.”

He went out the door and I wondered how much of that yawning had been on the level. Harrigan I knew was a tough smart copper. I didn’t like him working on this case.

Marshall came out of the warden’s office about five minutes later and told me that everything was set. We followed a uniformed cop down a corridor to a big bare room with just a few chairs in it and a steel grillwork that went from the floor to the ceiling and divided the room in two. We sat down in straight-backed wooden chairs close to the grillwork and a little later Frank came in through a door on the other side of the room.

There was a guard with him, a middle-aged guy in a uniform and he went over and stood in a corner and looked at something on the ceiling.

Frank blinked a little and then when he saw us he walked over to his side of the grillwork and sat down. His hair was mussed and his eyes looked like he’d been crying.

He looked from Marshall to me and he tried to smile.

“Hi, Johnny,” he said.

I said, “Hi, Frank.”

“They told me there was somebody to see me,” he said. “I couldn’t figure out who it would be.”

Marshall cleared his throat. “Olsen we don’t have too much time. I’ve been retained by Johnny to act as your lawyer. Is that agreeable with you?”

Frank looked at him and nodded slowly.

“I guess it is. I guess I need a lawyer.”

“We’ll consider that settled then,” Marshall said. “Now just let me ask you a few questions. Did you kill this man Lesser?”

Frank leaned forward and grabbed the bars of the grillwork with both hands. “God, no. I been telling the cops that all night but they don’t believe me.”

“All right, tell us what happened last night.”

“Well, I went home and found this guy with my wife. I lost my head, I guess. I remember hitting him a few times and then Alice — that’s my wife — was grabbing at my arm and I hit her, too. After that I just left and started walking.”

Marshall said, “The man was dead when the police got there. He had two bullets in his head. They were fired from a gun you brought home from overseas. You know all that, I presume?”

“The cops told me all that, but I didn’t do it.” He looked from Marshall to me and then back at him again and his eyes looked wild. “I didn’t do it,” he repeated.

“Olsen,” Marshall said. “Understand me. I’m not interested in the aspects of your innocence or guilt. If you had killed this man I would be inclined to say you had sufficient provocation. However, that’s not my job. My concern is how your story will sound to a jury. Now tell me what time you walked in on your wife and this man Lesser, and as nearly as possible what happened.”

Frank looked at me. “I don’t know what time exactly. What time did I leave you, Johnny?”

“About eight-fifteen,” I said.

Marshall looked at me too. “You were with him last night?”

“Yeah. Until eight-fifteen. Maybe a little later.”

“I see,” Marshall said. “That would place Olsen in the apartment at about eight-twenty-five or eight-thirty. That’s the time the neighbors heard the shot. All right, Olsen, what happened when you discovered them together?”

Frank started talking in a low voice. He told about his suspicions of Lesser, about Alice’s coldness and about her backing out of going to Wisconsin with him. He told everything and it sounded fine. He built just the kind of story I was sure he would.

Then he said, “When I walked in they were sitting on the couch drinking. They both jumped up when they saw me. He had his coat off and she wasn’t wearing much besides one of those hostess gowns. I don’t know what I did. I yelled something at him and then I hit him. He fell down and I picked him up and hit him a few more times. Alice was pulling at my sleeve and yelling at me and I turned and slapped her, hard. She fell down against the couch. I just stood there for a while. If I had a gun I would have killed him. Then I got out. I just walked around — I don’t know how long — and then a squad car pulled up and a couple of cops jumped out. They brought me down to the station. That’s about all, I guess.”

When he got through Marshall said, “Very well, Olsen. I’ll check into all of that. The thing we have to do is place you somewhere else at the exact moment that shot was fired. If you didn’t fire the shot you must have been somewhere else. Possibly some one saw you on the street when the shot sounded. One connection like that and we can create a reasonable doubt in a jury’s mind and that’s all we need.

“One other thing. Don’t talk to anybody from now on. The police will bother you but tell them to see me if they want any information. You’ve been indicted and no one can talk to you or even see you without your permission. Remember that. I’ll be in to see you in a day or so.”

He stood up and said, “Olsen, I’ll be frank with you. The police have a good circumstantial case against you. Motive, opportunity, and by your own admission you were at the scene of the murder at approximately eight-thirty. That all adds up. If we go before a jury with that set-up against us I might not be able to help you. That is if you insist on a not-guilty plea. But if you take a guilty plea I could almost guarantee you an acquittal. Think it over. If you did do it, for Christ’s sake say so and we’ll have you out of here in a month.”

“I didn’t do it,” Frank said.

“All right, we’ll work on it from that angle then,” Marshall said. He looked at me. “Ready, Johnny?”

“Yeah.” I gave Frank a smile. “Don’t worry about a thing, kid.”

He stood up and leaned forward until his face was just an inch or so from the bars. “Johnny, have you talked to Alice?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“You don’t know how she is?”

“No.”

“Well give her a message from me, will you Johnny? Tell her I’m not mad. Tell her I forgive her, Johnny.”

“Sure, I’ll tell her,” I said.

We left then and went down to my car. Marshall didn’t have anything to say. When we were driving back to the Loop, I said. “Well, what do you think?”

He shrugged. “I can clear him if he pleads guilty. No jury would convict a veteran under these circumstances. The unwritten law, defense of her honor and all of those old tear-jerkers are still better than the best police case in the world. But if he sticks to his story, and I can’t find some way to prove it, he’ll lose the jury’s sympathy. They’ll figure he did it, and they’ll think he just doesn’t have the courage to admit it. We can’t use any tricks if he sticks to this story. All the tear jerkers will go out the window and we’ll have to fight the state with evidence. And our supply of evidence is pretty thin compared to theirs.”

“Well,” I said, “if he didn’t do it, he didn’t do it.”

“Do you think he’s innocent?” he said.

“I don’t know. He says he didn’t, that’s all I know. I think he ought to stick to that.”

Marshall looked at me queerly. “You want him to stick to this story?”

“I didn’t say that,” I said.

Marshall was still looking at me. “Johnny, let’s be straight. What’s your angle in this case?”

“He’s a friend of mine, that’s all.”

“What kind of a woman is his wife?”

I didn’t know what he was after, but I felt scared.

“Just another babe,” I said.

“I see.” He frowned out the window for a while and he didn’t say any more until I was almost at the City Hall.

Then he said. “This case is going to take some time. I’ll need a thousand dollars for a start. Still interested?”

“You’ll have a check in the morning,” I said.

He chuckled. “It’s going to be an interesting case. I hope you get your money’s worth.”

I dropped him at the City Hall and then I drove over and parked my car in the hotel garage. That thousand dollars was going to hurt. It would leave me two hundred in the bank and I spend that much in a month on tips.

But I wasn’t worrying about that. The thing I was trying to figure was whether Marshall was shaking me down. Was he making a long guess about where I stood? If he was that wasn’t any good. If he could make that good a guess somebody else might, too.

I went up to my room, trying to push away the feeling that something was about to slip.