My Gun Is Quick

Chapter Ten

Time wasn't important to Lola. She said she'd wait and she did. Hers was the only light in the apartment building, and I saw her shadow pass the drawn curtains twice, then recede back into the room. I didn't forget that other parking ticket; this time I found a spot that wasn't on an express street and pulled to the curb.

I had to take it easy walking back, wishing the sidewalks were carpeted to ease the shock of my heels pounding the concrete. Every step jarred the balloon of pain that was my head, and when I lit a butt to try to forget it the smoke sent cramps into my lungs that caught and held like a thousand knives digging into my rib cage.

The stairs looked a mile long. The only way I could make them was to go up a couple, rest, then go up a couple more. The outside door was open so I didn't bother ringing until I was at the apartment door, then I punched the bell and held it, leaning against the jamb.

Inside, I heard her heels click on the floor, hurried, then break into a run. Her fingers fumbled with the bolt, got it open and yanked the door back.

I guess I didn't look so hot. She said, "Oh, Mike!" and her fingers went out to my face tenderly, holding my cheeks, then she took my hand and led me inside.

"I almost stood you up." It wasn't easy to grin at her.

Lola looked at me and shook her head. "Some day... will you come to see me when you're not a... a hospital case?"

Very slowly I turned her around. She was lovely, this woman. Tonight she had dressed up for me, hoping I'd do more than call. She stood almost as tall as me, her body outlined under an iridescent green dress that sent waves of light shimmering down her legs whenever she moved. I held her at arm's length doing nothing but looking at her, smelling the fragrance of a heady cologne. Her hair was a dark frame, soft and feathery, then rolled to her shoulders and made you want to close your eyes and pull it over you like a blanket. Somewhere she had found a new beauty, or perhaps it was there all along, but it was a beauty that was always hers now.

My hand found her waist and I drew her in close, waiting until her eyes half closed and her lips parted, eager to be kissed. Her mouth was a soft bed of fire, her tongue a searching thing asking questions I had to answer greedily. When I pushed her away she stood there a long moment, breathing heavily before she opened her eyes and smiled. She didn't have to tell me that she was mine whenever I wanted it. I knew that.

Her eyes were watching me. "Mike..."

I ran my fingers through her hair like I had wanted to. "What, honey?"

"I love you, Mike. No... don't love me back. Don't even try. Just let me love you."

I pulled her face to mine and kissed her eyes closed. "That isn't easy. It's hard not to do things."

"You have to do this, Mike. I have a long way to go yet."

"No, you don't, kid. You can forget everything that has ever happened. I don't give a damn what went on this year or last. Who the hell am I to talk, anyway? If there's any shame to attach to the way you run your life, then maybe I ought to be ashamed. I've done the same things you've done, but a man gets away with it. It's not what you do but the way you think. Hell, I've met bums in a saloon who would do more for you than half the churchgoers."

"But I want it to be different with me, Mike. I'm trying so hard to be... nice."

"You were always nice, Lola. I haven't known you long, but I bet you were always nice."

She squeezed my hand and smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Hammer. You can make it awfully easy for me. That's why I love you so much." Her finger went to my mouth so I couldn't answer. "But it still works my way. I still have a long way to go. I want to be worth a love that's returned."

I aimed a kiss at her nose, but it was too quick and I winced. Lola didn't need an explanation. Worry lines grew in the corner of her eyes and she pointed to a chair.

After I had let myself into it she said, "Again, Mike?"

"Again."

"Bad?"

"It could have been. A slug that was aimed at my chest ruined my gun. I'll never leave Betsy home after that. The same party must've clubbed me across the neck with a sledgehammer. Like to ripped my damn head off."

"Who... who did it?"

"Beats me. It was dark, I was in a hurry, and I never had a chance to be introduced."

She loosened my tie and shirt, sat on the arm of the chair and rubbed my neck and head. Her fingers were long and cool, probing into the hurt and wiping it away. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, liking the touch of her hand, loving the nearness of her. She hummed a song in a rich, throaty voice, softly, until I was completely relaxed.

I said, "They got Nancy's ring, Lola."

"They did." It wasn't a question; more a statement that meant she was ready to listen when I was ready to talk.

"I found Murray's place and went in there. His two boys were going through his wall library looking for something. He must have told where it was, but didn't have time to give them full details."

"Did they find it?"

"No. I found it."

Her hands were rubbing my shoulders, kneading the muscles. "What was it?"

"A book. A book that was inside another book." Without opening my eyes I reached around and slipped it out of my pocket. She took it from me with one hand and I heard her flip the cover back.

She stared at it for a while, then ruffled through the pages. "It's gibberish."

"That's what I expected." I took her hand away from my neck and kissed it and she handed me the book, her face a puzzled frown.

It was no bigger than a small notepad, bound in black leather, a size that fitted nicely in an inside jacket pocket, easy to conceal almost anywhere. The writing was small and precise, in a bookkeeper's hand, flowing straight across the page as if underruled by invisible lines.

Letters, numbers. Meaningless symbols. Capital letters, small letters. Some letters backward, deliberately so. Yet there was an order about it all that couldn't be mistaken. I went through the pages rapidly, coming to the end about three-quarters of the way. The rest of the pages were blank.

Lola had been watching over my shoulder. "What is it, Mike?"

"Code."

"Can you read it?"

"No, but there are people who can. Maybe you can. See if there's anything familiar to you in here." I held the book out and began at the beginning again.

She scanned the pages with me, holding her lower lip between her teeth, carefully following my finger as I paced the lines with her. She shook her head at the end of each page and I turned to the next.

But it was always the same. She knew no more about it than I did. I would have closed it right there, except that I felt her hand tighten on my arm and I saw her teeth dig into her lip. She started to say something, then stopped.

"What is it?" I prompted.

"No, it can't be." She was frowning again.

"Tell me, kid."

Her finger was shaking as she pointed to a symbol that looked like a complex word in a steno's notebook. "A... long time ago... I was in Murray's office when a man phoned him. Murray talked a while, then put down something on a pad. I think... I think it was that. He saw me watching and covered it up. Later he told me I had an appointment."

"Who was it?"

"Do... I have to?" She was pleading with me not to make her remember.

"Just this once, baby.

"I don't remember his name." She said it fast. "He was from out of town. He was fat and slimy and I hated him, Mike. Oh, please... no more, no more."

"O.K., it's enough." I closed the book and laid it on the endtable. The ball had started to roll. The heads would follow. I reached for the phone.

Pat was in bed, but he wasn't sleeping. His voice was wideawake, tense. "I knew you'd get around to calling about this time," he told me. "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know. Maybe you'd like to tell me.

"Sure, I'll tell you. After all, you're the one who started this mess and, brother, I mean mess."

"Trouble, Pat?"

"Plenty. We picked up Murray for questioning. Naturally, he didn't know a thing. According to his story Ann Minor was moody, brooding constantly, and a general pain in the neck. He considered firing her a while ago and thinks she got wind of it and got worse than ever. He took it calmly when we told him she was a suicide."

"He would."

"That's not all. He knew there was more to it than that, but he had a good lawyer. We couldn't hold him at all. About thirty minutes after we let him go, hell started popping. Something's happening and I'm on the receiving end. Until tonight I didn't think the politics in this town were as dirty as they are. You, started something, kid."

"I'm going to finish it, too. What about the apartment... Ann's. Any prints?"

"None that mattered. The tub was clean as a whistle. On the far side were a few smudges that turned out to be hers, but the rest had been wiped off. We took samples of the water and tested them. It worked. Some traces of the same soap."

"Did you ask around about that suicide note?"

"Hell, I haven't had time. Two of the men on the case started to question some of the employees in the Zero Zero Club, but before they got very far they were called to a phone. A voice told them to lay off if they knew what was good for them."

"What did they do?"

Pat's voice had a snarl in it. "They didn't scare. They tried to have the call traced only to find it came from a subway phone booth--a pay station. They called me for instructions and I gave them to them. I told them to knock some heads together if they have to."

I chuckled at that. "Getting smart, huh?

"I'm getting mad, damn it! The people pay for protection. What the hell do they take the police for, a bunch of private servants."

"Some do," I remarked sourly. "Look, Pat, I have something for you. I know it's late and all that, but it's important. Get over here as fast as you can, will you?"

He didn't ask questions. I heard him slide out of bed and snap a light on. I gave him Lola's address and he said O.K., then hung up.

Lola rose and went into the kitchen, coming back with a tray and some beer. She opened the bottle and poured it out, giving me the big one. When she settled herself in a chair opposite me she said, "What happens now?"

"We're going to scare the blazes out of some people, I think.

"Murray?"

"He's one."

We sipped the beer, finished it, had another. This time Lola curled up on the end of the couch, her legs crossed, one arm stretched out across the back. "Will you come over here, or do I go over there?" she grinned impishly.

"I'll go over there," I said.

She made room for me on the same cushion, putting a head on the beer. "That's to keep one hand out of trouble."

"What about the other hand?"

"Let it get in trouble."

I laughed at her and hugged her to me so she could nuzzle against my shoulder. "Mike... I think the college kids have something. It's nice to neck."

I couldn't disagree with that. When the beer was gone she brought in another bottle and came back into my arm again. I should have been thinking of Nancy or doing something else maybe, but it was nice just sitting there with her, laughing at foolish things. She was the kind of a girl who could give you back something you thought you had lost to the years.

Pat came in too soon. He rang from downstairs and Lola pushed the buzzer to let him in. He must have run up the stairs because he was knocking on the door a few seconds later.

Lola let him in with a smile and I called out, "Lola, meet Pat Chambers, the finest of the finest."

Pat said, "Hullo, Lola," then came over to me and threw his hand on the back of the couch. He didn't waste any time.

"Gimme. What did you get?"

Lola brought the book over from the endtable and I handed it to him. "Part of Murray's collection, Pat. Code. Think you can break it?"

I scanned his face and saw his lips set in a line. He talked to himself. "Memory code. Damn it to hell!"

"What?"

"It's a memory code, I'll bet a fin. He's got a symbol or a structure for everything and he's the only one who knows it."

I set the glass down and inched forward on the couch. "The Washington boys broke the Jap Imperial code, didn't they?"

"Yeah, but that was different." He shook his head helplessly. "Let me give you an example. Suppose you say a word to me, or several of them for that matter. You know what they mean, but I don't. How could I break that? If you strung out sentences long enough there would be repetition, but if you allowed nothing to repeat itself, using different symbol or letter grouping that you committed to memory, there would be nothing to start with."

"That takes a good memory, doesn't it?" I cut in.

"For some things. But there isn't too much to remember in this." He tapped the book. "Probably anyone could do it if he puts his mind to it."

I reached for the glass and filled it, emptying the bottle. "Lola recognized one of the symbols, she thinks. Murray used it to identify one of his 'customers.' That little gadget is Murray's account book with a listing of his clients and his fleshly assets."

Pat jumped to his feet, a light blazing in his eyes. "Son of a bitch, if it is we can rip him apart! We can split this racket right down the middle!"

His language was getting contaminated from hanging around private detectives. "Only temporarily," I reminded him.

"It's better than not at all. It'll pay for people getting killed. Where did you get it, Mike?"

"Your boy Candid has himself a party den in the Village. While you were popping the questions he sent his lads up to get that book, taking no chances. I surprised them at it. The damn thing was worth their trying to knock me off. I just missed having my head handed to me."

"You can identify them, then?"

"Nope. I didn't see their faces. But one will have a cut on his hand and a beauty across his forehead. The other guy is his pal. Ask around the club. I think they were Murray's personal bodyguards. We put the squeeze on so fast Murray didn't have time to pull that book himself. He probably figured nobody would question Ann's death except for routine questioning at his joint."

"You might be right. I'll get this thing photostated and hand it around to the experts. I'll let you know what comes of it."

"Good!"

"Where will I get in touch with you?"

"You won't. I'll get in touch with you."

"I don't get it, Mike. Won't you be... ?"

He stopped when he saw the expression on my face. "I'm supposed to be dead."

"Good Lord!"

"There were three guys at Murray's place. One wasn't in on it. All he wanted was the redhead's ring. He gave it to me square in the chest. So he's gonna drop his load when he sees me again."

Pat caught the implication at once. "He tailed you. The same guy killed the blonde, tailed you home, searched your place and stayed right behind you until he had a clear shot at you."

"Uh-huh. In a dark hallway."

"And he just wanted the ring?"

"That's right. I had the book on me, and he never looked for it."

"That makes two parties. Both after you for a different reason."

"Could be the same reason, but they don't know it."

A grin spread over his face. "They'll be waiting for your body to show. They'll have their ears to the ground and their eyes open. They'll want to know what happened to your body."

I nodded. "Let 'em wonder," I said slowly. "They'll think the cops are keeping it quiet purposely. They'll think you have more than you're giving out. Let's see what happens, Pat."

"Ummm." That was all he said. He went to the door, looking satisfied, his mind pounding out the angles. He turned around once, grinned, waved goodbye and was gone.

Lola picked up the empty bottle and looked at me sideways.

"If you're really dead it's going to be a wonderful wake."

I faked a kick at her and she ducked out for a refill. When she came back she was serious and I knew it. Her eyes questioned me before she asked. "Could you tell me... about your place being searched, I mean? If I have to worry about you I want to know what I'm worrying about."

I told her then, skipping some details, just a general outline of what had occurred. She let me bring it up to date, absorbing every word, trying to follow with her mind. When I was through I let her mull it over.

Finally she said, "The baby clothes, Mike... it fits."

"How?"

"Nancy had stretch marks on her abdomen. Purplish streaks that come with pregnancy. I never questioned her about it."

"We discovered that. It was a stillbirth."

"The father... ?"

"No trace."

She was thinking of something else and chewed on her fingernail. "Those pictures that were stolen..."

"Only snapshots of her when she was younger."

"That isn't it."

"What then?"

"This person who was so careless... you said he just took the ring... didn't look for the book you had.

"He didn't know I had it."

"No, I don't mean that. Maybe he just took the pictures. He didn't look at them, he just took them. He would have taken any pictures."

I was beginning to get the point, but I wanted to make sure. "What are you getting at, Lola?"

"Nancy had a camera, I told you that. Maybe it was pictures she took that were wanted. Maybe the others were taken by mistake."

It made sense. I gave her neck a little squeeze and grinned through my teeth. "Now you're the smart one," I told her. "You said Nancy wouldn't go in for blackmail."

"I said I thought she wouldn't. I still don't think she would, but who can tell?"

"You know, we're throwing this right in Feeney Last's lap. If he's the bastard behind this he's going to get it right!"

Lola laid her hand over mine, reaching for my fingers.

"Mike, don't get excited too fast. You have to think about it first. If he's not the type..."

"Hell, he's the type, all right. Could be that I didn't give him credit for being that smart. You can't tell what goes on behind their heads, Lola. Their faces might be blank as an empty coconut, but up here there's a lot of brain power. Damn! Just follow Feeney with me: he approached Red in the hash house; he had her scared and a lot of other people scared. He was tough and dirty, and decent people are usually scared of that kind. He could carry a gun to push a scare through, even if that wasn't the purpose of the gun. What a nice set-up he had!

"So Nancy had his blackmail stuff... he said it was pictures of somebody in a hotel room with a babe. Who was the somebody and who was the babe? Maybe it was Nancy herself. If she had a good camera she could take shots automatically with a time arrangement on the camera. Maybe Feeney knew she had it and wanted it--maybe it was the other way around and he had it and she got it. Hell, maybe they were in it together.

"One thing we know: Feeney searched her room. He's a snotty little bastard who'd take a chance on anything. There's only one trouble. Feeney has an alibi. He was with Berin-Grotin when Nancy was killed, and unless he was able to sneak off without the old boy knowing it he had to have somebody else to do the job."

She reviewed it with an expression that reminded me of Pat, making me eat my own words. "But you said Mr. Berin was positive in his statement... and the police were just as positive that the boy ran down Nancy accidentally. How can you get around that?"

My chest started hurting again and I slumped back. "Ah, I don't know. Nothing makes sense. If Nancy was an accident, who took her ring off and why--and why the trouble to get it back? The ring's the thing. If I could find what it meant I'd have it."

I pulled out the cigarettes, stuck two in my mouth and lit them. Lola took hers from between my lips and dragged on it deeply. When I closed my eyes she said, "That's not the point I'm trying to make, Mike. Nancy had pictures of some sort that were important. Her place was searched for them--must have been because then they already had the ring. You say they didn't find them. Then they searched your place and took pictures that apparently had no meaning. All right, suppose they didn't have any meaning... where are the ones that have?"

Good Lord, how could I be so incredibly stupid! I took the cigarette and squashed it out in my hand and never felt it burn me. The pictures, the pictures! Nancy must have used herself to work up the prettiest blackmail scheme that ever was. She had pictures of everything and everybody and was getting ready to use them when Feeney Last in his visits to her room saw the damn things and wanted them himself.

Of course, how could it be any other way? A cheap gunman with big ideas who saw a way to cash in. But before he could do the job himself Nancy stepped out in front of a car and got herself killed. Maybe Feeney even had a guy trailing her to keep track of things, a guy who knew enough to take the ring off and stall identification. And why? Because when she was identified somebody else might get to the stuff first. The ring was an accident.

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 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 oh a chair. "You go to bed," I said, "we'll hold the wake some other night."

"Good night, Mike." She blew 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.