Nemesis

Chapter VII

He was looking for a match when he found it. He was still standing at the corner of Canal and Madison, an unlighted cigarette in his lips when he found the match folder on which the dice girl had scribbled her phone number.

He stared at it for a moment, trying to assimilate all the things it meant. First, he wasn’t crazy. Second, he had been in the Kicking Horse, had talked to the girl named Corinne.

And both Tonelli and the bartender had lied about it. They were trying to convince him he had been drunk. And they had both known he wasn’t. Why? That was a big why.

He turned into a drugstore. He knew a number, maintained by the telephone company for the use of its maintenance crews which would give the street address of any listed telephone number.

He dialed it, gave the operator the dice girl’s telephone number and in a few seconds she gave him the address of the phone. It was on the North side, near Wilson avenue. He thanked her and hung up.

He went outside and looked for a cab. He felt a queer feeling of excitement. He felt he had finally succeeded in clutching one of the ravelled ends of this mystery.

Where it led he had no idea. But it was something. The shadows were taking form. Soon there might be something tangible in his hands.

A cab stopped and he climbed in and gave the driver the address on the North side. His hands were shaking as he lit a cigarette...

The house was a six-flat, brownstone front, with bay windows and an incongruously ornate canopy leading from the curb to the doorway. A flight of worn steps led to the double glass doors.

He paid the driver and went up the steps. It was ten thirty by his wrist watch.

The lobby had a vaguely dirty smell. There were a few overstuffed chairs, a phony marble fireplace and a worn wooden floor needed a good a good scrubbing.

The desk clerk was a tired old man with white hair, and over worked adam’s apple and rheumy blue eyes.

“I want to see Corinne,” Larry said.

The old man looked at him. “Corinne who?”

“How the hell do I know,” Larry said. “She gave me her phone number and address. I don’t need her last name. I’m not going to introduce her to anybody.”

The old man grinned crookedly. “Corinne ain’t as bad as some of them. But you guys are all the same. A dame is just something to kick around, treat like dirt. You wouldn’t do it to your wives ’cause you’re scared. That’s why you chase these tramps around. But Corinne ain’t no tramp. Her room is three ten. If she gave you her number it’s because she likes you.”

“Thanks,” Larry said.

He crossed the lobby to the self-service elevator and went up to the third floor. Three ten was three doors from the elevator.

He knocked and waited. A moment later he heard light footsteps and then the door opened.

She didn’t recognize him at first. When she did she tried to slam the door. But he got his foot in the way.

“I want to talk to you, Corinne,” he said.

“I got nothing to say,” she said. She was panting and her face looked pinched and scared. “You’re poison. Get out of here and let me alone.”

He pushed the door open, stepped in and swung it shut behind him. She backed away from him, her eyes wide with terror.

“Get out of here!” she whispered.

“Not until we talk a little,” he said.

The room was shabbily furnished. There were a few chairs with worn upholstery, a day bed with a red quilt thrown over it, and a dusty gray rug. A lamp was on above the day bed and there was an open magazine on the floor.

He sat on one of the chairs and pulled out his cigarettes. He offered her the pack and she refused with a jerk of her head. She was wearing a faded blue silk house coat and blue slippers. Her dark hair was drawn into a bun at the nape of her neck and her skin, without make-up, was white and drawn.

“I’m sorry I barged in,” he said. “But I’ve got to talk to you. I want to know who that girl was I met in the Kicking Horse last night. And why you quit so suddenly. And why Tonelli lied to me about it.”

“You saw Tonelli?” her voice was still a whisper.

“Just left him,” Larry said. “He claims you never worked there.”

“You fool! You simple fool! What are you sticking your neck out for? You’re out of it now. Stay out of it. Get out of here and forget you ever saw me.”

She spoke in a tense, frightened voice that was close to the breaking point of hysteria.

“I can’t,” Larry said. “That girl I met in the Kicking Horse was murdered last night. Somebody tried to pin it on me. But it didn’t work.”

The girl sat down on the day bed as if her legs had lost their strength. She stared dully at him. “Murdered? Velma dead?”

“Her name was Velma?”

“Yes.” She answered like a person in a daze. “Velma Dare.”

“Who was she?”

Corinne stood up suddenly. “Get out of here!” she screamed suddenly. “You’re dragging me into this too. I didn’t know what it was. You’re poison.”

He stood up then and gripped her shoulders.

“Corinne,” he said urgently, “listen to me, for God’s sake. I’m behind the biggest eight ball in the world unless I get some help. I’m not trying to get you in trouble. That’s the last thing I want. But I’ve got to get some answers.”

For a moment she stared at him, trying to twist her shoulders away from his grip, and then she began to cry, soundlessly, and her shoulders went limp under his hands. He pulled her to him, until her face was buried against his coat.

“I didn’t know it was murder,” she whispered. “I knew it was bad, but nothing like that.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I don’t know much. Tonelli gave me a thousand dollars last night and told me to leave town. He told me you were in some kind of trouble and we had to pretend you’d never been to the Kicking Horse. He didn’t tell me any more. Just to get out. And to get lost. In a hurry.”

“Who was Velma Dare?”

“I can’t tell you. Oh, please get out now. Tonelli isn’t an easy guy. If he ever learns I talked to you I wouldn’t have a chance.”

“Where did Velma live?”

“She lived with a friend of hers. In the Wilshire apartments. Occasionally, that is.”

“What do you mean, ‘occasionally’? What else did she do?”

“When did you leave kindergarten?” she said. She was starting to laugh and cry. She broke away from him and sank down on the day bed. “God, that’s funny. A baby like you chasing around after these people. They’ll slice you in thin strips and serve you in Martinis. Get out! Do you hear me? Get out!”

The Wilshire apartments...

Larry had what he came for. He patted her on the shoulder and left. Downstairs the room clerk looked at him in surprise.

“You was quick,” he said.

“Yeah,” Larry said.