The Deep

Chapter Twelve

The old Dutch district had undergone a face change when they tore down the tenements ten years ago. They built a new housing development in the middle of it, moved the people back in and now they had a real, up-to-date tenement section. The people had never changed; they talked the same, they acted the same, they did the same. They voted as a bloc for whoever offered the most for their vote and cared little about what happened afterwards.

Hugh Peddle had bought their votes with no trouble at all. He was basically a machine politician, but lately had been pretty independent because he controlled a section big enough to be a critical factor in any election.

And the people loved him. He was a local Santa Claus who took care of his own even to living among them where he was right at hand to solve their immediate problems, which were his problems too. Hugh lived in a quiet corner apartment house that had, thirty years before, been a well thought of address. But times and conditions change and the block the building faced was scrubbed by a better section an eighth of a mile away and gradually blended into the rest of the environment and was accepted as part of the Dutch district.

The bartender thought Hugh owned the entire building. He lived, with a valet and a part-time maid, in what could be called a penthouse apartment if such a thing were possible in the neighborhood and had a private elevator to an entrance on the street. Below, the tenants were people well respected... two families employed by Con Ed, a city fireman, the manager of the grocery chain on the north corner and a wild red-headed artist who did a syndicated comic strip that was actually a biography of his own life.

I had a few more beers, paid the tab and walked out. It was exactly ten o’clock. Overhead a high overcast threw back the diffused glow of the city lights and there was a smell of rain in the air. It was like the night we had that rumble with the Delrays and Bennett and Augie had stopped the action when they fired a round from the zips Augie had fashioned in school that past week.

What the hell, was I getting sentimental too?

And I had that feeling again as if I thought of something and just as fast forgot it. A key thought. Damn. I put it away and walked toward Hugh Peddle’s building.

The lobby was small, walled with mirrors to make it seem larger. To one side a door with an EXIT sign above it led upstairs. Directly opposite the street doors was a self-service elevator.

I chose the stairway.

Each landing opened into a miniature foyer that had access to the elevator. The elevator itself was opened and empty at the final floor it served, but the stairway continued another flight. I followed it up, opened the door to a small flagstone terrace that ran around the penthouse and eased it closed behind me.

This side of the penthouse was flanked by curtained French windows facing the south. A pair of them seemed to be the type that swung out but I wanted to go around the place before I tried an entry. There was a door on the north side that evidently led into the kitchen area and on the west a rather elaborate entrance that opened onto a mock patio that held three fancy wrought-iron, marble-topped tables and matching chairs.

From there I could see a dull glow of light inside that would come from a night light or a small table lamp. It was too early to assume Peddle was there and asleep. The only conclusion was that he had gone out and given the servants the night off too.

The French doors on the south side were the easiest to open. A knife blade forced the simple drop catch up and I opened the doors, stepped inside and pulled them closed behind me.

From what I could see there was no simplicity in Peddle’s way of life. The neighborhood might be in that slow state of decay on the avenue below, but here there was no awareness of it. He was forced by political expediency to live where he made it, but he didn’t have to live like the others. Some things still could be bought no matter where you were.

Luxury, for instance.

I eased by the grand piano, followed the sweep of the room to the archway and paused. The light came from a room to my right and when I stepped into the hallway I saw what it was, a small table lamp in the far comer. I let the .38 drop back in the holster and walked quietly toward the light.

It was a library of a sort. Two walls were shelved with books, a TV stood at one end and heavy overstuffed leather chairs threw bulky shadows into the dim reaches of the room. I circled it, not touching anything, then crossed to the other side.

A polished mahogany bar curved out from the wall there, in back of it a blue tinted mirror and twin rows of bottles and glasses. One empty glass still rested there and when I picked it up the ice in the bottom clinked.

I had the gun out ahead of me when I reached the bedroom. The door was open and I could half see the bed. Somebody was lying on top of it unmoving and I took a step inside, feeling for the switch. In the sudden glare of the light I felt my heart slam against my ribs and knew I had mousetrapped myself like a damn fool sucker because the guy on the bed was tied down tight with a gag in his mouth and the snout of a gun was in my back against my spine.

A voice said coldly, “Drop it,” and I let the gun go.

The guy behind me prodded harder and I took two steps farther into the room.

“Turn around.”

I did.

I said, “Hello, Tony,” and the slack-faced killer who worked for the uptown crowd nodded distantly, not caring one way or another. There was another one, a few feet behind him and to his left and he had a small hammerless automatic in his hand and looked at me anxiously as though he hoped I was going to break in and run for it.

Then Lenny Sobel came in smiling, picked my gun off the floor, hefted it and put it in his pocket. He looked at me, his eyes deadly. “You carry a nice piece, Deep. That’s the one you took off the cop, isn’t it?”

“The same,” I said. He could drop dead before I’d take his jazz. “You should remember it, Lenny. I shot you twice with it. Both times in the same place.”

Tony let out a snicker but when Lenny glanced at him, cut it short. “I’ve been looking forward to this, Deep.”

“I bet you have.”

“Big mouth.”

“Always,” I told him.

Before Lenny could answer Tony said, “We better get outa here.”

“I’ll tell you when,” Lenny scowled.

The little hood did a Cagney with his shoulders. “Like hell. You work for the same guys I do. They said make it snappy and we’re making it snappy. We missed Peddle but we saved ourselves a trip and got this one so we’re halfway home. Let’s get back there.”

Lenny didn’t like to be reminded that he was under orders. His face was hard and black and every ounce of his hate was poured out at me. I wanted a bigger picture than I got so I made a motion toward the bed with the back of my head and said, “The butler’ll talk, Lenny.”

Tony spoke for him. “He never knew what hit him or who. It don’t matter.”

It didn’t make him mad at all. He half circled me and stood there a few seconds, then finally said, “You were looking for something, Deep?”

“Same thing you were, punk.”

He ignored the sarcasm. “If you were, then you knew Peddle would be away, and consequently probably knew where he was going.”

I knew the next step and got there ahead of him. “You can beat my head all day,” I said, “but it won’t do any good. I was here after Peddle. If you missed him, so did I.”

Lenny let the black hate seep out of him. “But I’m luckier than you. After Peddle we were going to find you. Peddle can’t hide, at least for long. We’ll have him quickly enough. Now you... that would have been another matter, but you made it easy for us.”

“I’m glad for you,” I said.

“You have two choices.”

“Oh?”

“You walk out of here quietly, and into a car quietly, and where we take you quietly.”

“Or?”

“Don’t be stupid. Not you, tough boy. Or we carry you out with a hole in your gut in the right place to slow you down some.”

There really wasn’t any choice at all. “I’ll walk,” I said. “Quietly.”

We all went down the private elevator to the street, walked fifty feet to the new tan Pontiac and got in like a bunch of old friends. Every move was professionally perfect and no one would ever have caught wise. If they had they would have died on the spot, but with the new regime of hoods it’s better not to have trouble.

I sat between the two hoods with my arms folded across my chest, feeling the blunt noses of the two rods against my side. In front, Lenny sat with the driver, his arm across the seat, looking back at me. He was enjoying every moment of it, getting rid of the dirty taste he had whenever he thought of the things I had done to him in the past.

The driver cut crosstown, picked up the West Side Drive and went up the ramp into traffic. They made no attempt to cover their route and that meant only one thing. I was going someplace... but I wasn’t coming back. I could hurry it or I could wait it out. They really didn’t care. The choice was still a singular one. I’d wait it out.

What were the odds? Augie was gone, Cat was gone. Nobody else knew where I was or what I had in mind. This time the mistake was mine for going it solo and it could be the last one I’d make. These were strictly pros now. They did only one thing. They were assigned to kill, that was all they knew and nothing could talk them out of it. They’d shoot as soon as talk and have a hot lunch after they dropped you in the river somewhere. They didn’t think, they didn’t want to think, and to them it was just one more job and one more dollar.

Lenny turned and smiled placidly. He was happy. I said, “Hurt, Lenny?”

He raised his eyebrows. “The way you’re perched on the seat. Thought maybe your ass hurt,” I said.

Tony snickered again.

Lenny said, “You’re going to be fun, Deep.”

“Think about it a little bit.”

He didn’t catch my meaning and his smile came off.

I said, “You’re too old for the rough stuff, man.”

“Not with you. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.”

“Then you should know better.”

Flatly, Tony cut in with, “You think he’s got an angle? He ain’t the kind not to cover hisself.”

“I think our boy forgot himself this time,” Lenny answered.

“You better be sure.”

Lenny nodded. “I’m sure. I’ve known him a long, long time.”

“He’s been away a long time too.”

“They never change, Tony. You should know that as well as I do. Isn’t that right, Deep?”

I shrugged.

Tony’s head swiveled on his shoulders like that of a praying mantis. He regarded me silently for a long time, then turned and said to Lenny, “If I was you I’d knock this guy off right now.”

“You’re not me, Tony.”

“So you’ll be wishin’ you did. Something tells me.”

“I’m telling you to shut up.”

Tony grunted something and was still. The one on the other side had taken it all in without batting an eyelash.

We turned off the West Side Highway at the bridge and angled back across town. In ten minutes we stopped in front of a closed restaurant a block away from Yankee Stadium and Tony nudged me with the gun. “Out,” he said.

The other one went first, his gun out of sight, but ready. Tony came behind me, the muzzle of his gun steering me toward the door beside the restaurant.

Lenny opened the door and said, “After you.”

There weren’t going to be many more chances after this one.

But Tony anticipated me by a full half second and the sound of his rod slamming against the side of my head was like that of a board being broken in half.

I could see my feet and they seemed miles away. They were together primly, the toes matching. The feet swam up closer and I saw why they were so neatly arranged. They had been tied like that. I had the sensation I was going to fall forward on my face and slowly I knew why I didn’t. My hands were tied behind the chair I sat on with just enough slack to let me hang away from it.

Lenny’s voice, sounding very fuzzy, said, “He’s coming out of it.”

Somebody else said, “Good. Hold that ammonia under his nose again.”

Harsh, acrid fumes caught in my throat and I choked, my eyes flooding with tears. I pulled back away from the smell and shook my head. The little gray man sitting in front of me smiled. “Welcome,” he said.

I blinked, trying to see him, and when my eyes cleared recognized his face. They called him Mr. Holiday and spoke softly in front of him. He represented the syndicate interest in New York but unless you knew it for sure you’d think he was simply somebody’s father. The others sitting comfortably around the room had equal, but different interests. Some of them had been at the meeting the night I walked in the K.O. Club. Now they were watching me in a detached, yet curious way. I was part of the obstacles of their business and had to be handled just so.

“You are all right?” Mr. Holiday asked me.

My head pounded and rather than talk I nodded once.

“Good. You know why you are here?”

This time I said no.

He made a face. “It really doesn’t matter. However, you know what we want.”

There wasn’t any sense playing games. “Bennett’s stuff.”

“Exactly.”

I raised my head and forced a grin. “You can’t get it from me. I haven’t got it.”

Holiday made a quick gesture with his pudgy hands. “That we shall be sure of.” He waved a finger over his shoulder. “Maxie... please.”

Maxie was a big fat guy with forearms like barrels. He walked up thoroughly enjoying what he had to do, looked at me clinically a moment, then whipped the back of his hand across my face. It came too fast to duck and before I could set myself the other one came at me from the other side. With open hands he almost tore my head off and when he stopped my mouth was full of blood from where my teeth were driven into my cheeks and my eyes began to puff out around the cheekbones.

Mr. Holiday said, “You can hear me, Deep?”

I bobbed my head.

“They tell me all about you. They tell me you are very tough. Too, they tell me how you used to make people talk, you and your friend Bennett. You know, naturally what will come next. You will talk or die very, very slowly.

Somehow I grated out, “I know the routine. It won’t do you any good.”

Lenny Sobel said, “He’s lying.”

“So? How do you know?”

“Because I remember how the two of them were. I know how they thought. Bennett left everything to this guy.”

“Wouldn’t he have produced it by now if he had?”

“Listen,” Sobel insisted, “you can’t tell what angle this one’ll play. With Bennett it was cut and dried, but you can’t tell with him. They’re both nuts. He knows where it is all right! Squeeze it out of him... he’ll talk.”

“Perhaps you have something to say, Deep?” Holiday said in such a kindly way it was hard to believe what he actually was.

“Hell, if you’re going to scratch me off, then do it.”

“We aren’t in a hurry. We have time, but you haven’t. It might be easier if you talked to us.”

Big Maxie said, “More, Mr. Holiday?”

Holiday held his hand up. “In a minute, perhaps. Maxie here is overly anxious. You should see what he can do with a cigar. Or old-fashioned stick matches. There are certain variations of the hotfoot... ah, well, that will come later.”

“It won’t... do any good,” I said. I managed to rock back and suck air deep into my lungs. I couldn’t feel my hands any more; the rope had bitten in too far and cut off the circulation.

“Obstinacy can be painful, Deep. It will be easier to talk.”

I shook my head to clear it but it only pounded harder. “Clue me,” I said.

Holiday smiled. “So, we begin. We shall start with the death of your friend. Who killed him?”

Gradually I brought my head up. “You did?”

“Certainly not us. That would be an unnecessary risk to run. Although Bennett was a nuisance factor to the organization over-all, he was better to pay off than aggravate. No, Deep, it was none of us. But maybe you have an idea.”

“I had Hugh Peddle in mind.”

Holiday nodded and smiled again. “Now there is a good thought. Friend Peddle has been growing in stature. He has been making large demands on the organization. He too was in Bennett’s hand. Had he been able to operate freely he could have been even more important, but Bennett held him back. Besides, Peddle is unscrupulous. I’m quite aware of what he would do if Bennett’s information were available to him. In fact, do you know what he tried to do to you?”

“Morrie Reeves and Lew James. He hired them to knock me off.”

“Right again. Luckily, he contracted for two men we could exert influence over and were able to hold them off a short while. We couldn’t take a chance on having that treasure of Bennett’s lie dormant somewhere to fall into the wrong hands. We had to know where it was. You know, we even warned Hugh, but he wouldn’t take our advice.

“The organization can’t afford to lose face. It held still for the bluff and bluster of Benny Mattick because there was a certain possibility that Benny, in his sneaky way, had managed to kill Bennett and uncover that information. In a way Hugh Peddle’s action was a challenge to the organization’s authority. We wanted you alive until something definite had been established. Did you or did you not have what we wanted.”

“Now you know,” I got out.

“Not yet. Not for sure.”

“So that’s why you were after Peddle?” I wanted to keep him talking.

Holiday knew what I was doing but didn’t seem to mind. “Hugh must be taught a lesson, one that he’ll remember. We had to erase a good man because of him. You shot Morrie and Lew just couldn’t be left around while he was wounded. Lew was a junkie and we couldn’t take a chance.”

“You know what happened to the guy you sent out?”

The smile disappeared. “We heard. Everything they ever said about you seems to be true.”

From the depths of a chair Lenny Sobel said, “You’re wasting time.”

“It’s less messy and a lot more quiet if we talk it out.”

“I don’t mind hearing him scream.”

Holiday’s tone was soft, but there was an edge there that ended the argument. “I mind,” he told Lenny. “Now,” he said with a change of expression, “back to you.”

I felt all hollow inside, dragged out. I could barely hold my head up. “Too many guys died. Augie... Cat... it’s not over yet.”

“You could stop it right now.”

“No... sorry. Nothing I can... say.”

“Mr. Holiday?” Lenny’s voice had a new note.

“What is it, Lenny?”

He got up, walked to me, grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. “We’ve been going about this all wrong. We’ve been going at it from the wrong end.” He slammed my head to one side and let an ugly smile etch his mouth.

“Explain yourself, Lenny.”

“The dame... Helen.”

“So?” Holiday’s eyes went from Lenny to me. My stomach turned queasy and my heart started hammering again.

Lenny said, “It’s so damn simple... so damn simple. She screwed all of us.” Lenny was getting a charge out of this now. He watched my face and saw the knife sink in a twist. He could read my mind and started to tear it apart piece by piece.

“Think about something... about Helen and Bennett. For two years she’s been playing that creep like a harp and that was all he ever talked about. He was so gone over that fluff he couldn’t see straight and don’t think she didn’t know what she was doing. Hell, she did it with me... finagled me into more crazy things than I could think of. So okay, I was a sucker too, but not that bad.”

“Get to the point,” Holiday said.

“Sure. The point is Bennett played up to her, played the big shot so big he had to prove it and gave her the lowdown on why he was what he was. You know how Bennett got on top. He was like a Hitler the way he worked it. Once he was there everybody thought he was good, but we know better. A dame could see through him too, so what would he do to show a dame how big he was?” Lenny nodded, intrigued by his own thought. “He’d show her the business. She was going to be part of it, be the Mrs., why the hell shouldn’t she know?”

“You’re crazy!” I shouted. “She wouldn’t go near that bum! Damn you, just try touching her and I’ll kill you, Sobel, so help me I’ll kill you!”

“Look who’s talking,” he said softly.

Mr. Holiday said, “It makes sense. Is there more?”

“Sure, and it ties in very nicely. You know the party Bennett was going to throw at the clubhouse? It was supposed to be a secret, but the word got around. That big mouth couldn’t keep still about anything. He was going to announce his engagement to Helen.”

Words came out of me that I couldn’t stop. I called him everything I could think of then slumped back, exhausted.

Holiday shook his head in sympathy. “Quite a violent reaction.”

“Sure,” Lenny said directly to me. “He was played for a sucker too. Bennett got knocked off before she could actually lay her hands on the stuff and she had to play along with Deep to see if he came up with it.”

Holiday stood up slowly, his face resigned. “And did you, Deep?”

Lenny answered for me. “Of course he did. He gave it to the girl to hold for him until he got all his contacts made and take care of the ones who could cause him trouble. That’s why he was looking for Hugh Peddle tonight.” He laughed deep in his chest. “Hugh owes us a favor. We saved him from getting knocked off.” He took my .38 out of his pocket and looked at me meaningfully.

Mr. Holiday walked across the room and picked up the phone. He dialed a number and without bothering to give his name, he said, “I want you to bring Helen Tate to me. Yes, that’s where we are. Just a moment. Lenny?”

Lenny called out her address and Holiday repeated it.

He put the phone down and made a motion toward another room. One by one they all filed out behind him and I heard them mixing drinks and laughing. Lenny Sobel was by far the loudest.

When the phone rang again Maxie answered it, took the message and when Mr. Holiday came back out he said, “The broad is gone, chief.”

“He say where?”

“No, but there’s a newsie outside the building who saw her leave and knew the guy she was with. It was Hugh Peddle.”

There was no feeling in me any more. Nothing.

“Does he know where they went?”

Maxie repeated the question, waited and a minute later said, “The newsie saw him flag a hack. The guy wasn’t cruising but was coming into the stand, and the newsie knows him. Says he’ll be back pretty soon to pick up some regular trade.”

“Tell him to find out where friend Peddle went to with the woman and to call back at once.”

Maxie passed it on and hung up.

“It seems as if the Councilman has followed your line of reasoning, Lenny. Things are beginning to look up.”

“That bastard!”

“But a smart one. He has ideas about taking over on both ends.”

“What are you going to do?” Lenny asked him.

“Me? Nothing. I’ll be in a respectable bar somewhere seen by a lot of people. But you, Lenny, that’s another matter. When that call comes in I want you to get Peddle. It’s your baby and you’re in charge. Chances are he took her someplace where he can squeeze it out of her.”

Holiday stopped there and said seriously, “Deep, you have a big feeling for that woman, don’t you?”

I didn’t answer, but he knew.

“You know what Peddle will do to her to get the information.”

“Damn it,” I grated, “she doesn’t know anything!”

“No, sucker?” Lenny’s face was a tight mask.

“Keep still, Lenny,” Holiday said sharply. To me, “If you know where he took her we might be able to help.”

Blankly, I shook my head. It was useless, absolutely useless.

“Then,” he added, “to get back to the original premise... if you know where this information is and reveal it, we’ll take care of Peddle but let the girl alone. Nothing can hurt us if we have that package.”

When I didn’t answer he shrugged, “Have it your own way.”

Maxie stepped forward, grinning broadly across his moon face. “Chief, you didn’t let me try. If I...”

“Don’t be silly. Deep here is in the same trap Benny Mattick was. He doesn’t know a thing. Isn’t that right, Deep? Of course it’s right. He would have spilled his guts to save that woman if he knew anything. You can see it plain as day in his face.”

And there it was. I could be destroyed at any time at no cost. They didn’t even have a choice to make now. The fact was simple. I had to die.

Holiday slipped into a raincoat and set a new Homburg on his head. He looked like a banker. He tapped Lenny’s chest for emphasis. “I want at least thirty minutes, then do what you want with him.” He waved a thumb at me. “Keep Tony and Ed here...”

“I don’t need them.”

“Do as you’re told.” He snapped. “When Peddle and the woman are located call one of our groups nearest the area and have them move in. I’ll see that they are all standing by. They’ll be informed to move only at your orders. It doesn’t make any difference what happens to either Peddle or the girl, just be sure you come back here with that information. Is that understood?”

Lenny felt surly about it, but agreed. “I’ll take care of it.”

At the door Holiday turned around and tipped his hat in my direction. “Very sorry about this, Deep. Try not to hold it against us. I know you realize there’s nothing personal about it. I really like you.”

I wanted to say something smart but there was too much going on inside me to find anything at all to say. I sat there tied up like a dummy and watched Mr. Holiday and his entourage file out the door, until only Tony, his silent partner and Lenny were left.

And Lenny was smiling. He pulled on a pair of gloves and worked them down his fingers.

Tony got up, stretched, and lit a cigarette. “I’m go-in’ down the comer for somethin’ to eat. I ain’t et all day.”

His partner spoke for the first time then. “Bring me back somethin’,” then walked into the bedroom. I heard the bed creak as he flopped down on it.

Lenny grinned wickedly and said, “I’ve been waiting for this a long time.”

I spat on the floor in front of him. “You’re too old, you pig. Your heart won’t take it.”

“We’ll see,” he said.

Then it began.