Vanishing Ladies

Chapter fifteen

I felt like a private eye.

Only private eyes get hit on the head. They feel ‘blackness closing in’, or ‘consciousness going down the drain’. Or they feel ‘the lights going out’. Private eyes are always getting hit on the head. It’s a wonder their skulls don’t look like sieves.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been hit on the head with a wrench. Hezekiah hit me with a wrench. In books, in the movies, you get hit on the head with a wrench and you go unconscious and when you wake up you feel a little dizzy. Otherwise, you’re fine. You just missed a little bit of the action, but everybody is in a big hurry to fill you in.

I would like to correct this false impression.

The skull, even if it is a hard one like mine, is a pretty vulnerable thing. If you get hit with a wrench, or a bottle, or a hammer, or a chair, or a club, or a shoe, or whatever, you don’t just drift off into a peaceful sleep. Bang your head sometime by accident and see how quickly the bump rises. Then add the force of a man’s arm and shoulder to the blow, add the terrible impact of a piece of forged steel.

Your head cracks.

The hair cushions the blow only slightly, and then the steel splits the skin and opens your skull, and if you’re lucky you don’t suffer a brain concussion. If you’re lucky, you bleed. Your head aches, and you bleed. You bleed down the side of your face, and down the side of your neck, and under your shirt collar. There is a hole in your head, and your blood runs out of it, and when you finally come to, the blood is caked and dried on your temple and your cheek and your neck.

You squint up at the light, and you feel only a terrible pain somewhere at the top of your head. You can’t even localize the pain, because your whole head seems to be in a vice, your whole head is pounding and throbbing. This is the hangover supreme. This is the prince of all hangovers, and you don’t laugh it off and drink a glass of tomato juice. There’s nothing to laugh about. You’ve been hit on the head, and the chair didn’t shatter the way it does in the movies — but your head did.

The light was a naked bulb suspended from a long thin wire. It hung motionless in the center of the room, a feeble sun that assailed my eyes when I opened them. I blinked. My head ached, and my leg throbbed, and I remembered the snake bite, and I could feel crusted dried blood on my face and on my trouser leg. I was sitting in a chair. I tried to get out of the chair, but my hands were tied behind it, and my legs were tied to the chair legs.

A girl was sitting opposite me.

The girl was a pretty brunette. Her eyes were wide with concern.

‘Thank God,’ she whispered.

I blinked at her.

‘I thought you were dead,’ she said.

I blinked again. The girl was tied, too. She wore a white cotton dress and straw pumps with lucite heels. She was very pretty, a big girl, a big girl tied in a small chair, the light hanging motionless over her head.

‘Are you all right?’ she asked.

I tried to talk but nothing came to my mouth. I cleared my throat. ‘Yes, I’m fine,’ I said.

‘I’m Ann,’ the girl said.

It sounded like a vaudeville routine. ‘Are you all right?’ ‘Yes, I’m fine.’ ‘How do you do; I’m Katz.’

‘How do you do; I’m Katz,’ I said.

The girl looked puzzled. ‘Aren’t... aren’t you Tony Mitchell?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I got bit by a snake.’

‘It wasn’t poisonous,’ the girl said. ‘They were talking about it. One of them said it was better this way, and then another said there weren’t any poisonous snakes in the area.’

‘My head hurts,’ I said.

‘You look awful.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Is Phil all right?’

‘Phil?’

‘Yes. Don’t you...?’

‘Phil,’ I said. ‘Jesus, are you Ann?’

‘Yes, I told you...’

‘Forgive me.’

‘It’s all right. I was afraid you were dead. You were bleeding so badly when they carried you in.’

Who carried me in?’

‘A short fat man, and a tall—’

‘Barter and Hezekiah,’ I grinned. ‘It sounds like a law firm.’

‘Is Phil all right?’

‘He’s fine. I’m Katz. Forgive me, I’m dizzy. My head hurts. I’m supposed to call him. He’s worried about you.’

‘I’m fine,’ Ann said.

‘Not again, please.’

‘Not what again?’

‘Nothing. Where are we?’

‘In Davistown.’

‘Where in Davistown?’

‘Somebody’s apartment. A man they call Joe.’

‘Joe Carlisle?’

‘I don’t know. They didn’t say his last name.’

‘How’d you get here?’

‘By train. And by taxi.’

‘When?’

‘This morning.’

‘What time is it now, anyway?’

‘It’s almost midnight.’

‘I’m supposed to call Phil.’ I paused. ‘They brought you here this morning, huh?’

‘Yes. When my dress dried.’

‘When your what?’

‘My dress.’

‘That’s what I thought you said.’ I blinked. ‘Maybe you better start with when they took you out of the cabin.’

‘I was fast asleep,’ Ann said. ‘They came in, two of them, the short one and... Barter, is that his name?’

‘Yes.’

‘Barter and the blonde. Stephanie.’

‘Go ahead.’

‘They took me out of bed, and then a truck came out of the woods. The tall one, Hezekiah, was driving it. They put me into the back of the truck. That’s how I got the blood on my dress. Somewhere in the truck.’

‘Where’d they take you?’

‘To Hezekiah’s place. He lives on a road somewhere near the motel. It wasn’t a very long trip.’

‘Then what?’

‘They made a phone call. Stephanie made it. To this man, Joe. They told him to get over to Hez’s place right away. When she got off the phone, Barter said “Good. When he gets here, you go back to the motel, get some clothes and some luggage, and get into that cabin.”I guess he meant the cabin they’d taken me from.’

‘Yes, yes.’

‘Joe arrived about a half-hour later, and he and Stephanie drove off in the Cadillac. They had me tied in the bedroom. Barter and Hezekiah left, too, but Hez had trouble starting his car. It’s a very old car.’

‘They left the truck at Hez’s place?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you see anything else in the truck?’

‘No. Was there anything else?’

‘I don’t know. Go ahead, what happened next?’

‘They came for me early the next morning. Stephanie saw the blood on my dress, and she washed it out. We waited until it dried before we left.’

‘Where’d you go?’

‘To Sullivan’s Corners. Stephanie drove us in the Cadillac’

‘Us?’

‘The redhead and me. Blanche. She looked like a slut.’

‘She was.’

‘She had on the most horrible purple dress. Stephanie was dressed garishly, too. A bright red dress. We made quite an interesting trio.’

‘I’ll bet you did. What happened then?’

‘We stopped for coffee in town. Blanche had a gun. She was carrying a white stole over her arm, covering the gun. They said they’d shoot me if I spoke to anyone.’

‘So you kept quiet?’

‘I kept quiet. Was that wrong?’

‘That was very right. Then what?’

‘Then we went to the train station. We walked right down the main street. I guess we attracted quite a bit of attention. Stephanie bought two tickets to Davistown. The redhead and I got on the train when it pulled in. She still had the gun in her hand, under the stole.’

‘What time was this?’

‘About nine-thirty or so.’

‘Go ahead.’

‘When we got to Davistown, we took a cab here. This man Joe tied me up. Blanche said she was going back to Sullivan’s Corners.’

‘Have you got any idea why you’re here?’

‘No,’ Ann said. ‘But they haven’t harmed me in any way. I mean, except for Joe’s hands...’ Ann paused. ‘He’s got hands,’ she said.

‘It’s the company he keeps,’ I told her. ‘Did you happen to run into a girl named Lois?’

‘No.’

‘I didn’t think so.’ I paused, thinking, ‘How’d you know who I was?’

‘There was a phone call earlier tonight. Joe took it. I heard him say ‘Who?’ and then he said, ‘Tony Mitchell? No, I don’t know any Tony Mitchell.’ When they brought you in... well, Phil’s described you so many times.’

‘I see. That phone call accounts for the knock on the head. They knew who I was the second time around.’

‘What’s going on, Tony? Do you know?’

‘I’ve got an idea,’ I said. ‘I just hope that Phil gets the same idea.’

‘Do you think—?’

The door opened. Stephanie Barter and her husband came into the room. A tall thin man was behind them. He had blue eyes and brown hair, and he was grinning.

‘How’s your head, Detective Mitchell?’ Stephanie asked.

‘Still on my shoulders, thanks,’ I said.

‘Hez should have hit you harder,’ Barter said. ‘We didn’t know you were a cop when he hit you. We didn’t find that out until we went through your wallet.’

‘And now that you know?’

‘It depends on how much you know, Mitchell.’

‘I don’t know anything. I came here to help a friend find his girl. I’ve found her.’

‘You also found a lot of trouble.’

‘None that I can see. Let us go, and then you can go back to your damn whorehouse.’

‘I don’t like profanity,’ Stephanie said.

‘The hell with that. I don’t like getting hit on the head by—’

‘Watch the way you talk,’ the tall thin man said.

‘You’re Joe, I take it.’

‘I’m Joe,’ he said.

‘Your trip last night can cause you a lot of accessory-after trouble, Joe.’

‘Accessory after what?’ Stephanie asked.

I smiled. ‘The fact, naturally.’

‘What fact?’

‘I have no idea,’ I said.

‘I’ll bet you don’t,’ Barter answered. ‘It doesn’t make any difference anyhow. You’re in this too deep already.’

‘In what?’

Barter turned to Stephanie. ‘In a damn stupid setup that was none of my—’

‘Shut your foul mouth,’ Stephanie snapped. ‘You’re as much to blame—’

‘If you hadn’t—’

‘Shut up!’

Barter clamped his mouth shut. He was either afraid of Stephanie, or afraid he was about to say too much in my presence.

‘All right,’ he said at last. ‘They’re your guests. What do we do with them?’

‘We wait for the other two,’ Stephanie said.

‘And then what?’

‘You know what.’

‘That’s what I don’t like about this,’ Barter said. ‘All because -

‘Shut up!’

‘I won’t shut up. Goddamnit, why should...?’

Stephanie slapped him suddenly and fiercely. ‘You’re filthy,’ she said. ‘You’re filthy and slimy.’ She came closer to him, and Barter shrank away as if he were expecting another blow. ‘Get out of here. Get out of this room. I haven’t forgotten, you slimy...’

‘Take it easy, Steph,’ Carlisle said.

‘Get him out of here,’ she answered. Her voice was a deadly cold whisper. Carlisle took Barter’s elbow and led him to the door. At the door, Barter turned as if he wanted to say something. Then he shook his head and went out, Carlisle after him.

‘You shouldn’t have played games with me, Mitchell,’ Stephanie said.

‘How do you know I was playing?’

‘And don’t play with me now!’ she snapped. There was anger in her eyes, and impatience. Together, they were a fearful combination. The lady had something eating her, and she wouldn’t be happy until the last bite was swallowed.

‘When does the party begin?’ I asked.

‘As far as you’re concerned,’ she said, ‘the party’s over.’

‘Who are the other two we’re waiting for?’

‘You guess.’

‘Offhand, I’d say Phil Colby and a fellow named Simms.’

‘That’s right,’ Stephanie said somewhat proudly. I didn’t know whether she was proud of my deductive ability or of her own scheming.

‘And when they get here?’

‘You tell it. You tell stories beautifully.’

‘You kill us,’ I said simply.

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘Why?’

Stephanie didn’t answer. She kept watching me with a small smile on her mouth.

‘You’re going to a lot of trouble for a simple thing like abduction, aren’t you?’

‘There’s a little more than abduction involved,’ Stephanie said. ‘Just a little more than that.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like a million-dollar business. Do you know how much a million dollars is? In a hick town like Sullivan’s Corners? I can’t let that be washed away.’

‘Who’s going to wash it away?’

‘Any number of people,’ she said. ‘But especially you four.’

‘What could we do?’

‘There’s a district attorney in this state,’ Stephanie said. ‘A smart cop would know where to find him.’

‘A smarter cop could know when the quiet payoff is due. A cop like that might want to trade his life for silence.’

She looked at me steadily. ‘Only one thing wrong there,’ she said.

‘What’s that?’

‘You’re not that kind of a cop.’

‘Try me,’ I said.

‘And wind up with another broken contract? Sorry.’

‘You’d rather do murder, huh?’

Stephanie didn’t answer.

‘You’d be wasting your time, anyway,’ I said. ‘The lieutenant at my precinct knows the whole story.’ Actually, he didn’t know the whole story, but Stephanie didn’t know that, and I was grabbing for straws.

‘Let him come after you,’ Stephanie said.

‘He’s a stubborn guy. He’s just liable to do it.’

‘Let him. He’ll find an automobile accident.’

A what?’

‘A car that skidded into the lake or over the gorge. A car with four occupants. You, the girl, Colby, and Simms.’

Ann drew in a sharp breath.

‘It’d never work,’ I told Stephanie.

‘I’ll chance it. You don’t throw away something you’ve worked for all your life, Mitchell. You hold onto it.’

‘There’s just one thing I’d like to hold onto,’ I said.

‘What?’

‘My life.’

Stephanie smiled. ‘You can be cute. It’s a shame.’

‘It’s a damn shame,’ I agreed.

‘If you’re going to start swearing,’ Stephanie began, and I said, ‘Oh, shit!’

The smile dropped from her mouth.

‘They’re looking for the other two now,’ she said tightly. ‘It shouldn’t be too difficult to find them.’

‘It might be a little more difficult than it was with me.’

‘Why?’

‘Those two haven’t been bitten by snakes.’