Shakedown for Murder - Ed Lacy

     “I know, old enough to be his mother.” I zipped up my windbreaker, “Well, thank you, Miss Endin.”

     “You understand, I want to help Jerry. But I don't know how I can.”

     She walked me to the door. I asked, “Was Mrs. Barnes still upset over the doc's seeing you every Friday?”

     “It was something they never talked about. I don't believe she really knew Edward.”

     “Would she be so upset as to murder him?”

     She stopped, stock-still. “Never! Not Priscilla, she could never do... that.”

     “I was only asking.” As she opened the door and the rain hit us, I said, “You have a nice piece of land, probably get ten thousand for it.”

     “Are you telling me to leave the Harbor?”

     I grinned. “I'm not the one to tell you anything. But there's a lot to do and see in New York, Frisco, Paris. It's a big world; you'd be surprised how tiny a speck End Harbor is on it. Well, if I think of anything else to ask, I'll call again.” I held out my hand. Her hand was firm and cool.

     I drove down Bay Street. It was nearly nine-thirty and I was bushed. A police car passed me, stopped. Chief Roberts stuck his over-handsome puss out as I slowed down. “Busy—busy, Mr. Peace Officer? Find any big clues, Mr. City Cop?” Satisfaction dripped from his voice.

     “Only that it's raining.”

     He turned a flash on my battered fenders. “What happened to your car?”

     “I've been running into a lot of blank walls today. Why didn't you tell me a Mr. Nelson visited the doc the night he was killed?”

     He showed all his white teeth in a grin. “I don't have to tell you a damn thing. Matter of fact, I sent Nelson to see Edward. He asked me about this old guy he was looking for, I suggested the doc might know about him, or maybe the post office. Any other questions, big shot?”

     I was too tired to think of anything. I told him, “Why don't you arrest yourself, Roberts, for obstructing justice?” and I drove off.

     He laughed at me.

     When I reached our cottage Bessie came running out and hugged me. I told her, “Watch it, you'll get dirty.”

     “Matt, where have you been all afternoon and evening? I've been worried sick. What happened? Did you find anything new?” Then she saw the car and: “Oh, my God, you were in an accident!”

     “Relax and let me get out of these wet clothes. Andy sleeping, I hope?”

     “Of course. He waited up to show you this.” On the dining room table there was a fine model of a cabin cruiser built from the kit I'd brought him. Matty, curled up on a chair, yawned and studied me with an arrogant cat-look. But when I poked his nose he licked my finger.

     “Tell me all about it,” Bessie said impatiently. “Are you hungry?”

     “I could use some food. Above all I need a good hot tub but I'll settle for a shower.” Going into my room I undressed quietly and even the mushy bed looked welcome. I put on a robe, watching Andy, the solid way he slept. When I came out Bessie said, “I'm making something special for you, fried chicken simmered in yogurt.”

     “I'm hungry enough to try anything,” I said, closing the bathroom door. I stood under the warm shower for a long time and felt human again. Wearing a sweater over my robe, I got a pipe going and sat at the table, examined the boat while Bessie cooked. “Andy do this himself? Fine job.”

     “Kids down the street helped him. Matt, do you want me to explode? What happened today?”

     I told her about seeing Mrs. Barnes, about the stranger named Nelson, about Mrs. Jenks, and about locating Jane Endin. I found myself talking a great deal about Jane, ended by saying, “A woman like that shouldn't ever be lonely, she looks so passionate.”

     Placing some food in front of me Bessie asked, “Can you tell if a woman is passionate by her looks?”

     “You can think she is,” I said, tearing into the chicken, which was out of this world. Bessie sat across the table, drinking tea and beaming at me, telling me what a great detective I was. I didn't contradict her; I was too busy eating.

     When I finished eating I insisted upon helping her with the dishes, although I was pooped. Bessie asked if I got the number of Chief Tom's truck. I told her, “I'll take care of fixing the car.”

     “Nonsense, I'm sure Danny's insurance covers it. Send him the bill and the license number of the truck.”

     “I was too mad to think straight. I didn't get the number. But I suppose I can get it tomorrow.”

     “Want me to ask this Jane over for supper tomorrow?”

     “Oh, for—cut it out. She may be a murderer.”

     “But from the way you talk...?”

     “Honey, what she said or what I think isn't proof. Now lay off about her.”

     “I like what you said about thinking a woman can look passionate. Do I look hot?”

     “Will you stop it? I'm tired.” Sometimes Bessie embarrassed me with her talk about sex. When I was coming up girls didn't talk like that.

     “I think it's a high compliment. Do I look hot, Matt?”

     “Like a firecracker—as you very well know.”

     She gave me a fast hug; the nice warm living odor of her body. “Want to know something, you've always looked the same way to me. For true.”

     “Stop it,” I said, afraid I was blushing.

     “I mean it. I often wonder, what do you do for a woman, Matt?”

     “What's that supposed to be, clever, sophisticated talk? Well, it isn't! And it's none of your business.” I felt as uneasy as a kid listening to his father trying to explain the facts of life.

     “Don't be prissy, and I'm certainly not trying to be clever. Why, if you looked thin I'd ask you what you were eating. A person needs sex the same way they need food and shelter.”

     “When I get in need for a woman, I find one!” I snapped, lying.

     “This Miss Endin sounds like something you ought to get next to.”

     “What's the matter with you? I'm an old man.”

     “Only in your mind. Dan and I worry about you. He wants you to marry again. Matt, you're hard and lean, | homely in a way that appeals to women. You could easily find plenty of women. You're not sixty yet, most men your age start chasing chippies. But you, if you'd stop being an old maid, forget that silly fat-assed cat and....”

     “I've had enough of this damn talk. I have no complaints about my sex life, never had!” I didn't realize I was talking so harshly until Bessie backed away. Changing the subject I asked, “Did you feed Matty?”

     “The pig ate two helpings of liver. What do you plan to do tomorrow, about Jerry?”

     “Oh, there's a lot to do,” I said, patting her cheek as we both grinned at each other. “I have to see what I can find out about this Mr. Nelson, maybe talk to him. And I want to learn more about Mrs. Jenks' sons, maybe snoop into Priscilla Barnes' background. I'm going to examine Jerry's car—if I can. Probably have a long talk with the lawyer Jerry hires. I'll be busy—busy all day doing....”

     A car pulled up in front of the cottage. We both looked out at the rain sparkling in the headlights. Bessie groaned. “I hope this isn't the summer plague—unexpected guests. They come barging in and expect you to put them up for the night like it was....”

     There were slow, tired steps on the porch until the door opened. Jerry stood there, blinking at the light. He looked haggard, sickly.

     For a long moment we didn't speak, then I whispered, “Lord help us—how did you break out?”

     “I came by to thank you both,” Jerry mumbled. “Now I go to my house and sleep. I sleep a long time. Yes, I need sleep.”

     Bessie raced over and kissed him, said something in Greek. He nodded and touched her face with his fingers, his eyes began to water.

     “How did you get out?” I asked, trying to keep my voice down.

     “Out?” He blinked stupidly, wiped his eyes with the back of a dirty hand. “It's over, they set me free. The District Attorney, the judge, the policemen, they told me to go. They found the real killer. Didn't you hear? They found the body of a man in a car out at Hampton Point. They told me he killed the doctor. Some man named Nelson.”

Chapter 5

     I was as stunned as if I'd stopped a haymaker with my chin. “Nelson is dead? Who killed him?”

     Jerry shrugged. “I do not know. Art Roberts and the police at Riverside were very excited. I'm not feeling well, so when they said they were sorry and I was free, I ask no questions and let them take me home. Now I come over to thank you, then I will go to my bed.”

     Bessie asked if he wanted something to eat, was he really sick, and Jerry said a good sleep would fix him up. I questioned him about Nelson but he didn't know a thing. I'd been tired before, now I felt exhausted, beat and old.

     Bessie said she would drive him home but Jerry said it wasn't necessary and pulled his glasses from his shirt pocket, as if proving something.

     When he left Bessie danced over to me. “Matt, you did it! You're the best policeman ever!”

     “I did what?” I felt like a terrible fool. That son-of-a-bitch Roberts must have known about the Nelson business, when he stopped me before. Matt, the big detective—the first-grade horse's end!

     “Why, you freed Jerry!”

     “All I did was race around in circles, chasing my tail.”

     “Nonsense. If you hadn't stirred things up, they never would have looked farther, Jerry would still be in jail. You're wonderful!”

     I shook myself. “I suppose that's one way of looking at it. Honey, I'm going to turn in... I'm tired.”

     “Get a good night's sleep. I'll see to it Andy is quiet in the morning.”

     “Okay.”

     Bessie blew a kiss at me. “Don't act so blase, you're tremendous. In a few hours you've solved everything. Say—I have to phone the news to Dan. I'll drive down to the store.”

     “Well, be careful, the lights aren't much good. Better wait until morning.”

     “Oh, no. I'll go to the Johnsons down the road, use their phone. You get your sleep.”

     I went to bed and started tossing and turning. I kept telling myself I had done a good day's work. What the hell, it was rough working against the police, even against hick cops. But I couldn't buy that; still felt like a fool. I'd been so tightly smug, bragged and shot off my big mouth... and all the time this comic-cop Roberts had found the killer. Or was this another cover-up? It did seem too convenient—no scandal, not even a phony trial for Jerry, a dead stranger did it! And who killed Nelson? Had Roberts gunned him to make the collar? That was far-fetched but the way they worked things around here... Lord, the D.A., and the magistrate sure let people in and out of jail easily here. Well, it wasn't my business any longer—it never had been.

     I had a headache. All Bessie's fine chicken stuck in my gut like a dead weight. For a time I lay in bed and listened to the rain, then I knew I couldn't sleep, got up and took a couple soda pills to settle my stomach, went back to the sack. Bessie came in, humming; I heard her wash up, go to bed. About a half hour went by and I was no nearer sleep. Without knowing exactly why, I felt defeated.

     Andy was breathing heavily in the next bed. I tried to think about my grandson, but think what? So I said the hell with it and took a long swig of brandy, damn near threw it up. But a few moments later I went off into a good sleep.

     I had a number of small dreams. In the last one I was out in a storm, the rowboat rocking like mad. I seemed about to capsize when I opened my eyes. Andy, in a bathing suit, was shaking me. The sun was starting to come through the bedroom window.

     I sat up, rubbed my face. I still felt lousy. “What time is it? Finally got us a nice day.”

     “Yes, Grandpa. Think we can get in some more fishing? It's almost seven-thirty.”

     “Seven-thirty? Bessie said she'd let me—damn it, Andy, did you wake me up to tell me about fishing?” I asked, angry.

     “No, sir. There's a policeman outside. He has something for you.”

     I put on a robe and nodded to Bessie, washing up in the bathroom. She should have closed the door, the sun silhouetted her figure against her short nightgown.

     End Harbor's one police car was parked outside and a cop I'd never seen before, a stocky joker about thirty, waved a letter at me. “Special delivery.”

     “A special?” Then I remembered, Nat and his credit report. “You fellows deliver mail, too?”

     He was looking me over; I guess I didn't look like much. “I heard a lot about you—big city cop. Yeah, when we're cruising around we deliver specials and telegrams.”

     “They nab whoever killed Nelson?”

     “It was a suicide. Found the gun right in his lap, I hear. He had a gun permit, too.”

     “What makes him the doc's killer?”

     “Found the doc's scarf in the glove compartment Doc was wearing the scarf the night he was killed.”

     “Roberts said nothing was missing.”

     “Mrs. Barnes didn't remember he was wearing a scarf until we—I mean the Hampton Point police—found it.”

     “What's the tie-up between Nelson and the doctor?”

     He shrugged. “We don't know—yet. But having the dead man's scarf in his car proves he saw the doc last. That's why he probably killed himself, sense of guilt.”

     I wanted to ask more questions but told myself to mind my own business. I thanked him for the letter, wondered if he expected a tip, went back inside.