1953 - I'll Bury My Dead (6 page)

‘Go ahead and open it,’ English said.

Chuck took out a small metal lever from his pocket, inserted it into the lock, fiddled for a moment, then pushed open the door.

English stepped into a neatly kept sitting room - small, well-furnished and bright with spring flowers.

‘Is anyone here?’ he called, raising his voice.

He waited in silence, then crossed the room and knocked on a door facing him.

Chuck entered the room and quietly shut the front door.

English knocked again, then opened the door and looked into a darkened room. Enough light filtered through the drawn curtains to show him that it was a bedroom. He looked toward the bed; it was empty and the blankets were thrown back.

‘I believe she’s out,’ he said to Chuck.

‘Maybe she’s having a bath,’ Chuck said. ‘Want me to go and see?’

English ignored his eagerness and moved into the bedroom, turning on the light as he did so.

He came to an abrupt standstill.

To the right of the door leading into the bedroom was another door. Against this door, and hanging by a white silk cord which had been thrown over the top of the door and fastened to something on the other side, was the body of a dark haired girl in her early twenties. She was wearing a white silk dressing gown that hung open to show a blue nylon nightdress. What beauty she might have had was spoilt now by her waxen colour and her swollen tongue that protruded

from her open mouth. Dried blood made a red thread from her nose to her chin. Chuck drew in a sharp breath.

‘Holy mackerel! What did she want to do that for?’ he said in a tight, low voice.

English went over to her and touched her hand.

‘She’s been dead about seven hours at a guess,’ he said. ‘This is getting complicated, Chuck.’

Chuck came and stood at his side, his eyes appraising the dead girl.

‘It sure is,’ he said, then went on, ‘That’s exactly the kind of nightie I want my girl to wear, but she won’t wear anything but pyjamas.’

English wasn’t listening. He stood staring at the dead girl, his mind busy.

‘We’d better get out of here, boss,’ Chuck said after a long silence.

‘Shut up, will you?’ English snapped, and began to move around the room.

Chuck went over to the door and waited, his small, hard eyes on English.

‘On the mantel, boss,’ he said suddenly.

English looked at the mantel. Among the usual junk people keep on mantels was a silver-framed photograph of his brother Roy.

He picked it up.

Written in white ink across the lower part of the photograph in his brother’s big sprawling hand was the legend: “Look at me sometimes, darling, and remember what we’re going to be to each other. Roy.”

English swore softly under his breath.

‘So he had to fall in love with her!’ He looked over at Chuck. ‘He’s certain to have written to her. His kind always does. Get busy and see if you can find any letters.’

Chuck went into action smoothly, quickly and with professional thoroughness.

English stood aside and watched him go through the various drawers and cupboards in the room. In a very short time Chuck had unearthed a packet of letters done up in blue ribbon which he handed to English, and then continued his search.

English glanced through the letters, recognizing his brother’s handwriting. He had only to read two or three of them to know that Roy and Mary had been passionately in love with each other, and that Roy had been planning to leave Corrine and go away with Mary.

With a wry grimace, he shoved the letters in his pocket as Chuck closed the last drawer.

‘That’s the lot in here, boss.’

‘Take a look in the other room,’ English said, and when Chuck left the bedroom he picked up the framed photograph of his brother and dropped it into his pocket.

Five minutes later, English and Chuck left the apartment, went down the stairs and walked to the car.

‘The office, and snap it up,’ English said as he climbed to the car. ‘And keep your mouth shut about this, Chuck.’

Chuck inclined his head, slid under the steering wheel and sent the Cadillac shooting down the road.

II

T
he intercom on English’s vast mahogany desk buzzed into life, and reaching forward, he pressed down the switch.

‘Mr. Crail is here, Mr. English,’ Lois told him.

‘Send him in, and when he’s gone, come in yourself,’ English said, and pushed back his chair.

A moment later the door opened and Sam Crail came in.

Crail was nearly as tall as English, and immensely fat. His hair was black and thick and smoothly oiled. His complexion was pallid and his eyes sharp and beady. His smooth, fat jowls were blue with constant shaving, and his pudgy hands were hairy, his nails immaculately manicured.

Although his appearance wasn’t prepossessing, he was the smartest attorney in town, and had handled all English’s legal work ever since English had begun to climb.

‘Hello, Nick,’ he said as he pulled up a chair. ‘This is a bad business.’

English grunted, pushed his cigar box across the desk and eyed Crail speculatively.

‘How’s Corrine?’ he asked abruptly.

Crail grimaced. He selected a cigar, pierced it with a gold cigar pin, lit it and blew smoke to the ceiling.

‘She’s difficult, Nick, and she’s going to make trouble.’

‘No she isn’t,’ English said shortly. ‘What do you imagine you’re on my payroll for? It’s your job to stop her making trouble.’

‘What do you think I’ve been doing ever since I got there last night?’ Crail said a little heatedly. ‘But she won’t play. Her story is Roy is in debt. He came to you for money, and you threw him out.’

English snorted.

‘He came to me for a loan six months ago,’ he said. ‘That’s not much of a story. Why didn’t he shoot himself sooner?’

‘She maintains he came to you the day before yesterday.’

‘Then she’s lying.’

‘Roy told her he came to you.’

‘Then he was lying.’

Crail examined the cigar thoughtfully.

‘Might be difficult to prove, Nick. The press are only waiting for something to break. She says because you wouldn’t help him, he had to go to some of his old clients to raise the wind. One of them phoned the police. She says you told the police commissioner to withdraw Roy’s licence. With no future in front of him, he shot himself. Her story makes you directly responsible for his death.’

English frowned.

‘Did Roy tell her this or is she making it up on her own initiative?’

‘She says Roy told her, and that’s the story she’s going to tell the coroner. The inquest’s in an hour, Nick.’

‘Yeah.’ English stood up and paced over to the window. ‘She doesn’t like me, does she?’

‘No, I guess she doesn’t. She says her life’s ruined, and she doesn’t see why yours shouldn’t be either.’

‘The fool! Why does she think my life would be ruined by a yarn like this?’ English said, turning from the window. ‘What put that idea into her empty head?’

Crail shrugged.

‘It wouldn’t ruin you Nick, but it would cause a stink. People think you are rolling in money. Public opinion is a dangerous thing to come up against. She says Roy wanted four thousand to get him out of his mess. Four thousand wouldn’t have scratched your pile. She could make it sound pretty sordid, Nick.’

‘He wanted ten thousand and he wouldn’t tell me why,’ English said. ‘I turned him down because I thought it was time he stopped sponging on me. He would have kept on and on if I hadn’t shown him he couldn’t come to me whenever he ran short of money. Look at the way he was living. He didn’t attempt to economize. Why the hell should I keep him and his wife?’

‘Sure,’ Crail said, ‘but now he’s shot himself, he gets the sympathy. This could put paid to the hospital idea, Nick. They are only waiting for an excuse to double-cross you.’

‘I know.’ English came back to the desk. ‘Now listen, the story is that Roy was overworking. The business was a disappointment. He tried to hold it together, but it was too much for him. Instead of coming to me, he tried to handle it himself, cracked under the strain and shot himself. That’s the story I’ve given the press this morning, and that’s the story you are going to give the coroner. Corrine will go with you and say amen.’

Crail looked startled.

‘She won’t do it. I’ve talked to her, and I know. She’s made up her mind to be difficult.’

‘She’ll do it,’ English returned, his voice hardening. ‘If she doesn’t like that story, then I’ll give the press another she’ll like a lot less. Roy had a secretary; a girl named Mary Savitt. They were lovers. They planned to run away together, and leave Corrine out on a limb. Something went wrong; probably Roy couldn’t get enough money to quit. Being the weakling he was, he shot himself. The girl must have gone to the office and found him. She went home and hanged herself.’

Crail stared at him.

‘Hanged herself?’

‘Yes. I went to talk to her this morning, and found her dead. No one knows yet. Sooner or later they’ll find her, but I’m hoping the inquest will be over before they do.’

‘Did anyone see you there?’ Crail asked anxiously.

‘I was seen going up the stairs. My story is I rang on the bell, and getting no answer, assumed she had gone down to the office.’

‘Are you sure they were lovers?’

English opened a drawer, took out the photograph he had found in Mary Savitt’s bedroom and pushed it across the desk. He tossed the packet of letters into Crail’s lap.

‘There’s all the proof. If Corrine thinks she can mess up my pitch by telling a snivelling yarn like this, she’s got another think coming. Tell her to toe the line or this muck goes to the press.’

Crail paused long enough to read two or three of the letters, then he put them in his briefcase, together with the photograph.

‘This is going to be a shock to her, Nick,’ he said slowly. ‘She was crazy about Roy.’

English regarded him, his eyes hard.

‘She doesn’t have to know. That’s up to you. Persuade her to toe the line if you’re all that anxious to spare her feelings.’

‘I guess she’ll have to see these letters,’ Crail said. ‘All the same I don’t like it.’

‘You don’t have to do the job,’ English said. ‘I can always get another attorney, Sam.’

Crail shrugged his fat shoulders.

‘Oh, I’ll do it,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t like to be as hard as you are, Nick.’

‘Let’s skip the sentiment. Did Roy leave a will?’

‘Yes. He left everything to Corrine. As far as I can see it amounts to a flock of debts. He had a safe deposit, and I hold the key. I haven’t had time to examine it, but I don’t reckon to find anything in it.’

‘Let me know how his estate stands before you tell Corrine,’ English said. ‘We could arrange to find an insurance policy in his safe deposit. Fix it that she has a couple of hundred bucks a week for life. I’ll pay.’

Crail grinned.

‘Who’s going soft now?’ he asked, getting to his feet.

‘Get over to the coroner’s office,’ English said curtly, ‘and make that story stand up.’

‘I’ll make it stand up,’ Crail said, nodded and crossed the room to the door. ‘I’ll call you as soon as it’s over.’

III

A
minute or so after Crail had gone, Lois left her desk, crossed the room to English’s office door and tapped as she opened it. English was staring at his cigar with cold, brooding eyes. He looked up and gave her a little nod.

‘Come on in and sit down,’ he said, and hunched his massive shoulders as he leaned across the desk. ‘What time did you get to bed this morning?’

Lois smiled as she pulled up a chair to the desk and sat down.

‘It was after four, but I don’t need much sleep.’

‘Nonsense. Of course you do. Go home after lunch and go to bed.’

‘But really, Mr. English. . .’ she began.

‘That’s an order,’ he broke in curtly. ‘Let the work wait. You’re always working. Let Harry do what’s necessary.’

‘Harry was late, too,’ she reminded him quietly. ‘It’s all right, Mr. English. I’m not a bit tired. We’re working on the fight figures.’

English ran his fingers through his dark hair and scowled.

‘Damn it! I’d forgotten about the fight. What was the take?’

‘Harry will have the figures for you in about half an hour.’

‘Good. Now about last night. What did you think of the setup there?’

‘Not much, Mr. English. I went through all the files. There’s been no new business since August.’

English frowned.

‘Are you sure? Let’s see, I bought the business for him in March, didn’t I?’

‘Yes, Mr. English. I’ve found correspondence dated up to July 31st, but nothing since then.’

‘What was he doing then for the past nine months?’

Lois shook her head.

‘The place might just as well have been closed. Nothing came in, and nothing went out. At least, there are no copies of letters in the files.’

English rubbed his jaw thoughtfully.

‘How about his cases? Did he keep any record of those?’

‘He handled eighteen cases from April to the end of July. Twelve of them were divorce cases, three missing people cases and three husband-and-wife watching. But after the end of July there are no records of him having any other cases.’

‘What about his books?’

‘There was a set in the safe. I took copies of the details from March to July. I thought the police mightn’t like it if I took the books away. I have the copies if you would like to see them.’

‘What was his net average take?’

‘Around seventy-five a week.’

English grimaced.

‘That’s nothing. Did the books show anything after July?’

She shook her head.

‘Then how in the world did he manage to run a house like that on seventy-five a week?’ English said blankly. ‘You mean to tell me that since August the business hasn’t earned a dime?’

‘He may have kept another set of books, Mr. English, but according to the one I found, nothing came in since August.’

English shrugged.

‘Well, okay. What else did you find?’

‘There was a card index holder in one of his desk drawers. It had a few blank cards in it. I have an idea the cards that were in use have been taken away.’