Authors: Dorothy B. Hughes
“I untied him.” Rudolph gazed balefully at Janssen.
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to.” He kept his eye on Janssen. “Where are the others?”
“They’re going over Ferenz’s guest list name by name. Trudy’s phoning everyone to see if anyone picked up those papers by mistake.”
“Ruprecht stole them,” Rudolph said.
“She’s trying to find Ruprecht too. She’s calling all the night spots but she hasn’t caught up with him yet. Where have you been, Rudo? We’ve looked everywhere.”
“You didn’t look in my boudoir,” Johnnie stated harshly. “Have her go get the others in here, Rudolph.”
“Janssen will get them,” Rudolph ordered.
Johnnie added, “Ask them to come in here and don’t tell them who or why. Get it?”
Magda patted the throne. “Come sit down, darling.”
“I’ll stay here,” Rudolph told her frigidly. He took a stance closer to Johnnie.
Janssen had walked only to the end of the room. He knocked on a door there. Someone out of sight slid it open. Janssen said, “Will you come in please? All of you. By request.”
Dorp emerged first, Ottomkopf, Ferenz, last Trudy. She’d changed her white skirts too. She had on pink slacks and a pink sweater and a pink ribbon around her yellow hair. She looked about the age of the kid sister. Only Sis hadn’t filled out yet.
Ferenz burbled, “Rudolph!” Dorp echoed it. Trudy didn’t say anything. Ottomkopf said something in German. Trudy was looking at Johnnie and his gun.
“Where have you been, dear?” Ferenz asked. “We searched for you. We thought maybe you’d left.” Dorp and Ottomkopf kept staring.
Johnnie got it then. Rudolph had threatened to go to Washington. Theo and Rudolph looked pretty much alike. In a dark room—Rudolph’s room—a man with a suitcase was Rudolph. Rudolph had been killed. Only it turned out to be Theo. Which one had fired the gun? Everyone of them had been surprised when Rudolph showed up. He wasn’t expected to show up. There was even a goat for the killer. A dumb private from Texas, the stranger.
Johnnie nudged the gray pinstripe ribs. “Tell ʼem.”
“What?” Magda cried. “Tell us what.”
Rudolph shivered. “We found Theo. He’s dead. In my room.”
Johnnie watched faces. They all managed to look amazed. Ottomkopf demanded, “Who is Theo?”
“He was my lieutenant,” Dorp said. “The dumb one who lost the papers.”
“Oh,” said Otto, almost pleased.
Trudy’s little voice cut through. “In your room, Rudo?”
“Yes. It’s disgraceful. Actually the room is yours but I was using it. And I don’t like such things.”
Johnnie said, “Somebody shot him in the back. Some dope. Anybody with the sense of ducks would know he was the only one who might remember something about those papers.”
“He should not have been killed,” Dorp agreed.
“I’ll say not.” Johnnie shifted the rifle. “Well, where’s the ʼphone? I’m going to call the police.”
“The police?” They all said it and they all looked faintly surprised and more than faintly worried.
“Sure, the police. You have to call the police when there’s a murder.”
“Maybe it was an accident,” Ferenz began.
“You can’t accidentally shoot yourself in the back. Anyhow you have to call the police for an accidental death too. I know. My Uncle Tom was Sheriff of our county once.”
That didn’t go over at all. Dorp eyed the others. “It is true. The police must be notified.” He didn’t mean it.
“After Rudolph leaves,” Ferenz smiled.
“Certainly. After Rudolph leaves.” Dorp rubbed his fat head. “We would not jeopardize the plans by calling now. It is not long to wait.”
Johnnie shook his head. “You can’t do that. You have to call the police right away.”
“Young man, will you kindly mind your own business?” Ferenz sputtered. “You’ve caused enough trouble tonight as it is. Besides I thought you were tied up.”
“I didn’t like it,” Johnnie swaggered. “I don’t wonder you’re scared of the police. You must be the worst hoarder in New York.”
“I am not a hoarder.” Ferenz’s face turned bright red. “Every bit of food in my home tonight was produced on my own farm.”
Ottomkopf accented, “Why do you waste words with this specimen, Mr. Lessering?”
Ferenz raised elephantine shoulders. “He taunted me.”
“And you’re afraid of the police.” Johnnie jumped on Herr Ottomkopf with both feet. “Because you’re a German and they’d turn you over to the F. B. I.”
Ottomkopf fixed him with two glazed eyes. “I am a Rudamian.”
“You’re a Prussian!” Rudolph interjected. He was ignored.
“I am here by permission thanks to Ferenz Lessering.”
“I wouldn’t want that to be investigated,” Ferenz said.
“And you,” Johnnie swung on Dorp. “You’re nothing but a scrub of a Nazi. You killed Theo. Rudo and I know why you killed him too. You meant to kill Rudolph but you made a mistake in the dark. You wanted to kill Rudolph so he couldn’t go to Washington and tell about you.”
Rudolph kept gulping.
Ottomkopf demanded coldly. “Why did you dismiss the guard, Herr Dorp?”
“A lot of good they’d do. A lot of good they did before.” Johnnie swelled out his chest. “Let’s stop beating around the bush. I’m going to call the police right now. And soon as they get here Rudolph and I are heading for the airport. I’m going to see he gets on the Clipper safe.”
“Oh no you’re not,” Trudy said. She said it from behind Johnnie and it wasn’t her finger poked into his lower spine. “You’re going to drop that shotgun right now or you’re going to get plugged in the back like Theo was. One—two—”
Johnnie dropped it. It made a bang big enough to cause all the audience to jump. Ferenz put his hands over his ears. Johnnie kicked himself. Why hadn’t he kept his eye on Trudy? He ought to have known by now that the girls in this roost had more backbone than the men.
Rudolph was complaining. “You can’t do this, Trudy. This man is helping me.”
“Helping you?” She laughed out loud and pushed the hole deeper into Johnnie’s spine. “Sure, he’s helping you. Right into an internment camp. He isn’t one of your Rudamian patriots. He’s an American soldier. He’s even got dog tags. Look under that shirt. Private John Brown, United States Army.”
Rudolph raised doubtful eyes at Johnnie.
“Sure, I’m in the Army,” Johnnie admitted. “But—”
“He’s a government spy,” Trudy said. “I’ve known it all evening but I didn’t want to worry you. I thought I could handle him until we got you away.”
Johnnie’s mouth and eyes opened.
Rudolph scurried ever to Magda. “And to think I almost let him take me away from here.”
Johnnie had found his voice. “Rudolph, listen, of all the awful liars—”
Trudy jabbed the gun. “You’re going back upstairs, soldier. Janssen, bring that rifle and come along. This time you won’t get untied. Put your hands out in front of you, Johnnie. Much safer than over the head.”
“Rudolph, listen,” Johnnie plead.
Rudolph was drinking Janssen’s and Magda’s drinks, one in each hand. He shook his head.
Trudy ordered, “March.”
Johnnie marched. Same old ʼ76. Let a girl pull a gun on him. But these girls weren’t fooling. He was smart enough to know that. The men might talk but the girls acted.
He hesitated on the third floor. “Listen, Trudy—”
“March,” she commanded. “Open the door, Janssen.”
The fellow circled Johnnie to obey. Even if Trudy were holding a gun, Janssen was still nervous about getting in front. Johnnie waited until the man had the knob in his hand. He couldn’t resist. He gave the chief guard a good hard boot in the behind.
Janssen howled, “Ow!” He jerked around.
Trudy pushed with the gun. “Stop that nonsense, Johnnie. Go on, Janssen.”
Janssen, rubbing his rear, climbed on up. He was out of sight before Johnnie and Trudy entered the closet. When they reached the upper hallway, he was bending over the sniveling guard. He ducked away from Johnnie. “He hit Wallie!”
“He hit me twice!” Wallie humped on the floor, rubbing his jaw.
“What did you do to him?” Trudy demanded.
Wallie whined, “Nothing. Not a single thing.”
“Why not?” She jabbed at Johnnie. “Go on in there. Janssen, you and Wallie come too. You’ll have to tie him up.”
The rope lay in jagged segments all over the floor. Johnnie’s boot pushed at one of them cheerfully. Janssen and Wallie looked woebegone.
“What’s the matter?” Trudy asked.
“He cut the clothesline!” Janssen informed her.
Johnnie grinned. “What you going to do? Splice it?”
“Sit down.” Trudy pushed. “In that chair. Take your belts, boys. Strap him to it.”
“My belt?” Janssen held on to its Sam Browne magnificence. Wallie gazed at his, transferred his attention to the despoiled rope, and stepped backward.
“You heard me,” Trudy said. “Do as I say.”
Slowly, unhappily, the two guards removed the leather. They weren’t fooling when they approached Johnnie. They hated his guts. If Trudy hadn’t been present they’d have jumped him and he knew it. The straps bit into his ankles, crunched his wrists.
Trudy rammed the gun into her waistline. “That ought to do it. You may rejoin His Highness.”
“And you?” Janssen inquired.
She put both hands on her hips and lifted red hot and blue eyes to him. “If you’re not careful, Louie Janssen, you’ll lose those bars on your shoulders. Even if Magda is making a play for you. Stop trying to think. Obey orders. Get out of here before I lose my temper. I’m remaining to question the prisoner and I don’t want your big ears in on it. Is that clear? Beat it. Blitz. Leave that door open and go.”
Janssen and Wallie clattered. Trudy didn’t move until she heard the sliding panel of the closet replaced. Then she ambled over, slammed the door. She returned to Johnnie. “Where are the papers?”
“What’s the idea of tying me up?” he demanded.
“If you’d had any sense you wouldn’t have tried to get loose in the first place. You’re safer up here. If you can catch a little sense you’ll stay tied up this time.”
“You think this is fun?”
“I think it’s a lot safer here than below just as I told you. If the F. B. I. agents decide to break in you’ll have a much better explanation if you’re tied up in the attic than if you’re holding his princely hand downstairs.”
Johnnie hawed. “You were seeing shadows. That F. B. I. stuff is a lot of bunk. Magda thought it up to get Rudo to leave. After I told her you were trying to snake him.”
“You told her that?”
“Because you’d seen her smooching with Ruprecht.”
“You told her that!” In another minute she’d pop him one.
“Well, you asked me to get Rudolph away.”
“You didn’t have to go that far. Letting her think I cared what she and Rupe were doing. I don’t care that.” She spat. “Now where are those papers?”
“If you’ll loose my hands—”
“I won’t and if you don’t tell me where those papers are quick”—she flipped up the gun again—“you’re going to have half an ear less in three seconds.”
“They’re where they’ve been. Reach in my inside pocket.” He scowled. If she’d release his hands alone he’d take a particular pleasure in holding her up by the heels until she hollered Uncle. The brat.
She swished the envelope under his nose, turned it over and over. “Did you open it?”
“It’s sealed, isn’t it?” he glowered.
She seemed to be weighing it on her hand. Finally she ripped the seals.
He warned her, “You can’t seal it up again if you do that.”
“I don’t intend to. When it’s found, no one is going to know who had it.” She sat down at the table, read carefully through the papers, read with a puzzled scowl. “Is this all there was in it?”
“’S all.” After he’d answered her, he realized she’d stuck him with that one. But she didn’t pay any attention. She was rereading the documents. “You’re sure this is all? Because there’s nothing wrong with these, Johnnie, not a thing.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“You said you didn’t open it.”
“I’ve got x-ray eyes,” he grinned. “How about letting loose my hands so I can smoke?”
“Hold on.” She darted into the hall.
Well, there’d been no harm in asking. She had vanished. He heard doors opening, closing. And then suddenly she was there again. She had a key in her hand. She turned it in the door.
He tried not to duck when she walked over to him. He kept telling himself she was only a blonde chick. But he couldn’t help the feathers blowing up and down his spine. Not when she went behind him. And then all at once his hands were free. He couldn’t believe it. He looked at them, rubbed at his wrists. “That bastard buckled too tight.”
“What did you expect? You kicked him. Undo your own feet.”
He was wary. He didn’t get this. He asked, “You won’t shoot?”
She looked like a kid but her eyes were wise as hell. “Don’t be an ass,” she said. Her eyes were looking not into his but down into his soul. “I need your help.”
Trudy perched on the table and riffled the precious papers. Johnnie walked around getting the blood to circulating in his ankles.
“I don’t get it, Johnnie,” she admitted.
“What did you expect to find?” He stood on his toes.
“Treachery. I distinctly heard Dorp tell Theo to keep that envelope on him and tell no one. Later I heard Theo tell someone over the phone that Rudolph would never reach Europe. That’s all I heard. It wasn’t in the car. It was before we left the house. I didn’t get a chance to pick his pocket until we were at Ferenz’s. But there isn’t anything here to stop Rudolph.” She tapped her knuckles against her teeth. “I must reach Ruprecht.”
“You haven’t yet?”
“He isn’t in the bars. That was a smoke screen to keep them quiet below. I know where he is.”
“Call him.”
“No phones. He’s in one of two places. One’s a little beerstube up on Columbus. Just a hole-in-the-wall. He likes it there. The other—” She bit her lip. “The other is a woman’s apartment. On West End. That’s where you come in.”
“Me?”
“You’ve got to go get him.”
“I got to get the police.”
“I’ll call them. You get Rupe.”
“Listen, honey—”
“I know. But I’ll take care of details. I’d do it myself only I don’t dare leave. I don’t know what they might think up while I was away. You’ll have to do it.”