The Duchess of Skid Row (5 page)

“It means what it says,” Billings answered. “Whoever rigged the car was probably the same person who blew Itsuko’s toolshed and set it afire. The techniques are the same.” He touched a smaller bit of twisted, blackened metal. “This is the remains of the fire bomb we found by the shed. Both jobs were done by an expert.”

I felt a sudden surge of excitement. I knew one man who was a demolition expert. The United States Army had put his abilities to good use. But that had been some time ago. Since then he had gone in for a different way of making a living. His name was Hoxey Creen.

I said, “That lets me out, Maslin. I hardly know a bomb from a Hawaiian pineapple.”

“You could have had a confederate,” Maslin said.

“Name one.”

“There’s Hoxey Creen,” he said. “He’s been a stoolie of yours for quite a while. I don’t know what you’ve got on him, but it must be something powerful to keep a crud like that in line. You could have swapped him his freedom for doing this job.”

I said, “Did you dream this up or did Ritter?”

“It’s only a theory,” he said.

Tod Billings was watching us both; he was obviously puzzled. He said, “You guys argue your problems on your own time.”

“Tell him the rest of it, Tod,” said Maslin.

Billings started pointing out objects on the workbench. “This is the remains of a portable tape dictating machine,” he said. “There’s no sign a tape was on it.” He paused and poked a finger toward a cigaret lighter with a miniature painting on each flat surface. “This was apparently on the seat of the car. A bit of seat cover fiber is caught under the sparkwheel. It must have been blown into the recess where we found it. That’s why it isn’t burned.”

Maslin picked the lighter up and handed it to me. I looked at the two miniature paintings on the sides. They were of oriental ladies, nudes, and not far from being obscene. I turned the lighter over and looked at the butt end. The initials
JGM
were etched there. My initials.

I said, “What the hell?” I put it back on the bench.

Maslin said, “Can you explain it, Jeff?”

“Sure I can explain it. Griselda gave it to me. She found it in an L.A. oriental store. It’s a whorehouse souvenir from Hong Kong. Griselda thought it was a terrific gag. Only it won’t hold fluid over a day, so I didn’t use it.”

“Did you give it to someone?”

I tried to remember what I had done with it. I had a vague memory of leaving it behind, in the desert shack Griselda and I had shared. But I couldn’t be sure.

“No,” I said, “I didn’t give it to anyone.”

Tod Billings said, “The show’s over. Go outside and glare at each other.”

We went outside. We stopped in the hall. Maslin said, “Could someone have taken it from you after you were knocked down in the shed?”

I said, “I wasn’t out. I could feel. And no one laid a paw on my pockets.”

He grimaced. “Are you being honest or just bull-headed?”

I said, “Why should I try to fake an alibi for myself? That would only obscure things. I want to get at the bottom of this as much as you do. Johnny was my friend, damn it. And I’m on the hook. Sure I could say someone lifted the lighter off me—and then you could waste a lot of energy snooping down a dead-end trail.”

Maslin said, “It’s idiotic reasoning like this that keeps me from locking you up.”

“Ritter will change your mind before long. I hear he has evidence that puts me right in the death cell.”

Maslin said, “You mean the tape recording—Johnny’s report?”

“What else? Or is there more too?”

“According to Ritter, Itsuko’s report stated that there was no doubt about the charges against you.”

“If that’s true why did Johnny want to talk to me last night?”

Maslin said somberly, “Kay Itsuko gave Ritter the tape. She gave me something too—information.”

“Get it said, Lieutenant.”

Maslin said, “According to Johnny’s wife, he didn’t have an appointment with you last night or any other night.”

“Then why did he go out to the woodshed?”

“Because ten minutes before he did, he got a phone call. It was from you, Jeff. You made the appointment with Johnny. He didn’t make it with you.”

S
TEPHANIE
was dressed and waiting for me. I stared at the black dress she had poured over herself. It was a little too tight, and a little too low in front. It hinted like hell; it promised; it was just over the edge of being vulgar.

She had added to the effect of the dress by letting her hair down and fuzzing it out. And she wore too much makeup. The change from her usually neat, businesslike appearance was almost enough to be a disguise.

“What’s the idea?”

She looked down at the swell of her bosom. She gave herself a little shake. “Like it? I thought that if you showed up at Nick Calumet’s with a lady, someone might be suspicious. So tonight I’m no lady.”

I went to the telephone. I said to Stephanie, “How did you know we were going to Calumet‘s?”

“You mentioned his leasing the old Forum,” she said. “You sounded suspicious. I deduced the rest.”

I picked up the phone and dialed Teddy Jenner’s private number. I said, “Just remember two tough characters named Minto and Pooly are loose in town. If they show up and try something, don’t be a heroine. Take off.”

She didn’t answer. A sleepy voice answered the telephone. It was Teddy’s. I said, “This is McKeon. I’m coming over there pretty soon. I want to talk to Hoxey. You have him there.”

Teddy told me what to do to myself. I said, “I’m leaving that packet of evidence for the DA. If I don’t call in and have it held, he’ll get it. And if Hoxey isn’t waiting to talk to me, I don’t intend to make that call.”

I hung up. Stephanie said, “Good heaven’s. Who was that you were so tough with?”

I dialed the long distance operator and gave her a Los Angeles number. I turned to Stephanie. I said, “That was Teddy Jenner. I told you about her last night. Hoxey Creen is one of my stoolies, and her boyfriend.”

The operator told me that my Los Angeles number didn’t answer. I said that I’d call later. I hung up.

We took her coupe. I headed across town for Hill Street. Stephanie said, “Where are we going to eat?”

“I thought we’d try Arch’s Gay Nineties,” I said.

“Isn’t he the new man you told me about? The one who might be the front for the Combine?”

I said, “That’s right.”

“Do you think he’ll poison our food?” She sounded half serious.

“I don’t think he’ll do anything. He can’t afford to. If he’s mixed up with the Combine, the quieter he is right now, the better.”

I slowed down to light a cigaret. “It isn’t Arch who worries me. It’s Nick Calumet.”

“When do we go to his place?” She sounded eager, Like a kid looking forward to an adventure.

“Right after we eat.”

She giggled a little. “And what do we do, play pinball?”

“Better than that. We’re going to watch burlesque movies.”

“Isn’t that a little like taking coals to Newcastle?” Stephanie wanted to know.

I didn’t answer that one. I crossed Hill Street and pulled the coupe to the curb next to the mouth of the alley that ran behind the Blue Beagle, Arch’s, and Calumet’s. I said, “We’ll go into the Gay Nineties for a drink. I’m going to leave you and make one quick call. Then we’ll have dinner.”

“You’re going to see this Hoxey Creen person?”

“That’s right. And if Teddy did what I told her, I won’t be long.”

Stephanie slowed her step as we started toward the corner. “You said something about giving evidence to the DA if she didn’t do what you wanted. Isn’t that a kind of blackmail, Jeff?”

“It’s a cop’s kind of blackmail, babydoll. You have to decide whether justice is better served by throwing people like Hoxey in jail or by leaving them loose to help you get the goods on other crumbs.”

“And I suppose it depends in part on the crime you’re holding over his head,” she said thoughtfully.

I grinned at her. “Fishing for information?”

“What’s wrong with my being curious?” she demanded. “I just can’t imagine what a person like that could do to give you a hold over him. I mean, he’s so used to going to jail, wouldn’t he prefer it to being a stool pigeon for the police?”

I held the door to Arch’s place for her. “Not Hoxey, He’s a three time loser. The fourth time means a long, long stretch in this state. Besides, a lot of men will do anything in preference to going back to jail. Including murder.”

I helped her off with her coat and handed it and mine to a hatcheck girl. Arch had the place fixed up with a lot of gilt and red plush. All the lamps were made to look like gaslights. For all the yoicked-up atmosphere, there was a quiet dignity about the restaurant that appealed to me.

We went through the foyer into a bar. A sign over the entrance read:
Booths for Ladies.

Since women had to sit at a table to have a drink in this state, Arch wasn’t just tossing around atmosphere. I led Stephanie to a booth opposite the bar. There were a dozen people in the room, all of them with the prosperous look of the city’s upper class. I ordered our drinks.

I said, “Sit tight. If you want another one, help yourself to mine. Give me twenty minutes before you get restless.”

She put a hand on my arm as I got up. “Be careful, Jeff. What you just said about men like this Hoxey scares me.”

“Don’t worry about me and Hoxey. He’s not the kind of rat that fights when it’s cornered.”

I found my way to the hall with the private dining rooms opening off it. I kept going and went out the rear door into the alley. It was dark and chill with the drizzle still coming down. I turned up my coat collar and plowed through the blackness to the back end of the Blue Beagle. I stepped through the rear door and climbed the stairs. I walked past Teddy’s red door and stopped in front of Hoxey’s blue and white one. I rapped on the panel.

There was no answer. I tried the knob. The door was locked. I backtraced and hammered on Teddy’s door. There was a moment of silence. Then Teddy said, “McKeon?”

“That’s right,”

“Can’t you let us alone?” she demanded. “I’m trying to get some rest before the nine o’clock rush.”

“Give me Hoxey and you can have all the rest you want.”

I heard the floor creak. The lock clicked back. I opened the door and stepped into her apartment.

Teddy was walking away from me. She had her blouse off and she was reaching up behind her back in an effort to rub at the red marks a wideband brassiere had left on her skin. It was very smooth, white skin. She turned sideways to me and faced a mirror. She began to rub at the marks the brassiere had made under her small, hard breasts.

I said, “Where’s Hoxey?”

“He hasn’t got here yet.”

“Did you tell him to come?”

Teddy ran her fingertips under her breasts, lifting them high and toward the mirror. They were pear-shaped and they looked odd on her wide-shouldered torso. “I told him. He’ll be along.”

I said, “How did you contact him?”

“I called Nick Calumet. I told you Hoxey worked for him.”

I said, “Have you figured out what Calumet was doing up here yesterday?”

“No. If I did, I wouldn’t tell you.” Her voice was vicious. She swung toward me. “Now get off my back, McKeon. I’m sick of answering your questions.”

“You’d be sicker if you went to jail.”

She walked to the coffee table and rooted through the litter until she came up with a cigaret. She plastered the end against her lower lip. She walked toward me, making her breasts sway. “You’ll play hell getting me in jail now, McKeon. I read the papers. You’ve got about as much standing with the cops as Hoxey has.”

“It isn’t my standing that counts. It’s what I have in that envelope marked for the DA. And that’s still dynamite.”

Teddy paused about three feet from me. She cocked her head and grinned. Then she said in a loud voice, “You’ve had it, McKeon. You’re finished.”

I stared at her; at the crazy way the cigaret flopped as she talked; at the wild, gleeful gleam in her eye. I heard the hall door open behind me. Even then I didn’t get the warning signal. I didn’t get it until Teddy came at me, swinging both hands for my face. I ducked and grabbed her wrists.

I yelled, “What the hell’s the matter with you?”

She was pulling against my grip. Suddenly she stopped and pushed herself half at me. Her face contorted as if I was breaking her arm. She shouted, “Now!”

The bright explosion of a flashbulb blinded me. I dropped Teddy’s arms. I blinked away the black spots in front of my eyes. I turned and saw Hoxey and a camera going out through the door into the hall. I started after him. My legs tangled in something. I went sprawling, head first, reaching as I slid. I landed half in the hall and half in the room. Hoxey’s door slammed.

I got to my feet. Teddy was bent over rubbing her shin. Her cigaret was gone but otherwise she looked the same. She gave me a mocking grin.

I brushed at my suit. I said, “That’s the world’s oldest gag. You’ll find it in the Bible. Sorry, but it just won’t work.”

She said, “The old gags are the best ones, McKeon. A man with a reputation like yours for chasing women—and a man with no more friends on the police force—he’s had it.” Her eyes mocked me. “I know just the cop who’ll buy what we’ve got to sell.”

She was wrong, but she was right too. Normally, Hoxey’s trick would have been a waste of time. But right now wasn’t normal. And Ritter would give a lot to get a picture of me apparently trying to work over a half-naked woman.

But I had a rule. Let a punk get away with something once and you’re through. I walked out on her. I went down the hall to Hoxey’s door. I stood back and lifted my foot. I hit just below the lock with my heel. The ancient lock ripped out of the doorframe. I pushed the door open and walked into Hoxey’s apartment.

Hoxey grinned unpleasantly at me. He had once been good-looking. But his way of life and his way of looking at life had softened his face, weakened his mouth, given him the look of a thousand other cheap gunsels.

“Trying to peddle that picture won’t buy your way off the hook, Hoxey. If I turn my evidence over to the DA, you can still take the big fall.”

His hands were empty. I wondered where he had stashed the camera. “Maybe we can swap, McKeon. Then nobody gets hurt.”

“I don’t swap with your kind. I ask questions and you give answers.” I took a step toward him. For once he didn’t try to back away.

I said, “Let’s start with your new boss, Nick Calumet. What kind of racket is he running these days?”

“He’s got a legitimate business,” Hoxey said.

“If he had, he wouldn’t need you. Where did he get the money to lease the Forum?”

“I didn’t ask him,” Hoxey said.

“Is he fronting for the Combine or is Arch? Or both of them?”

Hoxey kept the smile on his loose mouth. “If you want answers, McKeon, you got to ask the right questions. You lost me way back.”

I took another step and another. I was within reaching distance. I said, “Last night a friend of mine was killed. His car was stolen. It was blown up later. His toolshed was blown too. The job had your touch, Hoxey. I think so and the police think so. Now who hired you?”

The grin started to slip. Then he put it back in place. His eyes moved past me. I heard a footstep and glanced quickly around. Teddy had come into the room. She stood just inside the door, watching us.

Hoxey said, “I’ve got an alibi for last night, McKeon. I haven’t blown anything since I left the army.”

I picked him up by the front of his new suit coat. I lifted him in the air and started walking him backwards, toward the wall. He made no effort to defend himself.

“Who hired you to kill Johnny Itsuko, Hoxey?”

His tongue flicked out, wetting his lips. “I never killed anybody,” he said.

I slapped him against the wall. I held him there with his shoetips barely brushing the floor. “Who hired you, Hoxey? Who did you build those bombs for?”

The amusement began to leave Hoxey’s expression. He said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, McKeon. So help me.”

“I’m going to hold you here, Hoxey. With this hand. I’m going to start hitting your gut with the other. I’m going to keep on hitting it until you talk. And keep on talking. Let me hear it all—Itsuko, Calumet, Arch—every bit of it.”

Hoxey twisted his head on his scrawny neck. “Teddy!” It was a wail of desperation.

Teddy moved into the room. She said, “I’ve got a gun, McKeon. So let loose of Hoxey. And get out of here. If you want your picture, bring the evidence. But right now, get out of here!”

I swung Hoxey away from the wall. I pivoted and threw his lightweight body straight at Teddy. She threw up both hands as if to keep him from striking her. The barrel of her gun rammed against the side of his nose. He let out a howl and pawed blindly at her. I stepped around behind them both and knocked the gun out of her hand.

I said, “I’ll be back for Hoxey. I want answers to my questions.” The sight of them was making me sick.

I walked out the door, down the stairs, and outside.