Chapter 24 Chapter 24 Wanted
I went around to the Shannon Hotel, registered with a false name, paid the rent for the day, and was taken to Room 321.
An hour later, the phone rang.
Dick Fry said he wanted to see me.
He arrived in less than five minutes, his thin, worried face looking unfriendly, and neither was his voice.He said, "There's a hunt for you out there. Murder. Two - Brand and Dawn. I called you. Mickey said he was staying and told me you were here. Then the cops caught him , and is now interrogating him."
"Well, I expected that."
"Me too," he snapped.
I drawled out, "Dick, you think I killed 'em, don't you?"
"If you haven't, you'd better make it clear now."
"Are you going to report on me?"
He shut his mouth and his face changed from dark brown to light yellow.
I said, "Go back to San Francisco, Dick! I have too much to do to guard against you."
He put his hat on very carefully, and closed the door very carefully when he went out.
At four o'clock I had some lunch, smoked a few cigarettes, and had a copy of the Herald delivered.
The Dinah Bland murder and the new Charles Proctor Downe murder split the front pages of the papers, linked by Helen Aubrey.
The paper said that Helen Aubrey, as Robert Aubry's younger sister, believed her brother had been set up instead of murder, despite his confession.She asked Charles Proctor Down to continue his defense. (I can guess that it was the dead Charles Proctor Dawn who approached her, not her own initiative.) The brother refused to hire Dawn or any other lawyer, but the younger sister (probably by Dawn Egged, no doubt) did not give up resistance.
Helen Aubrey rented a vacant apartment opposite Dinah Brand's house and equipped herself with a pair of binoculars and an idea - to prove that Dinah and her companions had murdered Donna Wilson .
I seem to be one of the "companions". The Herald called me "probably a private eye from San Francisco who's been in town for a few days, apparently with Max Thaler (The Whisperer), Dan Rolfe, Reno Starkey, and Dinah Brand had a close relationship."And we're all the masterminds behind Robert Aubrey's frame.
According to the Herald, Helen Aubrey peeked out of Dinah Bland's window the night she was killed and saw something absolutely vital to the discovery of Dinah's body.As soon as the girl learned of the murder, she went and told Charles Proctor Down what she knew.And he - the police learned from his clerk - found me right away and arranged to have a private meeting that afternoon.Then he told the clerk that I would be there again at ten o'clock in the morning the next day—that is, today.But I didn't show up for my appointment this morning.At twenty-five past ten, the cleaners of Rutledge Block found the body of Charles Proctor Downe, murdered, behind the stairs.It is reported that the important documents in the pockets of the deceased were stolen.
I seemed to be breaking into Helen Aubrey's apartment and threatening her at the same time that the cleaners found the lawyer's body.After she managed to get me out, she hurried to Dawn's office, where the police were already there, and she told them her story.The police came to my hotel, but instead of finding me, they found in my room a man named Mickey Linehan, who also claimed to be a private eye from San Francisco.Mickey Linehan is still being questioned by police.Meanwhile the police are looking for Whisperer, Raynor, Rolf and me for murder.The whole case is expected to have major developments.
The second page of the newspaper carried half a page of interesting news.The two detectives who found Dinah Brand, Shep and Vanaman, mysteriously disappear.It may be that we are afraid that our "companions" will play tricks.
There was no report of last night's carjacking, nor of the raid on Peake Murray's pool room.
I was out after dark trying to get in touch with Raynor.I called Pick Murray's pool room at a drugstore. "Is Pique here?" I asked. "I am," replied a voice that didn't sound like Murray at all. "Who are you?" I said wearily, "I am." I hung up the phone and left the block. I gave up trying to find Raynor, and decided to visit my client, Elder Elihu, to try and force him to obey me with his love letter to Dinah Bland, which I had stolen from Dawn's corpse. I went on foot, on the darkest side of the darkest street.It's been a long journey for someone who disdains sports.By the time I got to Wilson's block, I was grumpy enough to be at my best for the kind of conversation he and I usually have.But I didn't see him right away. Two blocks away, someone hissed at me. I probably jumped less than twenty feet. "It's okay." A voice whispered. It was very dark around.I was on hands and knees in someone's yard, peeping from behind a bush, and I could just see a huddled human figure moving towards my side of the hedge. I've got the gun in my hand.I don't know why I don't believe his "it's okay". I stood up and walked towards him.As I drew nearer, I recognized him as the man who had let me into the room in Ronny Street the day before. I stood beside him and asked, "Where can I find Raynor? Hank O'Mara said he wanted to see me." "Indeed. Know Kid McLeod's territory?" "have no idea." "At the corner of an alley on Martin Street in front of King Street. You say you're looking for Kidd. Go back three blocks from here and just go in. You won't miss it." I said I would try not to miss it.With that he continued to hide behind the hedge, spying on my client's house.I guess he's waiting for Finn Pete or Whisperer or whoever isn't too friendly with Raynor to visit old Elihu and shoot them. Following his instructions, I arrived at a soft drink and liqueur company painted in red and yellow.I went in and said I was looking for Kid McLeod and was taken to a room inside.In the room was a fat man with a dirty collar, gold teeth, and one ear who called himself McLeod. "Reynolds wants to see me," I said, "where can I find him?" "So, who are you?" he asked. I told him who I was and he went out without saying a word.I waited ten minutes.He came back with a teenager, about fifteen, with a vacant expression on his pimple-ridden red face. "Follow Sonny," Kid MacLeod said. I followed the boy out the side door, walked two streets, crossed a sandy field, passed a broken door, and came to the back door of a wooden frame house. The boy knocked on the door, and the person inside asked who he was. "I'm Sonny, and Kidd asked me to bring someone over." It was O'Mara Long-Legs who opened the door.Sonny left and I was taken into the kitchen where Raynor and four men were sitting around a table with a lot of beer.I noticed two automatic pistols hanging from nails above the door I had just entered.No matter whoever is in the house opens the door and finds an enemy with a gun standing outside and tells them to raise their hands, they can easily remove the gun and return fire. Raynor poured me a beer and led me across the restaurant to a room in the front.A man was lying on his stomach, looking out with one eye at the street through the gap between the drawn shutter and the window sill. "Go get yourself some beer," Raynor told him. The man stood up and left.We each sat down on our connected chairs. "I told you when I arranged your alibi for Tanner," Raynor began, "that I did it because I desperately needed friends." "You delivered one." "Used that alibi?" he asked. "not yet." "No problem," he assured, "unless they have too much fucking on you. Do you think they have?" I think so, but I say, "No. McGraw just wants to have fun. It'll work itself out. How's your end?" He finished his glass, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and said, "I'll figure it out. I came to you for another reason. Dinah speculates that the situation is this: Pete and McGraw colluded, that is, the police and The beermongers gang up on me and the Whisperer. But heck, the Whisperer and I seem to prefer to eat each other than to speak to each other. It's not a good deal. Those bastards will take us when we get entangled. Eat them all." I said I was thinking the same thing. He went on: "The Whisperer listens to you. Go find him, will you? Send him the word. Say it like this: He wants to kill me because I killed Jerry Hooper, and I want to kill him first .Let's forget about this for a day or two. There's no need to trust each other. Anyway, the Whisperer never shows up for himself, and only sends his minions to work, and I'm going to do the same this time. We'll all send our minions to commit crimes. We We can join forces and get rid of the damn Finn, and we'll have plenty of time to kill each other later. "Say it to him without emotion, I don't want him to think I'm going to work with him or anyone else. Tell him, I mean, if we get Pete off, there's more room to deal between us Pete's nest is in Whiskeytown, and I don't have the manpower to get him out, and neither does he. But the two of us are enough. Go tell him." "The Whisperer is dead," I said. "Really?" Raynor didn't look convinced. "Dan Rolfe killed him yesterday morning, in old Redman's warehouse, by stabbing him with the ice pick that Whisperer killed that woman." Renault asked: "You know about this? You're not talking nonsense, are you?" "I know." "It's so fucking funny that none of his men look like he's screwed," he said, beginning to believe me. "They didn't know. He went into hiding and was only in touch with Ted Wright. Ted knew and used the information to make money. He told me he knocked a hundred or one from you through Pick Murray One hundred and fifty dollars." "I'd give that fool twice as much if he'd just told me the good thing," Raynor muttered.He rubbed his chin and said, "Okay, so the Whisperer's side will be settled." I said, "Not yet." "What do you mean? Not yet?" "Since his men don't know where he is," I suggested, "let's go and tell them. Those guys got him out with bullets and explosives when Noonan locked him up. If this rumor Do you think they'll try again after McGraw snuck the Whisperers away?" "Go on," Renault said. "If his loyal men thought he was inside and tried to blow up the prison to save him, it would undoubtedly make the police department-including Pete's SWAT team-some busy. While they are busy here, You can try your luck in Whiskeytown." "Maybe," he said slowly, "maybe we should try." "It should be fine." I stood up and encouraged him, "Goodbye——" "Stay here. There are warrants for you all over the place, and my place is no worse than any other. And we need a nice guy like you for our party." I didn't like the suggestion much, but there was something self-knowledge left unsaid.I sat down again. Leno got busy orchestrating the rumors.The phone kept ringing, and the kitchen door was just as hard, with people coming and going.More come in than go out.The room was full of people, smoke and tension.
Notes:
I was out after dark trying to get in touch with Raynor.I called Pick Murray's pool room at a drugstore. "Is Pique here?" I asked. "I am," replied a voice that didn't sound like Murray at all. "Who are you?" I said wearily, "I am." I hung up the phone and left the block. I gave up trying to find Raynor, and decided to visit my client, Elder Elihu, to try and force him to obey me with his love letter to Dinah Bland, which I had stolen from Dawn's corpse. I went on foot, on the darkest side of the darkest street.It's been a long journey for someone who disdains sports.By the time I got to Wilson's block, I was grumpy enough to be at my best for the kind of conversation he and I usually have.But I didn't see him right away. Two blocks away, someone hissed at me. I probably jumped less than twenty feet. "It's okay." A voice whispered. It was very dark around.I was on hands and knees in someone's yard, peeping from behind a bush, and I could just see a huddled human figure moving towards my side of the hedge. I've got the gun in my hand.I don't know why I don't believe his "it's okay". I stood up and walked towards him.As I drew nearer, I recognized him as the man who had let me into the room in Ronny Street the day before. I stood beside him and asked, "Where can I find Raynor? Hank O'Mara said he wanted to see me." "Indeed. Know Kid McLeod's territory?" "have no idea." "At the corner of an alley on Martin Street in front of King Street. You say you're looking for Kidd. Go back three blocks from here and just go in. You won't miss it." I said I would try not to miss it.With that he continued to hide behind the hedge, spying on my client's house.I guess he's waiting for Finn Pete or Whisperer or whoever isn't too friendly with Raynor to visit old Elihu and shoot them. Following his instructions, I arrived at a soft drink and liqueur company painted in red and yellow.I went in and said I was looking for Kid McLeod and was taken to a room inside.In the room was a fat man with a dirty collar, gold teeth, and one ear who called himself McLeod. "Reynolds wants to see me," I said, "where can I find him?" "So, who are you?" he asked. I told him who I was and he went out without saying a word.I waited ten minutes.He came back with a teenager, about fifteen, with a vacant expression on his pimple-ridden red face. "Follow Sonny," Kid MacLeod said. I followed the boy out the side door, walked two streets, crossed a sandy field, passed a broken door, and came to the back door of a wooden frame house. The boy knocked on the door, and the person inside asked who he was. "I'm Sonny, and Kidd asked me to bring someone over." It was O'Mara Long-Legs who opened the door.Sonny left and I was taken into the kitchen where Raynor and four men were sitting around a table with a lot of beer.I noticed two automatic pistols hanging from nails above the door I had just entered.No matter whoever is in the house opens the door and finds an enemy with a gun standing outside and tells them to raise their hands, they can easily remove the gun and return fire. Raynor poured me a beer and led me across the restaurant to a room in the front.A man was lying on his stomach, looking out with one eye at the street through the gap between the drawn shutter and the window sill. "Go get yourself some beer," Raynor told him. The man stood up and left.We each sat down on our connected chairs. "I told you when I arranged your alibi for Tanner," Raynor began, "that I did it because I desperately needed friends." "You delivered one." "Used that alibi?" he asked. "not yet." "No problem," he assured, "unless they have too much fucking on you. Do you think they have?" I think so, but I say, "No. McGraw just wants to have fun. It'll work itself out. How's your end?" He finished his glass, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and said, "I'll figure it out. I came to you for another reason. Dinah speculates that the situation is this: Pete and McGraw colluded, that is, the police and The beermongers gang up on me and the Whisperer. But heck, the Whisperer and I seem to prefer to eat each other than to speak to each other. It's not a good deal. Those bastards will take us when we get entangled. Eat them all." I said I was thinking the same thing. He went on: "The Whisperer listens to you. Go find him, will you? Send him the word. Say it like this: He wants to kill me because I killed Jerry Hooper, and I want to kill him first .Let's forget about this for a day or two. There's no need to trust each other. Anyway, the Whisperer never shows up for himself, and only sends his minions to work, and I'm going to do the same this time. We'll all send our minions to commit crimes. We We can join forces and get rid of the damn Finn, and we'll have plenty of time to kill each other later. "Say it to him without emotion, I don't want him to think I'm going to work with him or anyone else. Tell him, I mean, if we get Pete off, there's more room to deal between us Pete's nest is in Whiskeytown, and I don't have the manpower to get him out, and neither does he. But the two of us are enough. Go tell him." "The Whisperer is dead," I said. "Really?" Raynor didn't look convinced. "Dan Rolfe killed him yesterday morning, in old Redman's warehouse, by stabbing him with the ice pick that Whisperer killed that woman." Renault asked: "You know about this? You're not talking nonsense, are you?" "I know." "It's so fucking funny that none of his men look like he's screwed," he said, beginning to believe me. "They didn't know. He went into hiding and was only in touch with Ted Wright. Ted knew and used the information to make money. He told me he knocked a hundred or one from you through Pick Murray One hundred and fifty dollars." "I'd give that fool twice as much if he'd just told me the good thing," Raynor muttered.He rubbed his chin and said, "Okay, so the Whisperer's side will be settled." I said, "Not yet." "What do you mean? Not yet?" "Since his men don't know where he is," I suggested, "let's go and tell them. Those guys got him out with bullets and explosives when Noonan locked him up. If this rumor Do you think they'll try again after McGraw snuck the Whisperers away?" "Go on," Renault said. "If his loyal men thought he was inside and tried to blow up the prison to save him, it would undoubtedly make the police department-including Pete's SWAT team-some busy. While they are busy here, You can try your luck in Whiskeytown." "Maybe," he said slowly, "maybe we should try." "It should be fine." I stood up and encouraged him, "Goodbye——" "Stay here. There are warrants for you all over the place, and my place is no worse than any other. And we need a nice guy like you for our party." I didn't like the suggestion much, but there was something self-knowledge left unsaid.I sat down again. Leno got busy orchestrating the rumors.The phone kept ringing, and the kitchen door was just as hard, with people coming and going.More come in than go out.The room was full of people, smoke and tension.
Notes: