Chapter 26 Chapter 26 Blackmail

I rang my client's doorbell, and it took a long time for a response from inside. The door was finally opened by the tall, tanned driver.He was wearing underwear and shorts and was clutching a pool cue. "What do you want to do?" he asked, and then he glanced at me again, "It's you, isn't it? So, what do you want to do?" "I want to see Mr. Wilson." "Four in the morning? You go." He started to close the door. I put one foot against the door.Looking from my feet to my face, he raised his pool cue and asked, "Do you want your kneecaps smashed?"

"I'm not kidding," I insisted. "I have to see the old guy. Tell him." "I don't have to tell him. He just told me this afternoon that he doesn't want to see you if you come." "Really?" I took out four courtship letters from my pocket, picked out the first one, which was not the stupidest one, handed it to the driver, and said, "Give this to him and tell him I'm sitting Got the rest on the steps. Tell him I'll sit here for five minutes and then take the rest to Tommy Robbins at the Union." The driver looked at the letter sullenly, said, "To hell with Tommy Robbins and his nosy Associates!" took the letter, and closed the door.

Four minutes later he opened the door again and said, "You come in." I followed him upstairs to old Elihu's bedroom. My client sat up straight on the bed.In one of his round pink fists, his courtship letter is crumpled up and the envelope is pinched in the other. His short white hair stood on end.His round eyes are red where they are red, and where they are blue are blue.The two parallel lines of his mouth and chin were almost touching. He's in a good mood. As soon as he saw me he cried out, "Then after you've boasted all the way, you'll have to go back to the old pirate to save your life, won't you?"

I said that I have never done such a thing.I said if he was going to talk like an idiot he should lower his voice so people in Los Angeles wouldn't know what an idiot he was. The old fellow's voice raised another notch, and he roared, "Because you stole a letter or two that didn't belong to you, you don't have to think that you—" I plugged my ears with my fingers.They didn't keep the noise out, but they offended him enough to stop him from roaring. I held out my finger and said, "Tell this servant to go away so we can talk. You don't need him. I won't hurt you."

"Get out," he said to the driver. The driver gave me a nasty look, walked away from us, and closed the door. Old Elihu was eager to hand over the rest of my letters at once, asking me loudly and disrespectfully where I got them, what I was doing with them, and this and that and what else Threatening me, but most of the time just cursing me. I did not hand over the letter.I said, "I got it from the man you hired who found the letters. He had to kill the girl. You're out of luck." The redness on the old guy's face gradually faded and returned to the normal pink color again.

He pursed his lips, fixed his eyes on me, and said, "Is that how you want to play?" His voice came out of his chest, calmer.He had collected himself and was ready to fight back. I dragged a chair over to his bed, sat down, grinned as happily as I could, and said, "That's one way." He looked at me, moved his lips, and said nothing.I said, "You're the bloodiest one of my clients. What did you do? You hired me to clean up the city, then changed your mind, turned your back on me, and fought me until I started looking like I was winning, and then lost hope Fighting attitude, now you think I've lost again, and you don't even want me in your house. I'm lucky, I happened to get those letters."

"Extortion," he said. I laughed and said, "Listen who's saying that word. Well, you say that." I tapped the edge of the bed with one index finger. "I didn't lose, old man. I won. You've been to I'm here to cry about some bad guys taking your town from you. Finn Pete, Lure Yard, Vesper Taylor, and Noonan. Where are they all now? "Yard died Tuesday morning, Noonan the same night, Vesper Wednesday morning, Finn a little while ago. I'll give you back your city now, whether you want it or not. If that's blackmail, All right. Now all you have to do is find your mayor, I think this shitty village has one, and you and him call the governor - stay put until I'm done.

"You tell the governor that your city police department is out of control because bootleggers are acting as cops, and stuff like that. You ask him for help—National Guard would be best. I don't know how many things happen in town Different riots, but I do know that the bosses you fear are dead. Those guys put too much pressure on you, you dare not face them. There are still many restless young people who are desperately, trying to replace The status of the dead. The more the better. They'll make it easier for white collar soldiers to take control of the situation when everything is falling apart. It seems that none of the replacements can do you enough damage.

"You're going to have the mayor, or the governor, as long as he's in charge of the Parsonsville police department, suspend the police department, and let the army come in to run it until you can organize another. I've heard the city Governors and Governors are part of your estate. They will do what you tell them to do. You tell them that. It can be done, it must be done. "Then you can take back your city, perfectly fine and clean, ready to be destroyed again. If you don't do it, I'm going to hand over your courtship letters to the newspaper villains, I don't mean your Herald "Member - Press Association. I got these letters from Don. You'll be happy to prove that you didn't hire him to retrieve them, and that he didn't kill the girl when he went to get them. But you'll have fun with What is the joy that people will have reading these letters. They are wonderful. I haven't laughed so hard at anything since the pig ate my little brother."

I stopped talking. The old man was shaking, but there was no fear in his shaking.His face turned purple again.He opened his mouth and growled, "Get them published, damn it!" I took the letters out of my pocket, threw them on his bed, got up from my chair, put on my hat, and said: "If I can be convinced that the man you sent to get the letters killed the girl, I will give Show my right leg. By God, I want to end this job by sending you to the gallows!" He did not touch the letters.He said: "Is it true what you told me about Taylor and Pete?" "Yes. But what difference would that make? You'd just get chased away by other people again."

He tossed the covers aside and propped his thick legs in pajama bottoms and pink feet on the edge of the bed. "Have you the guts," he asked aloud, "to accept the job I once suggested to you—the Chief of Police?" "No. My guts were all out there fighting for you and you lost them when you hid in bed and figured out a new way to break away from me. You go find another obedient guy." He glared at me.Then deep wrinkles appeared around his eyes. He nodded his aged head and said, "You're afraid to take the job. So you really killed the girl?" I left him like last time and said, "Go to hell!" and walked out. The driver, still holding his pool cue in his hand, still looking at me maliciously, waited for me on the ground floor and led me to the gate, looking as though he expected me to do something.I did nothing.He slammed the door behind me. The first rays of morning light turned the streets gray. NORTH OF THE STREET - A black coupe parked under a tree.I couldn't see if anyone was in the car.I walked across the street to be on the safe side.The car followed me. There's no point in racing on the street with a car that's chasing you.I stopped and faced the car.It drove over.I moved my hand away from my side, and that's when I saw Mickey Lynnhan's red face through the car window. He opened the door and let me in. "I thought you might come here," he said, when I sat down beside him, "but I was a second or two late. I saw you go in, but it was too far away to keep up with you." "How did you get out of the police station?" I asked. "Better keep driving while we're talking." "I don't know anything, I can't guess anything, I don't know what you're doing, I just happened to come across you in town. Old friends—that business. They were still interrogating me when the riot broke out. They put I was locked in a small office across from the conference room. I slipped out the back window when the troublemakers escaped." "What happens to those troublemakers?" I asked. "The police were shooting at them. They had been informed half an hour ago, and there were makeshift police all over the neighborhood. It seemed the disturbance was going on very violently—that was no easy task for the police. I heard Said to be Vespa's men." "Yes. Raynor and Pete are fighting tonight. Did you hear that?" "I just heard that they had a scuffle." "Rayno killed Pete and was ambushed while fleeing. I don't know what happened after that. See Dick?" "I went to his hotel and I was told he had already checked out and left for the evening train." "I told him to go back," I explained. "He seems to think I killed Dinah Brand. He keeps bugging me about it." "yes?" "You mean, I killed her? I don't know, Mickey. I'm trying to find out. Do you want to keep fucking with me, or do you want to go back with Dick?" Mickey said: "Don't be so self-righteous about a nasty murder that probably didn't happen. But what the hell is that? You know you didn't take her money and jewelry." "The murderer didn't take them either. They were there when I left after eight o'clock that morning. Dan Rolfe was in and out of the house between then and nine o'clock. He wouldn't have taken them. This— I already knew! The policemen who found the body—Shep and Van Ammann—were there at nine-thirty. Besides the jewels and the money, some letters from old Wilson to the girl were—must have been—taken away. I later They were found in Don's pocket. The two detectives disappeared around that time. Do you understand? "When Shep and Van Ammann found the girl dead, they raided the house before calling the police. Wilson Sr. was a millionaire and his letters looked useful to them, so they took them with other valuables took them, and gave them—the letters—to that litigator to sell to Elihu. But Don was killed before he could do that. I got the letters. Shep and Van Aman, whether they knew the letter was not found on the body of the deceased, was terrified, they were afraid that the letter would be traced to them. They took money and jewels. They fled in a hurry." "Sounds plausible enough," Mickey agreed, "but it doesn't seem to point out exactly who the killer is." "It clears up some clues. Let's think again. See if you can find Porter Street and an old warehouse called Redman's. I've got word that Rolf killed Willow there." Spar; he went to him and stabbed him to death with the ice pick he had found on the girl. If he had done that, Vesper hadn't killed her. Otherwise he would have expected it to happen, no Possibly let that consumptive man get that close to him. I'd like to see their bodies, to verify." "Potter Street is behind King Street," Mickey said. "Let's take a look at the south end first. It's closer and more likely to have warehouses. What do you think of this fellow Rolf?" "He can't. If he's going to kill Vesper for killing the girl, then it's pretty clear. Plus, she has scars on her wrists and cheeks, and he's not physically strong enough to do it so roughly. Treat her. My thoughts are that he left the hospital and spent the night in God knows where, and that morning after I left he showed up at the girl's house, opened the door with his key, went in, found her, and identified it as Vesper Do it, pull the murder weapon from her, and search for Vesper." "Is that so?" Mickey said. "And where did you know you might be the guy who figured things out?" "Shut up," I said gruffly as we turned into Porter Street, "let's find our warehouse."