the Hills Of Homicide (Ss) (1987) Page 15

  Gus and Vinson must still be at. the mine, or Villani was expecting them soon. When the car ahead turned off on the mine road Kip followed but a little farther, then turned off on some hard-packed sand among the cacti and parked. From a hidden panel under the dash he took a .45 caliber Colt automatic and followed up the hill. His car was now hidden and to get out, Villani would have to come this way.

  All was still at the old mine. The car stood in the open space near the gallows frame, but the delivery truck was nowhere in sight. There was a light in the shack.

  Kip Morgan moved into the darkness of the hoist house and waited. Without doubt, Gus and Vinson would be there. Villani had made his rendezvous at a place where their bodies were not likely to be discovered. He could shoot first and fast, then drop the bodies down the old shaft and drive away. The scheme had every chance of succeeding.

  What little Kip knew would not constitute evidence tying Villani to the crimes. Unless more evidence could be discovered or Gus and Vinson talked, Villani would go free or not even be accused.

  He heard the car for several minutes before it arrived. It was the truck.

  Vinson and Gus got out. They whispered together for a minute or two, then walked to the shack and went in. Kip moved away from the hoist house and to the wall of the shack. Voices sounded and he pressed his ear to a crack. "I don't know," Vinson was saying, sullenly, "so don't blame me. "He's a hard guy to hold."

  Kip found a crack and peered in. Vinson was seated at the table and Villani was pacing. On the shelf behind Vinson lay a piece of drill steel. Vinson's eyes were on his hands. "Gus was there, tool" he protested. "Don't blame mel"

  Where was Gus?

  Villani stopped pacing, and his hand reached for the drill steel. He lifted it clear off the shelf and Gravel crunched at the corner of the house, and Morgan turned sharply. A gun flamed not a dozen feet away, and only his sudden movement saved him. Instantly, he fired in return. Gus caught himself in midstride and fired again. That bullet thudded into the wall, and Kip fired a second and third time and Gus went down on the gravel.

  Flattening against the wall, Morgan peered through the crack. Instantly, he turned his head away, sick to his stomach. There was no sign of Villani inside the shack, but the door stood slightly open. Vinson was surely dead for no man could survive a skull crushed as was his.

  Villani had sent Gus out while he got rid of Vinson, planning to finish Gus later or when he returned. The shots would have warned him that Gus had found something or somebody. Now Villani would know he had at least one man to kill, possibly two.

  The slightest move might bring a shot. Kip moved despite the risk, going toward the front of the building, reasoning that Villani would come around the other side as Gus had done. At the front of the house, he took three quick steps to the truck and crouched behind it.

  A slow minute dribbled away, then another. Every sense alert, he waited, but there was no nearby sound. Faintly, somewhere far off, he could hear a car. The sound seemed miles away in the clear night air.

  "Morgan!" It was Villani. "Is that you out there Let's talk business!"

  Kip kept very still, waiting. For a few seconds there was no sound, then Villani spoke persuasively. "Morgan, you're being foolish. What Marilyn can pay isn't worth the risk. I've done well and I've got money. A thousand dollars if you just drive away and forget all this!"

  Morgan offered no reply. He could dimly see the area from which the voice came. Only Gus's body was visible, if Gus was actually dead. He had no way of knowing.

  "A thousand dollars is a lot of money. You've not found Marcy so all you'll get is expense money. I am offering a thousand dollars. You say the word and I'll toss it to you.

  "And have you shoot me while I'm in the open? No, thank you!"

  Deliberately, he was prolonging the discussion to better locate Villani. Also the sheriff should be on his way.

  "I'll wrap it around a stone and toss it to you. You're in no danger."

  "You re talking peanuts," Kip said. "Marilyn Marcy might not pay that much but the insurance company will." There was a brief silence. Was he moving closer? In the vague gray light it was hard to see. There was no moon, only the stars.

  "Five thousand might sound better." Morgan held his mouth close to the car, hoping to give it a muffled sound. Suddenly they both heard the crunch of feet on gravel, and Kip looked around. He started to yell a warning but she was already within sight. Marilyn Marcy was walking fast and she was unaware of the situation.

  -Marilyn!" Kip yelled. "Get back! Get back quick!" "No, you don't!' Triumph was hoarse in his tone. "Stay right where you are or I'll kill you!"

  Villani was in control, unless Kip left the ground in a running dive for the shelter of the building. A gun roared, a hasty shot that missed, and he fired at a dark shadow looming near the corner of the building and heard his shot ring on metal, an old wheelbarrow turned on its side! And then Villani came up from the ground several feet away, and they both fired.

  Both should have scored hits and neither did, but Kip felt a sharp tug at his sleeve, and then Villani's descending gun barrel knocked his gun from his hand. As the gun fell he knotted his fist, whipping it forward and up and Villani took it with a grunt, then threw a short hook to the neck, purposely keeping the blow low to avoid hurting his tender fist. The blow staggered Villani, and Kip followed through with his elbow, over, then hack, slamming Villani against the building. His gun roared into the ground, the bullet kicking gravel over Kip's shoes. Another blow to the mid-section and Villani dropped his gun, reached to grab it off the ground and met Kip's knee in . The face. Villani staggered forward and Kip rabbit-punched him behind the neck and the bigger man fell.

  Kip scooped both guns off the ground, the fallen man gasping for breath.

  Marilyn ran to him. "Kip? Are you hurt? Are_ you all right?"

  "Did you get word to them?"

  "They're coming now. I can hear the cars." She came closer. "They told me to wait but I thought I might help. Was I wrong?"

  He looked at her, exasperated, then he shrugged. "No, you were all right. It was okay."

  Villani started to get up.

  "Stay where you are," Morgan advised. "Lie down flat. There . . . that's better."

  "That offer stands." Villani's words were muffled by battered lips. "I've got twenty thousand here. I'll give you half to let me go."

  "What became of Tom Marcy?"

  "Suppose you find out? You've nothing on me!"

  Two cars were pulling into the yard. "No? I've murder against you. You killed Vinson. Your fingerprints will be on that drill steel you used to kill him."

  Stoska, Mooney, and a half dozen other men came from the cars, pulling Villani to his feet. During the hurried explanations Marilyn stood beside Kip.

  He was beginning to feel it now, sore in every muscle, his swollen fists hurting from the fighting and all the tension of the past few days.

  "We checked that burned body again," Stoska said, "and there were discrepancies, although they were few. Now we're going to check several other doubtful cases."

  Mooney came over to Marilyn. "We found your brother. It was Morgan's tip that started us looking. I'm afraid .. . well . .

  "He's dead?"

  "No, he's not dead, but he's in bad shape. He must have had a run-in with Gus. He took a bad beating and he's in a hospital. They found him last night when a couple of wino friends of his came to the police. They found him and were taking care of him, but they thought he'd just gotten drunk and fallen. When he didn't regain consciousness they got 'worried and came to us."

  -He's all right? Is he conscious?"

  "He's conscious, but I won't lie to you. He's in bad shape." Mooney glanced at Kip. "He spotted you. He had been staying away from his old hideouts, tailing Villani and his boys. He saw you in some grease joint across from the warehouse. He almost came to you."

  "I wish he had." Kip took Marilyn's arm. "Let's go home."

  When they walked al
most to the car he commented, "That's why his eyes looked familiar. They were like your eyes. He was sitting there all the time and must have heard me asking questions of the waitress. He couldn't have known why I was interested. Let's go see him."

  "Tomorrow. He will be asleep now and sleep will do him more good than anything else. In the meantime you need to get cleaned up, rest a little and have a drink." "Well," he agreed, "if you twisted my arm."

  "Consider it twisted." she said.

  *

  Author's Note:

  STAY OUT OF MY NIGHTMARE

  The idea that poverty is a cause of crime is a lot of nonsense. It is one of those cliches that is accepted because it seems logical.

  Crimes are committed by people who have some money and want more.

  More often they are committed, by somebody who wants to have money to flash around, to buy fancy clothes, or spend on women, drugs, or whiskey.

  In proportion to their numbers, there are just as many poor people who are honest as there are rich people who are.

  Dashiell Hammett once commented that he had never known a man capable of turning out first-rate work in a trade, profession, or art who was a professional criminal. This may have been his experience, but there have been exceptions to that rule.

  *

  STAY OUT OF MY NIGHTMARE

  When I walked in, Bill was washing a glass. 'There's a guy looking for you. A fellow about twenty-five or so. He said to tell you it was Bradley."

  "What did he want? Did he say?"

  My eyes swept the bar to see if any of my friends were around. None of them was, but about four or five stools away sat a fellow with slicked-back hair and a pasty face. He looked as if he were on the weed.

  "He wanted to see you, and he wanted you bad."

  Bill brought a bourbon and soda, and I thought it over. Sam Bradley had been a corporal in my platoon overseas, but we had not seen each other since our return. We had talked over the phone but had never gotten together. I knew that if he wanted me badly, there was something definitely wrong.

  A nice guy, Sam was. A good, reliable man and one of the most decent fellows I'd ever met. "Ill look him up," I said. "He's a right guy, and maybe he's in trouble."

  "You never can tell." The man with the sickly face intervened. "Right guys can turn wrong. I wouldn't trust my best friend."

  The interruption irritated me. "You know your friends better than I do," I told him.

  He looked around, and there was nothing nice about his expression. Looking directly into his eyes made me change my mind about him. This was no casual bar rat with a couple of drinks under his belt and wanting to work off a grouch. This guy was poison.

  That look I'd seen before, and the man who had it was usually a killer. It was the look of a man who understands only brutality and cruelty. "That sounded like an invitation," he said.

  "Take it any way you like. I didn't ask you into this conversation. "

  "You're a big guy." He watched me like a snake watching a bird. "And I don't like big guys. They always think they've got an edge. Maybe I should bring you down to my size.

  He was getting under my skin. I had no idea of anything like trouble when I walked into the Plaza. Now Sam Bradley was on my mind, and I'd no idea of messing around with such a specimen as this. "Your size'?" I said. "Nothing is that small."

  When he came off that stool, I knew he meant business. Some men bluff. This torpedo wasn't bluffing. He was going to kill me. He was only a step away when I saw the shiv. He was holding it low down in his right hand, and nobody in the bar could see it but me. He might be on the weed or all coked up, but he was still smart.

  "Put the shiv away, chum." I had not moved from my stool. "You come at me with that and they'll be putting you on ice before dark. I don't like steel."

  He never said a word, but just looked at me from those flat, ugly eyes. Bill heard me speak of the knife and came down the bar, always ready to stop anything that meant trouble and to stop it before it started.

  "Don't do it, pal," I said. "They've got a new carpet on the deck. I don't want to smear it with you."

  He came so fast he nearly got me. Nearly, but not quite. His right foot was forward, and when that knife licked out like a snake's tongue, I chopped his wrist to deflect the blade. My hand closed on his wrist, jerking him toward me, off balance. Then I shoved back quick and at the same time caught him behind the knee with my toe. He went down hard, the knife flying from his hand as his head thudded against the brass rail. Picking up. the knife, I tossed it to Bill. "Put that in your collection. I've got mine."

  Getting off the barstool I walked into the sunlight. Cops might come around, and there was no use straining Mooney's friendship further. Grabbing a cab, I headed for Bradley's place.

  It was a single off Wilshire and a nice place. When I pressed the bell, nothing happened. Ellen must be shopping. Bradley was probably at work. I tried the bell again for luck; I was turning away when I saw the edge of a business card sticking out from beneath the door. It was none of my business, but I stooped and pulled it out. It read, Edward Pollard, Attorney-at-Law.

  Under it in a crabbed, tight-fisted script were the words:

  Was here at eight as suggested. If you return before 10 P. M. meet me at Merrano's. Don't do anything or talk to anyone until I see you.

  Pollard was a shyster who handled bail bonds and a few criminal cases. We had never met, however. I knew Merrano's, a sort of would-be night club on a side street, a small club but well appointed and catering to a clientele on the fringe of the underworld.

  What impressed me about the card was that neither Sam nor his wife had been home since the previous night. Where, then, was Sam? And what had become of Ellen? Reaching the walk, I thrust the card into my coat pocket. At that moment, a car wheeled to the curb, and a man spilled out in a run. Brushing by me without a glance, he went to Bradley's door. He did not ring the bell or knock, but stooped quickly and began looking for something on the step or under the door. Not finding it, he got to his feet and tried the door. Only then did he ring the bell. Even as he did so, he was turning away as if he were sure it would not be answered.

  He gave me a quick glance as he saw me watching him, then went on by. "Hello, Pollard," I said.

  He stopped as if struck and turned sharply. His quick, ratty eyes went over me. "Who are you? I never saw you before."

  His voice was quick and nervous, and I was talking to a very worried man.

  "I was just wondering why a man would try a door before ringing the bell."

  "It's none of your business!" he said testily. "It strikes me you've little to do, standing around and prying into other people's affairs."

  He did not walk away, however. He was waiting to see what my angle was. So far, he had not decided what I meant to him or what to do about it.

  For that matter, neither had I. Actually, I'd no business bothering him. Sam and Ellen might be visiting. There was no sense in building elaborate plots from nothing, yet the fact that Sam had come looking for me and that I had found the card of a man like Pollard under his door was disturbing.

  Two facts had been evident. Pollard had not expected Sam to be home, and he had wanted to pick up his card. He could not have been looking for anything else.

  If Pollard knew Sam was not at home, it might imply he knew where he was. And why go to all this trouble to pick up a business card unless something was wrong?

  "Look, pal," I said, "suppose you tell me where Sam is and why you were so sure Sam was not home. Come on, give!"

  "None of your business!" he snapped, and was getting into the car before I spoke.

  "Sam Bradley is a friend of mine. I hope nothing has happened to him or will happen. From your actions, I am beginning to wonder, and if anything has happened, I am going to the police. Then I shall start asking questions myself, and buddy, I'll get answers!"

  He rolled down the window and leaned as if to speak, then started off with a jerk. There was just time to c
atch his license number before he got away.

  Standing in the street, I thought it over. I had nothing to go on but suspicions, and those without much foundation. Telling myself I was a fool and that Sam would not appreciate it, I went back to the door. The lock was no trick for me, as I'd worked as a locksmith for several years, and in something over a minute, I was inside.

  The apartment was empty. Hoping Sam would forgive me, I made a hurried check. The beds were unslept in, the garbage unemptied, yet there were no dirty dishes. Looking through the top drawer of the bureau, I found something. It was a stack of neatly pressed handkerchiefs, but some had been laid aside and something taken from between them. There was a small spot of oil and the imprint of something that had been lying there for some time. That something might have been a .45 army Colt. My thoughts were interrupted by the rattling of a key in the door. Hurriedly closing the door, I reached the bedroom door just in time to see the door close behind a girl. Her eyes caught me at the same instant. She was uncommonly pretty, and that contributed to my surprise, for I had seen Ellen Bradley's picture, and this was not she. My eyes followed as she moved to pick up her dropped bag, and then I looked up into the muzzle of a .32 automatic. "Who are you?" she demanded. "And what are you doing here?"

  It had been a neat trick, as smooth a piece of deceptive action as I'd ever seen. Her bag had been dropped purposely to distract my attention. There was nothing deceiving about that gun. It was steady, and it was ugly. Whoever she was, she was obviously experienced and had a quick, agile brain. "Who are you?" she repeated.

  "Let's say that I am an old army friend of Sam Bradley's." Her eyes hardened. "Oh? So you admit you're one of them?" Before I could reply, she said, "I'll just call the police."

  "It might be the best idea. But why don't you put that gun down and let's talk this over. Sam left word he wanted to see me, and if you're a friend of his, we should compare notes. When he said he was in trouble, I hurried right over."