Delphi collected works o.., p.27
Delphi Collected Works of Peter Cheyney Illustrated, page 27
I then ask her if that wall bracket by his table was always put out when she sang her numbers an’ she says no but she reckons that something had gone wrong with it, an’ I think she is right too because I bet this guy Skendall the electrician was in on this bump-off an’ fixed it so that that particular light wasn’t workin’ so that the gunman could get away with the job. All of which makes me very determined to do a little talkin’ some time with this Skendall.
After a bit she gives another sigh an’ she says that it looks to her that I think that it was Rudy Saltierra that did the shootin’, an’ I say well I don’t see how anybody else coulda done it, an’ she reminds me that the electrician who works the lights back-stage had alibied Rudy Saltierra by sayin’ that he never left her dressin’ room, an’ that besides this Rudy hadn’t got a gun.
Now this is a new one on me because it is a fact that Rudy hadn’t got a gun when we went down to headquarters, an’ if he had used one on Willie he would have to have dumped it some place in the Club an’ if this was a fact then I’d have thought that he would have left it along with his other tuxedo. But this don’t mean anything really because I reckon that Rudy had a lotta time to slip the gun to somebody else, an’ anyhow I am certain that there are more thugs in this game than I have counted on up to the minute.
But I play along with my little Carlotta an’ I say that if she says that, well then I reckon it wasn’t Rudy because this is the thing she wants me to say.
Then she gives another sigh an’ she gets up an’ she says that she reckons that I must run along now, but that if I stick around in New York she will always be glad to see me, an’ then suddenly she sorta breaks down an’ she sticks her arms around my neck an’ before I know what I am doin’ I am kissin’ this dame like nothin’ on earth just because it seems the right thing to do, an’ believe me I didn’t find it no hardship neither, an’ you do not have to get excited about this anyway because I have always been partial to kissin’ pretty women, that is providin’ that it does not interfere with the business in hand.
Anyway this Carlotta hangs on to me like a clam on a lighthouse. She tells me that she is very unhappy an’ that she is in a very bad jam, an’ she sorta suggests that she is not really very stuck on this guy Rudy Saltierra, an’ that she is beginnin’ to go all goofy where I am concerned.
Now I take all this with a very large helpin’ of salt because I reckon that this dame is playin’ me along for a sucker.
After a bit I tell her that she should take a pull at herself an’ that if she gets into any sort of tough spot she can always rely on Perry C. Rice, after which I say that if I do not have to leave New York too quick I will be around at Joe Madrigaul’s place tonight so as to hear her sing some more, and she says that I must excuse her for breakin’ down but that she ain’t met a lot of men like me in her life, an’ that I remind her of the countryside an’ the wide open spaces, but I do not tell her what she reminds me of because I have got to keep this party nice.
I then take a fond farewell an’ I leave, but when I get outside I walk round the block an’ I come back the other way an’ I stick around an’ keep my eye on the apartment and sure as smoke about ten minutes afterwards a roadster pulls up an’ out gets Rudy Saltierra lookin’ like all the flowers in May an’ he goes in.
I light myself a cigarette an’ I scram out of it. I am very pleased with the afternoon’s work because it is a cup of coffee to all the tea in China that this dame is spilling the works about me to Rudy an’ that the pair of ’em have got the jitters about me an’ that they will probably try something on which is just what I want ’em to do, because if you can get guys a bit rattled then they always do something they never meant to do an’ give themselves away some place.
So I buy myself a cab an’ I get back to the hotel an’ I have a shot of bourbon an’ lay down on the bed to do a little quiet thinkin’. After a bit I get up an’ I take a look through the window an’ down on the other side of the street opposite the hotel entrance I can see some guy standin’ up against a cigarette stand an’ just doin’ nothin’ at all. The guy is wearin’ a light grey fedora well over one eye an’ he is just smokin’ an’ ruminatin’ an’ keepin’ an eye on the hotel.
Which pleases me very much because it looks to me like Rudy has got some mobster to keep an eye on me, an’ this is one of them times that I like bein’ kept an eye on.
But I reckon that from now on I am goin’ to pack my shootin’ iron because it looks to me that maybe these guys have got me marked for the spot an’ I am tellin’ you that I do not intend to go gettin’ myself killed with my boots on, not unless I fall in the river after too much bourbon or some nice an’ innocent reason like that which is a thing that can happen to anybody.
IV. ROUGH STUFF
AT SEVEN O’CLOCK I gave myself a shower an’ changed my clothes, after which I packed my grip an’ I rang down to the desk to send me up my bill because I have got an idea in my head that when I have scrammed outa this Hotel Court I am not comin’ back to it any more but will go live in some place where Rudy does not know where I am, because you have got to realise that I have got an instinct for trouble an’ I have got a very large idea in my head that somebody is goin’ to start somethin’ with me pretty soon.
Because the way I figure it out at the moment is this: I reckon that this big act that Carlotta has put on with me this afternoon is for the purpose of getting next to me by puttin’ the idea in my head that she is the little forlorn dame who has by some means or other got herself into the power of the wicked mobster Rudy, instead of which, as I have told you, Joe Madrigaul has told me that it was Rudy who got this dame the job at the Club, an’ I reckon that the pair of ’em think that they are playin’ me for a sucker.
I also think a lot of other things but as these are more or less theories at the moment I am not goin’ to worry you with ’em, but I reckon that I will see how they turn out.
I then have my dinner an’ at nine o’clock Hangover comes through on the telephone. He tells me that he has been hangin’ around in the reporters’ room at police headquarters an’ that he has got a line on this guy Saltierra. Hangover reckons that Saltierra made plenty dough outa the liquor racket while repeal was on, an’ since then he has been runnin’ protection rackets around town.
I do not have to tell you what a protection racket is. You go along to some guy an’ you tell the guy that he needs protection an’ you say that you are goin’ to do the protectin’. If he pays up, O.K., if not then you fix it so that he really does need protection, after which the guy either pays or else he usually wins himself a good-lookin’ funeral.
Now accordin’ to Hangover this Saltierra has got a whole lotta brains, that is he don’t drink too much, nor talk too heavy, an’ the guys who work for him are a very select bunch of thugs. They know their stuff an’ they do not suffer from the usual mobster’s habit of shootin’ their mouths when they have been samplin’ the rye well an’ truly.
Hangover then asks me when is he goin’ to see me, an’ I tell him that I reckon that I will be around Joe Madrigaul’s place soon after midnight an’ if he wants to do me a big favour he will find out where this electrician guy Skendall lives because I wanta talk to this guy. He says this will be easy an’ that he will meet me at the Club half after twelve.
I then go downstairs an’ pay the bill an’ I tell the clerk that I have gotta scram but that I will be around some time next day an’ that I am expectin’ some advertisin’ matter that he might keep for me until I call in for it.
I then walk outside an’ get a cab an’ I can see that the guy in the grey fedora gets in one an’ comes after me. I tell the wop who is drivin’ my cab to run around a bit an’ pull up in some quiet place an’ he does this. When we pull up I see outa the back window that the other cab has pulled up about thirty yards behind us an’ I get outa the cab an’ I walk back along the sidewalk until I come to this cab an’ I swing in suddenly an’ pull the door open an’ inside sittin’ there smokin’ is the guy in the grey fedora.
“Listen wise guy,” I tell him, “I have been followed around before. I am now givin’ you official notice that I do not like your face an’ unless you scram outa here good an’ quick I am goin’ to bust you in the puss, an’ how do you like that?”
He is about to say somethin’ an’ leans forward an’ as he does this I catch hold of him by his scarf an’ pull him towards me, an’ I let him have a haymaker on the nose. This guy subsides in the corner nice an’ quiet an’ I then tell the driver that he had better stick around until his fare comes up for air.
Maybe this will seem to you to be forcin’ the pace a bit but I know that a war is about to start at any minute now an’ I reckon that I might as well be the guy who starts it, because strange as it may seem, I do not like these mobsters one little bit, first of all because they are mean cusses an’ secondly because they have ironed out one two pals of mine at different times.
I then go back to my cab, drive around for a few minutes an’ then stop at some little hotel where I check myself in as Perry Rice an’ give myself a large shot of bourbon just to square things off.
I unpack my grip an’ stick around for a bit, after which I go an’ see a newsreel an’ then I go back to this hotel which is called the Delamere an’ I put on my shoulder holster with my Luger in it, an’ I get myself a cab an’ go around to Joe Madrigaul’s place.
I reckon this wop Madrigaul was right about being pleased with the killin’s because there is a lot of people around this place lampin’ all over it an’ gettin’ a kick outa being in some place where some guys got themselves bumped off, which will go to show you the sorta thing that amuses people in these days.
Joe Madrigaul is standin’ about the place dressed up an’ with a red carnation in his buttonhole, lookin’ very pleased with life an’ we have one or two drinks together, an’ tell each other stories. He also tells me that the police have been around to see him an’ that they have got an idea that it was somebody who got outa the Club who shot Harvest V. Mellander an’ that they probably left some pal inside who was sittin’ at one of the tables behind me, an’ that this was the guy who shot Willie the Goop, an’ they reckon that this guy must have got up behind me an’ shot round behind my back an’ then scrammed out of it an’ got through the doors before Joe closed them.
Madrigaul cannot understand this theory because the girl in the cloakroom which any guy would have to pass in order to get outa the Club says that nobody went by her, but still I reckon the police are doin’ their stuff an’ just layin’ things off for a bit, an’ that Washington has probably given them an instruction as per my telegram.
Pretty soon Hangover comes in. As usual he is half cut but fulla brains, an’ he comes over to me an’ says that he reckons things are goin’ O.K. and that he hopes the information he gave me about Saltierra was of some use, an’ that he reckons he can find out some more in a day or so. He also tells me that he has got another line but that he will not blow any thin’ until he has checked up on it. He says that he has got an idea in his head that this guy Willie the Goop whose name was supposed to be Charles Frene, is not Charles Frene at all but somebody else, and that he thinks he can find out who this guy really was an’ will let me know.
He also tells me that he has got the address of this Skendall; that this Skendall seems a right sorta guy an’ has not got any sorta record with the cops in New York an’ that he lives over some down-town garage. He then gives me this address an’ I say that maybe I will have a talk some time with this Skendall.
Pretty soon Rudy Saltierra comes in an I see that he has got himself a new dinner suit, because his tuxedo an’ pants are matchin’. He is also very nicely dressed with a white carnation an’ pearl an’ diamond studs an’ buttons. He is very affable to me an’ buys me some rye an’ sorta suggests that when I have got tired of stickin’ around this place he will take me some other places an’ I think it is a good thing to tell him that I will probably like to get around with him a bit that night, although believe me I have not got any such intention.
He then gets very friendly an’ I say that I reckon he is a very lucky guy to be tied up with this dame Carlotta because I reckon that this dame is the swellest femme I have ever seen in a long career, an’ the guy who is next to a dame like that must be a swell guy. He says he reckons that is how it is an’ that maybe after she has done her number we might drink a little glass of champagne together just to show we are all friends an’ that there is no ill-feelin’ about the tough cracks we had the night before.
He also sorta suggests to me that these killin’s are nothin’ to get very excited about, that they very often happen around a place like New York an’ that nobody is goin’ to get particularly het-up about them because these guys who get themselves bumped off are always tied up some way or other with mobsters, who are very bad people to get tied up with.
After a bit there is a roll on the drums an’ Joe Madrigaul goes into the middle of the floor an’ he says that how last night he is very sorry to tell everybody whilst Miss de la Rue was singin’ her number with a spot light on her, that a guy was bumped off. He also says that some other guy was found ironed out in the telephone box an’ he winds up by sayin’ that he hopes nobody will mind this very much because they can always be sure of havin’ a good time at Joe Madrigaul’s an’ that he will now present the famous Carlotta.
He then scrams out of it an’ the lights go out an’ a spot light goes on the curtains an’ there is Carlotta. I have told you that this dame was a honey before, but if you could have seen that dame standin’ there dressed in some flame coloured gown that sorta caught the spot light an’ held it, I tell you it would have made your heart stop beatin’.
She sings the same number that she sang the night before, an’ when it is over she goes back through the curtains an’ the lights go up an’ Rudy Saltierra gives me the wink an’ we go up an’ we sit down at the table that Willie the Goop was sittin’ at, only this time I notice that the wall bracket behind him has been mended, so I reckon that this guy Skendall has been puttin’ in a little heavy work on it.
After a bit Carlotta comes out an’ sits down. She smiles at me an’ I say how do you do, an’ Rudy orders a bottle of champagne.
In a minute the band starts again an’ everybody begins to dance. I am wonderin’ why Saltierra does not dance with this dame Carlotta but he don’t make any move an’ I think that maybe the reason is that if he dances with this dame then he thinks that I might ask for one an’ he is not so hot on the idea.
After a coupla minutes Carlotta says I have got a pencil because she wants to show us somethin’ funny. So I give her the little silver pencil that I have got an’ she shows us a little puzzle which she draws on the table cloth, which is very good if you like that sorta thing, but she does not return the pencil to me an’ after a bit whilst Rudy is watchin’ somebody on the dance floor I see her writin’ something on the table cloth under her bread plate. She has a quick look at me an’ then looks down at the plate, an’ I get the idea that this dame has written some message down for me to read, an’ I grin to myself because I think that these guys are goin’ to start somethin’ with me good an’ quick.
I stick around for about another ten minutes an’ then I say I must get along because I have got to see somebody an’ as I get up, Saltierra asks this Carlotta if she would like to dance. I say goodnight an’ they start dancin’ an’ I lean over the table an’ move her plate, an’ I see that she has written “apartment 3 o’clock,” an’ I reckon this is the tip-off that I should go round an’ see her at three o’clock that night. Having absorbed this information which I do not think is so hot I scram back to the bar an’ look for Hangover, but this guy has gone. I then check out my hat, grab a cab an’ go back to my hotel.
When I get there I do a little thinkin’ an’ I come to the conclusion that I had better get this Skendall business over, because I reckon that this is important, an’ that if I can pull an act with Skendall then maybe I can get confirmation about my ideas regardin’ Saltierra.
I am realisin’ all the time that I am walkin’ down a blind alley, but at the same time you gotta understand that I had got a definite hunch that somehow I am slowly gettin’ near to somethin’ on this gold snatch which is the main business that is worryin’ me right now.
This guy Skendall lives in a garage down town near Spruce Street. Hangover tells me that this place is a two floor place an’ that Skendall lives over the garage. I have also discovered from Madrigaul that Skendall is goin’ off early tonight havin’ been kept late at the Club the night before over the shootin’, so I reckon that I am goin’ to talk to this palooka before he turns in an’ gets too sleepy to think.
I change out of my tuxedo into a day suit an’ I stick the Luger in my trousers waistband, an’ then I go out an’ jump a yellow cab an’ tell him to drop me on the corner of Spruce.
While we are goin’ downtown I wonder just how tough this Skendall is an’ whether I am goin’ to have trouble with him, but after a minute I think that anyway I will soon know so I might as well think about somethin’ else. This is what they call logic.
After a bit we arrive on Spruce an’ I pay off the cab an’ stick around for a bit. Pretty soon I see the garage on the corner, two-three blocks down Spruce, an’ I walk down the street an’ light myself a cigarette standing on the opposite side of the roadway an’ havin’ a good look at the dump.
It is not much of a place. There is room for three or four cars, an’ there is an old gas pump. There is a side door on the right of the garage that I reckon is a sorta private entrance to Skendall’s place upstairs an’ also, at the back of the garage, there is another door that might also lead up to the apartment above.
