Callaghan said: 'What did you think about that?'

  'Naturally,' said Vane, 'I thought it was a gaming debt. You know the Admiral was a gambler—the worst sort of gambler.'

  Callaghan nodded.

  'I told him,' said Vane, 'that if it was a gaming debt he wasn't legally bound to pay it, but he became fearfully annoyed about that suggestion. He said that a debt of honour must be paid before any other sort of debt. In order to calm him down I told him that he could obviate any such position by inserting in the note the words "In consideration of services rendered." So we did it like that.'

  Callaghan said: 'I see. Tell me, Vane, have you ever during the time you've known the Admiral had an inkling of the name of the person who might draw that twenty thousand pounds?'

  Vane shook his head.

  'No,' he said. 'Nobody knows that name.'

  Callaghan raised one eyebrow.

  'Are you certain of that?' he said.

  'Positive,' said Vane. 'The Admiral told me specifically that nobody knew who that individual was. He said that whoever presented that note after his death was to be paid.'

  'I see,' said Callaghan. 'Thank you.' He picked up his hat, said good-bye to Vane, and went out.

  IV.

  It was four o'clock when Callaghan stopped the cab at the end of Chapel Street. He got out, paid the driver, walked to No. 22. He took a bunch of keys from his pocket. Eventually he found one that worked. He pushed the door open, went in, closed it quietly behind him. He walked very softly up the stairs.

  When he reached the third-floor landing he could hear Stephanie Duval singing. Callaghan opened the door on the right of the landing. Stephanie was lying on the bed in an attractive negligé; an open box of chocolates lay beside her. She was in the act of putting a record on the gramophone on the small table beside the bed.

  Callaghan said: 'Hallo, Stephanie.'

  She looked at him. She said:

  'Well, I'll be damned!'

  'Probably,' said Callaghan. 'This is an old racket, of course, pretending to move out of a place and keeping a couple of rooms furnished. Whose idea was that—your's or Nicky's?'

  She looked sullen. She said:

  'I don't know what the hell you're talking about.'

  Callaghan leaned up against the doorpost. He drew on his cigarette. He said:

  'Yes, you do. You're as phoney as that anchor brooch I gave you the other night.' He grinned. 'It was sort of retribution my giving you that brooch. Do you remember about five years ago Nicky opened a jeweller's shop—indirectly; stocked it with a lot of good stuff; insured it and then replaced the good stuff with fakes. Do you remember that? That brooch was one of the fakes—bread cast upon the waters.'

  Stephanie said: 'I don't understand you. You've got something on. What is it?' Her eyes were angry.

  Callaghan said: 'I've got plenty on. The first thing I've got on is to tell you you've been making a damned fool of yourself. What d'you think I am?'

  Stephanie said: 'I've never been quite certain.' She helped herself to a chocolate.

  'My advice to you,' said Callaghan, 'is to pack up, get out and get going, and keep going. I'd get as far away from Nicky Starata as you can. Any more nonsense from you and you'll go in with him.'

  She said: 'What the devil do you mean—nonsense from me? I've done everything I could to help—'

  'Like hell you have,' said Callaghan. 'You've been working for Nicky the whole time, trying to stooge on me, trying to find out what's been going on. It's no soap, my dear. I've known where Nicky's been from the start.' He lit a cigarette. 'You ought to know,' he went on, 'that I'm not the sort of man who likes to be pushed around by a cheap fish like Nicky Starata—not without doing something about it anyway.'

  She said: 'You're bluffing. I'll bet you don't know where Nicky is.'

  Callaghan said: 'I don't have to bluff. How did I know you were still here?' He grinned. 'The weak spot in your chain is Leon,' he said. 'I was waiting for him the night he came round here to see you. I was a little rough with Leon. He came to the conclusion he'd be on the winning end of the stick. So he sold Nicky out.'

  Stephanie said: 'The dirty so-an'-so... !' But she didn't say 'so-an'-so.'

  Callaghan said: 'I've had a bet with myself that Nicky's going to do seven years. You take a tip from me, sweetheart. You get out of my way and stay out. Otherwise you'll share it with him. Understand?'

  Stephanie said nothing.

  'There's just one other point,' said Callaghan. 'It's one that you must decide. Don't try and get through to Nicky and warn him. Don't get through and tell him to start running somewhere else. If you do you'll make things a little worse for him. He'll have something else to face beside that fraudulent warehouse claim.'

  Stephanie said in a sullen voice: 'Meaning what?'

  'Meaning accessory after the fact in a murder job,' said Callaghan. 'That's what I mean. I should think that, with the other job, would put him inside for twenty years. So if you're really fond of him, you duck and stay put.'

  'Nuts,' said Stephanie. She sat up on the bed. She said: 'You know what you are?'

  'No,' said Callaghan. 'It ought to be interesting. You tell me.'

  She told him. Callaghan listened attentively.

  He said: 'Well, even that wasn't original. So long, Steve. Whenever you wear that anchor brooch think of me, won't you?'

  He slammed the door.

  As it closed he heard the gramophone record smash against it.

  V.

  Nikolls came into the bar at the Back Lounge Club. He looked self-satisfied—happy. Henna-hair, whose name, believe it or not, was Roberta, regarded the large form of Nikolls with admiration, tinged slightly with suspicion.

  He said: 'Hallo, sweetie-pie. What's cookin' around here?'

  She yawned delicately.

  'Nothing very much,' said said. 'You're in early this evening, aren't you? It's only just eight o'clock.'

  Nikolls said: 'Yeah, that's right, but I've got a busy day comin'.'

  Roberta said: 'You must have a hell of a time. Being a detective must be a great job. I expect you have a lot of adventures, don't you?'

  Nikolls said: 'Yeah. Plenty.'

  She said: 'I read about Callaghan Investigations once in that Vendayne case. That Callaghan is pretty clever. He's a funny sort of person though. He looks at you and says things and you never quite know what he means. I suppose you're a sort of assistant?'

  Nikolls leaned up against the bar. He said:

  'Well, you might call it that. Really, I hold the whole bag of tricks together. My speciality is brains.'

  She said: 'Is it? I didn't think so the other night.'

  'That's where you got me wrong, honey,' said Nikolls. 'I'm adaptable. When in Rome do as the Romans do.'

  She said: 'I'm not a Roman. And does that mean I haven't got any brains?'

  Nikolls said: 'How come! What do you want with brains with a figure like you got.' He looked at it appreciatively.

  Roberta got as near to a blush as was possible. She said:

  'You're a one, aren't you? I bet you get around a bit.'

  'I used to,' said Nikolls. 'Of course this war's queered things a bit, but when I was a private dick in the States...'

  She said: 'Go on, tell me. I bet things was exciting out there, wasn't they? I bet you had some narrow shaves.'

  'Hundreds of them,' said Nikolls cheerfully.

  He ordered a large rye. When she brought it, she said:

  'What do you think's the narrowest squeak you've ever had, Windy?'

  Nikolls said: 'Well, I suppose really most of my narrow escapes have been concerned with jealous dames.'

  She pushed a straying curl back into place. She said:

  'That's what I thought.'

  Nikolls went on: 'I was working on a case once. A client of the firm I was working for was being blackmailed. She was a Spanish countess and had she got something! I'm telling you that baby had so much allure that every time she walked across a room it made a rumba look like a sailor learning to get his sea legs.' Nikolls sighed. 'The guy who invented swing music musta been thinkin' of her,' he said.

  Roberta said: 'Skip that part. Get on with the story.'

  Nikolls finished his whisky in one gulp. She poured another one. He said:

  'Well, this dame fell for me in a big way.' He shrugged his shoulders modestly. 'I don't know why,' he said, 'but she did. She was crazy about me.'

  'What did you do?' asked Roberta.

  Nikolls said: 'I didn't do a thing. Well, not much. I never believe in mixing business with pleasure.' He leaned across the bar confidentially. 'There was a guy bughouse about this countess,' he said. 'He was a Cuban playboy. One night I was going to take her to the movies, but I had to stand her up. I had a date with another dame, see? Just when I was on my way to meet this second baby, I met the Cuban guy. I'm sorta feelin' big-hearted, see? So I tell this guy that the countess is expectin' to go out; that if he goes around to her place maybe he'll be lucky. So he went.'

  He began to drink his second whisky.

  Henna-hair said: 'So what?'

  'So she shot him,' said Nikolls. 'She was so goddam steamed up about my standin' her up she just sorta shot this guy outa sheer bad temper.'

  Henna-hair began to polish the top of the bar with a duster. She said:

  'The fact of the matter is you're a bad man, Windy.'

  'Maybe,' said Nikolls placidly. 'But what's the good of bein' anythin' else? All the good guys go nutty in their old age thinkin' about the good times they mighta had if they hadn't been so good.'

  She said: 'There's not much chance of your going nutty in your old age.' There was a pause. Then: 'What are you doing to-night, Windy?'

  Nikolls said: 'Nothin' doin', baby. I got business—big business.' He looked over his shoulder. 'Scram, honey,' he said.

  She went to the other end of the bar as Callaghan came in. He went over to Nikolls. He said:

  'Well?'

  Nikolls said: 'Maresfield was the dump all right. A nice little dump. Nicky's livin' in a place called Lancelot Lodge. He just sticks around there an' don't go out much.'

  Callaghan asked: 'Is there a telephone on?'

  'No,' said Nikolls. 'Nicky tried to get a phone put on, but that's not easy these days. He's still waitin' for it.' He took out a packet of Lucky Strikes, lit one. 'You don't think Stephanie'll get out there and give him the works?' he asked.

  Callaghan said: 'No. Stephanie'd walk out on anybody if things looked bad. She's just like the rest of 'em—a good-looking rat.' He looked at his watch. 'We'll go,' he said.

  He went out. Nikolls followed slowly behind him.

  VI.

  The wheezy clock on the sitting-room mantelpiece struck ten. Starata looked at it through the smoke of his cigar. He was thinking that the rural life didn't appeal to him very much. He dropped the evening paper on the floor beside him. He was reaching out for the whisky bottle when the door opened.

  Callaghan, with Nikolls at his heels, came in. Starata grinned.

  'Hallo,' he said. 'Fancy seeing you here, Slim. How did you get in?'

  Callaghan said: 'We've got lots of keys to open locks with, Nicky.'

  Starata said: 'That's what I thought. What exactly is this?' He relaxed in the chair. The fingers that unscrewed the stopper of the whisky bottle were quite steady. He poured out the whisky, drank it neat.

  Callaghan said: 'This is what is commonly known as the pay-off.'

  Nikolls removed the cigarette from his mouth. He said:

  'Yeah, baby, this is where you get yours.'

  Starata said: 'I wouldn't be too fast if I were you, Callaghan. It'd be a pity if you were in too much of a hurry. You might spoil something for yourself.'

  Callaghan said: 'That's too bad. I'm going to chance that. Where's Mendes?'

  'I don't know what you mean—' said Starata.

  'And if you did you wouldn't tell us,' mimicked Nikolls. He said to Callaghan: 'You know, Slim, I think he's gonna be difficult.'

  Callaghan repeated: 'Where's Mendes?'

  'You're being silly,' said Starata. 'I've told you I don't know what you're talking about.'

  Callaghan said: 'This is the end of the story so far as you're concerned, Nicky. You remember that little conversation we had the evening you kicked me in the guts; we decided you'd get seven years. I think it's time you started. But I want that information about Mendes first of all.'

  Starata got up. He said:

  'Listen here. All I can tell you is this. I don't even have to tell you,' he said, moving towards the table. 'I got a letter here—' He put his hand out towards the table drawer.

  Nikolls, whose hand had moved towards a vase on the sideboard at his elbow when Starata got up, threw it. It hit Starata on the shoulder, knocked him off balance.

  Nikolls said: 'Just keep away from that drawer, baby. We didn't think you'd come easy.' He went over to the drawer, opened it. Inside was an automatic pistol. Nikolls put it in his pocket.

  Callaghan said: 'Take your weight off your feet, Windy.'

  Nikolls said: 'O.K. I always did like a ringside seat.'

  He went over to the far corner. He sat down.

  'You know, Nicky,' said Callaghan, 'you can save yourself a lot of trouble.'

  Starata said: 'I don't know that I've ever missed any.'

  Callaghan smiled at him. He said:

  'Well, you're not going to miss any now. It's a pity about Leon being such a songbird, isn't it?'

  Starata shrugged. He said:

  'So it was that dirty so-and-so who tipped you off where I was?'

  'Correct,' said Callaghan. 'But that wasn't the worst thing he did to you.'

  Starata raised his eyebrows.

  'No?' he queried. 'What was the worst thing?'

  Callaghan said: 'The night he went over my office, picking up that statement that Willie Lagos made, he opened my desk drawer, where the statement was filed, with a skeleton key. After he'd done that he went around the office smashing things up to make out that he'd searched through the whole office before he found the statement in the drawer. He knew just where that statement was all the time.'

  Starata smiled a little.

  'And that told you something?' he asked.

  'That told me a hell of a lot,' said Callaghan. 'Well... where's Mendes?'

  'You go to hell,' said Starata, not unpleasantly.

  Callaghan hit him. His fist caught Starata fairly between the eyes. Starata went over, but was up almost before he touched the ground. He went into Callaghan like a tiger. Callaghan caught his first punch on his left hand, brought his elbow up. It contacted with the point of Starata's jaw. He brought his left hand over with a half hook on to Starata's nose.'

  Nikolls said: 'If you could see what he's doin' to that beauty of yours, Nicky.'

  Starata retreated. He put his hand behind him, picked up the whisky bottle. He threw it. Callaghan ducked in time. It hit the wall. A jagged piece of glass ricocheted down Callaghan's cheek.

  'Score one to Nicky,' said Nikolls. 'Boy, is this goin' to be good?'

  Callaghan stood where he was. Starata, cunning by this time, came in slowly. He was nicely poised on his feet and he knew how to fight. He came in, feinted for an opening, suddenly shot his left foot forward. Callaghan bowed his body, jerked himself backwards. He caught Starata's heel as it came up. He yanked it upwards. Starata went flat on his back with a crash. Callaghan put his hand in the front of Nicky's shirt, pulled him up, hit him again. The noise of his fist hitting Starata's face made a dull thud.

  Nikolls said placidly: 'Boy... oh boy!'

  Callaghan hit Starata again on the jaw. Starata got unsteadily to his feet, stood there waving. Callaghan hit him again.

  Nikolls said: 'One more and he goes out, Slim.'

  Callaghan straightened up. He said:

  'We wouldn't like that, would we, Windy?'

  On the sideboard was a soda-water siphon. Callaghan walked over, picked it up. He squirted half the siphon over Starata's disfigured face. He picked him up, pushed him back into the arm-chair.

  He put his left thumb on Starata's nose and pressed hard. He removed the pressure suddenly, slapped Starata across the face with his right hand. He alternately pressed with his left thumb, slapped with his right hand. He said:

  'Indicate when you've had enough, Nicky, won't you?' He stopped to enable Starata to reply.

  Starata said thickly: 'One of these fine days I'm going to get at you, and when I do—'

  Callaghan recommenced operations. Ten minutes afterwards Nicky indicated that he would like to talk. Callaghan sat down. He waited for Starata to get his breath.

  VII.

  It was half-past ten. Callaghan went into the telephone-box that stands on the end of Maresfield Green. He dialled Whitehall 1212. Whilst he waited for the connection he lit a cigarette. A voice said:

  'Scotland Yard—Information Room.'

  Callaghan said: 'My name's Callaghan. I believe your Mr. Ardway is trying to find Nicky Starata. You probably remember him. He's the boy who put in that claim for a quarter of a million on the phoney warehouse fire.'

  The voice said: 'Yes, Mr. Callaghan.'

  Callaghan said: 'I've got Starata here at his cottage—Lancelot Lodge—in Maresfield, Sussex. I'm talking from the local call-box. I think possibly you might like to get in touch with the Sussex police and pick him up.'

  The voice said: 'I'll have a word with Inspector Ardway, Mr. Callaghan. Will Starata stay there?'

  Callaghan grinned.

  'You'd be surprised,' he said. 'At the present moment I don't think he could walk if somebody paid him.'

  The voice said: 'Oh, it's like that, is it?'

  Callaghan said: 'Yes, it's like that.'

  The voice said: 'We could probably arrange to have somebody there in twenty minutes, Mr. Callaghan. Will that be all right?'

  'That'll be fine,' said Callaghan. 'I'll leave my assistant, Nikolls, with Starata until your people get here.' He went on. 'Oh, by the way, you might tell Mr. Ardway that I'd be glad if he'd get the Press Department to release the story of Starata's arrest as soon as possible.'

  The voice said: 'I'll mention it to him, Mr. Callaghan.'

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563