Black Mask (Vol. 7, No. 5 — April 1950), British Edition

Now, Sackler never had been Congressional Medal material. I had seen him with a gun on him before and his conduct had not been exactly courageous. However, this time he met the hood’s eye and failed to holler for help.

The hood said, “I’m Spike Sligo. Maybe you never heard of me in the East. But where I come from guys know better than to argue with me.”

Sackler said, with astonishing calm, “To what do I owe the honor of the visit, Mr. Sligo?”

“I come here to talk business.”

I kept looking at the guy. I was certain I’d seen him somewhere. But there was nothing familiar about either his voice or his accent.

“Go ahead,” said Sackler. “Talk.”

Sligo balanced his automatic on his knee. Idly he put a hand in his vest pocket and produced a silver dollar. He spun it nonchalantly, caught it and replaced it in his pocket.

“I hear,” he said, “that you’re a guy who is willing to pick up a fast buck.”

I blinked with annoyance. Was it possible that once again someone was going to toss a bundle of money into Sackler’s emaciated lap?

“You’re working on this Parry case,” said Sligo. “Trying to pick up that ten G reward. Well, I’m here to offer you eleven G’s.”

“For what?”

“To lay off. Old man Parry offers you ten to work on the case. I offer you eleven to lay off. More dough and less work. What do you say?”

I squirmed in my seat. This I didn’t like. Sackler wasn’t even close to collecting the reward and now this joker was offering him even more dough to quit the case.

Sackler said, “This is interesting. When and how do I collect?”

“We’ll wait a week,” said Sligo. “If you don’t do nothing more in the case, you’ll get the dough. In a plain envelope through the mail.”

“Mailed from where?”

Sligo grinned. “Not New York. From out of town. That’s all I can tell you. I guess you can figure it out.”

Even I was smart enough to figure it out. Parry, apparently, had heard that Sackler was tracking him down. Parry, it seemed, didn’t have much fear of the police department but, as was demonstrated by his original visit, had an exceedingly high opinion of Sackler. Rex had told him how to hide and he was scared that Rex might be able to find out where he was hiding.

So he’d sent in this hood to make a deal. Even the reason for his picking a guy like Sligo was obvious. Sackler might have held an ordinary citizen for the coppers to work over, after he’d made such a deal. But you couldn’t very well hold a guy who was holding a gun on you.

“Well,” said Sackler, “it sounds reasonable to me. Go back and tell your principal I’m waiting for the money.” Sligo stood up. “Good. You’ll get it in a week.” He backed toward the door still keeping his automatic in front of him. “By the way, don’t get any funny ideas of chasing after me. Stay right where you are for ten minutes after I leave. I may be right outside the door ready to blast you if you come out before then. Well, so long, bozos.”

Again he took the silver dollar from his vest pocket and tossed it nonchalantly in the air before he opened the door. It slammed behind him.

I looked at Sackler and said, “Are you really going to take that dough?”

He shook his head. “It’s damned dubious dough, Joey. And even if they send it, it won’t pay in the long run. I can do better solving cases than laying off them. I can see a buck under my nose easily enough. But I can also see two several furlongs away.”

“Then you’re still working on the case?”

“I’m still working on it.” He stood up and reached for his disgraceful hat. “As a matter of fact I’m working on it all day. I have some calls to make and I won’t be back. You take care of the office. Close up.”

He went out of the office leaving me once again to my own unsolved problem.

Chapter Three Illegal Ethics

Not only did I have to dig up an idea but I had to dig it up fast. Wolfe with all the power of all the coppers in the country behind him was going to find Parry sooner or later and probably sooner. If I wanted to grab the reward I had to move fast. I lit a cigarette and went into mental action again.

An hour later I thought of something. It wasn’t terrific, true, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. I would write La Abbott a letter. I put a sheet of paper in the typewriter and went to work.

Now, I am by no means a great writer. But for nine G’s I had to be eloquent; I had to sweat.

First, I told the Abbott woman that no one save myself realized that she had been in love with Parry. I threw in a paragraph expressing deep sympathy with her position. I mentioned one’s civic duty. I pointed out that sooner or later the coppers were bound to pick Parry up. I lied about my connections with the D.A. and guaranteed that if Parry was to surrender to me, I’d see to it he faced no worse a charge than second degree murder.

It took me three hours to write a thousand words. When it was done I wasn’t quite satisfied with it but it was the best I could do. I sealed it in an envelope, stamped it and dropped it in the hall mail chute.