Just Another Sucker

When he had gone, I pushed aside the file I had been reading and lit a cigarette. By tomorrow morning, with any luck, I should be worth fifty thousand dollars. It was hard to believe. The money would be in small bills. I had already decided to rent a safe deposit and put the money there, drawing it from time to time, when I needed it. I would have to be careful. I couldn’t suddenly alter my standard of life. Later, I could give out that I had made a killing on the Stock Market, but I would have to wait at least a year or so, if not longer.

Just as I was thinking of going to lunch, my office door jerked open and Renick came in. The excited expression on his face told me something had happened, and my heart turned a somersault.

‘I think we’ve got a break!’ he said. ‘Come on down with me to police headquarters. I’ll tell you about it on the way.’ As we walked fast down the corridor to the elevator, he went on, ‘Talk about luck!

I was going through the routine police reports for Saturday night, and I turned up an item that could be something. A man was found unconscious in the car park at the Pirates’ Cabin. Do you know it?’

My mouth turned so dry, I couldn’t speak. I managed to give a grunt and nod.

‘This guy had a pretty bad head wound. The barman called a cop. He told the cop this fellow had followed a girl into the car park. He said he had an idea the girl was Odette Malroux.’

‘What makes him think that?’ I asked huskily.

‘She’s a well-known character in Palm City. Her photos are always appearing in the Press. He was pretty sure it was her. They’ve picked him up and he’s at headquarters now. I’ve got some photos of the girl with me. I’m hoping he will identify her.’

‘Is the other guy badly hurt?’

‘He’s taken a nasty bang on the head, but he’s all right. Who hit him? If this girl was Odette Malroux, what was she doing in a joint like the Pirates’ Cabin?’

‘Maybe it wasn’t her.’

‘We’ll soon see.’

Ten minutes later, we were in Sergeant Hammond’s office. With him was the barman of the Pirates’

Cabin. I recognised him as the man Odette had spoken to.

Renick showed him a selection of photographs of the girl.

‘That’s her,’ the barman said. ‘That’s her for sure.’

‘What time did she come in?’ Renick asked, looking significantly at me.

‘A little after nine o’clock. She looked around as if expecting someone, then she asked me if there was another bar. I told her no, and showed her where the restaurant was. She checked the restaurant, then started to leave. There was a guy with a load on: he wasn’t boiled, but he had had plenty. He grabbed hold of her arm as she passed him. She shook him off and went out. He followed her.’

‘Then what happened?’

‘About ten minutes later some guy comes in and says there’s a man lying in the car park. I went out and found this drunk. He was bleeding badly so I called a cop.’

‘Any cars leave the parking lot before he was found?’

‘A few minutes after the girl left I heard two cars start up and leave. One of them was a high powered sports car: I could tell that by the noise it made.’

‘And the other one?’

‘Just a car.’

‘So the girl came into the bar as if expecting to meet someone and then she left?’

‘That’s correct.’

‘How was the girl dressed?’

The barman gave a pretty good description of the clothes Odette had worn that night and Sergeant Hammond jotted down the description.

When the barman had gone, Renick said, ‘I guess we’ll call on this guy in hospital. What’s his name, Sergeant?’

‘Walter Kerby.’

We found Walter Kerby lying in bed, his head in bandages and looking pretty sorry for himself. He admitted right away that he had been drunk on Saturday night.

‘I saw this dish,’ he said, ‘and I thought she was a push over. No decent girl goes to that joint. She turned snooty, but I thought it was the old come-on so I went out into the parking lot after her. I guess I was wrong about her. I was fooling around with her and she didn’t like it. Then all of a sudden, some guy comes out of the darkness and clubs me over the head. That’s all I know about it.’

‘What was he like?’ Renick asked.

I was standing on the other side of the bed and I was scared Kerby would hear my heart beats.

‘He was a big guy. I wouldn’t recognise him again, I never did see his face. It was dark, and he was fast. I didn’t stand a chance.’

On the way back to the office, Renick said, ‘Why did she go to the Pirates’ Cabin? She had a date with her girl friend to go to the movies. They were to meet at nine o’clock, but just after nine she arrives at this joint. What made her change her mind?’

‘Could be she had a telephone call.’

‘Yeah. That could be the answer. Was she kidnapped at this joint? I’m going to get a check on Kerby.

He could have been connected with the kidnapping although I don’t think so. I’ll get O’Reilly to see if he can find out if she did have a telephone call before she left home.’

It wasn’t until five o’clock that Renick got the information he wanted. He came into my office and sat on my desk.