Miss Shumway Waves A Wand

As I got to my feet, someone grabbed me by my shoulder spun me round and I ran into a punch that sent me crashing into the table. I tried to get my balance, but couldn’t quite make it. The table and I went over on the floor.

I touched my chin with a grimace and looked at the guy who had hit me. He was one hundred per cent. muscle and brawn, with a face moulded on Epstein’s lines and a pair of shoulders as wide as a barn door.

“It’s a funny thing,” I said, “but no one seems to like me.”

Lydia, seeing me close, lashed out again and caught me on the knee. I hurriedly got to my feet. “Will you quit kicking me around?” I said, stepping away from her.

The guy who had hit me was bearing down on me again, but Peppi stopped him. “Wait,” he said, “don’t hit him again. I want to talk to him.”

He then turned and helped Lydia to her feet. She looked as if she were going to make another rush at me, but he jerked her round, “Cut it out!” he said. “What happened?”

It came out like a bursting dam. She told how I had got the gun, taken her into my apartment and knocked her cold; how I had taped her up and taken her to the top floor of an empty warehouse by the river and left her there, and how some bum had found her and released her.

All the time she was talking she was glaring at me, and when she was through she made a sudden dive in my direction, but Peppi grabbed her arm and shoved her back. “Get out,” he said, in his little hissing voice, “you’re not hurt and you’ve had a lucky break. I want to talk to this guy. Maybe I’ll let you at him later.”

She gave a look that’d stop a runaway horse and then she went out, leaving me alone with Peppi and the muscle man.

“Okay, Lew,” Peppi said, “just watch him. If he acts dumb, you can have him.”

I sat down again. “Go on,” I said bitterly, “don’t mind me. Put me up for auction.”

Peppi came over and helped himself to a cigar from a box on the table. “You don’t seem to be so clever after all,” he said.

“Can I help making mistakes?” I said, shrugging. “I’m just good at ‘em, that’s all.”

“Well, this makes a big difference,” he went on, blowing a cloud of smoke into my face,

“we can talk now.” He began wandering about the room. “I’ve got this Shumway girl. You were right.”

I looked at him in disgust “You always were a liar,” I said, “you got the other too?”

Peppi smiled, “Arym, do you mean?”

“Is that her name?”

“Why not? She’s just the opposite to Myra. I think its a good name, don’t you?”

“Myra backwards?”

“Yeah, Myra backwards in every way. Your girl’s a good girl.”

“Where do you get that my girl stuff?” I asked, trying to look bewildered.

“I know,” Peppi smiled, “otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered. Now there’s no chance of you getting away until I say so, you may be interested in some details. Then we can talk business.”

“Go ahead,” I said airily, “I’ve got nothing to lose.”

For all that, I was interested. There was a lot to clear up and if Peppi wanted to talk I wouldn’t stop him.

“Ansell was right. There were two girls,” Peppi said, flicking ash into the empty fireplace.

“It wanted believing, but it didn’t take me long to see how it all added up.”

“I bet it didn’t,” I said bitterly, “you were always a smart guy. Didn’t some columnist say you had more brains in your little finger than you had in your head?”

“Shall I hit him?” Lew asked casually, puffing a short rubber club from his hip pocket. Peppi shook his head, “Not yet,” he said, “there’s time for that.” He turned back to me,

“You remember this guy Kelly?”

“Sure,” I said, “you’d never heard of him when I was here the other day.”

Peppi smiled, “I wasn’t ready to talk then,” he explained. “Kelly told me about the Shumway girl. She interested me. She gypped Kelly and he wanted me to get the 25 grand out of her. I didn’t help him. It wasn’t my line, but I wanted to see the girl I quite liked her.” Peppi flicked more ash, “She’s quite a dish. So, I got rid of Kelly and kept her here for a while. Her father got in the way, too. But, I gave him a little money and got rid of him. Then she told me about you, and what happened in Mexico.” He moved over to the window, glanced out and then wandered back to the middle of the room. “I didn’t believe it at first, but she convinced me. She’s a restless dame.” He shook his head. “I don’t know where she gets to. Now, there’s this trouble about your pal Ansell. She shouldn’t have rubbed him out, but, in a way, it suits me.”

“Let’s have it,” I said, interested, “I feel this is where I get dragged in.”

Peppi nodded, “I’d fixed a substitute Arym for your girl because she said she could persuade you to work for Andasca. I wanted that. It was easy after you told me you were taking Myra to Manetta’s. All I had to do was to send Lew along and snatch Myra while Arym took her place.” He shrugged “Then she loses her head when this Ansell guy gets nosey and kills him. Well, it’s still all right with me. If you don’t play along, I’ll turn Myra over to the cops.”

“Don’t talk in riddles,” I said, “what do you mean?”