minutes later. People came out of the other cabins. They were very excited. It was all quite an event. The police took us and the two hoods, who were just scared amateurs now. We told our story in the safety of a good strong cell just in case Roth had ideas of one last-gasp attempt. Jo-Jo gave them the locker key to pick up the parking ticket from the locker where he had hidden it. Then the cops took us to the airport and we flew north with a lot of friendly guards.
Captain Gazzo welcomed us with open arms and a secure paddy wagon. At headquarters Gazzo called in Andy Pappas to identify the licence number on the ticket and to give any information Pappas could in the light of the evidence. Pappas looked at that parking ticket for a long time. Andy was as dapper as ever, but he was pale; and he came alone.
‘It’s my small Mercury convertible,’ Pappas said. ‘It was down in Jersey. Jake was alone down there. You say Jake used it the day Tani… was killed?’
‘He got it back before you returned from Washington,’ Gazzo said. The captain was trying to be civil to Pappas. It was not easy for him. ‘Fortune’s got the whole story.’
I told Andy the story as I knew it. His face darkened when I got to the part about the Olsens. His cold eyes looked at Jo-Jo. When I told him about Roth working me over, he nodded.
‘I never ordered that,’ Pappas said.
‘We found a losing stub from Monmouth in her place,’ Gazzo said.
‘Yeh,’ Pappas said slowly. ‘Jake was at Monmouth the day before. I remember.’
‘His two hired hands are singing anyway,’ Gazzo said. ‘The whole story, as much as they know of it.’
‘Yeh,’ Pappas said. He stared at the parking ticket. He licked his dry lips. ‘Do you know what… I mean, what happened? In her place?’
‘You mean why did he kill her?’ I said. ‘His two boys say that he told her some big plan he had. He shot his mouth off, that’s the way the two hoods put it, and then he had to cool her.’
‘Plans?’ Pappas said, his dead eyes narrowed to slits.
‘Plans against you, Pappas,’ Gazzo said. ‘It looks like Jake was making a play for Tani, and to show her what a big man he was he told her some plans he had.’
‘He didn’t go to kill her,’ I said. ‘He went to play games with her. But he made a mistake, and he had to silence her.’
‘Jake and Tani?’ Pappas said. ‘Yeh. She was just a poor dumb kid who liked men. I guess she just had to play around. But you know something? The kid loved me. Yeh, she did.’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘That’s what killed her.’
I could picture the scene that afternoon. Jake Roth, alone with Tani, encouraged by her, and for one arrogant instant sure that she would prefer him to Pappas. After all, he was younger, and in his own mind a better man. He was sure she would choose him, but with a faint doubt, a small need to impress. So he told her of some plans, his big schemes. Probably a boast that he would soon be the boss. Then, a moment later, aware of his error. Maybe he saw it in her eyes. The shock, the horror she was too naive to hide. In that one instant Roth must have seen the truth: that he was only a momentary little excitement to Tani, and that Pappas was the big thing, the important man to her. Maybe Tani did not know who Pappas really was, or care, but she knew a threat to her man when she heard one. Jake Roth saw that, realized his mistake, and acted in the only way Roth could act. He shot her.
‘He shot her then and there, Andy,’ I said, ‘but you killed her. Fear of you, Andy, that’s what killed Tani. She was your woman, and Jake knew he couldn’t risk leaving her alive a minute.’
I clubbed him with those words, but I felt almost sorry for him then. All at once he was just another middle- aged man who had lost his sweetheart. It did not matter that he had had little right to have a sweetheart. All men need some love in their lives, and what did I know about his home life? I felt almost sorry. But only almost. Because he was not just another middle-aged man. He was Andy Pappas, and he had some pain coming to him. So I clubbed him with words. Not that it did any good.
‘You did good, Danny,’ Pappas said, as if he had not heard me. ‘I’ll send you a cheque even if you didn’t do the job for me. That kid, too. The one who was beaten up.’
‘No cheque,’ I said. ‘Not for me. I made that choice a long time ago, Andy. What you touch dies.’
‘Suit yourself,’ Andy said.
‘You killed her as sure as if you’d pulled that trigger yourself,’ I said.
Pappas began to pull on those white gloves he affects now. He still did not hear me. He never hears or sees what he does not want to hear or see. He smoothed the fingers of the gloves. He looked at Gazzo.
‘Is that all, Captain?’
‘That’s all,’ Gazzo said. ‘Unless you want to tell us what Roth thought he was going to take over.’
Pappas smiled a thin smile. He nodded to me and went out of the office. As he went I saw his hand smooth his suit coat at the place where he used to carry his gun under the coat. Gazzo saw that, too. There was a look of sudden hope in Gazzo’s eyes. The captain was thinking that maybe Andy would slip this time, kill Roth himself, get caught. I doubted that. There would probably be a small purge of anyone Pappas learned had been associated with Jake Roth in his plans, but Pappas would not be personally involved. How far could true love make a man stupid?
In the interrogation room the two hoods sang like eager tenors. They told all about what Jake had done and what he had hired them to do.
‘We was to get the ticket and kill Olsen. The old man was just lousy luck. We asked some questions, and he kicked off on us.
They looked at us as if it was somehow old Schmidt’s fault that he had died. It was unfair to them that he had died. Anyone could see that. They seemed to think that this explanation made it all okay, that we should kiss and make up.
‘Roth was gonna give us good spots when he took over,’ the muscle-boy explained. ‘I mean, it was our chance, you know? The big break. We’d of been right on top with the boss.’
The thin one shrugged. ‘Maybe he wasn’t so smart. I mean, spilling to that Jones kid was a dumb play. Yeh, real dumb.’
Jake Roth made a dumb mistake. Now people were dead.
‘What about Nancy Driscoll?’ I said.
The muscle boy shook his head. ‘We don’t know no Driscoll, like we told the cap’n. I guess Jake handled her himself, like he done with you, peeper.’
‘How did you know where Olsen was?’ I asked.
‘Jake told us,’ the thin one said. ‘Only he didn’t do so good about that, neither. We got down there way ahead of you, Fortune, except he had us out in that dirt town Flamingo. We turned that cycle track upside down, ‘n then we looked all over Spanish Beach before Jake says to try the speedway.’
‘And you have nothing to tell us about Nancy Driscoll?’ Gazzo said.
‘No sir, Cap’n, nothin’,’ the thin one said.
After we gave Gazzo all we could about Roth, Jo-Jo and I walked out into the morning. We had been at it all night. Gazzo had the manhunt underway. The day was going to be hot and stifling in the city. Jo-Jo did not seem to want to go home. I suggested he take a hotel room. I’d lend him the money even if I had to borrow it from Marty or Joe.
‘Thanks, Mr Fortune,’ Jo-Jo said.
He had removed his moustache by now, and taken off the dark glasses. He stood in the city morning and looked up and down the street as if not quite sure that it was all over and not quite sure of what to do next. That is one of the problems of choosing to go your own way. For a long time it seems like you have nothing much to do, because you are so accustomed to doing what other people want you to do. Jo-Jo was missing all the sense of purpose of the last week when he was running and hiding for the sake of his family.
‘Only let’s go and call on Petey first,’ I said. ‘I owe my client a report, after all.’
Jo-Jo shrugged. We caught a taxi and rode in the growing heat and glare of the morning towards St Vincent’s. Jo-Jo was not talkative. I suppose he was thinking of his new life. It takes time to adjust to facing yourself, to throw off a whole set of preconceived notions.
In a way I was doing the same thing. I was thinking of Pete Vitanza, and adjusting to my thoughts.
