'Oh, hell and damnation,' said Reinke. 'Hell and damnation. I knew it-I knew it’d get around, those God- damned fools- It wasn’t my fault! I didn’t want any part of it! I told them to go away somewhere else, I told them about my license, listen, this place is all I got, I just barely make it now, I got to keep my nose clean if I-I told them!'
He was nearly wringing his hands; he looked at Grace anxiously. 'How did you hear about it? Have you-have you-'
'Called up the board and said come grab your license quick? No, Mr. Reinke.' Grace hadn’t anticipated this reaction; from what Galeano had said, he’d rather expected the quiet game in a back room with a cut to the house.
'I don’t think the regulations are just very realistic myself.'
It was a human instinct, gambling. Reinke’s fat face looked somewhat less miserable.
'Neither do I-I don’t know your name.' Grace told him. '-Mr. Grace. But there they are-and I get caught with customers playing for money, I’m dead. Look, it was only the once, see. I asked them to go somewhere else, I told them, but Sam-he just laughed and said I shouldn’t worry so much. I couldn’t do nothing about it, because-'
He hesitated.
'Good customers?' suggested Grace, letting him take his time.
'Well, yeah, but also-I might as well say, as long as I got to tell about it-also, I owe Sam some money. I got in a bind last summer when my wife was sick, we don’t have any insurance, and Sam loaned me a thousand. I been payin’ it back as I can, but he’s been a damn good friend to me, he’s a nice guy and I just didn’t like to press it, he brought out the cards. Honest, it was only the one time and I’ll see it don’t happen again.'
'Al1 right,' said Grace casually. 'When was it? Was Dick Buford in on it?'
'Yeah,' said Reinke, passing a hand across his mouth.
'Yeah. That was another reason I felt kind of nervous, you coming before, asking. I suppose it was just a coincidence, him getting clobbered by some thug just after, but--'
'That night? Last Tuesday, a week ago today?'
'Well, no,' said Reinke. 'No, it got started on Monday afternoon. They just got to playing and sort of kept on. It was draw poker.'
'Mmh-hm,' said Grace. 'Who was in the game?'
'Well, Sam-Sam McAllister, he lives down the block on Fifth. He started it, and the Colombos-Rudy and Vic Colombo, they own the garage across the street, got a couple reliable hands so they could take the time off. And Andy Bond, he’s a regular too, a retired guy like Sam. There was another guy, I’m not sure of his name, he works at the men’s store across the street, but he was only in the game awhile, said he had to get back to work. Then Buford dropped in, late Monday afternoon, and got in it. I asked ’em to go away, they could go to Sam’s, but Sam said his wife’d kill him if she come back, find the place in a mess-I guess she was away somewheres--and they were comfortable here, everything to hand like, and I shouldn’t worry. I could just go home, he said, he’d keep count of any drinks they had and sandwiches and all, and if they got tired they’d lock up. But they didn’t,' said Reinke. 'They was all still there Tuesday, all Tuesday, and I was wild, I tell you.'
Grace marveled slightly, no gambler himself, but he knew such sessions did go on. 'Sam’s nephew was with them then,' said Reinke, 'young sailor, he was on leave, stayin’ with Sam. Yeah, Buford was still in too.'
'When did it break up?'
'Along about seven that night. I told them they had to go away, I didn’t like it. And I guess by then they were getting tired, no wonder, even if one or the other’d drop out awhile and lie down in my back room. They finally broke it up and went.'
'Would you happen to know who came out ahead?' asked Grace. 'They playing very high stakes?'
'I don’t think so, but it went on so long- Yeah, Buford and Andy took kind of a bundle, I guess. I remember this sailor sayin’ they’d got most of his shore-leave money, and Sam said maybe he’d got some education for it, better than spending it on girls.'
'They all left about the same time?'
'About. I was damn glad to see them go, and I made up my mind, Sam try that again, it’s no go-I’ll put my foot down. Mr. Grace, you aren’t going to do anything about it, are you?'
'Not to you,' said Grace, finishing his Scotch.
The sergeant at Pendleton had been very helpful, but Hackett was tired of this damned job. He and Higgins had by now come across several military personnel stationed at Pendleton who hailed from California, but nowhere near L.A.
'And that,' said Higgins finally with a long sigh, 'is that. Finis. If it was a hunch, it was a dud, and damn Scarne and S.I.D. We might better have asked Luis to consult his crystal ball.'
'Probably.' Hackett lit a cigarette and flipped over the sheets on his desk. 'Oh, damn-here’s one we missed, George. The AWOL’s. But it’s short and sweet- And isn’t that a coincidence?' he added suddenly. 'Don’t speak too soon. Here’s an enlisted man, Leo Mullarkey, AWOL last month. His home address is on Magnolia, just a block away from Faber’s Market.'
'And I suppose he made for it right off,' said Higgins, 'the first place they’d look for him.'
'People do stupid things or we wouldn’t have such a good reputation,' said Hackett.
'I believe you. I said to Mary, I think the stupidity rubs off on us. I don’t know, I suppose it is just barely possible, Art. And wouldn’t you know, if he is, the last one of all these hundreds of names. But he won’t be there now, for God’s sake.'
'Maybe we can get an idea when he was.' Hackett got up and put on his jacket. Higgins straightened his tie. Palliser, who had been typing a report across the room and just picked up the phone, said suddenly, 'You don’t say, Jase. Who? Well, I’ll be damned! The boss’ll be interested in that, but I’ll never understand how anyone can waste time over- Yes, I see. Yes, it doesn’t say how much but we can talk to the other men and- You and your little ideas. I’ll pass it on… Jase just came across something interesting on Buford, Art.'
'Buford? Oh, that. I hope we’ve just come across something interesting too,' said Hackett.
Outside, it was making up its mind to rain again. They took Higgins' Pontiac, as it were for good luck. They couldn’t transport a subject in Hackett’s Barracuda. The address on Magnolia was an old square stucco house with a strip of brown grass in front and an ancient Ford sitting in the drive. They parked in front, went up and rang the bell. After an interval the door opened.
'Mrs. Mullarkey?' Hackett showed her the badge.
'What the hell do cops want?' She stared at them angrily, unwilling acknowledgment in her eyes of two great big cops, looking like cops, on her doorstep. 'Oh, I suppose you’re lookin’ for Leo-we don’t know where he’s at.'
She was a fat bleached blonde about fifty, makeup plastered on, in tight black pants, a bright flowered tunic.
'When was the last time you saw him?' asked Hackett.
'Listen, the soldiers come and asked-and asked,' she said impatiently. 'We ain’t seen him since-I coulda told them Leo wasn’t goin’ to stay at one thing long, and he never did like bein’ told what to do, no way. So he took off from the Army, so what? How did we know that, or figure it was some big crime?'
'He was here?' asked Higgins.
'Look, I told that sergeant or whatever he was, sure, Leo landed here, God, I dunno, way time gets away from you, it was about three weeks, a month back-he says he’s on leave, he only stayed overnight, he said he was goin’ up to ’Frisco. That’s all I know.'
Hackett and Higgins looked at each other and shrugged. Dead end. It could be that in the short time he was here Mullarkey had sold or given some cigarettes with that PX seal to somebody around here. He could have stayed right around here and been the X they were hunting. That was probably as close as they were going to get. But Higgins had caught the one word. 'You said we, Mrs. Mullarkey. Your husband could back that up?'
'Husband!' she said, and barked a laugh. 'Just all I can do take care of myself, without some lazy man. I got shut of him years back. It’s enough I got two no-good boys, bring the cops down on me. But I got to say, Billy’s got some feelings, not like Leo-believe it or not he gives me some loot just the other day, though where the hell he got
