Gus got out first and opened the door. “Come on out,” he said to Mardi.
She stepped out and he pushed her into the house. The fat guy followed, jerking me with him. We all silently trooped upstairs into the room where Blondie had been kept prisoner.
“Home again,” I said, leaning against the wall. I had been testing the ropes round my wrists and arms during the drive, but I could get nowhere with them. They were on for good.
Gus shoved me into a chair.
The fat guy went outside, and I heard him go into another room. I heard him say something, then a deep voice answered him. I saw Mardi start a little and she looked rather wildly at me. She said something with her lips, but I couldn't get it.
Then the door opened again and a tall, heavily built man came in, followed closely by the fat guy.
He stood and looked at Mardi, then he said, “I'm sorry about this, but you're rather in the way.” The way he said it made me suddenly feel cold. He was so casual and calm, but there was a definite threat in his words.
He certainly scared Mardi. She took a step back. “But, Mr. Spencer...” she began and stopped.
So this was Lu Spencer. I looked at him closely. There was nothing very grand about this guy. He was running a little to fat and he was getting thick in the middle. His coal-black moustache and his white hair made odd contrasts. He looked like he had dyed his moustache. His eyes dropped a little, as if he were very tired, but the light in them belied any sign of fatigue.
He selected a cigar from a pigskin case and put it between his teeth. “Give the lady a chair,” he said to Gus.
When Mardi had sat down, her hands twisting a little in her lap, he glanced over at me.
“So you're Mason,” he said, moving over to get a good look at me.
“Yeah,” I said. “If this is your idea of a good gag, I don't think much of it. Suppose you cut this movie stuff out right now.”
He went over and sat on the edge of the table. “It's time we had a little chat,” he said, tipping the ash off his cigar with his finger. “I'm cautious, Mason, always have been. When I think trouble's coming my way, I act quick. I don't wait for trouble to get going, I meet it before it starts and I stop it starting.”
I shrugged. “Where do I find that little fable?”
“You've been warned off before, but it seems like you won't learn. I've decided to stop you putting your oar in.”
Boy! Would I like to have my hands free so that I could have socked that guy one? “Ain't you barkin' up the wrong alley?”
“I'm going to be frank with you,” he went on. “It would be very inconvenient to have a further investigation in the Richmond murder. I've got the business to think of and, as I say, it would be inconvenient. You've been offered big money to start trouble, haven't you?”
I looked at him thoughtfully. Then I said: “Maybe your pal Katz has told you my angle.”
Spencer nodded. “Yes,” he said, “I know about that.”
“All right,” I said. “Now I had decided to leave the business alone. What's one cheap crook among so many? I didn't have to grieve about Vessi. I was bein' offered ten grand. That ain't such a lot of dough. So I decided to leave it alone. Then, when you started trouble for Miss Jackson, I just had to come into it again.”
Spencer glanced at Mardi and then back at me. His eyebrows went up a little, and he pursed his mouth. “So that's how it sits, huh?”
“If you mean that I ain't sitting still when you start pushing a nice girl around, you're right,” I said.
“No more than that?”
I wanted to belt that guy in the puss very badly indeed. I didn't say anything.
He chewed his cigar thoughtfully. “You've got me in a spot, Mason,” he said at last. “You and this young woman here could be a nuisance. Between you both you might start trouble which might upset my plans. If we can't come to terms, I'm afraid you two are in for a bad time.”
His voice was very casual, but I didn't like his tone. I glanced across at Mardi and she wasn't looking too grand.
“Suppose you put your cards on the table,” I invited.
He looked over at Gus. “Clear out, you two,” he said. “I'll call you if I want you.”
When they had gone he began to pace up and down the room. I could see he had a lot on his mind.
“Look,” he said at last, “I've got to find out who's at the bottom of all this. Who's willing to pay you ten grand to make things awkward for me.”
I bet he'd like to know that, but he wasn't getting any help from me. I had already made up my mind that I was going to look into that also.
I shrugged. “You can search me,” I said. “I've been asking myself the same question.”
He came over and stood close to me. “I've got a hunch that you know something that would give me the key to this. I'm going to ask you to come clean.”
As I began to speak he held up his hand. “Don't be in a hurry,” he said; “Think first. If you can't remember, I'm going to jog your memory.”
I said, “I've told you I got a note which was typewritten. I've no more idea than the dead who it could be.”
