I took a wild guess. “Del Penner.”
His face hardened. “He clean?”
Both the guys at the door behind him nodded and the one took my .45 out and showed it. Del said, “You came too easy, Hammer.”
“Who expected trouble?”
“In your business you should always expect it.”
“I’ll remember it. What’s the action, Penner?”
“You sent her asking about me. Why?”
“Because I’m getting my toes stepped on. A guy named Kid Hand got shot and I hear you’re taking his place. I don’t like to get pushed. Now what?”
“You’ll get more than pushed, Hammer. Word’s around that you got yourself some top cover and knocking you off can make too much noise. Not that it can’t be handled, but who needs noise? Okay, you’re after something, so spill it.”
“Sure. You are stepping up then?”
Penner shrugged elaborately. “Somebody takes over. What else?” “Who’s Dickerson?”
Everybody looked at everybody else before Del Penner decided to answer me. He finally made up his mind. “You know that much, then you can have this.
“Somebody knows.”
“Maybe, but not you and not us. What else?”
“You pull this stunt on your own?”
“That you can bet your life on. When this broad started nosing around I wanted to know why. So I asked her and she told me. She said they were your orders. Now get this . . . I know about the whole schmear with you knocking off Kid Hand and getting Levitt bumped and leaving Marv Kania running around with a slug in his gut. I ain’t got orders on you yet but like I said, when anybody noses around me I want to know why.”
“Supposing I put it this way then, Penner . . . I’m the same way. Anybody tries to shoot me up is in for a hard time. You looked like a good place to start with and don’t figure I’m the only one who’ll think of it. You don’t commit murder in this town and just walk away from it. If you’re stepping into Kid Hand’s job then you should know that too.”
Penner smiled tightly. “The picture’s clear, Hammer. I’m just stopping it before it gets started.”
“Then this bit is supposed to be a warning?”
“Something like that.”
“Or maybe you’re doing a favor ahead of time.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Like Kid Hand was maybe doing a personal favor and stepped down off his pedestal to look like a big man.”
The silence was tight. Del Penner just stared at me, not bothered at all by what I said. His hand reached up and touched his homburg and he sat back in his chair. “Warning then, Hammer. Don’t make any more noise around me. I imagine you’d be about a fifteen-hundred-buck job. One thousand five hundred bucks can buy both of you dead and no mud on my hands. Clear?”
I put both hands on the table and leaned right into his face. “How much would you cost, Del?” I asked him. He glared at me, his eyes hard and bright. I said, “Come on, Velda. They’re giving us a ride home.”
We sat in the front next to the driver, the skinny guy in back. All the way into Manhattan he kept playing with my gun. When we got to my office the one behind the wheel said, “Out, Mac.”
“Let’s have the rod.”
“Nah, it’s too good a piece for a punk like you. I want a souvenir.”
So I put the .32 up against his neck while Velda swung around in her seat and pointed the automatic at the skinny guy and his whine was a tinny nasal sound he had trouble making. He handed over the .45 real easy, licking his lips and trying to say something. The one beside me said, “Look, Mac . . .”
“I never come easy, buddy. You tell them all.”
His eyes showed white all the way around and he knew. He knew all right. The car pulled away with a squeal of tires and I looked at Velda and laughed. “You play it that way by accident, honey?”
“I’ve had to read a lot of minds the past seven years. I knew how it would work. I just wanted you ready.”
“I don’t know whether to kiss you or smack your ass.”
She grinned impishly. “You can
“Don’t ask for it.”
“Why not? It’s the only way I’m going to get it, I think.”
Teddy’s place is a lush restaurant about as far downtown as it’s possible to get without falling in the river. It seemed an unlikely spot for good food and celebrities, but there you got both. Hy Gardner was having a late supper with Joey and Cindy Adams, and when he spotted us, waved us over to the table.
Before we could talk he ordered up scampi and a steak for both of us, then: “You come down for supper or information?”
“Both.”
“You got Joey really researching. He comes to me, I go to somebody else, and little by little I’m beginning to get some mighty curious ideas. When are you going to recite for publication?”
“When I have it where it should be.”
“So what’s the pitch on Sally Devon?”
“All yours, Joey,” I said.
He could hardly wait to get it out. “Boy, what a deal you handed me. You threw an old broad my way. There was more dust on her records than a Joe Miller joke. Then you know who comes up with the answers?”
“Sure, Cindy.”
“How’d you know?”
“Who else?”
“Drop dead. Anyway, we contacted some of the kids who worked with her only like now they’re ready for the old ladies’ home. Sure, she was in show business, but with her it didn’t last long and was more of a front. Her old friends wouldn’t say too much, being old friends and all, but you knew what they were thinking. Sally Devon was a high-priced whore. She ran with some of the big ones for a while, then got busted and wound up with some of the racket boys.”
Velda looked at me, puzzled. “If she was involved with the rackets, how’d she end up with Sim Torrence, who was supposed to be so clean? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Sure it does,” Hy told her. “He got her off a hook when he was still an assistant D.A. Look, she was still a beautiful doll then and you know the power of a doll. So they became friends. Later he married her. I can name a couple other top politicos who are married to women who used to be in the business. It isn’t as uncommon as you think.”
He put his fork down and sipped at his drink. “What do you make of it now?” When I didn’t answer he said, “Blackmail?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Well, what else do you want?”
For a moment I sat there thinking. “Torrence is a pretty big wheel now, isn’t he?”
“As big as they get without being in office.”
“Okay, he said repeated threats were made on him by guys he helped put away.”
“Ah, they all get that.”
“They all don’t have a mess like this either.”
“So what?”
“This, Hy . . . I’d like a rundown on his big cases, on everyone who ever laid a threat on him. You ought to have that much in your morgue.”
Hy shrugged and grinned at me. “I suppose you want it tonight.” “Why not?”
