He closed the door and brought the elevator upstairs. I walked over to the phone on the wall and dropped in a nickel, then dialed my own number. I heard the two clicks as both Velda?s phone and the extension were lifted at the same time.
Velda sounded nervous when she said good morning. I held my handkerchief over the mouthpiece and said, ?Mr. Hammer, please.?
?I?m sorry, but he hasn?t come in yet. Can I take a message??
I grunted and made like I was thinking, then, ?Yes, if you please. He is to meet me at the Cashmore Bar in Brooklyn in an hour from now. I?ll be a few minutes late, so if he calls in, remind him.?
?Very well,? Velda replied. Her voice had a snicker in it now,
?I?ll tell him.?
I stood there by the phone and let ten minutes go by slowly, then I put in another nickel and did the same thing over again.
Velda said, ?You can come up now, Mike. They?re gone. Brooklyn is a long way off.?
She had her feet up on the desk paring her nails with a file when I walked in. She said, ?Just like you used to do, Mike.?
?I don?t wear dresses you can see up, though.?
Her feet came down with a bang and she got red. ?How?d you find out . . .? her head nodded toward the door, ?about them??
?The elevator operator put me wise. He goes on our bonus list.
What did they want??
?You.?
?What for??
?They seemed to think you shot somebody.?
?That sniveling little bastard had the nerve to do it!? I threw my hat at the chair and ripped out a string of curses. I swung around, mad as hell. ?Who were they??
?They let me know they were from the D.A.?s office.? A little worried frown drew lines across her forehead. ?Mike . . . is it bad??
?It?s getting worse. Get me Pat on the phone, will you??
While she was dialing I went to the closet and got out the other bottle of sherry. Velda handed me the phone as I finished pouring two glasses.
I tried to make my voice bright but there was too much mad in it. I said, ?It?s me, Pat. Some of the D.A.?s boys just paid me a visit.?
He sounded amazed. ?What are you doing there, then??
?I wasn?t here to receive them. A dirty dog sent them on a wild-goose chase to Brooklyn. What goes on??
?You?re in deep, Mike. This morning the D.A. sent out orders to pick you up. There was a shooting out on the island last night. Two guys caught a slug and one of them was a fellow named Rainey.?
?Sounds familiar. Was I identified??
?No, but you were seen in the vicinity and overheard threatening this Rainey fellow just a short time before.?
?Did Rainey say all this himself??
?He couldn?t very well. Rainey is dead.?
?What!? My voice sounded like an explosion. ?Mike . . .?
My mouth couldn?t form an answer.
Pat said it again. ?Mike . . . did you kill him??
?No,? I got out. ?I?ll be in the bar up the street. Meet me there, will you? I have things to talk about.?
?Give me an hour. By the way, where were you last night?? I paused. ?Home. Home in bed sound asleep.?
?Can you prove it??
?No.?
?Okay, I?ll see you in a little while.?
Velda had drained both glasses while I was talking and was filling them up again. She looked like she needed them. ?Rainey?s dead,? I told her. ?I didn?t kill him but I wish I had.?
Velda bit her lip. ?I figured as much. The D.A. is tagging you for it, isn?t he??
?Right on the nose. What happened last night??
She handed me a glass and we lifted them together. Hers went down first. ?I won some money. Clyde got me slightly drunk and propositioned me. I didn?t say no; I said later. He?s still interested. I met a lot of people. That?s what happened.?
?A waste of time.?
?Not entirely. We joined a party of visiting firemen and some very pretty young ladies. The life of the party was Anton Lipsek and he was quite drunk. He suggested they go up to his apartment in the Village and some of them did. I wanted to go but Clyde made a poor excuse of not being able to break away from his business. One other couple refused too, mainly because the boy friend was ahead on the roulette wheel and wanted to go back to it. The girl with him was the same one you had that night.?
?Connie??
?Is that her name?? she asked coldly.
I grinned and said it was.
Velda rocked back in her seat and sipped the sherry. ?Two of the girls that went along with Anton worked with Connie. I heard them talking shop a few minutes before your girl friend made some catty remarks that brought the conversation to a halt.?
She waited until I had finished? my drink. ?Where were
?Out to see a guy named Rainey.?
Her face went white. ?But . . . but you told Pat . . .?
?I know. I said I didn?t kill him. All I did was shoot him in the leg a little bit.?
?Good heavens!? Then
I rocked my head from side to side until she got the idea. ?He wasn?t hurt bad. The killer did me one better and plugged him after I left. That?s the way it had to be. I?ll find out the details later.? I stuck a cigarette in my mouth and let my eyes find hers while I lit it. ?What time did you meet Clyde last night??
Her eyes dropped and her lips went into a pout. ?He made me wait until twelve o?clock. He said he was tied up with some work. I got halfway stood up, Mike, and right after you were telling me how nice I looked.?
The match burned down to my fingers before I put it out. ?That gave him a chance to get out to Rainey, kill him, and get back. That just about does it!? Velda?s eyes popped wide-open and she swallowed hard. ?Oh, no, Mike . . . no I--I was with him right after . . .?
?On Dinky it wouldn?t show if he just killed a guy. Not on Dinky. He?s got too many of ?em under his belt.?
I picked up my hat from the chair where I had tossed it and straightened out the wrinkles in the crown. ?If the police call again stall ?em off. Don?t mention Pat. If the D.A. is there call him a dirty name for me. I?ll be back later.?
When I stepped out the door I knew I wasn?t going to be anywhere later. A big burly character in high-top shoes got up off the top step where he was sitting and said, ?Lucky the boys left a couple of us here after all. They?re gonna be mad when they get back from Brooklyn.? Another character just as big came from the other end of the hall and joined in on the other side.
I said, ?Let?s see your warrant.?
They showed it to me. The first guy said, ?Let?s go, Hammer, and no tricks unless you want a fist in your face.? I shrugged and marched over to the elevator with them.
The operator caught wise right off and shook his head sadly. I
could see he was thinking that I should?ve known better. I squeezed over behind him as some others got on and by the time we hit the lobby I felt a little better. When the operator changed his uniform tonight he was going to be wondering where that .25 automatic came from. Maybe he?d even turn it in to the cops like a good citizen. They?d have a swell time running down that toy.
There was a squad car right outside and I got in with a cop on either side of me. Nobody said a word and when I pulled out a pack of butts one of the cops slapped them out of my hands. He had three cigars stuffed in the
