The Snake

Offhand I asked for Quincy's old address and Pat gave me the location of his home and the building the real estate agency was housed in. He had checked them both personally and they were clean.

I hung up the phone and asked Velda if she wanted something to eat. The Automat was right down the street so she settled for a cup of coffee and a sandwich. We waited for the light, cut over, and ducked inside.

Right at the front table Jersey Toby was having coffee and when he saw me he simply got up and left with his coffee practically untouched.

We fed nickels into the slots, got what we wanted, and picked a table.

Outside the damn rain had started again.

Velda said, 'What's on your mind?'

'How can you tell?'

'Your poker face slipped. You're trying to think of something.'

I slammed the coffee cup down. 'One lousy thing. I can feel it. One simple goddamn thing I can't put my finger on and it's right there in front of me. I keep for getting things.'

'It'll come back.'

'Now is when I need it.'

'Will talking about it help?'

'No.'

'You're close, aren't you?'

'We're sitting right on top of it, baby. We're riding three million bucks into the ground and have a killer right in front of us someplace. The damn guy is laughing all the way too.'

'Suppose the money isn't there?'

'Honey... you don't just lose that kind of capital. You don't misplace it. You put it someplace for a purpose. Somebody is ready to move in this town and that money is going to buy that person a big piece of action. If that one is as smart as all this, the action is going to be rough and expensive.'

'Why don't you call Pat again? They might have something.'

'I don't want to bug him to death.'

'He won't mind.'

We pushed away from the table and found a phone booth. Pat was still at his desk and it was three A.M. He hadn't found anything yet. He did have one piece of news for me and I asked what it was.

'We picked up one of the out-of-town boys who came in from Detroit. He was getting ready to mainline one when he got grabbed and lost his fix. He sweated plenty before he talked; now he's flipping because he's in trouble.

The people who sent him here won't have anything to do with a junkie and if they know he's on H he's dead. Now he's yelling for protection.'

'Something hot?'

'We know the prime factor behind the move into town. Somebody has spent a lot of time collecting choice items about key men in the Syndicate operation. He's holding it over their heads and won't let go. The payoff is for them to send in the best enforcers who are to be the nucleus of something new and for this they're paying and keeping still about it. None of them wants to be caught in a bind by the Syndicate itself so they go with the demand.'

'Funny he'd know that angle.'

'Not so funny. Their security isn't that good. Word travels fast in those circles. I bet we'll get the same story if we can put enough pressure on any of the others.'

'You said they were clean.'

'Maybe we can dirty them up a little. In the interest of justice, that is.'

'Sometimes it's the only way. But tell me this, Pat... who could pull a play like that? You'd need to know the in of the whole operation. That takes some big smarts. You'd have to pinpoint your sucker and concentrate on him. This isn't a keyhole game.'

'It's been done.'

'Blackie Conley could have done it,' I suggested. 'He could have used a bite of the loot for expenses and he would have had the time and the know-how.'

'That's what I think too.'

'Anything on Malek's women?'

'Hold it a minute.' I heard him put the phone down, speak to somebody, then he picked it up again. 'Got a note here from a retired officer who was contacted. He remembers the girls Malek used to run with but can't recall the building. His second wife put in a complaint to have it raided for being a disorderly house at one time and he was on the call. Turned out to be a nuisance complaint and nothing more. He can't place the building any more though.'

'Hell,' I said.

'We'll keep trying. Where will you be?'

'Home. I've had it.'

'See you tomorrow,' Pat said.

I hung up and looked at Velda. 'Malek,' I said. 'Nobody can find where he spent his time.'

'Why don't you try the yellow pages?' Velda kidded.

I paused and nodded. 'You just might be right at that, kid.'

'It was a joke, Mike.'

I shook my head. 'Pat just told me he had a second wife. That meant he had a first. Let's look it up.'

There were sixteen Maleks in the directory and I got sixteen dimes to make the calls. Thirteen of them told me everything from drop dead to come on up for a party, but it was the squeaky old voice of the fourteenth that said yes, she was Mrs. Malek who used to be married to Quincy Malek. No, she never used the Quincy or the initial because she never cared for the name. She didn't think it was the proper time to call, but yes, if it was as important as I said it was, I could come right over.

'We hit something, baby,' I said.

'Pat?'

'Not yet. Let's check this one out ourselves first.'

The cab let us out on the corner of Eighth and Forty-ninth. Somewhere along the line over one of the store fronts was the home of Mrs. Quincy Malek the first. Velda spotted the number over the darkened hallway and we went in, found the right button, and pushed it. Seconds later a buzzer clicked and I opened the door.

It was only one flight up. The stairs creaked and the place reeked of fish, but the end could be up there.

She was waiting at the top of the landing, a garishly rouged old lady in a feathered wrapper that smelled of the twenties and looked it. Her hair was twisted into cloth curlers with a scarf hurriedly thrown over it and she had that querulous look of all little old ladies suddenly yanked out of bed at a strange hour.

She forced a smile, asked us in after we introduced ourselves, and had us sit at the kitchen table while she made tea. Neither Velda nor I wanted it, but if she were going to put up with us we'd have to go along with her.

Only when the tea was served properly did she ask us what we wanted.

I said, 'Mrs. Malek... it's about your husband.'

'Oh, he died a long time ago.'

'I know. We're looking for something he left behind.'

'He left very little, very little. What he left me ran out years ago. I'm on my pension now.'

'We're looking for some records he might have kept.'

'My goodness, isn't that funny?'

'What is?'

'That you should want them too.'

'Who else wanted them, Mrs. Malek?'

She poured another cup of tea for me and put the pot down daintily. 'Dear me, I don't know. I had a call... oh, some months ago. They wanted to know if Quincy left any of his business records with me. Seems that they needed something to clear up a title.'