“Are you telling me the lady who was just here——?”
“Sure. I figured you’d know. Sure. She was in there all the time.”
“I think I’m going to need another drink,” I told him. “Did she used to be with any particular crowd, anybody you could lay a name to?”
He looked at me as though he thought it was a funny question.
“Why sure. Naturally I can. You know that good-looking young guy hangs around with Jake Martello and those?”
“Like an overgrown college boy, you mean? Hamilton?”
“Sure, that’s him, that’s the guy. Clive Hamilton.” He said it with satisfaction at having got it right. I looked across at the table where she and I had been sitting five minutes before.
“Not Clive, Tom. Clyde. The guy’s name is Clyde F. Hamilton.” The drink tasted stale and flat.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I WENT DOWN TO THE HOSPITAL. A long time ago I learned not to bother the people at reception. They can usually come up with some perfectly good reason why I shouldn’t go in, and that doesn’t get me anywhere at all. These days I always walk straight through, with a set face as though I’m on some urgent hospital business. They have so many people who have every right to be there, they don’t even bother to look up most of the time.
Today was all right. There was just one girl behind the reception desk, head bent busily as she scribbled at some of the eternal records they have to maintain. The pretty brown hair made me wonder what kind of a face went with it, but in the circumstances I was prepared to make the sacrifice.
All the tough cases like Jake Martello’s were kept at street level. The crash victims, attempted suicides, gunshot wounds and so forth. This had the double advantage of quick access for the incoming ambulance, plus accessibility to the hospital morgue if there was nothing the medics could do. I’d been to Monkton General often in the past, too often, and I was soon in the corridor where I knew Jake would be lying. There was no uniform on view, but that only meant there would be a man inside the room with him. This is partly for protection, and partly so that anything the victim says can be written down. All I had to do was get the guard moved so I could get a word with Jake.
At the end of each corridor was a public pay-phone. I sorted loose change and called the hospital.
“Monkton General. Can I help you?”
“Police Department. You have an officer with one of your patients, Mr. Martello. Can you get the officer to the ‘phone please?”
“Certainly. Please hang on.”
I hung on. Soon I heard the clacking of flat-heeled women’s shoes, and a trim white figure passed me. I pretended to be deep in conversation. I watched as she paused outside a door, opening it carefully and slipping inside. A moment later she re-appeared, followed by a young policeman, and I watched the little procession pass me. Soon there was a man’s voice on the phone.
“Cogan.”
“Cogan, there’s been a reported shooting at 1227 Lakeside. That’s just a few hundred yards from the hospital, and we don’t have a squad car available right now. Will you investigate?”
“But I’m watching this shooting victim here,” he protested.
“Sorry. This shouldn’t take a few minutes. Get a nurse to stay with him till you get back.”
“Does Sergeant Randall know about this?” he asked.
“Sergeant Randall will be told,” I replied severely. “These instructions are from the Captain.”
“All right, what are the details?”
“Some kid fired a shot through a window. Probably no more than an accident. Just get the details, but proceed with caution. And the Captain says not to get gun happy. Get what you can and report in by telephone. If we get a squad car free, we’ll send them along to help out. Your job is to get back to that hospital as fast as you can.”
“Got it.”
I pressed down the receiver and waited. After a short wait a girl in a white uniform flounced by and made for Martello’s room. I gave her time to get settled in there, then followed and tapped gently at the door. Without waiting for a reply, I went in. She looked up, startled, from the magazine she’d picked up.
“What’s going on here miss?” I asked gruffly. “There is supposed to be a uniformed officer on duty here the whole time.”
“Oh—oh yes. He had a call from headquarters and had to go out on some urgent call. He said he’d only be a few minutes.”
I looked at my watch impatiently.
“I haven’t got time to hang around waiting. They told me he’d be here. I’ll have to come back later, I guess.”
She nodded, anxious not to get the good-looking young patrolman in trouble.
Stepping across, I looked down at Jake. He seemed to be peacefully asleep.
“How is he? Has he said anything yet?”
“Nothing coherent, I understand. But he’s out of danger now. In a few days he can probably go home. Mind you, I’m just a second-year nurse, you’d have to get a proper opinion from one of the house men.”
“I’ll read the official stuff when it comes through,” I nodded. Leaning over the prostrate figure I said “Jake,” softly.
His eyes flickered, and I spoke again. This time he got them half-open, and he saw me.
“Hi,” he muttered feebly.
“I don’t think you ought to disturb him this way,” said the little nurse nervously.
“Just a word,” I explained. “Anything he can say now might save a lot of unnecessary work. Can you hear me, Jake?”
He nodded slightly.
“You know a girl named Eve Prince?”
A pause, then slowly the head moved from side to side.
“Have you been looking for McCann?”
Another pause, longer this time. Then a slight nod.
“You might have saved some time if you told me that in the first place,” I reproved. “What about this Hamilton, you trust him?”
Another nod, followed by a sideways
