“Very good, sir,” the butler returned, and went out, closing the door behind him.
Peppi came in a moment later.
He stood looking at me and I could see he liked me a lot less than when we had met previously.
“There you are,” I said, admiring his suit “What a well-turned-out guy you’ve turned out to be.”
“Where is she?” he said.
That’s one thing I liked about Peppi. He didn’t waste time getting to the point.
“That’s the question I was going to ask you,” I said, looking up at him from my chair.
It was certainly a smart idea when I grabbed Lydia. I had no idea that both the butler and Peppi would start running round in circles.
Peppi drew a hissing breath through his teeth and controlled himself with an effort. “I’m talking about Miss Brandt,” he said, his small hands clenched at his sides. “Where is she?”
“And I am talking about Miss Shumway. Be your age, Peppi, this won’t get us anywhere. Turn Myra over to me and you can have Lydia. I’m just trying to even the odds.”
“I see,” he said, and suddenly smiled. “Very clever of you, Millan, very clever.” He drew up a chair and sat down. “You are taking a chance on getting me mad, but I think we can come to an agreement.”
“I hope so,” I returned, watching him carefully. The change round was a little too sudden.
“You haven’t hurt her?” There was an anxious note in his voice.
“I tell you what I haven’t done,” I said, looking at him coldly, “I haven’t framed her for murder. So you’re still one up on me.”
He examined his finger nails, “No one’s been framed for murder,” he said. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“We’re wasting time,” I said. “I want Myra and you want Lydia. That’s all there’s to it. Do we make a deal?”
“If I had Miss Shumway, then, of course, we’d make a deal,” he said smoothly. “But she got away.”
“Then maybe Lydia will get away, but I doubt it,” I said, not believing him.
“I could call the police,” he said, moving restlessly.
That was a joke. Peppi going to the police was like a snake dropping in to see a mongoose.
“You could do that,” I said, lighting a cigarette. “They might be glad to see you.”
“If you found Miss Shumway,” he said, “what would you do with her? She’s wanted by the police.”
“I’ll look after that when you turn her over,” I said, “and look, Peppi, I’m getting impatient.”
Then the door opened and Lydia Brandt walked in.
It was a shock, but I managed to smile at her. It looked like the breaks were not in my favour in this game.
“There you are, Peacherine,” I said, “we were just talking about you.”
I was almost sorry to see she had a small black bruise each side of her jaw where I had tried to stop her talking in the cab. There was also a graze on her chin where I had hit her. And, what was worse, she looked as mad as a hornet in a paper bag.
Peppi was as startled as I was. He took her arm and stared at her as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“What happened?” he demanded.
She pushed him aside and came over to me. If there’s one thing that makes me nervous it’s a dame in a temper. You never know what they’re going to do. They might stab you with a hat pin or scratch your eyes out. They might try and make you bald. They might kick you. You just don’t know which way it’s coming.
I held up my hand, “Now, don’t bust your brassiere,” I said, hastily. “Remember your upbringing and act like a lady.”
She caught me a sizzler on the shin with her pointed shoe. “You heel!” she said, “I’ll kill you for what you did to me!” and back went her leg to post me another bone-crusher.
I caught her foot as it shot towards me and lifted it sharply. She sat down with a thud and I guess the jar cooled her fever. Anyway, she just sat there, her eyes snapping and her mouth twisted with pain.
As I got to my feet, someone grabbed me by my shoulder spun me round and I ran into a punch that sent me crashing into the table. I tried to get my balance, but couldn’t quite make it. The table and I went over on the floor.
I touched my chin with a grimace and looked at the guy who had hit me. He was one hundred per cent. muscle and brawn, with a face moulded on Epstein’s lines and a pair of shoulders as wide as a barn door.
“It’s a funny thing,” I said, “but no one seems to like me.”
Lydia, seeing me close, lashed out again and caught me on the knee. I hurriedly got to my feet. “Will you quit kicking me around?” I said, stepping away from her.
The guy who had hit me was bearing down on me again, but Peppi stopped him. “Wait,” he said, “don’t hit him again. I want to talk to him.”
He then turned and helped Lydia to her feet. She looked as if she were going to make another rush at me, but he jerked her round, “Cut it out!” he said. “What happened?”
It came out like a bursting dam. She told how I had got the gun, taken her into my apartment and knocked her cold; how I had taped her up and taken her to the top floor of an empty warehouse by the river and left her there, and how some bum had found her and released her.
All the time she was talking she was glaring at me, and when she was through she made a sudden dive in my direction, but Peppi grabbed her arm and shoved her back. “Get out,” he said, in his little hissing voice, “you’re not hurt and you’ve had a lucky break. I want to talk to this guy. Maybe I’ll let you at him later.”
She gave a look that’d stop a runaway horse and then she went out, leaving me alone with Peppi and the muscle man.
“Okay, Lew,” Peppi said, “just watch him. If he acts dumb, you can have him.”
I sat down again. “Go on,” I said bitterly, “don’t mind me. Put me up for auction.”
Peppi came over and helped himself to a cigar from a box on the table. “You don’t seem to be so clever after all,” he said.
“Can I help making mistakes?” I said, shrugging. “I’m just good at ’em, that’s all.”
“Well, this makes a big difference,” he went on, blowing a cloud of smoke into my face,
“we can talk now.” He began wandering about the room. “I’ve got this Shumway girl. You were right.”
I looked at him in disgust “You always were a liar,” I said, “you got the other too?”
Peppi smiled, “Arym, do you mean?”
“Is that her name?”
“Why not? She’s just the opposite to Myra. I think its a good name, don’t you?”
“Myra backwards?”
“Yeah, Myra backwards in every way. Your girl’s a good girl.”
“Where do you get that my girl stuff?” I asked, trying to look bewildered.
“I know,” Peppi smiled, “otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered. Now there’s no chance of you getting away until I say so, you may be interested in some details. Then we can talk business.”
“Go ahead,” I said airily, “I’ve got nothing to lose.”
For all that, I was interested. There was a lot to clear up and if Peppi wanted to talk I wouldn’t stop him.
“Ansell was right. There were two girls,” Peppi said, flicking ash into the empty fireplace.
“It wanted believing, but it didn’t take me long to see how it all added up.”
“I bet it didn’t,” I said bitterly, “you were always a smart guy. Didn’t some columnist say you had more brains in your little finger than you had in your head?”
“Shall I hit him?” Lew asked casually, puffing a short rubber club from his hip pocket. Peppi shook his head, “Not yet,” he said, “there’s time for that.” He turned back to me,
“You remember this guy Kelly?”
“Sure,” I said, “you’d never heard of him when I was here the other day.”
Peppi smiled, “I wasn’t ready to talk then,” he explained. “Kelly told me about the Shumway girl. She interested me. She gypped Kelly and he wanted me to get the 25 grand out of her. I didn’t help him. It wasn’t my line, but I wanted to see the girl I quite liked her.” Peppi flicked more ash, “She’s quite a dish. So, I got rid of Kelly and kept her here for a while. Her father got in the way, too. But, I gave him a little money and got rid of him. Then
