Ed Lacy - Sin In Their Blood

Flo held up her hand so I could see it was two-twenty. “Don't rush off, Matt.”

“Got to.”

“Then think it over. It's important, for both of us.”

“I told you I don't...”

“You don't lose nothing by thinking it over. Let's talk again, tomorrow. Okay?”

“I'll think about it.” I waved and Flo blew a kiss at me as I went out.

I dropped into the first phone booth I passed, called Max, asked if he'd ever heard of Flo being wanted for anything, or in a jam.

“Not that I know of,” Max said. “I'll check if you want. What's up?”

“Nothing. But check.” I hung up and called my expensive buddy in Atlanta, reversing the charges. He said he'd received the money, and in a few short sentences told me what I wanted to know.

I took a cab out to Mrs. Samuels' and we had another little talk. “Can you leave town?”

“Do I have to?” she asked.

“I don't know. Be better if you do. Could you move to L.A. or Harlem, get lost there? I know it's a lot to ask and if you can't, why...”

“Why is it a lot to ask? Haven't anything to hold me here.”

“Any relations?”

She shook her head. “I'm nearly 62, all my kin has died. Had two boys but they never growed up, never reached twelve. Lost one at childbirth... hospital didn't want no colored. Other, got sick when he was eleven... one of these flu epidemics. Guess can't blame that on his being colored. Maybe I'll go to L.A. Sick of this old town anyway.”

“Need money?”

“I have some savings.”

“Listen carefully, then forget what I'm telling you. I'm going to see that Saxton gets the works. I don't want you to return if you should read about the case, even if it says they're looking for you. And we never talked about this. Get that?”

“Yes.”

“Now, in case they should bring you back to testify, you never had an idea Henry Wilson was colored. They'll cross-examine you pretty hard on the witness stand, but you must stick to your story. And don't worry about perjury. After all, you haven't any proof Henry was passing. It's merely an idea of yours. From now on you must think Henry was white.”

“All right... but he wasn't.”

“You just think he wasn't. Tell me, in all good faith, could you swear in court that Henry wasn't white?”

“Shucks, I'm sure... pretty sure... he was passing. I can tell. What you got in mind to do?”

I was afraid to tell her, you never know when and why a person will talk. I said curtly, “You're wrong, I have definite proof he was white.”

“You sure?”

“Are you?”

“Well... if you say...”

“You see, you're really not absolutely positive. The thing to do is convince yourself—from now on—that he was white. I can't tell you what I'm going to do—less you know, better off you are. Understand, I don't mean I don't trust you, but I can't have anybody else in on this. It's my play.”

“I believe you.”

“And if you ever do get on the witness stand, you left town to look for work and you never even suspected Henry of being colored. Chances are you won't be called back, but if you are...”

“I only saw you that one time out at the house and I'm surprised anybody should think Mister Henry wasn't white.”

I grinned. “Fine. And don't write to anyone, not even me, telling them where you are. You have to disappear.”

“Who'm I going to write to? Got a few friends I see in church, that's all. Just Sunday friends.”

I stood up. “How soon you leaving?”

“Tonight. Haven't much to pack. When you work as a maid you don't have no real home. The house you work in is a sort of home, only it isn't. This... this is merely a room.”

We shook hands. I said, “Good-bye, Florence. You're quite a woman.”

“You look mean and nasty, but you're a good white man, Matt. I hope we win.”

“We'll sure give it a good try.”

At the door she asked, “You really got proof Henry was white?”

I winked at her, put a finger across my lips... like a kid.

When I reached the bungalow Mady gave me a big kiss, asked, “Everything all right about... this Harry?”

“Sure. Forget it.”

“We got a gift.” She pointed to two bottles of bonded rye on the table. “Liquor-store kid brought them. Said Saxton called and had them sent over.”

I examined the seals, the bottoms of the bottles. “Don't seem to have been tampered with. Wouldn't put it past that bastard to send you poisoned rye—although that would be too obvious.”

“Think he's going to visit us?”

“No. Probably doing it to annoy me, keep you lushing it up.”

“I'm not a lush. How are you doing with Saxton?”

“Don't know yet.”

She said, “Don't be so clam-mouth about it. What are your plans?”

“Tell you when it's done.”

“Why? Because I'm a woman? Maybe I can help you and here you...”

“I'm tired, baby, don't start that woman line. I don't tell you because you're not a dick. Hell, I haven't told Joe, either. Being a detective, despite the movies, isn't a game; it's a business, a trade.”

“I think you ought to let me try and help you. After all, suppose you were a... a butcher. You'd talk your problems over with me, even though I don't know a lamb shoulder from a hole in the ground.”

“Okay, okay, I can trip Saxton if I locate a certain letter he has. That's it.”

“A letter? This letter will prove he murdered the-Wilsons?”

“No, that's easy to prove. You're not much as an alibi. Then there's the water in the cabin, that was off. And if Max digs a little, he'll find a lot of other things that won't check. But the letter... will make the murder rap stick.”

“I don't get it,” Mady said. “What's in this letter that...?”

“I'm not too sure myself. And forget I ever said anything about a letter. All I have to do now is figure how to get it.”

She thought for a moment. “He sent those bottles, suppose I call him now, say I want to see him. While I'm stalling him, you can look his apartment over.”

“Look, hon, Saxton is a killer—a little off his balance probably—but a killer all the same. I don't want you dead.”

“I can handle him.”

I laughed and kissed her big mouth. “That's what I mean about the layman not knowing what he's talking about. But your idea might work. Maybe he is coming out. After supper I'll leave the house, watch outside. If Saxton should come, I'll flatten him, search him. Can always say I was jealous, and he won't know I hit him to search him. Can't let him know I know about the letter. It either has to be on him, or in his apartment.”—

“Or in a safe-deposit vault?”

I kissed her again. “Then I'm screwed.”

We had supper and listened to the radio for a while and Mady complained about my never taking her dancing and I said maybe next week. And how did I know she loved to dance? At eight I left the house and took a plant in the corner drugstore. Sitting in the phone booth, I could see the front of the cottage down the block. The movies ought to show more of the routine work of a detective, like the dull hours you spend watching a house. I sat there for about a half an hour and the druggist looked at me suspiciously, so I dialed Max's home, talked to Libby for a while, then Max got on the phone. I put in another nickel, asked if he'd found anything about Flo.

“Nothing certain. Remember Slip MacCarthy?”

“No.”

“Guess he was a year or two before your time. Slick con man. We knew he took a sucker for ten grand, using, the old horse-wire gag. We knew and couldn't do a thing—the sucker never pressed charges. Flo was in on that.”

“How? You know how she gabs—never mentioned it to me.”

“She was a kid then, working in a fancy call house. You knew she worked in one for a while?” There seemed to be that nasty delight in Max's voice that all men get when talking about whores.

“I knew. So what?”

“Slip took a fancy to her, kept her for a time. He was one of these old school con men, smooth, polished, big front. His specialty was the horse-wire con. He'd have a buddy, and a store fixed up as a telegraph office... the supposedly crooked telegraph employee giving them the track winners before the bookies got it. You know how it works—they still pull that ancient gag now and then, even these days.”

“I know. Where does Flo fit in?”

“Slip latched on to a sucker, let him win a few bucks —the old come-on, then took him to the cleaners. In this case they put the finishing touch on the mark by having Slip put a bag of chicken blood in his mouth. He let the mark sock him, fell down hard, played dead, blood flowing from his mouth. Old stuff again. Scares the sucker so bad he'll never talk about it, keeps a million miles from the cops... thinks he's a murderer.”

“You still haven't told me about Flo?”

Max laughed. “She was bait for the mark, and of course in on the 'kill,' only they forgot to tell her it was a fake. Slip must have been tired of her and saved her cut by not telling her, skipping town. Technically, she thinks she's a party to a murder.”

“Slip still alive?”

“He's doing five to ten in a Federal pen out in Kansas. That what you want to know?”

I said thanks and hung up. The operator was asking for another jit. I sat there for another half hour and Saxton didn't show. The druggist was looking at me again, so I took a walk around the cottage. There was a little chill in the air and I knocked on the back window, told Mady to give me a shot of rye. It was the first drink I'd had in a long time and it warmed my guts, felt good. Mady said, “Does rye always put that contented smile on your face?” and laughed.

“Don't let the bottle get too good to you—leave the stuff alone. It gives you a silly expression,” I said, giving her the glass back. She slammed the window and I went back to my prowling.

I sat on the back steps for another hour and nothing happened. I called for another shot; it was really chilly. I walked around some more, then sat on the back steps again, thought about Flo. Harry had sure played her for a fall guy. Poor Flo, if she'd been born plain, or ugly, she would have had a happier life.

A couple of times I heard a car stop, or people walking near by, but it always turned out to be some neighbors coming home.

By midnight I was chilled to the bone and afraid I was getting a cold. I decided Saxton wasn't coming out. I went in through the kitchen door, stopped in the bathroom to take my temperature. It was normal. There was a light in the living room, but Mady didn't call out to me. I figured she was asleep.

I was right... she was sleeping off a load in the big chair—the big history book about Billy's outfit open on her lap, the remains of a bottle on the floor beside the chair. I tried to slap her out of it but all she did was open her eyes, say in that loose way a drunk talks, “You got no right... right... no... order me about. Tell me not to drink. I... I... can... handle it. I...” Then she passed out again.

I have a blind spot about drunks. Don't know why— maybe I need a couple of sessions on the couch. I was so damn mad at her I picked her up and carried her into the bathroom, and she was heavy as hell. I stood her up in the tub, under the shower, but she kept slipping. I got her balanced against the wall for a moment, ran back into the living room and got the thick military history book. Jamming that against the tub and the side of her legs, I had Mady nicely balanced... sleeping standing up. I pulled the curtains and held my arms around them—in case she fell—and turned on the cold water.