‘You can come along with us for the ride,’ he said, ‘but Hans and Rudolph can handle the launch.’
We covered the twenty miles out to the coast in thirty minutes. We stopped beside a boatshed at the end of a small jetty. It seemed deserted everywhere and there was a fog creeping in from the sea.
Cielli got out of the car. ‘Watch Kaufman,’ he told the two hoods.
I felt Katherine’s hand close over mine. Something cold was pressed into the palm. Something cold, made of steel. I felt glad I’d given her automatic back to her in the apartment. I gently rammed the gun down the top of my sock and hoped it stayed there.
Cielli came back. ‘The launch is okay,’ he said. ‘You guys get Brent aboard. I’ll watch the shamus.’
Then it was my turn. The launch was sleek and powerful. They put me in the tiny cabin next to Brent, who was on the bunk. ‘You can do it which way you like, shamus,’ Rudolph said. ‘You can let yourself be tied up now – or we’ll slug you, then tie you up.’
I heard the car’s engine start, then the sound died as the car moved away with Cielli and Katherine. ‘You can tie me up,’ I said, ‘but first let me scratch my leg – it itches like hell!’
‘Make it snappy!’ he snapped.
I bent down and clasped my fingers around the butt of the gun and thumbed back the safety-catch. Then I brought the gun up quickly and pressed the trigger. Rudolph fell forward.
Hans came cluttering down the ladder. ‘What did you shoot him for, Rudolph?’ he said, then his eyes bulged as he saw me. He reached for his gun and I pulled the trigger again.
The launch was still secured to the jetty, its engine throbbing gently. I cut the engine and climbed back to the jetty. I followed the road for a couple of miles before it linked up with the highway, then got a lift back to the city in a truck.
As soon as I got home, I rang the police and told them where they’d find the launch with three bodies in it. They asked who was calling and I told them Santa Claus. Then I went to bed.
The phone rang and I answered it. ‘Mr Kaufman?’ The voice was female, tremulous.
‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Who’s that?’
There was a pause. ‘I told you I was Mrs Brent,’ she said in a low voice. I sat bolt upright. ‘I don’t know how to say this, Mr Kaufman,’ she went on, ‘but the money meant such a lot to me and they said it was just a practical joke.’
‘Who said?’
‘The lady who got me to do it,’ she said.
‘Supposing,’ I suggested, ‘you start from the beginning?’
‘I’m Lucinda Bray,’ she said, ‘I’m an actress – not a very good one or highly paid one, but an actress. This lady came along to me and said she wanted me to help her play a practical joke on a friend of hers who was a private detective. She told me to say all the things that I said to you. She paid me two hundred dollars for doing it. It seemed wonderful at the time, but then I read the paper this morning.’
‘What about the paper this morning?’ I asked.
‘The description of one of those men – it fits exactly, even down to the scar across the knuckles. It’s exactly the type of man I was told to describe to you!’
‘I wouldn’t worry too much,’ I told her. ‘What was the name of the dame who gave you the job?’
‘She didn’t give me any name. But she was a brunette – young and very attractive.’
‘Where can I get in touch with you?’ I asked.
‘The Ambassador Theatre is the easiest.’ Then her voice broke. ‘Mr Kaufman, what should I do? Should I tell the police?’
‘Now you’ve told me, you don’t have to worry,’ I said. ‘Forget it for the time being – if anything happens, I’ll let you know.’
CHAPTER FIVE
An hour later I was pressing the buzzer outside her apartment. I had my fingers wrapped around her gun in case Cielli was there. She opened the door and threw her arms around my neck. ‘Darling!’ she cried, ‘you’re alive! I couldn’t let them do it last night – I couldn’t bear the thought of you dying like that!’
I pushed her back into the apartment and closed the door behind me. ‘You double-crossing little heel!’ I said. ‘You put that actress into my office to kid me she was Mrs Brent! You started the whole damn thing! I ought to take you apart!’
‘But I didn’t!’ she screamed. ‘I don’t even know what you’re talking about!’
‘She told me over the phone this morning,’ I said wearily. ‘There’s no point in lying about it.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said, ‘I swear it!’
‘The description fitted you like a glove – a beautiful brunette,’ I said.
She threw her hand to her forehead. ‘I’m the only beautiful brunette in this city, I suppose!’
‘You’re the only beautiful brunette who has anything to do with the carnival ground,’ I said, ‘and that’s enough for me! Who else would there be in the…’ My voice trailed away suddenly as I remembered.
‘Have you quite finished?’ she asked coldly.
‘Listen, honey,’ I said as I backed towards the door, ‘there’s just a chance I could be wrong.’
‘Just a chance you could be wrong.’ Her eyes flashed fire. Then she picked up a bottle of rye from the liquor cabinet. ‘Just a chance!’ she screamed. The bottle hurled through the air towards me. I ducked and it thudded against the door, then dropped to the floor.
I opened the door quickly and shut it after me just in time. Another bottle thudded into the panels a second later. I made quick time to the elevator and out of the apartment block. I went home.
I left my apartment just after eight and had to get a cab down to the carnival ground. I wondered how Cielli was treating my car or whether he’d run it over a cliff. I hoped not – the insurance was overdue.
I paid my quarter and went inside the tent to see Mollo’s magic for the second time. I waited until the show was over and the customers had departed. I had stayed in the back row and I didn’t think Mollo or Ivy had seen me. I went up on the stage and ducked between the curtains. It was pretty much the same layout that Tyson’s tent had at the back.
I went down the steps and there they were. Mollo was sitting on a camp-stool, lighting a cigarette. Ivy was sitting on another stool, with her feet up on a packing-case. ‘Hi!’ I said brightly.
Ivy jumped. Mollo looked up casually. ‘Ah!’ he said. ‘Your admirer is back, Ivy!’
Ivy stood up. She smiled at me. ‘Hullo, Rex, it’s good to see you!’
‘It is?’ I asked her.
‘Of course!’ Her smile grew a little uncertain.
‘You heel’ I said. ‘You two-timing female heel!’
‘Rex!’ She looked hurt. ‘What’s come over you?’
‘To think I pulled you out of a peddling rap once before!’ I said. I jerked a thumb in Mollo’s direction, ‘Is he in this, or would you prefer I talked to you alone?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ she said.
‘Oh, yes you do!’ I sneered. ‘Poison Ivy!’
She turned her back on me and started to walk towards the door. ‘I’m not going to stay here and be insulted!’ she said.
‘You don’t know the half of it!’ I told her. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. ‘Brother!’ I said. ‘I wince when I remember just how dumb I was – spilling the lot to you over a cup of coffee and asking you for help!’ I pulled her closer. ‘I had a nice long cosy chat with Lucinda Bray this morning!’
‘Oh!’ She looked startled. Mollo was watching interestedly.
‘Look,’ I said, ‘you’re in real trouble now Cielli’s on the warpath and it won’t take him long to figure out who’s behind all the trouble – who started it in the first place. So you’d better come clean. It’s dope again, isn’t it?’
She nodded dumbly. ‘And Cielli brings it with him in his launch?’
‘Yes,’ she whispered, ‘it’s dropped in watertight containers from the big ships at a certain rendezvous. Cielli picks it up.’