“They’re not beating a brass drum,” Lieutenant Boxer told me. “Apparently it’s a very quiet operation. Our stoolie tip says they’re just feeling around to start, sounding out sentiment among local racketeers, seeing how a few picked political candidates respond to offers of campaign contributions, maybe trying to buy a few cops here and there just to see if St. Louis cops can be bought. Incidentally, that’s one of the things the chief wants every man on the force to watch for. Any strangers who feel you out to see if you’re willing to do some minor favor for a fee, play along until you get the whole pitch, then let me know at once. We’re not at all sure how this bunch operates, so be on your toes for anything at all out of the way. And report it the minute you get it.”
“Yes, sir,” we both said.
Later, as both Jud and I sat at our desks catching up on reports, the lieutenant’s words kept going through my mind. “Be on your toes for anything at all out of the way,” he had said. Jacqueline Crosby’s offer of five hundred dollars to change my testimony against her sister was certainly out of the way, but I could hardly reconcile it with syndicate operations.
It had not even occurred to me to report her offer as a bribe attempt. Ordinarily if I were offered a bribe, I wouldn’t even bother to refuse it. I would simply drop my arm on the briber’s shoulder, march him off to headquarters and enter a charge of attempted bribery. But Jacqueline’s offer came under rather peculiar circumstances. I incline to interpret the law rather rigidly, but even to my mind it would be sticking a little too close to the letter of the law to haul in a woman on a bribery charge because in an hysterical moment she went overboard to get her sister out of a jam.
Then too, I would have had to be a little less than human to arrest Jacqueline for offering me money to fix a minor charge only minutes after she had been in my arms.
But the more I thought about it, the more clearly it dawned on me that Jacqueline Crosby had gone about offering her bribe in the only way that was absolutely safe for her if the bribe was refused. I wondered if she had deliberately planned it that way, knowing that no cop, regardless of how strict a sense of duty he had, would take any more drastic action than turning her down after the intimate hour we had spent together.
Abruptly I shoved aside my reports, muttered something unintelligible to Jud’s question as to where I was going, and went up the hall to room 406.
The card on Minnie Joy gave her birth date as 1920 and the place of birth as Blytheville, Arkansas. That proved nothing, of course, as the data would have been taken from Minnie herself, and she might have lied for any number of reasons. On the other hand, criminals who change their names seldom bother to fake such statistics as place of birth. If Jacqueline Crosby was from Chicago, as she said, it was still possible that she had an older sister born in Blytheville, Arkansas, but I began to worry about it a little.
There was no indication on the card that Minnie Joy was an alias, but again that meant nothing. Few prostitutes went under their own names.
Actually there was nothing in the record which tended to substantiate the blonde Jacqueline’s claim that Minnie Joy was her older sister, but there was nothing there to disprove the claim either.
I studied Minnie’s picture, summoned up a mental image of the woman herself, and decided there was no family resemblance between the two women at all.
I went back to room 404 and had a confidential talk with Lieutenant Boxer. When the head of the morality squad had heard my story and my interpretation of what the story meant, he took me up to the fifth floor for a private session with the chief.
The chief listened without interruption until I had finished.
Then he said, “You think this woman may have been a syndicate plant, eh, Card? I don’t quite get it. Why all the elaborate preliminaries? If they just wanted to sound you out to discover whether you’d be susceptible to bribes when they got ready to go into operation, why couldn’t she just have hinted around at the bar without dragging you off to her room? I can’t quite see your theory that she wanted to create a situation where it wouldn’t occur to you to arrest her. The way you describe it, she finally made the offer, baldly laying it on the line and even trying to thrust the money into your hand, she laid herself wide open to a bribery charge in case you weren’t as chivalrous as she hoped. She could have hinted around at the bar just enough to find out how you stood without actually making it definite enough to get herself in trouble.”
That hadn’t occurred to me, which is probably why I’m a sergeant instead of chief of police.
Rather foolishly I said, “I don’t know, sir.”
“Think you could still take her up on her offer without rousing her suspicion?” he asked.
“I could try.”
“What is this case she wanted you to fix?”
“Solicitation. An old pro. This is her third fall.”
“Probably sixty days, eh? Ninety at the most. Well, she’s going to get a break. Go along with this Crosby woman all the way. Accept the money and change your testimony in court just enough to get the charge dismissed. Can you do that without making it obvious?”
“Sure, Chief.”
“Then we’ll sit back and see what happens. If the woman is actually what she claims, there’s no particular harm done. Maybe she can rehabilitate her sister, and we’ll figure out some way to return her five hundred dollars. But if she’s working with the syndicate, you ought to hear from her again. Keep Lieutenant Boxer informed of developments. All right. That’s all, Sergeant.”
I left with Lieutenant Boxer.
When we got back to room 404 Jud Harrison watched curiously as I called the Jefferson and asked for Miss Jacqueline Crosby’s suite.
When he raised an eyebrow at me, I merely shook my head.
After a moment Jacqueline answered, but she didn’t sound very enthusiastic when she discovered who was calling.
“Any chance of seeing you again?” I asked.
Her laugh was a trifle brittle. “After the way we parted? I don’t believe so, Sergeant.”
“Last night it was Sam,” I said. “I’ve been thinking things over, and maybe we can get together on that deal after all.”
She said cautiously, “What made you change your mind?”
“Last night I was sore,” I said. “I wasn’t even thinking about the deal. All I could think of was that I thought I was making a big conquest, then all of a sudden you told me the whole thing happened because you wanted a favor. I guess my ego was hurt. Today I’m over the hurt.”
“I see.” There was a lengthy silence as she thought things over. Finally she said in a more friendly voice, “When do you want to see me, Sam?”
By the wall clock I saw it was only eleven-thirty. “How about before lunch? I’m only a couple of blocks from there. I’ll stop by now if it’s O.K.”
“I’ll be waiting,” she said softly.
When I hung up, Jud said, “We going somewhere?”
“Yeah,” I said. “We can grab some lunch after I make this stop, then make our rounds instead of coming back to the office.”
Chapter 4
Jacqueline was wearing a red hostess gown this time. Though it was not transparent, in its own way it was just as revealing as last night’s negligee. It was cut low enough to expose the cleft between her round breasts, and the upper part fitted like a coat of paint down to below her hips. From there on down it flared outward in multiple pleats, which effectively concealed her lovely legs. She met me at the door with a kiss, then leaned backward to look up into my face, which movement simultaneously happened to thrust forward the zipper clasp between her breasts so that I couldn’t fail to see it. The zipper, I noted, ran clear down the front of her gown to her ankles, but I managed to resist the obvious invitation.