Part 4 (2/2)
”Well, there's enough in it to hang a dozen big stuffed s.h.i.+rts in L.A., see? But more important, I know there's some things that would stick Frank good. He keeps it because it helps hold some other guys in line. You get it?” She talked like a man. But, then, she looked like a man.
”I get it.”
”Some of the stuff in there isn't no good to Frank, but he's fixed it so all the junk in that safe goes to his executor - you know, when he dies - and it'll ruin some men Frank hates. He hates hard, that man. It would ruin Frank, too, see; but he won't care when he's dead. You get it? Just plain meanness, that's all.”
”Yeah. So?”
”Well, what more do you want? All you got to do is go into the safe and drag out all the papers and whatever is in there and you got Frank tied up good. With any luck, you'll have enough to save your boy's skin. That Ross character.”
She stopped and glared at me as if I'd just started eating soup with my fork. I said, ”Yes, ma'am. All I have to do is rip open the safe with my bare hands and get the papers and walk out with sixteen bullet holes and three knives in my back, bite my way through the fence you've got - ”
”Oh, knock it. I thought you had a lot of moxie or I wouldn't have come here. I'll see that the safe's open at nine p.m., on the nose. If you can get in, then you should be able to get out under your own power. How you do it, that's up to you. I brought you an invitation - and n.o.body, but n.o.body, gets in without an invitation. There's exactly a hundred men coming, and there's only a hundred invitations, so n.o.body, but n.o.body, crashes the party. Them invited can bring their wives and dames if they want, but that's all. It's set up very careful like that, since some of the boys has a little heat on them.”
A little heat. Such as warrants for first-degree homicide, robbing banks, blowing up citizens with bombs, dope pus.h.i.+ng. It didn't sound exactly like the kind of ball I was dying to attend.
She went on, ”Since there's no extra invitations, I had to get this one from - ” She bit off what she'd started to say. I had the feeling it was somebody's name, but after a moment she went on, ” - one of the boys. So he won't be able to be at the party; you'll be at it instead of him.” She paused. ”That's about all I can do. What more do you want?”
I sighed. ”That's enough, I guess. But I confess to a little puzzlement. Why you're doing this, for example. And how you plan to have the safe open.”
”As for the safe, I'll have a diamond necklace Frank keeps in the safe - he'll give it to me Tuesday sometime, I'll decide I don't want to wear it, just before nine, and he'll naturally put it back in the safe. So, the safe will be open. From there it's up to you - I don't care if you shoot the pig in the - ”
She told me where to shoot him, but I merely shuddered invisibly at the thought of such a thing happening to me and asked her again why she was telling me all this. Mrs. Quinn merely repeated that it was none of my business.
”This could be a somewhat involved way,” I said, ”to get me out there where I could be shot.”
”You'll be shot if they lay eyes on you, all right. And I can understand why you're suspicious. But you'll just have to take my word for it. Or forget the whole thing. I can figure out another way to get rid of Frank without killing him. But I thought I'd be doing you a favor - and getting a good man on my side at the same time.” She paused, then added, ”And to tell you the truth, I could maybe ask a friend of mine to do this job - but he might get shot. I don't really care much if you get shot. Frank's already trying to kill you, so what've you got to lose? This way you got a chance to stick him and save your neck - and maybe that Ross guy's - all at the same time. Well, do you want to try it or not?”
”If it comes to that, I'll give it a try. But first tell me a couple things.”
She looked at her wrist.w.a.tch. ”Make it snappy.”
”Maybe you can prove right now whether or not you're on the level with me.”
”Try me.”
”When you phoned earlier, you said your husband killed Casey Flagg. Can you prove it?”
”No, and you can't prove it either. But he did it. Maybe you don't know it, but Casey handled certain jobs for Frank.”
”Bagman - yeah, I know it.”
She seemed surprised, but went on, ”Well, Casey was in trouble with the government, which hit him for a pile of back taxes they said he owed, and had to pay or they'd send him to the can. Handling all that money of Frank's every month, Casey started holding out some of it, I guess so he could pay off the government grab.” She paused and c.o.c.ked her head on one side, as if she'd just thought of something striking. ”It's almost like the government's in the same business Frank's in, huh? Isn't that funny?”
”There's nothing funny about it.”
”Yeah. Well, it would have been better for Casey if he'd just gone to the federal jug. Because when Frank found out what Casey was pulling he hit all four walls and the ceiling.”
”How did he find out?”
”One of the boys wrote Frank a letter - figured he was being short-changed or something, I don't know all the ins and outs of it. Anyways, Frank must've figured right away it had to be Casey who was breaking it off in him, and he stormed right over to the Whitestone, the way I get it. Actually - ” there was that momentary hesitation again, ”actually, one of the boys told me most of this. Anyhow, Frank collared Casey there in the Whitestone, and in the middle of the beef he shot him - Frank's got a wild temper.”
”So he has.”
”That's what caused all the trouble, because Frank didn't plan it like he ordinary would. Just flipped and shot the s...o...b.. Then he had to work pretty fast to fix everything.”
”Did the chap who told you about this actually see Frank shoot Flagg?”
”Hardly. Frank went up to the penthouse alone. But you don't have to see Frank blast a guy to know Frank done it. For one thing, he took one of his own guns along, and it was that gun found by the body. I know personally he had to get to that p.a.w.nbroker, what's his name? - ”
”Heigman.”
”Yeah, Heigman. He used to be a fence Frank did business with in the old days. So Frank had that on him, but he muscled him around a little that same night, and paid him off too, to make sure he'd tell the right story when the time come.”
”Which he did. What about Weiss?”
”He'd done a few jobs for Frank from time to time. Frank just put a little more pressure on him and made him swear at the trial that Miller was the only one went up to the penthouse that night.”
”How'd Miller happen to be there?”
”Frank called him, naturally. Pretended to be Casey and the kid ran right over. By then Frank had called the fuzz. After that argument Ross and Casey had, the kid was a perfect patsy - once Frank fixed the rest of it.”
”He sure fixed it. What about Lolita Lopez?”
”I don't know nothing about her. She was at the trial is all I know.”
”If Quinn was shooting holes in Casey Flagg, he couldn't have been in her apartment. So what's he got on her?”
”I told you, I don't know nothing about that end.”
”O.K. Do you know if Quinn had anything to do with Weiss' death?”
”Search me,” she said. ”I heard Chester kicked off, but Frank didn't say a thing to me. Did Frank have something to do with it?”
”I'm really not sure. I suppose you know he had Heigman knocked off.”
”No kidding. First I heard about it. Are you sure?”
”Yeah.”
”I'll be d.a.m.ned. Old Heigman. How about that? That lousy Frank didn't say a word to me. The pig doesn't tell me much of anything about his business any more.”
She said that some of her statements would probably be supported by papers in that floor safe of Quinn's; she wasn't sure. ”But there's all kinds of slop in it,” she went on. ”Starting with whatever give him the boost up four years back, clear on to right now.”
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