Part 10 (1/2)
”Knock it off, G.o.ddam you. Just tell me.”
He winced. ”It was one of Frank's boys, I don't know which - that's a fact, Scott. I don't know. Last night it was, sometime. He made it look like an accident. You know, in the bathtub.”
”How'd they find her, Jay?”
”h.e.l.l, that's all I know. Just that Frank gave out the word to do it. I got no idea about any of the rest of it.”
”Who did it, Jay?” He shook his head and I grabbed his arm, kind of squeezed it. ”Who do you think it was?”
”I could be wrong, Scott. I don't know. But - well, Papa handled Heigman, you know. And he was in on the party with Chester. So it could've been Papa.”
”Yeah. It could have been Papa Ryan. You find out for sure, Jay. And let me know as soon as you find out. You got it?”
”Sure. Yeah, I can get the word, Scott. O.K.”
”How come you didn't mention it earlier about Lolita?”
”h.e.l.l, you didn't ask nothing about it, it just didn't come to mind. Anyways, I didn't figure it was too important.”
”You didn't, huh?” I stopped. In a few seconds I said, ”You wanted me to slug you, didn't you, Jay?”
”Yeah, I did - ”
If there was more, it never came out. I said, ”Fine,” and hit him on the mouth, and he flew back against the side of the car, slumped to the ground. He didn't get up this time. I pulled him a few feet to the side, left him lying on his back.
A little light fell on his face. Quinn would believe Jay's story now.
The ringing of the phone brought me back from the edge of sleep.
After leaving Jay I'd come straight back to the Spartan, mixed a drink and relaxed on the living-room divan, wondering if Jay would call. I grabbed the phone, shaking my head hard to get completely awake. It was Jay.
”Scott?” His voice was tight. He sounded excited.
”Yeah. What's up?”
”Man, get out of there. When I told Frank you got away, he flipped. He's gone and got all the triggers in town on your tail - he's putting up ten thousand clams for the guy who blasts you. But that ain't all - ”
”What? Ten thousand - ”
” - he's got the cops coming to put the arm on you, too.”
”Cops? Are you nuts? I - ”
”Don't argue. Get out of there, will you? If Frank's boys or the fuzz get them pictures . . . Scott, you ain't got them on you, do you?”
”No, they're in a safe place.”
”Well, you ain't. Beat it - ”
”Slow down. How in h.e.l.l did Frank - ”
”Just beat it, please beat it, will you? Look, I'm callin' from a pay phone, which I sneaked out to. Get yourself out of your pad - where in a minute guys are gonna be shooting at you if you don't hurry - and call me back if you want to ask questions.” He gave me his number.
I didn't even write it down, clamped it in my mind, hung up the phone and took off. The urgency in Jay's voice had gotten through to me.
Two hard-looking men came in the front entrance of the Spartan as I was about to leave - by the back door. They didn't see me, and even though I didn't know the men, I had a strong feeling it was just as well they didn't see me. One of them was tall, moved his head slowly from side to side like a tank turret as he advanced, and wore a black suit lumpy at the left shoulder; the other was shorter and thin, with the bleached look of a grub, wearing a gray snap-brim hat and a trench coat that had been too long in the trench. Two of them - five G's apiece?
I went out the Spartan's rear exit and trotted four blocks to where I'd parked Jay's Thunderbird. On my way to Beverly Boulevard, I drove back to North Rossmore and past the Spartan. A black-and-white police car was parked at the curb in front of the hotel.
I drove to a pay phone, called the number Jay had given me. He answered as soon as the phone rang.
”What in h.e.l.l is going on?” I asked him.
He started talking in a gush of words, and after a few seconds of that I said, ”Slow down, Jay. Start at the beginning - when you got back to the ranch - and bring me up to date in sequence.”
”O.K.” He paused and I heard him take a deep breath, let it out. ”Well, when I got back and told Frank you got away, he just about had a brain blow, like I said. When he was a little calmed down, I told him what you mentioned, about you knowing practically everything except how many moles there is on his gluteus maximus. About the meetings, and who the guys is - and you was going to spring some kind of bomb tomorrow, you know?”
”Yeah. So what happened?”
”What didn't? He looked like the shrimps he ate for dinner was alive and eating back. He got so shook he even stopped chewing me out for letting you get away, and getting myself half killed.” He paused. ”It was that last one done it, Scott. I don't hold it against you, only you might've pulled the punch - ”
”He swallowed the tale, right?”
”So far. After he got shook he sent me out, but I hung an ear next to the door. And what does he do but get on the phone and start calling them cats he meets with.”
”How do you know it wasn't somebody else?”
”How I know is, he's changing the time of the meet. Says it can't wait till next Monday, they got to make it right away - tomorrow.”
I smiled. I didn't know if this development would do me any good, but I knew a meeting on Monday would be of no help at all. It was hours after midnight now, already early Tuesday morning, which was cutting it pretty close, but at least Miller would still be alive when the meeting was held.
”What time tomorrow?” I asked.
”Noon, so they can all get away during lunch time. Same place - Sully's office, back of the Gardenia Room.”
”You hear who he called?”
”Just one guy. I couldn't ride the Earie there next to Frank's door for long. It was Smith. But this time I heard the first name - Thornwall. Frank told him he was calling all the rest, too.”
”Thornwall Smith? But that's Judge Smith.”
”Yeah. Ain't it the nuts?”
Judge Thornwall Smith, a most righteous man. Judge Smith, who had presided at the trial of Ross Miller.
Jay went on, ”It was when Frank was jawing with Judge Smith I heard him fix it to get the cops on your can. He told Smith to get the paperwork done, and he'd call a copper he knows and get a ball rolling there. Mainly he wanted the fuzz to have a reason for picking you up and holding you a while. You follow me?”