Ellery Queen - Cop Out

“It’s all ready for you. You just sit here. I’ll get it.”

“No, I’ll come into the kitchen. What time is it?”

“Seven thirty.”

“I have to make a call.”

She was instantly alarmed. “To where?”

“To the station.”

“Loney, you promised-”

“Don’t worry, Ellen.”

They went into the kitchen. Ellen spooned out the coffee, watching him. He went to the wall phone and dialed.

“Wes Malone,” Malone said. “Who’s this?”

“Trooper Miller. Oh. Wes.” The young Resident Trooper sounded groggy. “What can I do for you?”

“Chief Secco there?”

“He’s gone home for some shuteye. Don’t ask me why, but I volunteered to hold down the fort till the day man comes in. Where the hell is he? I haven’t slept since night before last.”

“What’s doing? I mean about those killers.”

“Not a thing. Looks like they slipped through before we set up the blocks. Anything I can do for you?”

“No. I was just wondering.”

“Forget it. Somebody ‘11 pick ‘em up somewhere. Chief says you’re on a couple days’ leave, Wes. Make love to your wife or something. No rest, but it’s recreation.”

Miller hung up, chuckling.

Malone hung up.

He turned to find Ellen standing over the cups with the kettle poised, a human question mark.

“They got through, Ellen. So Bibby’s okay.”

I hope.

“Thank God.”

Ellen poured. A silence dropped between them. He sat down at the kitchen table and set the black bag on the floor between his feet, where he could feel it.

When Malone came down from his shower Ellen was just cradling the phone.

“Who was that?”

“I called Miss Spencer.”

“Who’s she?”

“The school nurse, for the umpty-eleventh time. We have to have some excuse why Bibby won’t be in school today, Loney. I said I was afraid she might be coming down with the flu and that I’d probably keep her home over the weekend just in case.”

He touched her black Irish hair. “What would I do without you?”

“I’ll bet you say that to all your girls.”

“Yep.” He kissed her and felt the tension of her body through the terry robe. “I’m one hell of a cop. I never even thought of the school.”

“Oh, Loney, I’ve got to do something!” His stomach contracted. She was jerking with sobs again. “My baby… waking up this morning with those horrible people… “

“A few minutes ago you were thanking God they got through all right.”

She kept sobbing. He kept stroking her. He could find nothing else to say. He had always hated to see Ellen cry, he was a complete coward about her tears. They made him furious, they brought back memories of his mother, who had cried her eyes out when his father was alive. The night after his mother-in-law’s funeral Ellen had cried till dawn, and he had run up and down in their bedroom finding no words of comfort, only curses at his helplessness.

“I’m sorry.” Ellen pushed away from him. “Bawling isn’t going to help Bibby.”

“You cry all you want.”

“No, sir. That nonsense is over. Let me make you some breakfast.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You’ve got to. You hardly touched your dinner at the Inn last night, you were so tired.”

“I’d throw it right back at you,” Malone said. “Look, hon. We’ve got to figure out where we stand.”

“All right, Loney.” She immediately sat down. They both avoided the empty third chair.

“There’s got to be something we can do besides stay here like bumps on a log.”

“Let’s get settled first on what we cant do,” Ellen said. “What we can’t do is let Chief Secco or anybody know they were here last night and took Bibby. That’s the one thing I won’t let you do, Loney. We’d better have an understanding about that right off.”

“What do you think I am, crazy?”

“Loney, look at me.”

He looked at her.

“You’re not a cop in this thing. You’re Bibby’s father.”

“I told you,” he said gruffly.

“Just remember,” Ellen said. “Or I swear on my child’s life I’ll walk out on you and you’ll never see me again.”

“What do you want,” he shouted, “my blood?”

“Loney. I had to say it. We have to have that clear.”

“All right, so it’s clear! She’s my child, too, remember!”

“Don’t be mad at me, Loney.”

“All right.” He reached down and brought up the black bag and set it on the table between them. He stared at it bitterly. “We don’t even know what they look like. Those goddam masks.”

“Yes,” Ellen said. “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you notice?”

“Notice what?”

“The woman was wearing a Goldilocks mask. That little one-Furia-he was wearing the Papa Bear mask, and the big bruiser was wearing the Mama Bear one. It must be a set.”

“Then there’s a Baby Bear mask! For Bibby?”

“That’s what I’m wondering.”

He jumped up, sat down again, shook his head. “No, that wouldn’t make sense. Why would they put a mask on her? It wouldn’t serve any purpose.”

“I just thought I’d mention it,” Ellen said.

He sat thinking. She got up and refilled their cups. “We can do one of two things, Ellen. We can either sit here and wait-”

“I’d die. ”

“Or I can try to find their hideout and get Bibby back.”

“Wouldn’t that be terribly dangerous for Bibby?”

“Could be.”

“Oh, God.”

“Ellen. Why don’t I try? I can size up the situation better if and when I find out where they’re hiding. If I see it’s too dangerous for Bibby I won’t move a muscle. How does that sound to you?”

“If you’re sure. How can you be sure?”

“Then, if I can get Bibby safely away, we can turn the payroll over to John and tell him the whole story.”

“And have those three come after us in revenge?” Ellen said with a shudder. “Forget about John, Loney.”

“This money belongs to Aztec. We can’t just let them walk off with it. I mean of course first we get Bibby back-”

“That’s what I was afraid of. You’re being a cop again.”

“I’ not. ”

“Let them have the money. As long as we get Bibby back.

Maybe the best thing after all is to sit here and wait. They’ll come back with Bibby and we’ll hand over the bag and that will be that.”

“And maybe that won’t be that,” Malone said. “I won’t kid you, Ellen. We’ve got to face up to the facts. If we do what you say-wait for them to bring Bibby back and pick up the money-all three of us stand a good chance of getting shot. That Furia would get a kick out of it. Why should he leave us alive? Even if we didn’t see their faces, we’ve heard their voices and we know their names. Hoods like that must have a record somewhere-I think Furia’s served time, he used the word ‘screw,’ which is a prison term for ‘guard’-they can probably be identified through the FBI central file in a matter of hours. They can’t be that dumb-I’m pretty sure the woman isn’t. And they’re already in the bag for one murder. No, we can’t trust them, Ellen. We’ve got to take some kind of action. Try something. ”

Ellen’s face had gone the color of skim milk again. “All right then, Loney, you find their hideout the way you said. If you can rescue Bibby we can go olf somewhere, hide or something, till those monsters are caught.”

Malone got up and went over to the kitchen sink to look out the window. But he was not seeing the dirt driveway. When he turned around his eyes had come back. “It might not be so tough at that, Ellen. Actually when you think about it we have quite a few leads to where they’re holed up. Furia told Hinch to walk there, so how far can it be? And it’s likely somewhere across The Pike on the way out of town or they’d have been able to get there without worrying about being stopped at a checkpoint. On top of everything, the little punk mentioned woods and a shack.”