Ellery Queen - Cop Out

“Huh?”

“Why’ve you been saying the one who hit you was a man?”

Ellen frowned. “I don’t know. His jacket, the pants-”

“That doesn’t make a man. Not these days. These days you can hardly tell some women and men apart. A woman can put on a pair of slacks and a man-style jacket and with her hair squashed down by that tight stocking you wouldn’t be able to tell, not from the front and while you were falling from a hit on the head. But there’s two things about a woman would be a dead giveaway if they weren’t disguised some way and that’s her hands and feet!

“That’s why she wore the men’s overshoes on a dry day and men’s gloves. She was taking out insurance in case she was spotted. Remember Hinch saying downstairs he and this Goldie went into town today? Ellen, it’s Goldie who’s dou-blecrossing the other two. She must have given Hinch the slip in town and come here on her own.

“She’s the one knocked you out. She lifted that bag, and it’s a cinch she hid it somewhere before she went back to the cabin. It adds up, because she’s been trying like mad to sell Furia that we stole it. Yes, sir. That’s it!”

Malone was feeling the small triumph. He craved Ellen’s adoration. He wanted her to say, You’ve redeemed yourself in my eyes, my darling, you’re my very own hero, you sure can overcome, I feel safe again.

But all Ellen said was, “All right, Loney, she’s got it. How does that help us?”

And of course she’s right.

Malone got back up and began to pad about. “That’s the problem. What else have we got to work on? Nothing. So we’ve got to make use of it some way. How?”

“That is the question,” Ellen said. She did not sound anything but beat. Her head sank back against the end of the bed.

But Malone’s second wind continued to blow. It was something. It was a light where everything before had been black as the inside of the old gravity well out back that hadn’t been used in fifty years and was full of green slime, like Furia must be.

“Maybe if we accuse her of it in front of the other two,” Ellen murmured.

“No, that wouldn’t work. She’s smart, she’s got Furia around her little finger, he’ll believe anything she says. She mustn’t even suspect we suspect her, Ellen, or she might get Furia to knock us off. I wouldn’t put it past her. Deep down she’s worse than he is.”

“Could we make a deal with her…?”

“What have we got to offer? That we’ll tell Furia? Even if it put a doubt in his mind we can’t prove it to him, and she’d talk him out of it. Up to now, Ellen, she’s held him back. She wouldn’t hold him back any more.” Malone looked down at her. “The way it shapes up, we’ll have to somehow find out or figure out where she’s hiding it.”

“You do that.”

“Ellen, we can’t give up.”

“Who’s giving up?”

“You are!”

“What do you want me to do, Loney? I can’t fight them with my bare hands.” That was it. That was it. “All I know is, I’ve got my child’s life to protect-”

“We’ve got!”

“Do you want them to hear us fighting?”

Malone cracked his knuckles and began padding again.

Ellen’s eyelids came down.

“I’m not sleeping,” she said. “The light hurts my eyes.”

He flipped the switch savagely. But then he collapsed against the wall. This is no good. We’re at each other’s throats. What did I expect from her? Up against the first real spot in my life and I try to lean on her like I never leaned on even my own mother. She wants to lean on me. She’s got a right, I’m her husband. It’s one man one vote time. You go into the booth and you’re all by yourself. The American way.

He buckled down to it like Robinson Crusoe.

“Ellen.” Malone shook her gently.

It was much later.

“Loney?” She had fallen asleep. She sat up and groped for his hand. “Is something-did they-?”

“No, they’re quiet, they’ve given up for the night.” Malone squatted beside her in the dark. “I’ve got to talk to you.”

“Oh.”

“No, this is different. I’ve been going over the whole thing in my head. I think I’m onto something.”

“Oh?”

“Ellen, wake up, this could be important. Then you can climb into bed with Bibby. Are you awake?”

“Yes.”

“Something struck me funny. How come these creeps picked our house Wednesday night?”

She moved and the floor creaked. “They were running away. Maybe they saw our light on. I don’t think anybody else on the block had their lights on when I got back from the movies.”

“But why pick Old Bradford Road in the first place? There’s a Dead End sign at the entrance off Lovers Hill. A blind man can see it. Robbers running away aren’t going to box themselves in on a dead-end street. And another thing. Before I got home from the station Wednesday night, did you tell them I was a cop?”

“Of course not. I was afraid if they knew they might shoot you down as you came in the door.”

“Right. But just the same they knew, didn’t they? Furia called me a cop straight out. How did he know? I wasn’t in uniform. How did he know, Ellen?”

“That is funny.”

“I’ll tell you how. They had advance information!”

“You mean they saw you on duty in town during the day?”

“Then why did Furia say, ‘Freeze, cop,’ as soon as I stepped into the house? He couldn’t even see my face, they had all the lights out except on the porch, and my back was to that. No, Ellen, they knew without ever having seen me before.”

“But how could they?”

“Nanette.”

Ellen said, “My God. The girl I’ve trusted Bibby to all these years! Nanette’s in on this, Loney?”

“I don’t know. It wouldn’t have to be. Remember how many times Nanette’s mentioned her older sister, how their parents practically disowned her because she went bad? Ellen, this Goldie is Nanette’s sister.”

“That’s just a guess.”

“It’s a fact. I knew right away I’d seen her before, years ago, I was sure she came from New Bradford, but I didn’t place her till I started asking myself all these questions and then it came to me just like that. Nanette said herself they’ve kept up a correspondence on the sly since Goldie left home. My guess is Nanette mentioned her regular baby-sitting job for us, and Goldie remembered it when they were in a jam Wednesday night and talked Furia into coming here and taking Bibby as security for the money. So I’ve got to get to Nanette first thing in the morning-”

“They won’t let you go.”

“I’ve got an idea about that, too. Ellen, it’s our only lead. I can’t pass it up.”

“Lead to what? How can it possibly help us?”

Malone got to his feet. “Maybe it can’t. But it’s better than sitting here like three chickens waiting to get our necks chopped off.”

“Oh, Loney, if you only could!”

And that was better, lots better.

He stooped to kiss her. “Now you’re getting into that bed, young lady.”

“Not unless you do.”

“I’ll come to bed in a while.”

He waited until Ellen’s breathing told him she was asleep.

Then he felt around in the dark until he located the loose board. He split a fingernail prying it up and he stretched out on the floor in front of the door with the board in his arms.

I’ll have to pull it off in the morning.

Some way.

His eyes opened to cloudy darkness. The sun rose at a little past six thirty this time of year and so it must be after six. Yes, there goes old man Tyrell’s rooster. The cock was past his prime in everything but his doodledooing, he was worse than an alarm clock. The Tyrells were down to one ancient biddy still trying for fertile eggs. Somebody ought to tell the poor old slobs, all four of them, the facts of life. Eggs.