Alan Hunter - Gently Go Man

‘You don’t know?’ Gently asked.

‘I ain’t never seen it,’ Hallman said. ‘Yuh, never seen it I haven’t. I don’t know nothing about that.’

‘You aren’t trying,’ Gently said.

‘It’s true what I’m saying,’ Hallman said. ‘I ain’t never had a blade, nor I don’t know nothing about that one.’

‘Somebody got hurt,’ Gently said. ‘You know about that, don’t you, Hallman? He’s in the hospital, Hallman. He’s having a blood transfusion. And he may not recover from it, Hallman. That knife there may have killed him. So that will make it murder, Hallman. That will make it capital murder.’

‘I tell you I ain’t never seen that blade — I didn’t do it!’ Hallman yelped.

‘But you know who did do it,’ Gently said. ‘Who was it stuck this knife into Baynes?’

‘I never saw that!’

‘Yes, you did,’ Gently said. ‘You were right on the spot when it happened.’

‘Sid,’ Hallman said, ‘he was sitting next to Baynes.’

Gently nodded. ‘But where did Sid get the knife from?’ he asked.

Hallman twisted about on the chair. ‘How should I know?’ he said. ‘I didn’t have no part in that — it’s the truth, I never!’

‘Who gave you that knife?’ Gently asked.

‘Nobody didn’t give it to me.’

‘Who gave you that knife?’ Gently asked.

‘I ain’t never seen it. I ain’t. I ain’t!’

‘You’re in trouble,’ Gently said. ‘You’re in very grave trouble. You’d better start thinking about getting out from under it, Hallman. Lying isn’t going to help you, we know too much about it for that. Only giving us cooperation is going to help you now. So I’m asking you again — who gave you that knife?’

‘Nobody didn’t, I tell you — not nobody!’ Hallman screamed.

‘Who planned this business?’

‘Nobody. Nobody planned it.’

‘It planned itself?’

‘We got together, we just got together!’ Hallman wailed.

‘You just got together, and nobody planned it. Nobody said it would be a wild kick. Nobody pinpointed Tungate Street, or suggested that Sid should be slipped a blade.’

‘Yuh, nobody, nobody!’ Hallman gulped. ‘Just to give him a break, that’s all it was. There wasn’t no blades, no nothing about it. Not nobody didn’t give me that blade.’

‘So where did it come from?’ Gently asked.

‘I don’t know where it come from. I ain’t never seen it.’

‘Who opened the door and slipped it to Bixley?’

‘I wasn’t never near the door,’ Hallman wailed.

‘You weren’t made for a liar,’ Gently said. He let the paper fold back over the knife. Still Hallman couldn’t take his eyes from it, they stared at the paper, distended, unseeing. Gently put a fresh match to his pipe, broke up the match, dropped it in the tray. He directed a stream of smoke at Hallman.

‘What do you know about Lister?’ he asked.

Hallman jerked. His eyes jumped from the paper.

‘Nothing about him I don’t know,’ he said.

Gently made a clicking sound with his tongue. ‘Not anything at all about Lister?’ he asked.

‘Yuh, like I saw him around,’ Hallman said. ‘That’s all it was. I saw him around.’

‘You saw him around,’ Gently said. ‘You saw a great deal of Lister. Maybe you saw him on Tuesday night. Did you see him on Tuesday night, Hallman?’

‘No,’ Hallman said. ‘I never. I was at home. I didn’t see him.’

‘Nor any time on the Tuesday?’

‘Not any time Tuesday,’ Hallman said.

‘Lister,’ Gently said, ‘didn’t like Bixley, did he?’

‘Yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘He liked him.’

‘I don’t think he did,’ Gently said.

‘Yuh, so what if he didn’t?’ Hallman said.

‘Why didn’t he like him?’ Gently asked.

‘He just didn’t like him,’ Hallman said.

‘Because of the reefers?’ Gently asked.

‘Yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘It might have been that.’

‘Why because of that?’ Gently asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Hallman said.

‘You’d better know something,’ Gently said. ‘In case we find your prints on this knife.’

Hallman flinched, dragged on his hands. ‘Yuh,’ he said. ‘It could have been the girl.’

‘Betty Turner?’ Gently asked.

‘Yuh, Betty Turner,’ Hallman said.

‘You’re telling me that Bixley was jealous about her?’

‘Yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘Could be.’

Gently sighed, picked up the knife. ‘We’d better get this to prints,’ he said.

Setters nodded. ‘I’m tired of his lies. He can tell the rest of them to the jury.’

‘Listen!’ Hallman blabbered. ‘Listen. I can tell you why Lister had it in for him. Lister didn’t go for it, not smoking sticks. It’s the truth what I’m telling you.’

‘We found reefers at his home,’ Gently said.

‘Yuh, he didn’t go for it,’ Hallman said. ‘You ask them. Ask any of them. They all know he didn’t go for it. That’s why he had it in for Sid, it’s the truth, it is. He found out Sid was pushing the sticks, he got his knife into Sid.’

‘He found out that Bixley was supplying the reefers?’

‘Yuh, it’s the truth,’ Hallman whined. ‘He flipped his lid. He was mad about it. You ask any of the jees.’

‘Why,’ Gently said, ‘did he flip his lid?’

‘It’s like I’m telling you!’ Hallman said. ‘Sid was pushing the stuff to Lister’s chick and Lister rumbled he was doing it.’

‘Because he was selling reefers to Betty Turner?’

‘Yuh, yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘And he flipped his lid one night at Tony’s, said he was going to stop Sid pushing them.’

‘Well, well,’ Gently said.

‘I’m telling you straight,’ Hallman wailed. ‘Ask Tony, ask anyone. They all know about that.’

‘What else do they know,’ Gently said. ‘What else do you know, Hallman? Did Sid tell his pals what happened on Tuesday, or did he just keep ever so quiet?’

‘He didn’t say nothing about Tuesday,’ Hallman said.

‘He was being modest,’ Gently said.

‘Not nothing to nobody,’ Hallman said.

‘Over-modest,’ said Gently.

He sat slowly breathing out smoke, looking through and beyond Hallman. Hallman went on kneading his hands as though he wanted to make dough of them. Gently absently poked the knife.

‘Where does Bixley keep them?’ he asked.

Hallman jerked. ‘Like what?’ he said.

‘His hoard of reefers,’ Gently said. ‘You’re in the know with Sid, aren’t you?’

‘No,’ Hallman said. ‘He ain’t told no one about them.’

‘Would Elton have known?’ Gently asked.

‘I don’t know about him,’ Hallman whined.

Gently nodded. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘You can go back to do some thinking, Hallman. You’ll have plenty to think about I expect. Perhaps we can talk again later.’

‘That ain’t my knife,’ Hallman said.

‘Think about it,’ Gently said.

‘Yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘It’s the truth I’ve been telling you.’

He was taken out.

Setters edged for the telephone, took his hand away again; lit a cigarette instead and blasted smoke down his nose.

‘Can we prove it on him?’ he asked. ‘That he was the slob who gave Bixley the knife?’

Gently shrugged. ‘With a bit of luck. That knife had to get to Bixley somehow.’

‘Yeah,’ Setters said. ‘And I like that cut hand. You figured that out very nicely. I’m going to tie that up right tight, I’m going to have two medics report on it. Nobody’s getting out of this case. It’s going in like a block of concrete.’

He got out of his chair, walked up and down.

‘You’ve got a rhythm,’ he said. ‘You did a beautiful job on that punk, you squeezed him for just what you wanted. A little more, and we’ve fixed Bixley. I want him topped, not put away.’