Brett Halliday - Guilty as Hell

Here he discovered the cramped little apartment’s single virtue. The terrace, though not much larger than a seat on a Ferris wheel, had a view across the bay to the strange and interesting shapes of the tourist hotels along Miami Beach. He closed the glass double doors and lit a cigarette. After smoking it, he flicked the butt over the concrete railing and watched its long downward arc end in the water. Then he sat down on the floor, jamming the pillow against the wall behind him.

His wrist was aching. Time went slowly.

At a little after seven he was lying on his back on the concrete, his wrist supported on the doubled pillow, when he heard a key being inserted in a lock. He sat up hurriedly. A door in the apartment opened. The ceiling light came on and two barred rectangles of light fell onto the terrace floor beside him.

“Home sweet home,” a man said hoarsely. “What a pad. With his dough he could do better.”

He was answered by the same voice Shayne had heard on the phone, the voice of a young girl. “His wife keeps him penned up, practically. He gave me a hundred to buy a couple of chairs, but you know me, Jake. There don’t seem to be enough minutes in the day.”

She laughed. The man said, “How about a little fresh air in here before we pass out?”

Shayne shifted his weight. Footsteps approached the terrace door. He fingered the outline of the short scalpel under its thin coating of plaster and made ready to jump. The door opened. He saw a hand and arm.

“Deedee baby,” the man said, turning back, “start getting ready, will you? We’ve got time, but let’s not slice it too close.”

“I said eight on the dot,” the girl replied, “and all about how I’d buzz if it was O.K. to come up, so what are we worried about?”

“Because this is Mike Shayne,” the man said. “He can make you some fast moves. One against three last night, and you’ll notice he won.”

“Now you’re getting me all goose-bumpy again! Right after you put a couple of hours into calming me down. This is going to blow up on us, I know it. I just know it. I told you how he was on the phone. He smelled something.”

“He was woozy, kid. He just came out of the anesthetic. Now shut up unless you want a mouthful of knuckles. Get undressed.”

“Jake! Golly, that’s what I don’t like-all the way down. Couldn’t I keep on my pants?”

“No, you couldn’t keep on your pants. That’s not the idea. Will you hurry it up? I want to get out of here.”

“You want to get out of here,” she said. “I can understand that, because I want to get out of here.”

There were sounds that might have been made by a girl undressing. On the terrace, Shayne eased himself to his feet, cradling the cast in his good arm to quiet the throbbing.

Jake remarked, “What a shape you’ve got on you for seventeen, no kidding.”

“Glad you like me, Daddy,” she answered with a mock simper.

“Lie down so I can mark you.”

“I guess what has to be has to be,” she said, resigned. “But boy, what my girl friend’s going to say.”

“Who the hell cares?”

“I care, if you want to know. Some things, anybody in her right mind will draw the line.”

The mattress sighed.

“No,” she said suddenly. “No, I can’t! I know I said I would, but when you actually see it-”

“Turn over, damn it.”

“Jake, please! The rest of it, all right. The mob at school will think I had a little bad luck. With Mike Shayne involved it could even do me some good. But leave the whip out of it, I mean it. Or I swear I’ll get dressed and walk out. I’m a person.”

“Deedee,” he said caressingly. “How many days did you go to that school the last month? About two. You’re over sixteen. They can’t make you finish. You know what I said, baby. New York! One night in the slammer. Tomorrow morning they let you out on bail. You jump bail and blow. You get a certain amount of page-one publicity, but not under your real name.”

“I suppose you don’t think anybody’s going to be there with a camera and take my picture?” she said scornfully. “Page one! You said it, I didn’t. That kind of thing could stick to me the rest of my life.”

“Think of the dough, baby doll! We won’t have to scratch and scramble when we get to the big town. Maybe I can buy a piece of a nice bar.”

Suddenly there was a sharp cracking sound and a cry of pain. Shayne pulled the door out of his way, his eyes hard and dangerous. A little wristwatch alarm went off in the other room and stopped him.

The girl was sobbing. “What did you have to do that for? It hurt.”

“Baby, I’m sorry. But you know yourself-you’ll never make any headway if you go back on a deal.”

“It’s in front.”

“That’s O.K. Don’t rub it, let it bleed. It’s half past. I’ve got to get moving. Stop crying, baby. I’ll buy you something nice. You don’t think I like using a whip on you, do you?”

“You seemed to.”

“I did not. I think you’re so great, baby. It didn’t hurt much, did it?” He left the bed and crossed the room. “The whip goes in the closet. There’s blood on it. They’ll find it when they look for your clothes. Now I’m going to run through this one last time.”

“Jake, we already rehearsed it so much it’s running out of my ears.”

“One more time, and then you can relax for half an hour. I don’t know another doll in town who could do this, Deedee, I really mean that. One thing I want to change. If he comes in with the light on and sees you, his reflexes are going to take him out of here but fast. After you buzz, stick a Kleenex in the door so it won’t close. And go in the john, see. When he rings the bell up here, call to him to come in, you’ll be out in a minute.”

“Come in, I’ll be out in a minute,” she said sullenly.

“Yeah. Camilli and the other vice cop will be down the hall in the incinerator closet. Sex with whips is a hot pinch in this town.”

“Did you tell them it’s going to be Shayne?”

“Now how could I tell them that, baby doll? But the reason I picked Vince Camilli-he and Shayne have been sideswiping each other for years. Shayne won’t be able to buy his way out or talk his way out. All I said was I’d heard rumors about this apartment, and I’d check and let him know. He’s downstairs now. I’ll tell him you’re home and ready for business, and to come up and get in the incinerator. Then he’ll wait for the first John to show up. That way it don’t sound too much like a frame.”

“Shayne’ll know it’s a frame, but excuse me for thinking.”

“What Shayne knows and what Shayne don’t know is no skin off our ass. Can we hang it on him? In the long run, no, especially after you jump bail. What we do is tie him up for a few days.”

“So?”

“So why ask me? There’s some kind of deadline.”

“Jake, I know you’ll say no, but couldn’t you leave a dress in the closet, anyway? Just a dress, nothing underneath. Those ghouls on the vice squad! I’ll honestly die.”

“I could leave you a full change of clothes. And Shayne would make you get dressed while Camilli breaks down the door. That wouldn’t be half as good. They’ll give you a jacket or something to put on. Keep thinking of money, kid. Oh, and don’t forget to mention Josie.”

“I don’t know when.”

“Play it by ear. Maybe going down in the elevator. Shayne’s going to want to find out who pulled it on him, you know, and that’s when you bring up the name. Kiss me, doll. Honest to Christ, you’re gorgeous.”

“Jake.”

“Think about how it’s going to be in New York. Baby, we’re going to make it big.”

“Gee, Shayne’s going to be mad.”