Max Collins - The dark city

"Use a pay phone," Ness said. "Call late at night."

"Will anyone else be there?"

That was a point.

"If a woman answers," Ness said, "don't give your name. If I'm not there, just say you'll call back later."

Curry nodded.

"You need a lift to your car?" Ness asked.

"No. It's not far. I'll walk. Thanks, Mr. Ness."

Curry extended his hand and Ness shook it.

"Thank you, Detective Curry."

"I'm still a detective, then?"

"Unless one of us gets killed in the very near future," Ness said, "yes, you are."

Curry rolled his eyes, grinned quickly, and walked off into the darkness, footsteps stirring up cinders.

Ness stood there and soon felt a hand on his shoulder.

He whipped his revolver out of his pocket and whirled.

"Easy!" Wild said. "Did you forget I was here?"

Ness sighed heavily, put his gun back in his topcoat pocket and said, "I didn't think you'd come up on me so soon after he left."

"I wasn't ten feet away."

"Did you hear it?"

"Every word. It was worth riding on the floor in the back seat of that goddamn Ford of yours."

"Of the city's. You want to give me that gun back?"

Wild patted his own topcoat pocket. "I don't think so. I'll keep this little baby till we're out of the Flats, at least."

"You can't use any of what you heard. Not yet."

"I know that. Anyway, to me, it's good news."

"Why?"

"You remember asking what was eating me, earlier tonight?"

"I have a vague recollection."

Wild gave a wag of his head and said, "I'll tell you in the car. Let's get out of this place. Gives me the goddamn creeps, down here."

They walked to the car. Wild, about to open the door, one foot on the running board, said, "Okay if I ride in the front seat this time?"

"Do I really have a choice?" Ness said, getting behind the wheel as Wild climbed in.

Then the reporter reached out and touched Ness' arm, stopped him from turning the key. "Maybe we better talk now. Here."

Ness smiled on one side of his face. "Think your revelations will be so startling as to make me run into a lamp post?"

"No. But just sit here a minute. Let me tell you."

"Okay."

"I was looking for a way to get into this with you, especially since it's kind of… well, it's kind of thin, I got to admit it's kind of thin. But after what that undercover guy said, it's put some weight on. And I guess you've already had the safe dropped on you. It ain't gonna hurt if I let the piano down, now."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's the cemetery racket."

"What about it?"

"I been working hand-in-hand with Cullitan and his eager-beaver young lawyers, you know. I got access to just about everything they're looking at."

"Right."

"They been going over the books of the various cemetery companies, so they can track down who the cemeteries laid off their lots to cheap for obvious resale. That way Cullitan hopes to track down who's behind the sales organizations that've been bilking these old immigrants."

"You want to tell me something I don't know now?"

Wild ignored that. "The sales organizations themselves have folded up. Cullitan figures some of the salesmen and officials have taken a run-out powder, figures some others are just lyin' low until the grand jury either shits or gets off the pot."

Ness nodded. "Right. It hasn't even been shown that what the salesmen did was illegal yet. All of the buyers signed contracts for what they were buying, after all. So?"

"So I was going through the books and found one of the major real estate holders is one S.J. Corepo."

"What kind of name is that?"

"A phony-as-hell name, I'd say."

"Any Corepos in the phone book?"

"Nope. Not a one. You want to hear what I think?"

"That's what I'm waiting for."

"Don't laugh. I think it's an anagram."

Ness didn't laugh; instead, he thought for a second, and said, flatly, "Cooper."

Wild shrugged. "Cooper."

Ness sighed, and said, "Pretty common name to bother disguising," knowing he was reaching for straws.

"Cooper's initials are J.S.," Wild said, holding his palm out like he was showing his winning hand. "S. J. Corepo. It's all there, brother."

"How much has 'Corepo' invested in cemetery lots?"

"Over one hundred grand."

"Christ, that's more than Cooper's made in his career."

"The guy must really know how to watch the nickels and dimes, know what I mean?"

Ness pounded the side of the steering wheel with a fist. "Shit."

Not far away, a streetcar on the bridge screeched. It was like a cry of pain.

Wild gestured with both hands, apologetic. "I been wanting to run this past you, but I couldn't quite get it out. Then I heard what Curry said, and…"

"It would explain some things." Ness pushed his hat back on his head, eyes narrowing.

"Such as?"

"Such as why Mo Horvitz was willing to give me the name of the 'outside chief,' if I'd play along."

Wild bent his head, as if not believing what he'd heard. "You're saying Cooper's the 'outside chief?"

"It makes sense. I was figuring the top man was one of two precinct captains…"

"From the Fourteenth or Fifteenth, right."

"But a Detective Bureau guy like Cooper floats from precinct to precinct. He can make the rounds easier. And my promoting him to bureau chief put him in an even better spot to do that." Ness laughed without humor. "As you once pointed out, he's 'popular with the men.'

"

"What does that have to do with Horvitz offering to give up the name of the 'outside chief?"

"Plenty. What's been the most surprising thing about this cemetery scam?"

"That the marks would bite in the first place."

"No, in times like these, that's no surprise. What's surprising is that the Mayfield Road mob hasn't turned up in it. They're nowhere to be seen."

Wild nodded slowly. "And they always have a piece of the action in this burg. Look at their policy-racket takeover."

"Exactly. And in every neighborhood where the cemetery scam's been run, cops have vouched for the 'G-men' or the "bank presidents' or 'real estate men' who've come around."

"What are you saying? That this whole scam is cops?"

"Damn near. I'd guess that Cooper's the major investor- 'Corepo' is probably only one of the phony names he owns land under. And you can bet Corepo and the rest of Cooper's names have well-stuffed bank accounts in town and out. And other cops have money in the racket, that seems a safe bet. Safer than investing in cemetery lots, anyway. The salesmen and the sales organization officials who ran the scam were most likely con artists from the outside. Whether the cops invited them in, or they came in and linked up with the cops, who can say. What's the difference, really?"

"Then where does the Mayfield mob come in?"

"That's just the point: no place. And you can bet they tried. But 'Chief Cooper told them to take a hike. He's that powerful now."

Wild nodded, not slowly. "Powerful enough for Mo Horvitz to want to depose."

"I think the 'department within the department' has gotten so powerful, under Cooper, that it's become virtually a rival mob. The cops are running their own rackets now. This cemetery scam may be only one of many."

"Christ." Wild swallowed thickly. "I think you may be right."

Ness shrugged. "It's mostly supposition."

"I bet we can find the facts to turn supposition into a jail sentence for Captain Cooper." Wild clapped his hands. "I can smell the headlines! Am I glad I teamed up with you!"

Ness started the car. He made a U-turn and headed up out of the Flats.

"We'll start with Cullitan," Ness said. "We'll have his boys dig into Captain Cooper's finances. We'll find out how a guy making thirty-five hundred a year can afford to sink a hundred grand into cemetery lots."