Эд Макбейн - Bread

“We’re going to call Los Angeles, anyway. We’re also going to call Las Vegas.”

“Why?”

“To see if you’ve got an arrest record.”

“Okay, okay,” Rosalie said.

“We can call?”

“No, you don’t have to call.”

“You want to tell us about it?”

“I was arrested once for prostitution on the Coast.”

“Uh-huh,” Hawes said.

“You still hooking?” Ollie asked.

“No.”

“What’s that fancy building on St. Sebastian? It’s a whorehouse, ain’t it?”

“Gee, I couldn’t tell you. It’s where I live.”

“Is Oscar Hemmings a pimp?”

“No. Oh, no,” Rosalie said.

“We’re going to visit that building again, you know,” Carella said. “To find out who else is living there.”

“Well, they’re just ordinary tenants,” Rosalie said.

“Like you ?” Ollie asked.

“I haven’t had any trouble with the police since that time in LA,” Rosalie said.

“That only means you haven’t been caught lately,” Ollie said.

“Well,” Rosalie said, and shrugged. “Is it okay if I smoke?”

“Sure,” Ollie said, and then held a lighted match to the cigarette she took from her handbag.

“What do you know about Diamondback Development?” Carella asked.

“Oh, not much.”

“Who put up the money to form the company, would you know that?”

“No, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t know that.”

“Was it Oscar Hemmings?”

“I really couldn’t say.”

“You want to tell us why you really went to visit Chase?”

“I already told you. To do some letters for him.”

“Let’s drop the secretarial crap, okay?” Ollie said.

“That’s what I am,” Rosalie said flatly. “A secretary. I’ve got no record in this city, and you can’t prove I’m anything but a secretary.”

“Unless we catch you screwing a sailor,” Ollie said.

“I don’t screw sailors,” Rosalie said. “Not even on the Coast, I didn’t screw sailors.”

“What do you screw?” Ollie asked. “Niggers?”

“Will you please cut that out?” Carella said.

“Cut what out?” Ollie asked.

“Anyway, my private life is none of your business,” Rosalie said.

“Unless you do it for money.”

“Everybody does everything for money,” Rosalie answered.

“Who gave you the money you took to Germany?” Carella asked.

“I told you. I saved it.”

“Are you going to tell us the names of your relatives?”

“No.”

“Then we’re going to have to get a subpoena requiring you to testify before the grand jury. Let me explain this fully to you, Miss Waggener. We’re investigating an arson, and we have good cause to believe that Diamondback Development was somehow involved with it. We have enough evidence right this minute to arrest Robinson Worthy...”

“Then arrest him,” Rosalie said.

“...and charge him with complicity in the crime of arson, in which case the grand jury would subpoena you to testify as a witness.”

“A witness to what ? Arson? You’re out of your mind.”

“If you tell us what you know, you can save yourself a lot of trouble later. What do you say?”

“I’ve told you everything I know.”

“Let me tell you what the grand jury’s going to ask, okay?”

“Sure.”

“They’re going to inform you, first of all, that the man whose factory was burned down is named Roger Grimm. They’re also going to inform you that he was doing business with a packing firm called Bachmann Speditionsfirma in Bremerhaven, and that Bachmann acknowledged receiving payment for his services on July twenty-sixth, a day after you arrived in Bremen, which is about fifty kilometers from Bremerhaven. They are then going to ask you, under oath, whether or not you delivered any amount of cash to Bachmann on the date mentioned in his letter. If you refuse to answer...”

“Why would I refuse? I never heard of Erhard Bachmann, and I never delivered any money to him.”

“Then how do you know his full name?” Carella said instantly.

“What?” Rosalie said.

“How do you know it’s Erhard Bachmann?”

“Erhard’s a common German name,” Rosalie said.

“So’s Fritz,” Ollie said.

“I... I don’t know how I happened to... to guess it.”

“Maybe she’s in this deeper than we figured,” Ollie said, in an apparent confidential aside to Carella.

“Maybe so,” Carella said. “You think we can charge both Worthy and her?”

“I don’t see why not,” Hawes said.

“Charge me with what?” Rosalie said.

“Arson. Accessory to the crime of arson.”

“I didn’t have anything to do with burning down Grimm’s warehouse,” Rosalie said. “All I did...”

“Yeah, what ?” Ollie said.

“I took the money to Germany.”

“What money?”

“The money Alfie gave me.”

“Who’s Alfie? Are you talking about Chase?”

“Yes.”

“You took money from Chase and delivered it to Bachmann?”

“Yes.”

“Cash?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

Rosalie hesitated.

“How much, goddamnit!” Ollie shouted.

“Half a million dollars,” Rosalie said.

“For what? What was Chase buying?”

“I don’t know. I only had instructions to deliver the money.”

“Whose money was it? Chase’s or Diamondback Development’s?”

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s put it another way, Miss Waggener. Did Oscar Hemmings or Robinson Worthy know about your trip to Germany?”

“No.”

“They did not know you went to Germany with five hundred thousand dollars that Chase gave you?”

“That’s right.”

“I thought you were living with Hemmings.”

“I am. I told him I was going to the Coast, to visit my mother.”

“Why’d you lie to him?”

“Because he... he can get mean sometimes. He... beats me sometimes.”

“What’s with you and Chase?” Ollie asked.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? And he handed you five hundred grand to take to Germany for him? Come off it, sweetie!”

“All right, we... we have a thing.”

“Does Hemmings know about this ‘thing’?”

“Of course not.”

“You’re fooling around with Chase behind Hemmings’s back, is that right?”

“We’re not fooling around, we’re in love.”

“Oh, forgive me,” Ollie said, bowing from the waist. “I didn’t realize it was love. Please do forgive me.”

“Why didn’t you tell Hemmings you were going to Germany?” Carella asked.

“Alfie asked me not to.”

“Was it Alfie’s own money you took to Germany?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, if Alfie asked you not to tell his partners about the trip to Germany...”

“That’s right.”

“Then it must have been his own money, wouldn’t you say? Unless he stole it from the company.”

“Alfie is not a thief!”

“Then it was his own money, right?”

“I guess so.”

“Yes or no?”

“Yes.”

“He told you it was his own money?”

“Yes, he told me.”

“Where’d he get that kind of money?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why’d he give it to Erhard Bachmann?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know anything about the deal with Bachmann?”

“Nothing.”

“Has it got something to do with little wooden animals?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why’d you double-cross Hemmings?” Hawes asked.

“I didn’t !” Rosalie said indignantly. “Alfie offered me something better, that’s all.”