Donald Hamilton: The Poisoners

I studied the weapon thoughtfully, pressed the cylinder latch on the left side of the frame, swung out the cylinder, and looked at the brass heads of the six cartridges. Two of the primers showed firing-pin indentations. Annette had been shot twice. It was very neat. I had no doubt the rifling would match the recovered bullets, if they were in condition to be matched, which doesn't always happen.

I closed the gun once more and walked up to the bound man in the chair. He looked up at me with steady brown eyes.

"This is your gun?" I asked.

"That's my gun." His voice was as expressionless as his face, flat and toneless.

I said, "Tell me what happened."

He said, "What's to tell, man? She looked like somebody else, red hair and all. I got the wrong girl."

"But you got her?"

"Me and nobody else. Like Mr. Warfel told you, everybody makes mistakes. I'm paying for mine, like you see."

"How did it happen?"

Warfel spoke behind me. "That doesn't really matter, does it, Mr. Helm? This is your man. He admits it."

I turned slowly to look at him. "If you overheard my telephone conversation at the motel, you know that my instructions cover the person or persons responsible. Somehow, I don't think Mr. Brown went out and killed a girl just for private kicks. Who gave the orders?"

There was a little silence in the room. I was aware that the big man who'd greeted me at the elevator-the official frisker called Jake-had taken up a station in the doorway.

Warfel said softly, "I wouldn't push it, Mr. Helm. We made a mistake, a bad mistake. We admit it. We don't want any trouble with you or your chief in Washington, so we're giving you the man who shot your agent. I suggest you leave it at that, Mr. Helm."

"And if I don't?"

Warfel sighed. "We don't want to buck Washington, not unless we have to. But if you try to push it we'll have to, won't we? I mean, you'll give us no choice. And it's not your line of work, is it, Mr. Helm? I don't know exactly what you are, but you're damn well not F.B.I. You're not pretty enough, for one thing, and for another, nobody ever told a G-man to go out and kill somebody, not in so many words. They've got scruples; they're gentlemen."

"And I'm no gentleman?"

"No offense, Mr. Helm, but you're a professional killer, aren't you? I've seen a lot of them, and I knew you the minute I saw you. An executioner, a rub-out man. The only difference being that you seem to be a government rub-out man. I'm guessing that you belong to some kind of high-powered secret espionage or counterespionage outfit that plays pretty rough. And now you've lost one of your people and you're mad. You're not used to having your agents knocked over by punks like Arthur, here, working for hoodlums like me, are you, Mr. Helm? And you're going to show us that no little private creeps can monkey with a big, bad government agency like yours!"

His voice had turned harsh. I said, "Easy, Mr. Warfel. You're saying it, not me. Don't work yourself into a coronary on my account."

He drew a long breath, and forced a grin. "Ah, hell, there I go, losing my temper. Excuse me, Mr. Helm. I'm just upset about losing Arthur, just for one lousy mistake. He's a good man… Okay, so the mistake was his and you can have him. But don't try taking it any farther. I'm not crazy enough to think I can buck the U.S. government and win, but I can sure as hell give you a lot of publicity while I'm losing. And I don't think you secret-agent hush-hush types would like that. Check with your chief and see if I'm not right. He said inconspicuously, remember? Well, you can settle for Arthur, inconspicuously, or you can have a fight that'll make you conspicuous as hell. Take your choice, Mr. Helm. Check with your boss and see if he really wants to go into the syndicate-busting business just because somebody made a mistake. Okay?"

I looked at Arthur Brown. "You worked her over before you shot her. Why?"

The black man looked up sharply, frowning. "What do you mean, man. I didn't…"

"Never mind, Arthur," Warfel said quickly. "Mr. Helm, it was a simple case of mistaken identity. And who your girl was mistaken for, and why, is none of your damn business."

"I guess not. May I make a phone call, collect, to Washington, D.C.?"

He gestured towards the other room, magnanimously. "Be my guest. Live it up. Charge it to me." He hesitated. "Just one thing, Mr. Helm. On the phone you reported that your girl had told you something before she died. What did she say?"

I laughed. "Hell, she didn't say anything. I figured somebody might be listening. That was just sugar to draw flies, Mr. Warfel."

The blonde looked up from her magazine and winked at me playfully as I went past. It was quite a wink, since her lashes were almost an inch long. I couldn't match it so I didn't try.

The station wagon was waiting when we came downstairs. I opened the door and let Arthur Brown get in first. He was a little clumsy because of his bound hands. They were tied in front of him, with his jacket draped to hide the ropes.

Warfel had seemed to think it was sissy of me to want him tied, just as it was sentimental of me not to slit his throat on the spot. I wasn't really much of a guy, in Warfel's opinion. I worried about this like I worried about the opinion of the ducks in the pond I passed earlier in the evening, or even a little less. As a hunter of sorts, I have a lot of respect for ducks.

Arthur Brown looked like a professional boxer to me, and I don't play games with those. I know some trick stuff that'll handle the amateurs, but I wouldn't dream of trying it on a real pro fighter. If he came for me, I'd have to stop him with a gun, and I didn't want to, at least not yet.

"All right, Willy," 1 said, having learned the driver's name from Warfel. "Head back the way we came, slowly. If somebody pulls alongside and blows a horn, don't get excited. Just take it to the curb and stop it. I'm assuming it does have brakes."

"If they don't work, I'll open the door and drag my foot," said Willy, cutting out into traffic without a glance at the mirror. Three blocks later he said, "We've got company like you said. Do you want me to stop now?"

"They'll let you know when."

"I don't like this."

"Sure you do," I said. "Mr. Warfel said for you to do exactly what I told you. I heard him. Sure you like it, Willy. You're paid to like it."

"Okay, I like it."

We rode along for a while without conversation. I was aware of Arthur Brown, silent beside me. I'm a firm believer in racial equality, but that doesn't mean I kid myself that I'll ever know exactly what thoughts are going through the head of a member of another race. We may all be equal as hell, but that doesn't mean we necessarily think alike.

"What's your real name?" I asked.

"Arthur Brown," he said.

"Go to hell," I said. "There may be Arthur Browns- there undoubtedly are-but you're not one of them. Every time you hear the name, your nostrils flare like they'd caught a bad smell."

He said, "All right, so my name is Lionel McConnell. Can you see a Lionel McConnell in the ring, man? A black Lionel McConnell? Anyway, they told me I was Arthur Basher Brown, and if you know them, you know that who they tell you you are, that's who you are."

"Sure." After a while, I said, "Lionel McConnell. That's pretty damn fancy. Almost as fancy as Annette O'Leary." The man beside me didn't speak. I went on: "That was a nice kid you shot. We had plans for that girl, McConnell. You ought to be more careful whom you go firing guns at."

"I told you, it was a mistake. A case of mistaken identity."

"Sure. The streets of L.A. are just lousy with good-looking little redheads, one exactly like the next. You've got to beat them off with a club. What do you think we're going to do with you, McConnell?"