James Chase - This Way for a Shroud

Frances backed away. Her face was now as white as a fresh fall of snow, and her big eyes looked like holes in a sheet.

“I didn’t see him! I keep telling you! And I’m not going to give evidence!”

Conrad stared at her for a long moment, then he shrugged.

“Is that your last word?”

“Yes! Now I’m going home!”

“Well, I can’t stop you. I’ve told you the kind of man Maurer is. He thinks as I

do that you saw him. He knows a word from you will wreck a kingdom worth several millions of dollars a year. Do you imagine he’ll take the risk that you didn’t see him? Do you imagine a man like that will let you live for five minutes if he can get at you? Two of his men have already tried to wipe you out, and you’re lucky they failed. They won’t fail next time if you leave our protection!”

“I don’t believe you. You’re trying to frighten me! I didn’t see anything, and I’m going home!”

Conrad restrained his temper with difficulty.

“Miss Coleman, I beg you to think about this. We can protect you. There’s nothing to be frightened about. Are you frightened of Maurer? Tell me why you don’t want to stay here for a few days?”

“I have no intention of staying and I don’t want your protection,” she said angrily. “I think you’re just saying these things to frighten me into giving evidence, and I’m not going to do it!”

Conrad went to the door.

“Madge, will you phone down to the D.A. and tell him Gollowitz can come up?”

Madge stared at him, her eyes alarmed.

“Gollowitz? You’re not letting…?”

“Will you please do as I tell you!” Conrad snapped. He turned back to Frances. “There’s a lawyer downstairs asking for you. He has a writ for your release. We can’t hold you against the writ, but if you refuse to go with him, he can’t make you. It’s up to you.”

Frances met his eyes defiantly.

“I shall certainly go with him!”

Conrad walked up to her.

“Listen, you little fool! Why do you imagine a lawyer should go to the trouble of taking out a writ for you? He’s Maurer’s lawyer! That’s why.”

“How do I know Bunty Lloyd hasn’t sent him?” she demanded. “You want me to stay here, don’t you? I don’t believe anything you’re saying!”

A tap came on the door and Madge looked in.

“Mr. Gollowitz.”

Gollowitz came in, a smooth smile on his dark face.

“Miss Coleman?”

Frances faced him, her eyes searching his face.

“Yes.”

“I’m a lawyer, and I represent the Norgate Union. The secretary of the union called me and told me you were detained here. The District Attorney tells me he has no reason to hold you any longer. Are you willing to come with me?”

Frances hesitated for a moment. There was something about Gollowitz that made her nervous.

“I don’t want to go with you, thank you,” she said. “I just want to go home.”

Gollowitz chuckled.

“Of course. I simply meant that I would escort you as far as the entrance. If you would communicate with the secretary of your union and tell him I have arranged for your release I should be obliged.”

Conrad moved quietly to the door and beckoned to Madge.

“Tell Van to bring Weiner in here,” he whispered.

As he turned back he heard Frances say, “Can I leave here at once?”

“Of course,” Gollowitz said.

“Just a moment,” Conrad broke in. “While you’re here, Mr. Gollowitz, you might be interested to go bail for another of our customers. Come in, Weiner.”

Van Roche threw open the door and gave Pete a hard shove so he entered the room with an unbalanced rush. When he saw Gollowitz, he jumped back as if he had seen a snake.

Gollowitz had been too busy getting the writ for Frances’s release to find out what had happened to Pete. Seigel had assured him he would get Pete, and seeing Pete so unexpectedly completely threw him off balance. His fat face turned livid, and he took a step towards Pete, his lips drawn off his teeth in a snarl of fury.

“Leave me alone!” Pete exclaimed, and backed away.

Too late, Gollowitz realized he had given himself away. He twisted his face into a forced bland smile, but he saw the look of horror on Frances’s face.

“Don’t you want to take Weiner along with you as well as Miss Coleman?” Conrad asked quietly. “I doubt if he’ll come, but at least you can ask him.”

His eyes glittering with rage, Gollowitz turned to Frances.

“Come along, Miss Coleman. I’ll get you a cab.”

“Don’t go with him!” Pete shouted. “He belongs to the organization. Stay here where you are safe! Don’t go with him!”

Gollowitz put out his hand and laid it gently on Frances’s arm.

“I don’t know who this fellow is, but he sounds crazy to me,” he said. “Let’s go, Miss Coleman.”

Frances shuddered and jumped back.

“No! I’m going to stay here. I don’t want to go with you. I won’t go with you!”

“I’m afraid you are being rather a foolish young woman, Miss Coleman,” Gollowitz said. The silent threat in those black eyes turned Frances cold. “Are you coming with me or aren’t you?”

“Oh, tell him to go!” Frances cried, and sat down on the couch, hiding her face in her hands. “Please tell him to go!”

Gollowitz looked at Pete, then he walked quietly from the room.

No one moved as he crossed the outer room. They watched him open the door, step into the passage and close the door behind him.

He left behind him an atmosphere charged with threatening danger.

“Janey!”

Conrad stood in the small hall and waited for her reply. She wasn’t in any of the downstairs rooms, and he had an idea she might be out. Two or three times lately she had been out when he had returned from the office. During the past three days their relationship had worsened. She didn’t tell him where she went and he didn’t ask.

“Is that you?” Janey called from upstairs.

A little surprised to find her in, Conrad ran up the stairs and pushed open the bedroom door.

Janey was sitting in front of her dressing-table. Clad only in a brassiere and a pair of frilly panties, she was engaged in rolling up one slim leg a black nylon stocking.

“You’re early, aren’t you?” she asked, without looking up. “It isn’t half-past six yet.”

He pushed the door shut and wandered over to the window. It no longer gave him any pleasure as it used to do to see her like this.

“I have to go away for a few days, Janey. I’m leaving right now.”

Janey gave his broad back a sharp glance as she fixed the suspender grip to the top of her stocking.

“Oh. I suppose I’m not included. Where are you going?”

She reached for the other stocking, her mind suddenly busy. A few days. What exactly did that mean? A week — ten days? She felt a sudden hot flush sweep over her body. Would it be safe to ask Louis to come here? she wondered.

“I have charge of two important witnesses,” Conrad said, turning to look at her. “They have to be kept under cover until the trial. The D.A. wants me to look after them.”

She adjusted the seams of her stockings and stood up.

“What on earth for? Since when have you become a nursemaid to witnesses?”

“It just happens they are important and in danger,” Conrad said shortly. “I’ll be away until Thursday. I’m sorry, Janey, but there it is.”

She went over to the wardrobe and took out a wrap.

“All right, if you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go,” she said indifferently. “It won’t make much difference to me. It’s not as if I see all that much of you. Where are you going?”

“I’ll write the address down,” Conrad said, taking out his bill-fold and finding an old envelope. “It’s out near Butcher’s Wood. And listen, Janey, this is important, no one but you may know where I’ve gone. Don’t tell anyone, do you understand?”