James Chase - I'll Bury My Dead

He went over to her, put his hands on her hips and kissed her cheek.

“So Joey won his fight,” she said, looking up at him. “You must be very pleased.”

“Don’t say you listened to the radio?” he said, leading her into the well-appointed sitting room. A big coal fire burned brightly, and the shaded lamps made the atmosphere at once intimate and cozy.

“No, but I heard it on the news.”

“You and Harry are a pair,” he said, sinking into a big over-stuffed armchair and pulling her down on his knees. She curled up on his lap, slipping her arm around his neck, and resting her face against his. “Believe it or not, although he handled most of the arrangements and worked like a dog for weeks, he stayed away from the fight. He’s as squeamish as you are.”

“I think fighting is a beastly business,” she returned with a grimace. “I don’t blame Harry for not being there.”

He stared at the bright flames that licked over the coals, and his hand stroked her silk-clad thigh.

“Maybe it is, but there’s a lot of money in it. Was the show all right?”

She lifted her shoulders in an indifferent shrug.

“I suppose so. They seemed to like it. I wasn’t singing particularly well, but no one seemed to notice.”

“Maybe you want a vacation. Next month I may be able to get away. We might go to Florida.”

“Let’s wait and see.”

He looked at her sharply.

“I thought you would like that, Julie.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to leave the club just yet. Tell me about the fight, Nick.”

“There’s something else I have to tell you. Do you remember Roy?”

He felt her stiffen.

“Yes, of course. Why do you ask?”

“The fool shot himself tonight.”

She half sat up, but he pulled her down against him again.

“Don’t move, Julie.”

“Is he dead?” she asked, her fingers gripping his arm.

“Yes, he’s dead. That was one job he did manage to do efficiently.”

She shivered.

“Don’t talk like that, Nick. How dreadful! When did it happen?”

“About half-past nine. Morilli phoned me in the middle of the party. What a break for him! Of all that damned Homicide mob, he had to be the one to find Roy. And he made sure I knew he was doing me a favor.”

“I don’t like that man,” Julie said. “There’s something about him…”

“He’s just a cop on the lookout for some easy money. That’s all that’s the matter with him.”

“But why did Roy…?”

“Yeah, that puzzles me. Do you mind if I walk up and down? You’re taking my mind off business.” He lifted her, and got up, set her gently in the chair, then moved over to the fireplace. “Why, Julie, you look pale.”

“I suppose it’s the shock. I wasn’t expecting to hear anything like this. I don’t know if you’re upset, Nick, but if you are, I’m sorry.”

“I’m not upset,” English said, taking out his cigar case. “Maybe it was a shock, but I can’t say I’m particularly sorry. Roy’s been a damned nuisance ever since he was born. I guess he was born lazy. He was always getting into jams. My old man and he were a pair. Did I ever tell you about my old man, Julie?”

She shook her head. She was leaning back, staring into the fire, her fingers laced around her knee.

“He was no good, like Roy was no good. If my mother hadn’t gone out and worked when we were kids we would have starved. I wish you could have seen my home, Julie. It was a three-room hovel in the basement of a tenement. In the winter the walls ran with water, and in the summer it stank to high heaven.”

Julie leaned forward to drop a log on the fire, and English touched the back of her neck gently.

“Oh, well, I guess that’s past history,” he went on. “But I can’t understand Roy shooting himself. Morilli says he was short of money and was trying to raise the wind by threatening two or three of his old clients. He was going to lose his licence at the end of the week. I would have been willing to bet Roy wouldn’t have killed himself because of that. I shouldn’t have believed he would have had the nerve to kill himself no matter how bad a jam he was in. It’s damned odd. Morilli says he’s satisfied, but I still don’t believe it.”

Julie looked up quickly.

“But surely, Nick, if the police say so…”

“Yeah, I know, but it foxes me. Why didn’t he come to me if he was so hard up? Maybe I did throw him out last time, but that has never stopped him before. I’ve thrown him out a score of times and he’s always come back.”

“Perhaps he was too proud,” Julie said quietly.

“Proud? Roy? My dear sweet, you don’t know Roy. He had a hide like a tank. He’d take any insult so long as he got money out of me.” English lit his cigar and began to move slowly about the room. “Why did the business collapse like that? When he got me to buy it for him, I took the trouble to investigate it pretty thoroughly. It was paying well then. It was an old-established business. He couldn’t have wrecked it so soon, unless he did it deliberately.” He made an impatient gesture. “I was a fool to have had anything to do with it. I might have known he wouldn’t have worked at it. Imagine Roy a private detective. Why, it’s laughable. I was a mug to have given him the money.”

Julie watched him pace the room. There was a wary, alert expression in her eyes that English didn’t notice.

“I’ve sent Lois to check up at his office,” English went on. “She has a nose for that kind of thing. She’ll be able to tell me what went wrong.”

“You sent Lois there tonight?” Julie said sharply.

“I wanted her to have a look at the place before Corrine takes it into her head to go up there.”

“You mean Lois is actually there now?”

English paused in his pacing and looked at her, surprised at the sharpness of her tone.

“Yes. Harry’s with her. She doesn’t mind how late she works. You sound surprised.”

“Well, after all it is nearly half-past one. Couldn’t it have waited until tomorrow?”

“Corrine might go up there,” English said, frowning. He didn’t like his orders questioned. “I want to know what Roy’s been up to.”

“I think she must be in love with you,” Julie said, moving so that her back was turned to him.

“In love with me?” English said, startled. “Who? Corrine?”

“Lois. She acts as if she were your slave. No other girl would tolerate working for you, Nick.”

English laughed.

“Nonsense. I pay her well. Besides, she isn’t the kind of girl to fall in love with anyone.”

“There’s never been a girl who wouldn’t fall in love if she’s given the chance,” Julie said quietly. “I should have thought you would have more insight, Nick, than to say a thing like that.”

“Never mind Lois,” English said a little impatiently. “We were talking about Roy. I went to see Corrine tonight.”

“That was nice of you. I’ve never seen her. What’s she like, Nick?”

“Blond, plump and dumb-looking,” English said, coming to sit on the arm of her armchair. “She told me I was responsible for Roy’s death and threw me out of the house.”

“Nick!” Julie looked quickly at him, but was reassured by his smile.

“I guess she was hysterical, but to be on the safe side I got Sam out of bed and sent him down to talk to her. I’ve got to be careful there isn’t a stink about this business, Julie. I have a big pot on the boil at the moment.” His brown hand slid over her shoulder and his fingers gently stroked her throat. “In a few weeks the senator is going to break the news that I’m the man behind the new hospital. The committee know, of course, but the press haven’t got it yet. The idea is to name the hospital after me.”