James Chase - Safer Dead

‘If that barrel only contains cement,’ Scaife said out of the corner of his mouth, ‘you’re going to see the nearest thing to an earthquake you’re likely to see. It’s my bet Harris has been shooting his mouth off. There’s nothing he likes better than publicity.’

Harris had gone into the water and the waiting crowd watched, silent and tense. After ten minutes or so he reappeared and waved to the boat that carried the tackle. The oarsmen rowed over to him and lowered the clamps over the side.

‘Won’t be long now,’ Scaife said restlessly. He lit a cigarette, took an impatient draw, then tossed the cigarette into the lake. After what seemed an age, Harris’s head again appeared above the water and he waved.

Creed turned to the two men on the winch.

‘Okay, start winding,’ he snapped.

The two men bent to their task. It was as much as they could do to turn the handles and Creed shouted to two other cops to help them.

Slowly the drum turned, winding in the cable. After ten minutes, Creed changed the four men who stood back, sweating and panting.

‘I think we might get back a little,’ Scaife said under his breath. ‘If the old man spots us, he’ll get us to do some of that, and it looks like hard work to me.’

We moved further back into the shadows.

It took more than an hour of slow winding before the barrel broke surface.

A wild, frenzied cheer broke out from the crowd as the four policemen slopped into the water and manhandled the barrel ashore. A beam from one of the searchlights was directed on to it, and there was a rush of cameramen to photograph it.

They wanted Creed to pose beside it, but he wouldn’t do it. I could see he wanted to, but he was scared the girl wasn’t inside the barrel, and he wasn’t taking the risk of making a fool of himself.

A black, closed truck, like an ambulance, edged to where the barrel lay.

‘That’s the mortician’s truck,’ Scaife said. ‘Creed’s not taking the risk of opening the barrel here. Come on, let’s get out of here. We’ll go to the mortuary. That’s where they’ll open it.’

We pushed our way through the excited crowd, and once clear of them, we ran fast to the Buick. I had trouble in turning the car, so congested had the road become. I got the car turned at last, and drove fastback to town.

The mortuary was behind police headquarters. I parked the Buick in the police park, and we walked over to the mortuary building.

A fat little man, wearing a rubber apron and rubber gloves came out of a room as we entered the tiled passage.

‘Evening, sergeant,’ he said, his badly shaven face lighting up. ‘How’s it coming? Did they get it up?’

‘Hello, Joe,’ Scaife said. ‘They got it up all right. They should be along in about half an hour.’

‘Anything in it?’

‘Cement. I don’t know what else. The old man’s opening it here.’

‘The last cement job I did,’ Joe said scowling, ‘was a horror. The guy had been in the water for six months. You should have seen him.’

‘She’s been in for fourteen months. Think there’ll be anything left to see?’

Joe shrugged.

‘It depends on how much of the cement has covered her. If she’s right inside the cement shell, she might be all right. She won’t last long: just long enough to identify her.’

Listening to this talk made me feel a little sick. I wasn’t sure now if I wanted to be present when they opened the barrel.

‘Come into the office,’ Joe said. ‘I’ve got a bottle in there that’ll put you in the right mood. I always have a shot before I tackle a job like this.’

We went into a small office and stood around while Joe got three glasses and a bottle of Scotch from a cupboard.

‘This is Chet Sladen, the guy who writes for Crimes Facts,’ Scaife said. ‘He’s working on the case.’

Joe nodded at me.

‘I’ve read some of your stuff, mister. You should have a good story here. Going to take photographs?’

‘I guess so.’

He beamed and moved over to the light.

‘Maybe you’ll be wanting my picture?’

‘I don’t suppose his camera’s insured,’ Scaife said, grinning.

I took a couple of shots of the little man. The light was poor and I didn’t expect to get good pictures, but as I was going to make a hole in his whisky, I thought it only fair to do something in return.

We had several drinks: taking the whisky straight without a chaser.

I was feeling less squeamish when I heard the truck come into the yard.

Joe hastily put the bottle and glasses away, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and went to open the double doors leading to the morgue.

‘Come on,’ Scaife said. ‘This’ll be a good test for your stomach.’

Creed came in scowling, followed by the Medical Officer.

‘You here already?’ Creed said, glaring at me.

‘Why not? It was my idea you found her,’ I said.

‘Yeah.’ He snorted and turned to snap orders at the squad of cops who were manhandling the barrel on to a four-wheel trolley.

‘I had a sweet time shaking off those vultures,’ he went on. ‘If I could find out who talked, I’d break his neck.’

‘Well, you should be able to find out; you’re a cop,’ I said, needling him.

Scaife nudged me, shaking his head warningly.

We all trooped into the mortuary behind the truck. Joe and two of his assistants, also in rubber aprons and gloves, stood waiting.

‘Get going,’ Creed said. ‘Let’s see what we’ve got.’

He waved the four policemen who had wheeled in the truck, out of the room. I moved back against the wall, and fitted a flashlight bulb into the flash socket. My hands were unsteady and I nearly dropped the bulb.

It didn’t take Joe and his assistants long to strip off the outer casing of the barrel.

While they worked, Creed said to me, ‘It’s the barrel Sperry sold to Flemming. Do you see the strawberry plant holes? She must be in it!’

Joe forced the last of the sodden lathes out of the iron hoop that bound them together. The block of cement, shaped like the barrel, looked gruesome in the hard light.

‘Whoever fixed this, did an expert job,’ he said, stepping back to wipe his forehead. ‘Get me a couple of wedges, Tom.’

I took a flashlight photograph of the cement block as Tom fetched the wedges.

‘Let’s take it easy,’ Joe said, and the two of them began to drive the wedges into the cement. Ten minutes of steady hammering cracked the cement. Joe peered into the crack.

Creed shoved him aside, looked into the opening, grimaced and stepped back.

‘It’s her,’ he said. ‘I can see the spangles on her getup. Okay, Joe, get it open.’

A few more blows with the hammers caused the cement suddenly to fall apart the way an Easter egg will open. I took one look and turned away.

I heard Creed say, ‘She’s all yours, Doc: what’s left of her.’

I was on my way out by then. I have a pretty good stomach, but what I had seen turned me sick. I went into the office, took out the bottle of Scotch and gave myself a big shot.

‘Me too,’ Scaife said, coming in. He took the bottle and half-filled his glass. ‘Phew! I wouldn’t be a croaker for all the money in the world. Well, that settles it. It’s her all right.’

After a few minutes, Creed came in.

I made him a drink; he took it silently and went to sit on the desk by the window. He drank some of the liquor although he didn’t look as if he needed it. His eyes were alight with excitement and satisfaction.

‘Well, at last we’re getting somewhere,’ he said. ‘You two stick around. I’m going to talk to the press. There’s no doubt it’s Fay Benson. The body in there’s got a crooked little finger and so had Fay.’ He finished his drink. ‘Now, we’ll have to find out why she was killed.’