Give the Boys a Great Big Hand
- Автор: Хантер Эван
- Серия: 87th Precinct #11
- Год: 1960
- Язык: английский
- Год: Simon & Schuster
- Жанр: Полицейские детективы
Электронная книга - «Give the Boys a Great Big Hand». Краткое содержание книги:
“Hey!” he yelled after the bus. “You forgot your bag!”
Genera picked up the bag — a small, blue overnight bag issued by an airline. He unzipped the bag and reached into it. Then he gripped the bus-stop sign for support.
The bag held... a severed human hand.
The police lab gave both bag and hand a thorough examination and discovered next to nothing. Steve Carella, Cotton Hawes, Meyer Meyer and the other 87th Precinct detectives had a murderer to find, and they had to begin without even knowing who the victim was.
The Missing Persons Bureau files supplied two leads, both of which led nowhere.
Everything that looked even faintly like a clue was checked and double-checked and they all led to the same place — a dead end.
Then, when the break finally came and several clues turned up at once, they neatly contradicted each other. It was the toughest case the 87th Precinct detectives had ever faced.
“Friend of yours?” Carella asked.
“I fed him once,” Hawes answered.
Taffy Smith came back into the living room. “Gee, I’m bushed,” she said. “We’ve been rehearsing all day long. We’re doing Detective Story at the Y. I’m playing the shoplifter. It’s an exhausting role, believe me.” She paused. “We’re all Equity players, you understand. This is just between jobs.”
“I understand,” Carella said.
“How do you like living with a pair of strippers?” Hawes asked.
“Fine,” Taffy said. “Gee, what’s wrong with strippers? They’re swell girls.” She paused. “I’ve been out of work for a long time now. Somebody’s got to keep up the rent. They’ve been swell about it.”
“They?” Carella said.
“Barbara and Marla. Of course, Barbara’s gone now. You know that. Listen, what does a B-sheet look like?”
“Huh?” Carella said.
“A B-sheet. It’s mentioned in the play, it takes place in a detective squadroom, you know.”
“Yes, I know.”
“Sure, and a B-sheet is mentioned, and our prop man is going nuts trying to figure out what it looks like. Could you send me one?”
“Well, we’re not supposed to give out official documents,” Hawes said.
“Gee, I didn’t know that.” She paused. “But we got a real pair of handcuffs. They’re official, aren’t they?”
“Yes. Where’d you get them?”
“Some fellow who used to be a cop. He’s got connections.” She winked.
“Well, maybe we can send you a B-sheet,” Carella said. “If you don’t tell anyone where you got it.”
“Gee, that would be swell,” Taffy answered.
“About your roommate. Barbara. You said she was nice to live with. Didn’t she seem a little wild at times?”
“Wild?”
“Yes.”
“You mean, did she break dishes? Something like that?”
“No. I meant men.”
“Barbara? Wild?”
“Yes. Didn’t she entertain a lot of men here?”
“Barbara?” Taffy grinned infectiously. “She never had a man in this apartment all the while I’ve been living here.”
“But she received telephone calls from men, didn’t she?”
“Oh, sure.”
“And none of these men ever came here?”
“I never saw any. Oh, excuse me. That’s the coffee.”
She went into the kitchen and returned instantly with the coffeepot and three cardboard containers.
“You’ll have to excuse the paper cups,” she said, “but we try to keep from washing too many dishes around here. We usually get a mob in every night for coffee, kids from all over who feel like talking or who just feel like sitting on a comfortable chair. We’ve got a nice place, don’t you think?”
“Yes,” Carella said.
“I love to make coffee,” Taffy said. “I guess I got in the habit when I was first married. I used to think that was the dream of marriage, do you know? I had the idea that marriage meant you could make a cup of coffee in your own house whenever you wanted to.” She grinned again. “I guess that’s why I’m divorced right now. Marriage is a lot more than making coffee, I suppose. Still, I like to make coffee.”
She poured, went back to the kitchen with the pot, and then returned with cream, sugar, and wooden spoons.
“At these midnight get-togethers,” Carella said, “where you make coffee — did Barbara hang around?”
“Oh, sure.”
“And she was friendly?”
“Oh, sure.”
“But she never brought any men here?”
“Never.”
“Never entertained any men here?”
“Never. You see, we only have the three rooms. The kitchen, the living room, and the bedroom. The bedroom has two beds, and this sofa opens into a bed, so that makes three beds. So we had to figure out a sort of a schedule. If one of the girls had a date and she thought she might be asking him in for a drink later, we had to keep the living room free. This really wasn’t such a problem because Barbara never brought anyone home. So only Marla and I had to worry about it.”
“But Barbara did date men?”
“Oh, sure. Lots of them.”
“And if she felt like asking someone in for a drink, she didn’t ask them in here, is that right?”
“That’s right. Some more coffee?”
“No, thank you,” Hawes said. He had only taken a sip of the first cup.
“Then where did she take them?” Carella asked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Her boy friends, where did she go with them?”
“Oh, all over. Clubs, theaters, wherever they wanted to take her.”
“I meant, for that nightcap.”
“Maybe she went to their apartments.”
“She couldn’t have gone to Androvich’s apartment,” Carella said out loud.
“What was that?”
“There are hotels all over the city, Steve,” Hawes said.
“Yeah,” Carella said. “Miss Smith, did Barbara ever say anything that would lead you to believe she had another apartment?”
“Another one? Why would she need another one? Do you know how much apartments cost in this city?”
“Yes, I do. But did she ever mention anything like that?”
“Not to me, she didn’t. Why would she need another apartment?”
“Apparently, Miss Smith, Barbara was seeing a few men and was on... rather friendly terms with them. An apartment shared with two other girls might have... well, limited her activities somewhat.”
“Oh, I see what you mean,” Taffy said. She thought about this for a moment. Then she said, “You’re talking about Barbara? Bubbles?”
“Yes.”
Taffy shrugged. “I never got the idea she was man-crazy. She didn’t seem that interested in men.”
“She was ready to run off with one when she disappeared,” Carella said. “And it’s possible she disappeared with a second one.”
“Barbara?” Taffy said. “Bubbles?”
“Barbara, yes. Bubbles.” Carella paused for a moment. “I wonder if I could use your phone, Miss Smith?”
“Go right ahead. You can use this one, or the extension in the bedroom. Forgive the mess in there. My roommate is a slob.”
Carella went into the bedroom.
“Marla told me all about you,” Taffy said to Hawes in a whisper.
“She did?”
“Yes. Are you going to call her?”
“Well, I don’t know. We’ve got to wrap up this case first.”
“Oh, sure,” Taffy agreed. “She’s a nice girl. Very sweet.”
“Yes, she seemed nice,” Hawes said. He felt very uncomfortable all at once.
“Do you work nights?” Taffy asked.
“Sometimes, yes.”
“Well, when you’re off, why don’t you stop by for a cup of coffee?”
“All right, maybe I will.”
“Good,” Taffy said, and she grinned.
Carella came back into the room. “I just called Androvich’s apartment,” he said. “Thought he might be able to tell us whether or not Barbara was keeping another place.”
“Any luck?”
“He shipped out this morning,” Carella said. “For Japan.”
15