The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps
- Автор: Anderson Lars, Barr Randolph
- Год: 2007
- Язык: английский
- Год: Vintage Books
- ISBN: 978-0-307-28048-0
- Жанр: Криминальные детективы
Электронная книга - «The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps». Краткое содержание книги:
Weighing in at over a thousand pages, containing over forty-seven stories and two novels, this book is big baby, bigger and more powerful than a freight train — a bullet couldn’t pass through it. Here are the best stories and every major writer who ever appeared in celebrated Pulps like Black Mask, Dime Detective, Detective Fiction Weekly, and more. These are the classic tales that created the genre and gave birth to hard-hitting detectives who smoke criminals like packs of cigarettes; sultry dames whose looks are as lethal as a dagger to the chest; and gin-soaked hideouts where conversations are just preludes to murder. This is crime fiction at its gritty best.
“Hello, MacBride,” he droned through lips that scarcely moved.
“Aren’t you late for tea, Duke?” asked the captain.
“Kind of. But I heard you’ve been shooting the town up. Where’s the catch?”
“Rehearsing. No public showing just yet, Duke.”
“Forget it. I got a right to a private interview.”
MacBride shook his head. “That’s a lot of noise. You’ve got no rights at all so far as I’m concerned. The door’s behind you, Duke. The air’ll do you good.”
Duke Manola snarled, “Can that tripe, Mac. I didn’t come out here to chin with you. I came out to see who you picked up. Cut the comedy!”
“Soft pedal, Duke. You’re in bad company right now.”
“Why, damn your soul, MacBride!—”
“Shut up!” barked the hard captain. “You might be a big guy in other circles, but just now, as far as I’m concerned, you’re only a little dago shooting off a lot of hot air.” He stepped to the outer door and yanked it open. “Now get the hell out!”
Manola’s lips moved in a silent oath, and his eyes flamed behind lids that were almost closed. Then he shrugged. “All right, MacBride. Have your way. I see you’re not tamed yet.”
“Not by a damned sight, Duke!”
“Maybe — I’ll try a little more — taming.” With that he sauntered out, a leer on his dark, smooth face.
A moment later the newspapermen followed.
From then on until midnight MacBride sat in his office, behind locked doors, and raked Devore with a merciless third degree. But Devore only taunted him. He made no confession. He gave no details. He weathered the gale with the hardness of his kind, and at midnight MacBride, worn and haggard, torn inwardly by emotions that he never revealed, called it a day.
“All right, Devore. That’ll do for tonight. More later, buddy.”
He called in a policeman and directed him to put Devore in a cell.
“Listen here, MacBride,” the gangster protested on the way out of the office. “I want a lawyer. I want him mighty quick.”
“Dry up. You’re not getting out on bail while I’m alive.”
Still protesting, Devore was dragged away to a cell.
Weary, sunk at heart, MacBride slumped back in his chair, his chin dropping to his chest, his tousled hair straggling down over his red-rimmed eyes. He was up against it. He dared not look ahead. There was no telling what the morrow would bring. But one thing was certain. His daughter would be drawn into the net, linked with a gangster’s crime, her name and likeness published throughout the country. Judith MacBride, daughter of Captain MacBride, feared by the criminal element of Richmond City. A stickler for the law. A hard man against crooks. Possessed of an enviable record.
He shuddered; the whole, big-boned frame of him shuddered.
And then the telephone rang, and he picked up the receiver.
“Is this you, Steve?” came his wife’s anxious voice.
“Yes, Ann.”
“Steve! I don’t know where Judith is. She went to a movie tonight — to — forget for a little while. She’d promised to go with Elsie, from the other end of town. You know the show’s out at eleven. And she hasn’t come home yet. I called up Elsie and she said they parted in front of the theatre at eleven and Judith started walking home.
“And Steve, listen. At about ten some woman called up and asked for Judith. I said she wasn’t in, that she’d gone to the movies. Then she hung up. What do you suppose could have happened?”
Under the desk, MacBride’s clenched fist pounded against his knee.
“I don’t know, Ann. But don’t worry. I’ll be home right away. Don’t worry, dear. I’ll...be... home.”
The color had drained from his face by the time he slipped the receiver back on to the hook. He sat back, his arms outstretched, the hands knotted on the edge of the desk, the eyes wide and staring into space. And then the eyes narrowed and the lips curled.
He heaved up, banged on his cap and strode out of the station. When he reached home his wife was sobbing, and she came to his arms. Hard hit as he was, he, nevertheless, put his arms around her and patted her gently.
“Buck up, Ann. That’s a brave girl. Maybe it’s nothing after all. Maybe—”
The ringing of the telephone bell interrupted him. Slowly, he approached the instrument, unhooked the receiver.
“Who is this?” grated a voice.
“MacBride.”
“Get wise to yourself, MacBride. You see that Devore gets free by tomorrow midnight, or your daughter gets a dirty deal. This is straight. The gang’s got her at a hide-out you’ll never find. I’m calling from a booth in the railroad station. By tomorrow midnight, MacBride, or your daughter gets the works! Good-bye!”
A click sounded in MacBride’s ear. He turned away from the telephone, met his wife’s wide-eyed stare.
“Steve! Steve!” she cried.
“Judith’s been kidnapped by Devore’s gang. Devore’s the man I’ve got in jail. His freedom is their price — for Judith.”
“Oh — dear — God!”
Ann MacBride closed her eyes and swayed. The hard captain caught her, held her gently, carried her to a sofa and laid her down, kneeling beside her.
For the first time in his life MacBride prayed — for his daughter.
8
Next day he sat in his office, with the doors bolted, and Ted Kerr facing him.
“Ted, I’m cornered,” he muttered. “I’ve got to pay through the nose.”
“The skunks!” exclaimed Kerr. “God, can’t we comb the city? Can’t we run the pups down?”
“It would take two or three days. They demand Devore by midnight. I’ve got to swallow my pride and let him go.”
“But, Cap, you can’t let him just walk out.”
“I know I can’t. There must be another way. He must escape.”
Kerr bit his lip, perplexed. “Escape? Can you imagine the razzing you’ll get?”
MacBride nodded. “Yes, more than you can. I’ve been called a tough nut, Ted. Well, I won’t deny it. And my pride’s been one of the biggest things in me. Swallowing it will damn near choke me. But my daughter — my flesh and blood — is the price, and, by God, I can’t stand the blow!”
“But can’t it be fixed so the blame’ll fall on me? Hell, Cap, you’ve got so much more at stake.”
“No. I’m the guy pays through the nose. Devore must escape.”
“What about those birds at the Blue River?”
“They’re not in the know. I hauled Donnegan off last night. Devore was just their bootlegger. Hinkle came across. He said Devore warned him to close his trap and keep it closed, or wind up wrestling with a bullet. No, there’s no alternative. Sometime tonight I’ve got to pull a bone-head move and let Devore blow. Afterwards, Ted, I’ll clean him out. But Judith comes first.”
“Suppose they double-cross you?”
“I’ll take care of that before Devore goes.”
The day dragged by, and at nine that night MacBride had Devore brought in from the cell. He dismissed the officer with a nod. Devore sat down — he was without manacles — and helped himself to a cigarette from a pack on the desk. He needed a shave, and he looked down at the mouth — and nasty.
“What a crust you’ve got, MacBride! Dammit, I want a lawyer. I want to see something besides polished buttons. I gotta right to that, MacBride.”