Black Mask Magazine (Vol. 24, No. 9 — January, 1942)
- Автор: Reeves Robert, Champion D. L.
- Год: 1942
- Язык: английский
- Год: Fictioneers
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «Black Mask Magazine (Vol. 24, No. 9 — January, 1942)». Краткое содержание книги:
“I got it back,” Ralph said, very tired. He pulled a long wallet out of his pocket, broke it open, showed the edges of a stack of currency. “All of it, I guess. Maybe more. I don’t know.” Ralph looked at Morrie and grinned. “That’s the way to do it, eh?”
Morrie said nothing. He was looking at Myrna. But he knew what Ralph meant. Ralph had asked him what he would do if someone robbed him of his money — his sister’s money — and he had said he’d get it back. Just get it back, that’s all.
But this was wrong. This was different.
Morrie said quietly: “How did you do it, Ralph?”
Ralph looked up. “Eh? Oh, I knew I had to use force. But I couldn’t use a gun. If I had a gun I might kill him. So I used a club. I got a piece of wood about a foot long and hammered some nails in one end to make it heavy and then wrapped it in canvas. I put the club under my coat and went over town. I watched for Nolan. I saw him come out of his hotel. I followed him. Pretty soon he was at the bar in the Monte Drake and I was behind a slot machine. I heard him tell someone he was going some place and would go out the back way. So I went out to the alley and waited. It was dark. He came out. I hit him. Once. He never made a sound. He lay on the ground and I took the money and ran home.”
“You... you haven’t killed him?” said Myrna.
“No. I don’t think so. He was breathing all right.”
Morrie sat down. This would take some thinking. This was wrong. If he had done it himself it might have been all right — anyhow, not so bad. He probably wouldn’t have done it that way, but anyhow it would have been more in line if he had done it.
“How about the stick?” Morrie said. “The stick you made the club out of. Where did you get it?”
“Out in the back yard here. I think it was part of an old table leg. It made a good club.”
“And the canvas,” Morrie said. “The canvas you wrapped around the stick?”
“Oh, that,” said Ralph. “It was some of my canvas.”
“And where is the club now?”
“The club? Why, I guess I just dropped it in the alley.”
“You left it in the alley?”
“I left it there.”
Morrie wagged his head. “Did Nolan get a look at you before you conked him?”
“Eh? I don’t know. I guess he did. My arm seemed paralyzed for a moment just before I hit him and he stared at me. He seemed paralyzed, too.”
Yes, Morrie thought, Nolan would have been paralyzed with fright. It was pretty bad. Ralph hadn’t used his head at all. In fact, he didn’t have any head to use, not for that kind of a job.
Myrna, kneeling in front of Ralph, was stroking his fingers, along the backs of them. Ralph looked sick now.
Then Myrna said gently: “Ralph, we must return this money!”
“What?” said Ralph.
“We must return the money, darling. It was fine of you to try to set things right, but it was the wrong way to do things. This money won’t do us any good — not getting it this way.”
Ralph was dazed. “But it’s your money!”
“Not this money isn’t,” Myrna said. “We must get it back to Nolan.” She looked up at Morrie. “Isn’t that right?”
She was making it tougher. Here Morrie was trying to figure some way to keep the money and protect Ralph at the same time, and Myrna was bothered about who the money really belonged to.
But Morrie said: “Well, yes, I guess that’s right.”
“I don’t understand,” Ralph said. “How can I get the money back to Nolan?” He was docile with Myrna, obedient. “I guess I’d have to give myself up, wouldn’t I?”
Morrie put in briskly: “Myrna is right, but we don’t have to rush into this. You’re all in, Ralph. You’d better go lie down for awhile and take a rest. After that we can figure what we ought to do.”
Myrna nodded. “That’s right, Ralph. Go in and lie down.”
Ralph got up. He was tired and sick. He went into the bedroom and closed the door.
Myrna said: “I want to do this right. I want that money to go back to Nolan. At the same time, I must see that Ralph is protected. You understand?”
“Well, we’ve got to figure something fast,” Morrie said. “Just getting the money back would be easy, but covering up for Ralph is something else again. I hope Nolan is hurt bad.”
“Oh, I hope not,” said Myrna.
“Better if he is, then maybe he can’t talk for awhile. Maybe he recognized Ralph. Anyhow, it was pretty bad, leaving that club in the alley. That stuff can be traced without much trouble. The stick and the canvas.”
“I hope you understand about Ralph,” Myrna said. “It’s been too much for him. He and I are all of our family. You stick pretty close when there are two of you like that. He’s been carrying my worries in his head for the last five years. It’s been too much, in his condition.”
“Sure. But how about the dough?”
“Ralph can’t handle it,” said Myrna. “So it’s up to me. I’ll take the money and go find Nolan and talk to him. Maybe, me being a girl, it’ll go easier.”
Morrie said: “Not with Hank Nolan. He’s a snake. He’s a robber himself but let anyone touch him up and he yells copper at the top of his voice.”
“I’ve got to take a chance on that,” Myrna said. “Because Ralph can’t—”
The bedroom door opened. Ralph leaned against the door. He looked sick, and grim, and very sober.
He said: “I’ll take that money back to Nolan. Nobody else can do that. It’s my job.”
“All right,” Myrna said soothingly. “But you’d better rest for awhile.”
“Sure, go back to bed,” said Morrie. “There’s no rush.”
Ralph went into the bedroom again and closed the door.
“No, this is my job,” Myrna said to Morrie, speaking low. “Ralph can’t do it himself—”
“Listen,” said Morrie. “Look at it straight. If Ralph is caught, he’s through. Maybe he was robbed but he can’t prove that. And slugging a guy on the head and taking his dough brings plenty time in the jug. Nolan won’t go easy with him, no matter who brings his dough back. Ralph or you, it’s all the same with Nolan. Either way, Ralph draws time.”
Myrna drew breath in fast. “That would kill him!”
“Sure. So there’s only one thing to do.”
“What?”
“Leave it to me.”
Her head moved slowly from side to side. “How?”
“Just leave it to me. Give me the cash and leave it to me to get it to Nolan. Maybe I can cover up for Ralph, too. I don’t know.”
“But wouldn’t that be bad for you?”
“Not if I do a good job. How much money is there?”
Ralph had dropped the wallet on the couch. Myrna handed it to Morrie. He counted the money carefully.
“There’s a little over three grand here,” he said.
“Three thousand? Well, I hate to put this job off on you. I couldn’t forgive myself if anything happened to you because of it.”
Morrie put the wallet in his pocket. Myrna went with him to the door. She looked worried.
“Maybe I’m watching out for myself,” he said, and laughed. “I got three grand. I got it easy. Maybe I’ll just decide to keep it.”
He looked down at her. She was very pale, but there were bright spots of color in her cheeks. He kissed her, hard. He couldn’t tell by her eyes what she thought of that. Well, maybe he shouldn’t have done it. It wasn’t right, but it wasn’t bad either.
“Yes,” he said, “I guess I’m looking out for myself.”
Hank Nolan was in his hotel rooms. Morrie found out about that first. His hotel had been handy and they’d carried him there. Nolan had some concussion. He’d come out of it all right, the doctor said, but he was still dead to the world, might stay that way for several hours.