The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories
- Автор: Adams Cleve F., Babcock Dwight V.
- Год: 2010
- Язык: английский
- Год: A Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
- ISBN: 978-0-307-45543-7
- Жанр: Криминальные детективы
Электронная книга - «The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories». Краткое содержание книги:
Black Mask was the apotheosis of noir. It was the magazine where the first hardboiled detective story, which was written by Carroll John Daly appeared. It was the slum in which such American literary titans like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler got their start, and it was the home of stories with titles like “Murder Is Bad Luck,” “Ten Carets of Lead,” and “Drop Dead Twice.” Collected here is best of the best, the hardest of the hardboiled, and the darkest of the dark of America’s finest crime fiction. This masterpiece collection represents a high watermark of America’s underbelly. Crime writing gets no better than this.
Keever’s jaw hung open.
“Ben, are you sure about that? Are you sure this will was at Mickey O’Hara’s apartment?”
“Positively. I read the whole will by my flashlight.”
Keever looked lost. He turned slowly to face Mickey O’Hara.
“Is this true?”
Jimmie Harmon stepped forward, firmly grasping Mickey O’Hara’s arm.
“Just a moment, Keever. Supposing Mickey did have the will and did conceal it the same as I did. I believe that the concealment of a will is a criminal offense. If she admitted that she had it, would she be laying herself open to a criminal charge?”
Keever nodded reluctantly. “That’s right. Miss O’Hara, I’ll have to warn you that your answer may be held against you.”
Mickey O’Hara replied coolly and without hesitation: “This detective is right — the will was at my place, hidden in a picture frame. A short time after I met Jimmie he told me about the jam he was in and asked me to help him. I didn’t have any trouble going through the files of the Peterson case — that’s how I was able to find out about Peterson’s criminal record and turn it over to Jimmie. It took me longer to find an occasion when the safe was unlocked and get into the strongbox. But I did find the opportunity, and I’ve had the will for a couple of weeks.”
Jimmie Harmon’s eyes widened as they stared.
“Why, Mickey — why didn’t you tell me you had it?”
“Because I love you, you wolf! Your only interest in me was to get me to help you recover that will. Once I’d delivered it, you’d have dropped me like a hot potato. So long as I had the will, I had you.”
“But, Mickey, I wouldn’t have—”
“That doesn’t change anything,” Keever interrupted Harmon. “The fact that Miss O’Hara had the will doesn’t alter the fact that you thought Waxman had it. Your motive remains as strong as ever.”
I indulged in another deep breath.
“But that doesn’t explain why Harmon would slug me to get the will and plant it in this safe where it was bound to be found! You’ve just heard him confess that he had concealed it and paid blackmail to prevent its exposure.”
Keever had no comeback for that one. I pressed my advantage.
“The person who planted that will wanted it to be found, wanted it to be exposed. That person had the most to be gained from the will’s exposure. It was that person that Waxman phoned this noon just before he left Mike’s restaurant. He—”
“What phone call?” Keever demanded. “You said nothing about seeing Waxman at Mike’s! Why are you always holding out on me?”
I shrugged.
“I didn’t think it was important at the time. Now I realize what upset Waxman when I told him Peterson had been picked up on the Habitual Criminal Act. He guessed that Harmon had turned him in, and that showed him Harmon was getting too desperate to be blackmailed. It was time to make a deal with the one person who had most to benefit by the exposure of the will. So he called that person and made a noon appointment at his office.
“Waxman quickly made a deal with his visitor, selling the will for a cash price. But when he went to his safe and opened it, he found that the will was missing. It was never like Waxman to give up any money once he had his hands on it. He stalled. But the purchaser of the will suspected trickery, was angered into murderous fury. A paper knife was convenient. You can guess the rest.
“Later the murderer, aware of the romantic connection between Jimmie Harmon and Waxman’s secretary, guessed that the girl might have got the will from Waxman’s safe and might have it in her possession. So the murderer went to the girl’s apartment, found that I had discovered the will, slugged me and took it from me. Then the murderer, who had memorized the combination of Waxman’s safe, came here and planted the will where it would be found.”
I paused. Keever had listened intently. Now he said: “But whoever planted that will had to have a key to the building and a key to Waxman’s office.”
I regarded Louise Harmon.
“Miss Harmon, do you have a key to this building?”
The girl was pale.
“Yes. Father gave me one several years ago. His office is now Jimmie’s. I still have the key.”
“And you admit that you visited the building this noon?”
“Of course. I told you that when you called this afternoon.”
“But there was nobody here to corroborate your alibi?”
“No. I also told you that Jimmie wasn’t here; nobody was here but me.”
I turned to Keever.
“There you are. Getting a key to Waxman’s office wouldn’t be such a hard stunt for the murderer. It might have been taken from Waxman’s pocket, or one might have been loose around Mickey O’Hara’s place.”
Keever had been staring incredulously at Louise Harmon. Slowly he turned to me.
“Then you think the murderer is Louise? She’s the only one to gain from the exposure of the will.”
“No, Burt, you’re wrong. You glanced at the beginning of the will, the part that left everything to Louise outright. Read the last paragraph. It’s a little vague, but the meaning is clear. Old Man Harmon knew how he wanted to leave his estate, all right. He meant that Louise should have it all but should pay out to Jimmie whatever he actually needed.
“But he didn’t know how to say it. When he got through pecking out his homemade will on his typewriter, he had left everything to Louise but in trust for Jimmie! When Jimmie discovered the will after his father’s death he didn’t understand it any better than his father had, and he was afraid to go to a lawyer.
“So he hid the will in his safe. Peterson stole it, failed to realize that it was the old man’s will and turned it over to Waxman, who understood it at a glance. Then Waxman contacted Jimmie and explained that the will really made him the sole beneficiary of his father’s estate, that all Louise could ever get out of it was a nominal fee for administering the trust.
“Waxman had Jimmie over a barrel. Jimmie had concealed the existence of the will — he couldn’t prove its existence now unless Waxman turned it over. Waxman held out for a price. Jimmie refused to meet it. They haggled for a year, Jimmie finally using Mickey O’Hara in an attempt to get his fingers on the precious paper. In a fit of meanness, he exposed Peterson’s criminal record, and that scared Waxman. He knew that he was dealing with a desperate man. He phoned Jimmie, and they got together on a price. When they met in Waxman’s office, and he couldn’t produce the will, Jimmie blew his top and knifed Waxman to death.”
Keever had been reading the last paragraph of the will as he listened. Now he stared at Jimmie Harmon.
“You really had it figured out, didn’t you? By planting this will in the safe you made yourself seem the least likely suspect. Who would accuse you of doing the planting when you thought exposure of the will completely disinherited you?”
“Nobody,” Jimmie Harmon answered promptly. “And nobody will ever believe I planted it there. For, in spite of your stooge’s beautiful theory, it’s nothing but a theory. You’ve got nothing against me but circumstantial evidence.”
He calmly lighted a cigarette and blew the smoke into Keever’s face. Mickey O’Hara had stood loyally by him until now, but she edged away. The revulsion she felt was shared by the rest of us, but we knew the truth was reflected in Keever’s face. He and the rest of us knew that Harmon’s taunt was painfully true — we had nothing but a theory.
I faced Keever.
“I think it’s time I should tell you that I’ve been holding out again. My theory didn’t just come out of my head. I had something concrete to go on. When I got conked tonight I got a glimpse of the guy that conked me just before I passed out. It was Harmon. I guess there’s something more than circumstantial about that.”