Strip For Violence - Ed Lacy

I pointed to the large picture of the blowfish that covered the door to the bow, and the John. “That's a door—the handle is the piece of food under the seaweed—what the fish is diving for.”

“That's a door?” Anita said, going over to examine it. “How clever.”

“Called the 'Blowfish Madonna.' Anchored off Fire Island last year and some artist got the bright idea of painting the door. Really got a soulful expression on the fish. There's a light switch on your left—and you work the pump handle beside the John to flush it.”

Soon as she shut the door I jumped out of bed, put on pants and shoes. She'd left her bag on the bunk and I opened it, took out my .38 special and tossed it under the covers. The hand line I'd used to catch the shad was drying over the sink, and I cut off two heavy sinkers from it, dropped them in her bag—so the bag would feel heavy.

I was putting on a T-shirt when she came out. “Come on, I'll put you in a cab, send you home.”

“I about expected that—brother!”

“Who you all dolled up for tonight?”

“You.”

She sounded so blue I didn't have the heart to bawl her out for taking the gun—that could wait till morning. “Come on,” I said, taking her arm, starting for the deck. She gave me a hug and a kiss that nearly smothered me. “For the... stop it!” I said, breaking away.

“Knew I could get your water on,” Anita said, walking by me, a silly triumphant sway to her small hips.

I whistled for Pete and we stood on the deck, my arms around her shoulders. Again I felt confused, feeling leery of her and at the same time almost sorry for the kid. It was a clear night, with a half moon and all the stars out. Anita said quietly, “Sorry I was a pest.”

“You're no pest, only... things like this can't be rushed. Maybe some day I'll wake up, start chasing you and...”

“You'll never have to chase me, Hal. Gee, it's great standing here, all those stars—”

“If we were out on the Sound, away from the city lights, see many more stars.”

“Okay, let's go.”

As Pete came into view, I said, “Just take it slow, Anita. I don't mean to be so... so...” She lowered her head and I kissed her softly and she straightened up, said in a queer voice, “Thanks.”

I helped her into the launch and we were lucky, there was a cab at the parking lot, unloading guests for one of the big yachts. I slipped her five bucks for cab fare, told her that since it was after midnight, she should sleep late, not be in the office till noon.

Taking me back to my boat, Pete said, “First you're lucky with shad and now this girl—don't know how you little guys do it—”

“Stop it,” I said, feeling tired and let-down.

12

I fell asleep the moment I hit the sack, had a crazy dream where I was judging a beauty contest and as far as I could see there were rows of legs—all of them the strong legs of Margrita, but when I raised my eyes the faces were all Louise's, complete with black eyes and cockeyed eyebrows. And they were all saying, “Thanks,” and it was the haunting voice of Anita. And then reporters were all about me, shaking my shoulders, asking...

I opened my eyes to blink into a flashlight. A hard voice asked, “Where's the damn light?”

I fumbled among the blankets for the .38 I'd taken from Anita. A big hand shook me wide awake, asked for the light again. I switched it on. Two burly jokers were standing there, filling the cabin, the five-foot-five headroom making them stoop. In the doorway I saw Pete's frightened pale face.

One of them was hatless, his hair crew-cut, giving him a flat-headed odd look. Neither of them had to flash their badges, I knew they were cops. He grunted, “Lieut. Hank Saltz, police department. Get dressed.”

I got up. The other dick picked up the gun lying at the foot of the sheets. Slipping on my pants I said, “I've a permit for that. What's this all about?”

“Got an Anita Rogers working for you?” Saltz asked in that ragged voice of his.

I nodded. “What did the kid do, steal a car or...?”

“She got herself beaten to death,” Saltz said slowly, as though enjoying the words. “I'm from Homicide.”

BOOK TWO

I

The night was still warm and clear, the same stars and moon above, but now standing on the rotten dock, I shivered with cold—and maybe fear. It was an old unused dock on the East River, big gaps in the rotted planking. Across one dirty, weather-darkened beam Anita's body had been flung—that's how she looked, battered arms and legs outstretched like a broken doll flung on the floor. Her thin face was a bloody mask of bruises, her teeth knocked out, dried blood on her hair where her skull had been smashed, red blotches where she had been beaten on the shoulders and thighs. The murderer had done a sadistic job, even her skinny fingers were busted.

What chilled me most was her pocketbook, lying torn beside her body—the compact, some change... and those lead sinkers. I could picture the terror on Anita's face, hear her childish scream when she reached for the .38 and found useless pieces of lead. Saltz told me, as we drove to his office, that the official cause of death had been a savage blow on the head with a “blunt instrument.” And all the time I was sick with guilt, for I knew the cause of her death had been... me.

Saltz and I sat alone in his office, a dull, neat, efficient-looking place. For a while he sat there, hunched over his desk, staring at me. He had a strange face, all his features were too big, gave him the appearance of a hammy actor registering strong emotions. I didn't try to outstare him. Finally I asked, “What... what did she have on her, in her pocketbook?”

He dumped her stuff out on his desk. The sliver of rock wasn't there. It might have fallen into the river, but I somehow was sure it hadn't. The rock was the only thing that made sense, hinted at any reason for the awful beating. I was trying to make up my mind whether to tell Saltz about the rock, when he asked, “Those sinkers—what would a young girl be carrying them around for?”

I said I didn't know.

Saltz gave me a thoughtful look, as he put a finger against the side of his nose, turned his head, and blew a “pearl” on the floor. He rubbed it into the floor with a big shoe, asked, “They yours? We know... What's the matter, never see nobody blow their nose before?”

“Tell you the truth, never as neatly as that. You're quite a floor-waxer.” I guess I couldn't kick—he had turned his head.

“Forget me. Now those sinkers—yours? We know Anita was on your boat tonight.”

“She might have taken them. But why? She certainly wasn't going fishing,” I lied.

Saltz was silent for a moment, then he thundered, “Come on, Darling—talk!”

It was crude, he expected me to jump. And I jumped—a little. I told him about Anita being my secretary, the office routine. He snapped, “She on a case for you?”

Maybe I should have told him about the rock then, but I was supposed to protect my client—and myself—and I'd have to tell him I'd sent her trailing the rock. Hal Darling, the big-time private eye, letting a school girl work on a case! All I said was, “Stop it, she's—was—only a kid. Answered the phone, did some typing, that's all.”

“You laying her?”

“No. Just told you she was a kid.”

Saltz grunted, took out a cigarette, put the pack on the desk. I didn't want a smoke—didn't feel anything except this sullen, roaring anger, deep inside me. With all her dizzy ways Anita had been a sweet kid, and I'd probably sent her to her death without even a gun. Big brother Hal, coyly switching the rod from her bag!

The office was full of the dead quiet of early morning and it seemed to weigh on me like a blanket, smothering my mind. “Let's get on with this,” I told him. “Got work to do.”

“What sort of work?”

“Mainly finding the killer or killers.”

Saltz sat up straight, his face red with anger, the short, rabbit-tail hair atop his dome standing up straight, “Finding the killer,” he repeated, mocking me. “You lousy little blond bastard, let me get you straight—you private dicks are an insult to any real cop's guts! With the best equipped police force in the world, why should anybody hire a private cop unless it's a crooked deal, unless they're afraid of the law? Every time I see a movie glorifying one of these all-clever private 'eyes'—I want to puke!”

I said, “Most of them are sickening. But no matter what you think, the State of New York gives us a license to do business. And while we're busy-busy putting things straight, people don't go to the cops because they're afraid of you servants of the law. Some cops are too handy... have their palms out, or think with their nightsticks first.”

“Handy like this?” Saltz was fast for an elephant. With one sweeping motion he reached over the desk, hit me on the chin. I flew backwards, found myself scrambling on the floor. Working my mouth to clear my head, I tasted blood on my lips. I stood up, eyes on Saltz's muscular neck.

“That make you feel like a big man with a big wild hair?” I asked, waiting for him to come at me.

He came in swinging. Ducking under the heavy arm, I jumped high on his heavy body, wrapped my legs around his hips, digging my ankles under the back of his knees. He chopped by my kidneys as I locked my hands, pressing the edges against his Adam's apple.

We stood like that, his fists punching at me wildly, in an embrace of death. His blows stopped as his face turned blue and he fought for air. I increased the pressure on the back of his knees and he slowly fell backwards. We landed on the floor with a loud thud. His eyes began to pop so I eased up on his throat, told him, “Don't ever push me around, you big ape! Get this through your damn thick head—I can kill you now, and if you ever try any strong-arm crap on me again... I will kill you! That's the truth.” I eased up a little more, let him take in a couple of deep breaths.

“I don't know if you think I'm the killer or not, but I imagine you checked with Pete at the yacht basin, know I didn't have a dinghy, couldn't have gotten ashore unless I swam. That's not the strongest alibi in the world, but it will do for now. And no matter what you think, I'm more anxious to find the killer than you are... I got a personal reason; I wasn't in love with Anita but I was fond of her. Now let's get up and stop this rough-and-tumble crap, get to work.”

I jerked my legs out from under him, stood up. He sat up, rubbed his throat, then got to his feet. I kept my eyes on his hands. Somebody opened the door behind me but I didn't turn to look. A man asked, “Everything okay, lieutenant? Heard a crash in here.”

“Beat it,” Saltz said hoarsely. The door shut and Saltz opened his collar, felt of his neck as he went back to his desk. He sat down and looked me up and down, as though he still didn't believe I'd thrown him. “I'll be damned... so you're a judo man.”

“Black Belt, First Degree,” I said, sitting down opposite him.

“I had a little of it in Police College, that Jap stuff really any good?”

“Jiujitsu... the 'soft or gentle art,'“ I said. “Really isn't Japanese, the Chinese had it about two thousand years ago, and maybe it started in India before that. It was hot stuff then, but now...”

“It still works!” Saltz said, stroking his throat.

“It depends upon surprise, knowledge of the vulnerable spots of the body. Today, with boxing and wrestling on TV, kids learning how to handle themselves in school, judo isn't so much. And it's frustrating as hell.”

“Why?”

I grinned. “You can never finish a good hold—without killing the other guy. But it works—for a shrimp like myself. Forget the lecture and let's get back to Anita. Could this have been a sex job? She was a hot kid, might have got mixed up with...”

Saltz shook his head. “No marks of attack, underwear wasn't touched. Doc says she was a virgin.”

“Then why the awful beating? Think it's the work of a loon?”

“We're considering that. Most cases of torture—they're trying to make the victim talk. You on any big cases, anything important?”

“Hell, I never had an important case in my life.”

He asked me about the other people I had in the agency and I told him about the pugs and he said, “I remember this Martinez, a good boy with no heart. Ran out on the champ. How come you got all these punchies working for you?”

“They're not punchy. Did some boxing myself... I was a good little man. You know the old adage—a good little man can't beat a good big man. Outside the ring, whenever I had to handle myself, always seemed to run into good big men. Why I turned to judo. The point is I got to know a lot of pugs around the gym and...”

“And they work cheap.”

“I give them a fair shake. I give them guard work because there isn't much else an ex-pug is suited for.”

We talked some more about Anita and it astonished me how little I actually knew about her. By the time it was starting to get light outside, Saltz told me I could leave. “But don't try anything fancy, like leaving town. Until I get a better one, you're number one on my suspect parade.”

2

It was a little after 6 a.m. and I had three cups of coffee and felt better. But the more I thought, the less things added up. The rock didn't make any more sense than when Will gave me the case. The fact that it was missing didn't mean a thing—wouldn't be hard to lose a sliver like that. But if it wasn't the rock...? I ran into an absolute blank wall. Yet Anita must have known she was in danger or she wouldn't have taken the gun. Every time I thought of the gun, a wave of bitter shame and rage shook me.

I had another coffee and the counterman said cheerfully, “No feeling worse than when you're really hung over.” He favored me with a yellow-toothed grin. “Bet you tied a good one on. Nice lip you got there, too.”

I finished the coffee. A bar across the street was opening and I went in, downed two quick ryes. As I came out, my buddy, the counterman, was standing in the doorway of his shop, sadly shaking his head at me.

When I got to the office, the door was open and the place looked like a hurricane had struck it. There's only a plain lock on the door so they didn't have any trouble with that. The safe was scratched and marked but they hadn't opened it. But every drawer had been turned inside out and the floor was ankle deep in papers and files. About twenty bucks of new stationery was shot to hell. I got Bobo on the phone and out of bed, told him to come right down. Then I called Artie Jenks who was going fine till he got a concussion banging his head on an unpadded canvas, told him to take over Bobo's construction job.

I found my rubber pad among the paper, sat down and hit the sides of my hands against it and tried to think. Ransacking my office meant Anita hadn't been killed by any jerk she'd picked up, but what were they looking for? It couldn't be the rock, they already had that. Or did they? I thought till my head ached but nothing came. I still felt the rock was behind everything, but I was damned if I knew why. I went over every job we'd had in the last month, everybody I'd met or spoken to, and it all ended in a dead end.