1955 - You've Got It Coming (16 page)

Listening to the soft voice, Harry felt a cold knot of fear tightening inside him. His hand slid inside his coat and his fingers closed around the butt of his gun.

“You're crazy!” he said huskily. “I told you! I found those diamonds! I had nothing to do with the robbery.”

“I see.” Takamori lifted his shoulders. “Well, I admit I could be mistaken, but it is easy enough to prove. The police have Harry Green's fingerprints if one is to believe the newspapers. Shall we drive to police headquarters and let the police compare your prints with those of Green's?”

“Listen, you yellow snake,” Harry snarled, jerking out his gun and ramming it into Takamori's side, “you don't scare me. If you give me away to the police, you'll never see the diamonds. I promise you that.”

Takamori looked down at the gun.

“There's no need for violence, Mr. Griffin,” he said. “Please put that gun away. Reckless as you are, I can't imagine you should shoot me in a crowded street like this.”

Harry hesitated, then shoved the gun back into its holster.

He realized the jam he was in. The gamble had failed to come off. He was out in the open. He had thrown away the cover Glorie had given him. He had only one card to play now. He had the diamonds.

“Well, okay,” he said, “I admit you've got the edge of the bargain. I'll cut my price. Give me five hundred thousand and you can have the diamonds.”

Takamori shook his head.

“I told you, Mr. Griffin, I never pay for something that belongs to me. I will exchange your life for the diamonds. That is to say if you hand over the diamonds, I won't tell the police what I have found out about you.”

Harry glared at him. His dream of owning a million and a half dollars was fading so rapidly that the disappointment and the frustration turned him sick.

“Do you think I'd be crazy enough to trust you?” he said furiously. “If I gave you the diamonds you could still give me way to the police. I don't trust you.”

“And yet you have no reason not to,” Takamori said quietly.

'I am not interested in you nor in helping your police. This isn't my country and I have no duties as a citizen. All I am interested in is getting the diamonds back. This is what you must do. Pack the diamonds and send them to me by mail so that they reach me without fail the day after tomorrow. If they do not arrive by that time I shall tell the police what I have found out about you. It won't take them long to pick you up. If, however, the diamonds arrive by first post the day after tomorrow, then I give you my word to say nothing to anyone about you. That is the only deal I will make with you. I don't expect you to decide now. Think it over.” He leaned forward and tapped on the glass partition. His chauffeur touched his cap, slowed down and pulled up by the kerb. Takamori opened the car door.

“I must ask you to get out, Mr. Griffin,” he said. “Think about what I have said. I am sure you will see on reflection that my suggestion is the only one open to you.”

Harry got out of the car. He was stunned by the way the talk had gone.

“Good night, Mr. Griffin,” Takamori said, and as the big Cadillac pulled away, he raised his hand in a courteous salute.

V

B
org paused below the fire escape that ran up to the bathroom window of Glorie's old apartment. He had been told by his man that the door to Glorie's apartment was bolted on the inside, and the escape was the only way by which he could get in. The alley at the back of the building was deserted and Borg hooked down the escape and climbed it. As he passed one of the lower windows he heard a radio blaring in the apartment. He was careful not to let his shadow fall across the window. He finally reached the bathroom window and he stopped beside it, wheezing noisily as he listened for any sound coming from the room. He heard nothing, nor did he expect to hear anything. He pushed up the window and squeezed his bulk into the bathroom.

He searched the three rooms, methodically and carefully, looking through the drawers and cupboards. He found the apartment just as Glorie had left it ten days ago. Even the dirty dishes still lay in the sink and the bed was unmade.

He was interested to find a man's suit in the wardrobe, and a man's hat with the initials H.G. in the sweat band. In one of the drawers of the chest there were five white shirts, also with the initials H.G. on the collar bands, and he scratched the back of his thick, fat neck while he brooded over the discovery. H.G.—Harry Green? He remembered Delaney had told him that Glorie had said she didn't know much about Harry Green, but that didn't mean anything. He returned the shirts to the drawer and took out his limp pack of cigarettes. He lit a cigarette before renewing his search. He found a railway timetable in the trash basket. It opened easily at the New York section. A midday train to New York had been ticked in pencil. He remembered Taggart had lost Glorie somewhere in the vicinity of the station. It was possible she had spotted Taggart and had taken fright. New York was a likely bolthole.

He remained in the apartment for more than an hour, but he didn't discover anything else of interest, and finally he let himself out, re-locked the door and plodded down to the next floor.

Borg was enjoying himself. This was a nice, easy and interesting job: a lot better than driving around for Delaney or sitting at a desk listening to the dreary lies from Delaney's collectors.

He paused outside the door to the apartment on the next floor, and read the card on the door:
Miss Joan Goldman.
He pushed his black, greasy hat to the back of his head and dug his thumb into the bell push. .

The door was opened by a tall, moon-faced girl in a soiled housecoat. Borg thought she looked the kind of girl who would live alone with a cat for company, and be glad of the cat.

“Miss Goldman?” Borg asked in his wheezy, husky voice.

“That's right. What is it?”

“I'm looking for Miss Dane. She doesn't appear to be in.”

“She isn't. I think she's away.”

“Is that right? I was hoping to see her. I understand she's friendly with Harry Green.”

Joan Goldman's face showed her interest.

“Green? You mean Griffin, don't you?”

“Do I?” Borg groped inside his coat and produced a soiled, much-thumbed notebook. “Yeah, that's right,” he went on after pretending to consult a blank page. “Harry Griffin: that's the guy. Do you know him?”

“What is this?” the girl asked sharply. “Who are you?”

Borg took a card from the notebook and pushed it at her.

“Alert Enquiry Agency,” he said. “The name's Borg. B for butter, O for orange, R for ravioli and G for goulash: Borg.”

There were moments when Borg prided himself on his sense of humour that amused no one but himself, and this was one of them.

The girl looked startled.

“You mean you're a detective?”

“Private investigator,” Borg said. “Can I come in or do you like this draught that's blowing me into a lung hospital?”

“Why, yes, come in.” She stood aside and let him in.

Borg took up his position with his back to the fireplace. He was enjoying himself. Harry Griffin, he thought. He would rather have heard the guy's name was Harry Green, but, never mind, something might come of it.

“Is Mr. Griffin in trouble?” the girl asked and Borg could see she was burning up with curiosity.

“He could be,” Borg said. “Miss Dane a friend of yours?”

“I don't know that she's a friend. We're neighbours. I pass the time of day with her, but I couldn't say we were friends. Is she in trouble?”

“I don't know. This guy Griffin has a way with women. Miss Dane got any money?”

“Not that I know of. She's been out of a job for some time. At one time She worked at the Daffodil club. That was about eighteen months ago, but she hadn't done anything since. No, I wouldn't say she had any money.”

“That's her good luck. Griffin specializes in getting money out of women.”

The girl looked shocked.

“I wouldn't have thought it. Are you sure you're not confusing him with someone else?”

Borg's eyes went sleepy.

“I guess not. What's this guy like, you know?”

'Why, he's tall and handsome. Dark hair, around twenty-eight. When he came to see Glorie in his uniform I thought he looked a little like Gregory Peck.”

“What uniform?” Borg asked casually.

“He was a pilot for the C.A.T.C. I did hear he had left them. Glorie said something about him looking for another job. That's when he moved into her apartment.” She sniffed. “They weren't married, of course, but that's their business. You can't live other people's lives, can you?”

“I guess that's right. When did he leave the C.A.T.C.?”

“About three or four weeks ago.”

Borg produced a photograph of Harry Green he had taken the trouble to buy from the Photomat shop in Essex Street.

“Is that the guy?”

The girl examined the photograph and handed it back.

“Why, no. It's not a bit like him. Mr. Griffin was young and he didn't have a scar. Is that the man you're looking for?”

Borg nodded. He put the photograph back into his notebook and the notebook back into his pocket.

“The trouble with my job” he said as he heaved himself towards the door, “is there are too many punks ready to give me a bum steer. I thought I was on to the right guy for a change. You don't know where I can find Miss Dane?”

“No, I don't.” The girl was looking bewildered. The janitor might know.”

“Never mind,” Borg said. “I don't suppose it matters.”

He thudded down the stairs, holding on to the banister rail.

He paused in the hall and brooded, then he went down the passage to the janitor's office. The janitor was a skinny little man with a prominent Adam’s apple that bobbed up and down in his throat like a yo-yo on a string. Borg loomed over him, staring down at him, his eyes bleak and unfriendly.

“You the janitor?” he demanded, and poked at the little man with a finger as thick as a sausage.

“That's right,” the janitor said, backing away.

“I'm looking for Glorie Dane. Where is she?”

“What do you want her for?” the janitor asked, backing further away as Borg edged his gross body against him.

“I want her. She's in trouble. Where is she?”

The janitor licked his lips. His Adam’s apple flopped up and down.

“She told me not to give her address to anyone,” he said feebly. “What sort of trouble, mister?”

“I got a summons for her. If you want me to call a cop to talk to you, say so,” Borg snarled.

“Well, she asked me to forward her mail to the Maddox hotel, New York.”

Borg stared at him.

“I hope that's right,” he said. “If it isn't I'll be back and you’ll be sorry.”

He walked away down the passage to the front door, leaving the janitor staring after him. He was whistling softly under his breath as he struggled into his car and set it moving.

He drove four blocks, turned left and pulled up outside the dingy entrance to the Daffodil club. Leaving his car, he walked down the stairs to the small, shabby foyer. At this hour in the afternoon the manager of the club, a thin, sharp-featured Mexican, was taking it easy, his feet on his desk, his eyes closed, his hands folded over the beginning of a paunch.

His office door stood open, and he looked up as he heard Borg’s heavy breathing. When he saw who it was, he reacted as if he had seen a cobra.

Slowly and with exaggerated care, he removed his feet from the desk and sat up. He placed his hands on the desk.

“Hello, Sydney,” Borg said, propping himself up against the doorpost. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah,” the Mexican said. “That's right. Anything I can do for you, Mr. Borg?”

“I'm looking for Glorie Dane. Remember her?”

“Why, sure. I haven't seen her for months.”

“I didn't think you had. Got a photograph of her, Sydney?”

The Mexican's black eyes opened wide.

“Is she in trouble?”

“No. I just want to talk to her.”

The Mexican pulled open a drawer in his desk, took out a bundle of half-plate, glossy photographs, skimmed through than, took one from the pack and dropped it on the desk.

“That's her.”

Borg's dirty fingers closed on the photograph. He stared at it for some seconds.

“Not bad. I've seen worse. This like her?”

“It was taken two years ago. She's a little worn at the edges now, I guess. But you'd know it was her if you saw her.”

Borg nodded, put the photograph between the pages of his notebook and the notebook back into his pocket. He turned and plodded out of the office.

“You're sure she's not in trouble?” the Mexican asked. “She was a nice girl. I never had any bother with her when she was here. I wouldn’t . . .”

He stopped short as he found himself talking to the air.

By then Borg had dragged his bulk up the stairs and had got into his car.

He was coming along, he told himself as he started the engine.

Could this Griffin guy be Harry Green? Everything pointed to it. He'd been a pilot, and it was obvious that Harry Green had also been a pilot. Griffin had worked for the C.A.T.C., and he had had the means of knowing about the diamonds. Borg thought that he was on the right track. He revved the engine and sent the car away fast.

Forty minutes later, he was being shown into the Personnel Manager's office of the C.A.T.C. The Personnel Manager, a thickset, friendly looking man with rimless glasses, regarded Borg unfavourably. On the desk was a small wooden plaque bearing the name:
Herbert Henry.

Borg removed his hat and sank his bulk into a chair by Henry's desk.

“What can I do for you?” Henry asked. He looked at the card

Borg had sent in, frowned at it and laid it down.

“You had a guy working for you some weeks ago,” Borg said. “Harry Griffin. Remember him?”

Henry's face clouded.

“Yes, of course. What about him?”

“I'm trying to find him.”

“I can't help you. I haven't seen him since he left the company.”

“He's left town,” Borg said. “I hear he's somewhere in New York.”