Hard Case Crime: Blackmailer (16 page)

I sat there watching.

She looked very beautiful.

“Hello, Walter,” I said. “This is Dick Sherman. I’m
here in Janis Whitney’s room. She’s asleep. Walter, I want to talk to you. There’re a few things that are bothering me. I want to talk to you about them.

“Walter, what I want to ask you is this. Do you think it’s possible that Janis Whitney killed Charles Anstruther? Do you think she killed Jean Dahl? Do you think she tried to kill Max Shriber? Do you think that’s possible?

“You see, Walter, I just got through talking to Max. He’s in the next room with a bullet in his shoulder. He says Janis shot him. He says Janis murdered Anstruther and Jean Dahl. And the funny thing is, Walter, it could have happened that way. She could have arranged to meet Jean Dahl at your cocktail party. I don’t know why she wanted to meet her. I have an idea about that, but we can talk about it later.

“Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that Janis met Jean Dahl at your party, and let’s just say that Janis fed her a loaded drink.”

Janis Whitney slowly opened her eyes. She saw that I had no phone in my hand. She saw that I did have a gun. You couldn’t tell from her expression that she had seen anything.

She just looked at me.

I went on talking. “Jean Dahl was supposed to go home and pass out. When they examined her they’d find that she had taken an overdose of sleeping pills and that would be the end of that. Only I happened to come along and spoil it. I kind of put Janis on the spot.

“The only thing she could do was follow us upstairs. Then she phoned me from the room across the hall. She used Max’s voice when she called.

“I’m glad I didn’t see her. She doesn’t look so pretty when she does her imitation of Max. The cords in her neck stand out and her face takes on a strange expression.”

I reached into my pocket and took out my cigarettes.

“Just a minute,” I said. “Let me get a cigarette.”

I did not let go of the gun.

I lighted a cigarette for me. Then I lighted one for Janis. I handed it to her. She reached up, took it, and continued to watch me, not smiling, and with no expression at all in her green eyes.

“I didn’t see her when she slugged me as I came out the door,” I said. “And I didn’t see her doing her stuff in the dark at Walter’s. I’m glad I couldn’t see her face when she came up on Jean and me and stuck that flashlight in our faces. Then she did her imitation of Max again. I’m especially glad I didn’t see her during those few seconds when everything went crazy and the light fell on the floor and someone got hit on the head with a lamp.

“What’s that, Walter? You want to know if Janis was the person holding the light, who did she hit on the head? She hit Jean Dahl. That’s who she hit. She hit her very hard and very fast a couple of times. She hit her hard enough to kill her.

“How did she move the body? First to in front of
the door where it was when the lights went on? And then to the foot of the stairs where it was found?

“Now, Walter, really, that’s a silly question. She didn’t have to move the body to the door, because that’s where we were standing when Jean Dahl got hit. I didn’t know it then because I was lost in the dark. But Janis knew it. She knew the layout of the house and she had a flashlight. She belted Jean Dahl and left her lying right where she was. Then she grabbed my hand and off we went.

“Janis herself is still wondering how the body got from the door to the foot of the stairs. You could tell her, couldn’t you, Walter? You moved it yourself. Not because you murdered her, but because you wanted to hide the fact that a murder had been committed.

“You played right into her hands because you didn’t want an investigation right now. There was too much going on. There was too much at stake. You saw a chance to make it look like an accident and you took it. When the body was found at the foot of the stairs it was just as much of a surprise to Janis as it was to me.”

Janis sat up very slowly, without taking her eyes off my face. There was still no expression in her eyes.

She held the burned-down cigarette in one hand. With her other hand she held the sheet in front of her.

I took the cigarette out of her hand and flicked it across the room into the open fireplace.

“Well, goodbye, Walter,” I said. “I think I’d better hang up now.”

Janis sat up on the bed.

She held the sheet in front of her.

“Darling,” she said very softly, “help me.”

I looked at her, waiting.

“Help me, darling,” she said again.

“Is it true?”

“You know some of it,” she said. “You don’t know all of it. It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“It’s bad enough.”

“It’s pretty bad, darling.”

I looked at her, and I realized I was crying. “Help you? How can I help you?”

“They had me in a trap. Max and Walter. They cheated me out of everything I’d saved. I was desperate. When Anstruther died it
was
an accident. I was there. I lost my head. We were arguing and I lost my head. I started to hit at him. First with my fists and then with an empty bottle. All the time we were talking he was playing with the gun. I don’t think he knew it was loaded. We were half wrestling. I was screaming and swearing at him. I’m very strong and he was drunk. Then the gun went off. I didn’t kill him. It was an accident.”

She stopped and looked at me.

“I love you, Dick. Do you believe me when I tell you Anstruther was an accident?”

I shook my head.

“No good, darling. A nice try, but no good. Jean Dahl wasn’t lying when she talked to Walter. She said
she heard you come in. She heard you arguing with Anstruther. Then she heard the doorbell ring. Max came in. Then she heard Max threaten to kill him and she heard you beg him not to. And then she heard the shot. I believe she heard all those things. Just the way she told them.”

Janis began to cry very softly.

“I believe she heard all those things. But she couldn’t see what was going on. She could only hear. If she could have seen what was going on, I think she would have seen something like this. I think she would have seen you arguing with Anstruther. I think maybe you did hit him with a bottle. But I think you probably hit him so hard you killed him. Then I think maybe you heard a noise. Or you saw something. I don’t know which. I think maybe, some way or other, you suddenly got the idea you weren’t alone in the apartment. So what I think you did was this: I think you rang the doorbell, and then started talking in Max’s voice. You had a pretty good idea there was someone listening. So you made sure whoever was listening heard you begging Max not to kill him. Then you shot him. But he was already dead when you shot him. You killed him and you framed Max. Now, how did you know there was someone in the apartment?”

Janis looked at me and, after a moment, she spoke. Her voice was very low. “I was outside the door for almost ten minutes before I rang the bell. I heard them talking. I knew there was a girl with him.”

“Well. Now we’re getting someplace.”

“You’re right, Dick. It happened just like you said. Except for one little thing. One little thing. I didn’t mean to kill him. We
were
fighting. He was very drunk. I did hit him with the bottle. I hit him very hard. But I didn’t mean to kill him. He was a sick man. It wouldn’t have killed him if he wasn’t. I killed him, but it was an accident. Then I got frightened. And I did what you said. I knew someone was listening, so I tried to make it look as if I hadn’t done it. It was a terrible thing. I know that. But I didn’t mean to kill him. You have to believe that, Dick. It was crazy and foolish and terrible. But I didn’t mean to kill him. Do you believe me now? Do you believe me when I tell you it was an accident?” she sobbed.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to believe.”

“Do you believe I love you?”

“I don’t know. Do you?”

“Try me.”

“Go on,” I said. “What about Jean Dahl? What about her? Was that an accident, too? And what about Max? Another accident?”

“It wasn’t me in the dark. It
was
Max. If he says it wasn’t, he’s lying. Jean Dahl was blackmailing him. I don’t know what with. But she was blackmailing him. He tried to get her twice before. And then in the dark he did it.”

She let go of the sheet.

She sat on the bed, naked to the waist.

“I love you, Dick. You say you love me. You say nothing ever changes. If you love me, believe me.”

“You tried to kill Max.”

“That’s the bad part. I told him this afternoon I wouldn’t marry him. He’s a gangster, Dick. You don’t know anything about it. This isn’t the book publishing world. This isn’t nice people who read the
Saturday Review of Literature
and make witty remarks at cocktail parties about people they hate.

“You don’t know anything about this. This is the jungle. You have to fight and lie and cheat to get where I am. You have to knife your friends and go to bed with your enemies. You’ve got to be hard. You’ve got to be so tough they can’t hurt you. When you’re trying to make it the people on the top are kicking you, trying to keep you down. And when you get there, the people below are trying to pull you back down. It’s a jungle, Dick. And it’s been my life for ten years.”

I watched her. I could feel a pulse in my temple throbbing.

“Max wanted me to marry him. I told him I wouldn’t. He said I had to. He said I had no choice. He’d tell about faking the book. And he would have. He was just as desperate as I was. He would have ruined me forever. He’s a gangster, Dick. You don’t understand him. I tried to kill him. I thought I had. I wish I had. I’d do it again.”

She stood up slowly.

“Look at me, Dick. Look at me.”

I looked at her.

Her arms were at her sides. Her body was firm but soft. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

“I belong to you, Dick. I always have.”

I didn’t speak. I couldn’t.

“Help me, Dick.”

“What can I do?”

“Tell me you believe me.”

“I don’t know.”

“I love you, Dick. You believe that, don’t you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Kiss me. You’ll know. You’ll have to know.”

“Janis...”

“You’ll know. You’ll know if I’m lying or not. You’ll be able to tell. I love you, Dick. Kiss me.”

I looked at her. I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t tell at all.

“Darling, I don’t know...”

“You’ll know.”

I dropped the gun onto the floor and moved toward her. I took her arms at the elbows and drew her close. She lifted her head. Her eyes were open. They were very serious and very deep.

I kissed her.

Only our lips touched. Her mouth was soft and warm.

“All right, darling,” I said. “We’ll see. But wait a minute. Just a minute. I have something to do first.”

I went to the door and locked it.

Then I walked to the mirror. I picked up a chair and shattered the mirror. It broke into a thousand jagged pieces. Through the emptiness we could see the back of the picture.

I walked to the head of the bed and began to examine the headboard.

It took me a few minutes to find the hidden microphone. It was very cleverly concealed but I knew what I was looking for. I had to rip the whole headboard off the wall in order to get at it. I smashed through and tore out the wires.

“So much for dear Walter,” I said.

Then I turned to Janis.

She began to speak again. “I’m telling you the truth, Dick. I’ve done terrible things. I admit that. But you have to believe me when I tell you I didn’t mean to kill Anstruther. And you have to believe me when I say I love you. If you believe those two things none of the other terrible things matter.”

I looked at her for a long while, trying to decide what to do.

“Kiss me, darling, and then you’ll know. You’ll know one way or the other. You’ll know.”

Her lips parted and in a moment we were clinging together. My hands held the small of her back. Her arms were around me. We sank backward to the bed.

“Darling,” I whispered. “Darling.”

“Don’t you know? Don’t you know?”

“I know.”

I lay beside her kissing her again. She unbuttoned my shirt and ran her hand inside, caressing my back.

We were close together, holding each other. She was trembling.

“Nothing changes,” she whispered. “It was always us. From the first. Always.”

Then my mouth was on hers.

The time fell away. Two bodies, two brains, two souls driving, straining, aching to be united—to become one.

At the end, I knew.

She was right. I knew.

We lay breathless in each other’s arms.

“Darling,” I said. “My darling.”

For a long time we lay quietly, holding each other. Not speaking, not thinking. Then I sat up and found us cigarettes.

“I don’t care,” I said. “I don’t care what you did. I don’t care what you do. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Only us. There’s a way out of this. We’ll find it. I’ll stick with you. I’ll lie or steal. Or cheat. Or kill. I don’t care. I believe you. I believe and I’ll get you out of this. I believe you.”

“Oh, my darling.”

“Come on,” I said. “We haven’t got much time. Max is lying in the next room. I was in his apartment this afternoon. I was seen there. My fingerprints are on the gun. What we’ll do is this: I’ll go to the police and confess. They know he was a gangster. They know my
apartment was wrecked and that I was beaten up by Max’s boys. That sets it all up. I went up to talk to him. To tell him you were marrying me. We had a fight. He’s a violent man. He lost his temper and pulled a gun. I got it away from him and shot him in self-defense. We can make a case. They can’t hang me. The worst would be a year or two in jail. But they won’t do that. We’ll fix up a case. Walter will have to help us. And he’s good at that. He’s had plenty of experience framing things. Here’s one more thing for him to frame.”

Janis’ eyes were wide. “But what about Max?”

“He needs help,” I said. “He’s very badly hurt. Maybe nobody will find him for a while. This is the jungle. I can play rough too.”

I put on my pants and shirt, walked to the bar and poured myself a drink. Janis pulled on her robe.