Miss Shumway Waves a Wand (15 page)

I followed him into a Large lounge which was furnished in the most modern style I’d seen this side of Lexington. I can’t say I liked it a lot, but it stank of money and I guess that was all Peppi ever worried about.

The butler looked at me questioningly. He was big with white hair and faded blue eyes. One side of his face was lifted as if he’d had a stroke at one time. It gave him a disagreeable look. “Did you wish to see anyone in particular, sir?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said, “I’d like a word with Mr. Kruger.”

“Mr. Kruger, sir?” The butler’s eyebrows shot up as if I’d asked to see the President.

“That’s right,” I said, smiling at him.

“I’m afraid, sir,” the butler returned with dignity, “Mr. Kruger never sees anyone except by appointment. Would his secretary do?”

“Look,” I said, “I’m sorry about the appointment. I couldn’t care less about the secretary. I want to see Kruger. Go tell him that Ross Millan of the New York Recorder wants to see him and tell him it’s important.”

The butler studied me for a second. “Very good, sir,” he said and floated away upstairs, leaving me standing in the lounge.

After a while, I began to think that he had completed his stroke and was lying upstairs making noises. The hands of the big old-fashioned grandfather clock kept moving forward with little jerky jumps and I got more and more tired of standing there.

Then I heard someone coming. It wasn’t the butler. Whoever it was came along the passage quickly and lightly and then a girl came down the broad staircase. She was thin, fragile and dark. Her eyebrows were unusually straight and her eyes were very large, cobalt blue with big irises and a vague expression. She wore a pair of biscuit-coloured slacks, a burgundy sweater and a biscuit-coloured handkerchief round her head. She was all right until you came to her mouth. That gave her away. It was a tight, lipless slit of red. I could imagine her sitting up in a half dark room pulling the legs off spiders and getting a lot of fun out of it. Back and front her figure looked like she had been fed through a mangle.

“I’m Mr. Kruger’s secretary,” she said. Her voice was deep and musical.

“Well, well,” I said, “well, well, well.”

One of her eyebrows went up and she tried again, “you wanted to see Mr. Kruger?”

“That was the idea, but I’ve changed my mind. My doctor only lets me have one meal a day,” I said, adjusting my necktie. “What do you do with your evenings?”

“You’re Millan, of the New York Recorder, aren’t you?” she asked. The cobalt blue eyes had darkened.

“Yep,” I said, “Ross Millan. Just plain Ross to you. How about dating me up? The demand’s brisk, but I can manage to-night.”

“What did you want to see Mr. Kruger about?”

Somehow I didn’t feel I was making much headway, but I wasn’t discouraged, “I’ll tell him that,” I said gently. “No offence meant, but this is a little matter between men. Women have their secrets too, you know.”

“Then you’d better come upstairs,” she said and turned and walked back the way she had come.

When we reached the top of the stairs I drew level and walked by her side. “I was just kidding,” I said suddenly. “Don’t let it get your vitamins in an uproar.”

She didn’t say anything.

“Could I have your name?” I went on, “I’d like to know how to introduce you to my friends.”

“Lydia Brandt,” she said, without turning her head, “and I don’t expect to meet your friends.”

“You never know,” I said. “Strange things happen.”

She opened a door that led off the passage and stood aside, “Mr. Kruger will be in a minute.”

“But, you’re not leaving me?” I said, wandering into the room.

The cobalt blue eyes looked sultry, but she didn’t say anything. She closed the door behind her and left me in the room which was large and lined with books.

I glanced round with interest. The library was made up of the most complete collection of crime books I’d ever seen. Even police headquarters couldn’t compete with it. The books ranged from sixteenth century crime to modern crime. There were books on poison, forensic medicine, murder, blackmail, kidnapping, assault and, in fact, something of everything.

I was just getting interested in the second volume of Havelock Ellis when the door opened and Peppi came in.

All right, I admit I startled me. I hadn’t seen him for a couple of years and then, as I’ve already told you, that was when he was rum running.

Now, of course, he had come up in the world. I expected a change, but not such a change as this.

He was dressed in a grey silk dressing gown with a scarlet cord. Under this, he seemed to be wearing white silk pyjamas. His face was smooth and unwrinkled as if he’d had all the electric massage in the world working on him. His small white hands were soft and well cared for and his finger nails manicured. But his eyes were the same. They were the same small pebbles of blue stone and his large bald head was the same except it shone as if he had polished it with beeswax.

We looked at each other, then he shut the door and came further into the room.

“You’ve got a swell library, Peppi,” I said, saying the first thing that came into my head.

“Who put it together for you?”

He stroked the side of his nose with his thumb. That was something new. In the old days, Peppi hadn’t time to affect mannerisms. “What do you want?” His voice was high pitched and soft. Rather like the tones of a Jap and the sound of it brought back a host of memories. I’d forgotten that high pitched, hissing voice.

“What a success story,” I said, admiring him. “I remember you a couple of years ago. And look at you now!”

“What do you want?” he repeated.

I paused and regarded him. The dead pebbly eyes told me that this wasn’t going to be a love feast, so I decided to get to the point.

“Where’s Kelly?” I asked.

“Kelly?” he repeated and frowned. “What Kelly? What are you talking about?” There was a thin edge of anger in his voice.

“There’s a fellow called Kelly I want to get in touch with,” I said, half sitting on the big oak reading table. “I hear he wanted to find you, so I thought if you two had made contact you wouldn’t mind putting him in touch with me.”

He studied me carefully. “I don’t know any Kelly,” he said, at last.

I shrugged, “Well, that’s too bad. Okay, then I’ll drift. I was under the impression that you did.”

“What do you want him for?” The question suddenly shot out like the forked tongue of a snake.

“I wouldn’t take up your time,” I said, pushing myself away from the table. “It’s nothing that’d interest you.”

He said, “Don’t go. Sit down.” There wasn’t any invitation in his voice. It was an order. Well, I had nothing to lose, so I sat down in a big armchair and relaxed.

He fidgetted with the cord of his dressing gown and I could see he was thinking about something.

“You’ve left the Recorder?” he said abruptly.

I inclined my head, “Yep,” I said. “Maddox tossed me out. That’s gratitude, after all…”

“What are you doing now?” he broke in.

“Living on my wits and capital,” I said carelessly. “I’ll get by. Why the interest?”

“I could give you something.”

I looked at him. The frog-like face, the blue stoney eyes, the bald glistening head told me nothing. All the same, I didn’t like it. I knew the kind of racket Peppi went in for. It wasn’t my line, but I had to be careful how I told him.

“I’m not looking for anything right now,” I said slowly.

“It’s a good job,” he said simply and sat down in an armchair opposite me. “There’s nothing you wouldn’t like.”

I made grunting noises. “What would it be?” I asked.

“Lu Andasca is running for election,” he said. “He wants someone to handle his publicity. It’s worth two hundred and fifty dollars a week for the right man. You could do it.”

I was startled. “Lu Andasca?” I said, “I don’t know him.”

“He’s all right,” Peppi said, examining his neat finger nails. “He’s fine.”

“What makes you think I could do it?” I asked, playing for time.

“You could do it,” he repeated. “Two fifty dollars isn’t bad, is it?”

“It’s swell,” I said, “but, right now I’ve got one or two things…”

“I wouldn’t bother about those things,” Peppi said carefully.

We looked at each other.

“After all, what do they amount to?” he went on “Shumway wouldn’t interest you. He’s an old man and finished. Kelly wouldn’t interest you. He’s a crum. Leave the girl alone. You don’t want girls. They mess up the works.”

Well, that was telling me. I didn’t know what to say.

He sat back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling, “If Andasca gets in, there’ll be a lot of work to do,” he said. “I’m interested personally.”

I took a quick gander at my watch. It was nearly lunch time. “Look,” I said, “I’ve got a lunch date. Will you let me think it over?”

“There’s plenty of time. I’ll get my chauffeur to drop you. Where are you going to eat?” I said “Manetta’s” without thinking.

“I see,” he said. “Do you think she’s good looking?”

I stared at him “Her?” I said. “What…?”

“Myra Shumway. She’s your date, isn’t she?”

“What do you know about Myra Shumway? What’s the idea, Peppi?” I sat up. He was talking too many riddles.

“Excuse me a minute,” he said and got up and went out. I sat there wondering what the hell it was all about. Then he came back after a minute and smiled for the first time. “So you want to think it over?” he said.

“Now look, Peppi,” I said, “what do you know about Myra Shumway? Let’s get this straight.”

“I read the newspapers,” he said indifferently, “I hear things. I always hear things. Andasca is more important to me. Can you say yes or no?”

I stood up. “Give me until to-morrow. Where can I meet the guy?”

“To-morrow then,” he said. “Call me. I’ll fix a meeting. You want my car?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said, “I’ll take a taxi.”

He suddenly seemed bored with me and anxious for me to go. “Then you’ll cal. Two fifty is worth thinking about,” and he went out of the room.

He hadn’t been gone three seconds before the butler came in. “This way, sir,” he said and took me downstairs to the front door.

I was on the street and the door was closed behind me before I could collect my bewildered wits. I stood staring up at the big house and I felt someone was watching me.

So I waved to a cab and told the driver to take me to Manetta’s.

“I’ll have a mint-julep,” I said to the barman. “And listen, I belong to the crushing school. Don’t just soak the mint leaves, crush ‘em. Do you get it?”

“We always crush them here, sir,” the barrnan said, smiling, “and we wipe the rim of the glass with mint as well.”

“That’s fine,” I said, “I don’t have to tell you anything, but there are guys who soak their mint.”

“They’re just ignorant, sir,” he returned and went to the end of the bar to fix my drink. I lit a cigarette and thought about Peppi. I just couldn’t make out why he had offered me a job. Knowing Peppi I guessed there was something behind. It all and I wouldn’t mind laying a bet that he knew Kelly and that Kelly had been to see him.

While l was thinking, a girl came in. A girl in a flame coloured silk dress that reached an inch below her knees. Across her shoulders she wore a white silk scarf-handkerchief with large red spots and her cute little hat of red and white felt was perched on the side of her head in a saucy tilt.

It was Myra.

And yet, somehow, I didn’t recognize her for a moment. There was something in the way she moved and an unfamiliar expression in her eyes that made her almost a stranger to me.

As soon as she saw me she waved, smiled and came over.

“There you are,” she said. “Have I kept you waiting?”

“I—I didn’t recognize you,” I said, “maybe it’s the new dress.”

She gave me a sharp glance, “Do you like it?” she asked, smiling again. “Especially for you.”

“I think it’s swell,” I said, wondering what was different about her. “Let’s sit down. I’ve had a strenuous hour.”

She went over to one of the tables and sat down. I followed her. “Well,” I said when we were settled with our drinks, “it’s nice to rest my eyes on a beautiful woman.” I looked at her knees with interest, “You’ve got pretty elbows,” I went on, “I don’t seem to have noticed them before.”

She laughed. “You’ve developed an. awful squint since we last met.”

“Yeah,” I said, watching her closely. “You got rid of Whisky then?”

“I got rid of him,” there was a little note of grimness in her voice that made me stare still more intently. She smiled, but her eyes weren’t amused. “Did you have an interesting morning?”

“I certainly did,” I said and I told her about Peppi. She sat quietly listening and when I was through she said, “What are you going to do?”

“You mean about the job? Why, I guess nothing. I wouldn’t want to work for Peppi.”

“But, isn’t it a good job?” she asked, surprised.

“I don’t know. The money’s all right. But Peppi’s a bad guy to work with. He won’t last.”

“But you’re not working with Peppi,” she pointed out. “You’d be working with this Andasca, wouldn’t you?”

“It’s the same thing. Andasca would be Peppi’s stooge.”

“You ought to think about it,” she went on, “what will you do otherwise?”

I finished my drink, “I’ll think about it but let’s eat now,” I said, getting up.

We went into the restaurant.

After the waiters had fussed around, and we had chosen our meal, I said, “Seriously, don’t you think we ought to find your father first?”

She lifted her shoulders, “Oh, I’ve been thinking about that. You know, I don’t care very much one way or the other.”

I looked at her, “You don’t, huh?”

“No.”

“What about this girl who’s impersonating you?”

Again she shrugged. “She can’t hurt me, can she? If my father wants a cheap victory, I’m big enough to let him have it. But, don’t let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about you. Don’t you think you ought to look around for a job?”

“So you’re considering me now, are you?” I said. “That’s new, coming from you.”

She looked up and I caught a look in her eyes that set my blood jumping in my veins.

“Why shouldn’t I think about you and your future?” she asked, putting her hand on mine.

“You wouldn’t suddenly have taken into your head that you could like me a little?” I said, squeezing her hand.

“I might,” she said, “I might like you quite a lot. But, you’d have to have a steady job.”

“So what?” I said, “I can get a steady job. A guy with my experience…”

“Why not see Andasca and find out if you could work with him?” she suggested, a little too anxiously.

“Aren’t you giving this guy an awful build up?” I asked suspiciously, “I believe you want me to work for him.”

“I want you to get fixed up in a good job.”

“Well, it seems to me you’re pushing Andasca on me,” I returned. “I’ve already told you what I think of Peppi and his set-up. I can get a job, but it won’t be with Andasca.”

“You’re being pig-headed.” There was a note of anger in her voice. “Where else do you think you can earn two fifty a week?”

“That’s not such a lot of dough,” I returned. “Just shooting in articles would get me double that.”

She bit her lip and looked away. “Well, if that’s how you feel about it,” she said and jerked her hand from under mine.

It struck me that the lunch wasn’t going to be a success and I wanted to get her somewhere where we could have this out. There was something at the back of her mind she hadn’t told me and I wanted to know what it was.

We finished lunch almost in silence. When we did speak it was about the people in the room and stuff like that and all through the meal she didn’t once look me in the eye. By the time I got the check and followed her out of the restaurant I was feeling a little low. We stood waiting for a taxi in silence, then when one drew up, I said, “Well, what do we do? Shall we go back and take Whisky for a walk? Or shall we sit in the park or what?”

“The park,” she said.

I hadn’t been in Central Park for two years. It was nice to get back there. It was just like it always was. I guess in another fifty years it’ll be the same as it is to-day. Mothers and nurse-maids, minding children on roller skates, wagons, scooters and bikes, will be reading and gossiping in the sun long after I’ve been put under ground. Row-boats were lying on the lake as thick as water bugs and they’ll be there too. Your born and bred New Yorker with a modest income doesn’t miss the country much. He’s got Central Park with thirty tennis courts, nineteen ball fields, six hockey fields and four-and-a-half miles of bridle paths to take his girl along in the evening. That’s enough for him and it’s enough for me.

We sat on a seat in the shade and watched the people mill around. It was nice just to sit there, but at the back of my mind I had plenty to think about. When I tried to take her band, she shifted away from me.

“Don’t make an exhibition,” she said sharply.

“Who cares?” I asked, surprised. “Let’s talk about ourselves, Myra.”

“Of course,” she said, “what about ourselves?”

“Do we get married?” I said, not knowing whether that was what I wanted or not, but anxious to see how she would react.

“I don’t think so,” she said, staring across the lake at the distant couples walking close together on the other side. “Why get married? Anyway, I wouldn’t marry a man who hasn’t got a position, Why should I? I’ve been getting on all right on my own.”

“People don’t get married for position or money,” I said gently. “They get married because they love each other.”

“Who told you that?” she glanced at me quickly and laughed. “That sounds like ‘What Every Girl Should Know.’ That love stuff went out with the Civil War.”

“There are times,” I said crossly, “when I’d like to throw you into a lake. Can’t we be serious once in a while?”

“Not until you get a job. Then I might.”

“Okay, if I get a job, you’ll think about it?”

“If the job’s good enough.”

“You know, Angel skin, I’m getting a little tired of your mercenary outlook.”

She pouted. “Will you go see Andasca?” she said, “just to please me?”

“What about you?” I said, hoping to side-track. “What am I to tell Doc and Sam? Don’t you want to find your father or Kelly or the girl who looks like you?”

“Ross,” she said, gripping my hand tightly “so long as we have each other nothing matters. I just want you and I to be together always. Can’t we forget about the other two?”

“Well, we could drop them,” I said slowly, “but we’d have to tell them.”

“Then let’s tell them,” she said eagerly. “Let’s tell them now.”

“Okay,” I said, “I don’t mind” and I glanced at my watch. It was just after three o’clock.

“They should be in, unless Sam’s gone down to the poolroom.”

As we walked towards the long flight of stone steps that led out of the park, she said, “Will you see Andasca?”

“Yeah,” I said, “I’ll see him sometime this evening.”

“Promise?” she said, pressing my arm against her side.

“Promise,” I said. “If it means all that to you.”

As we entered the apartment, Sam came out of the kitchen with a worried look on his face.

“There you are,” he said, relieved. “Is Whisky with you?”

“Why, no,” I said, “Myra didn’t take him.”

Sam looked distressed, “Hell!” he said. “Then he’s lost. He went out soon after you’d gone,” he went on to Myra. “He ain’t been back. I’ve looked up and down the street, but there’s no sign of him. I thought maybe he followed you and you’d taken him for a walk.”

Myra shook her head, “I haven’t seen him,” she said.

“Oh, he’ll turn up,” I said, tossing my hat on the chair, “you know Whisky. He’s found a lady friend and is getting acquainted.”

Doc Ansell came in just then. “Found Whisky?” he asked anxiously.

“Don’t get excited,” I said. “He’ll turn up. He’s just finding his feet. A big dog like that wants some exercise and he’s having a look around.”

Ansell looked at Myra, “Well,” he said, smiling, “how pretty you look this morning. Did you have a nice lunch?”

“Yes, thank you,” she said, pulling off her hat. “It was very nice.”

Sam said, “Aint you worried about Whisky?”

She blinked, “Why, no. If Ross thinks…”

“Ross?” Sam’s eyes opened, “Gee! Have you two gone soft on each other?”

Myra turned on me. “You’d better tell them,” she said and ran out of the room. Ansell and Sam looked at me suspiciously. “What’s buzzin’?” Sam demanded.

I wandered over to an armchair and sat down. “I don’t know,” I returned. “A lot’s happened since I last saw you,” and I told them about Peppi and Andasca and Lydia Brandt.

They sat listening in silence, then Doc said, “I’ve heard of Andasca. He’s no good to anyone.”

“So have I,” Sam said, “he used to carry a gun for Jo-jo in Chi when I was there. You don’t want to get mixed up with him.”

I jerked my thumb at the ceiling. “That’s what she wants,” I said, slowly. “She wants me to drop you two and live with her. She says nothing else matters so long as we have each other and I work for Andasca. What do you make of that?”

They didn’t make anything of it.

“She doesn’t want to be bothered with her father. She doesn’t mind being impersonated. Almost as if she was someone else,” I went on, looking hard at Ansell.

“Yes,” he said, “I see what you mean. Now, I wonder…”

“It wants looking into,” I said, closing my eyes. “Maybe I’d better see Andasca.”

“I think so,” Doc said. “Take Sam with you.”

“Where’ll I find him?” I said. “Either of you know?”

“Last time I heard of him,” Sam said, “he lived in a joint off Mulberry Park. Maybe someone knows what he’s doing now.”

“We’ll go to Mulberry Park,” I said. “In the meantime keep an eye on the girl friend. Don’t let her leave the apartment. I may be wrong, Doc, but I’m suspicious of her change of heart.”

“Leave ft to me,” Doc said, and we went out into the street, leaving him on his own.

Now, Mulberry Park lies north of the Brooklyn Bridge and a hundred yards or so from Chinatown. Right now it is a tree-shaded square which the city has equipped with swings, wading pools and showers for the kiddies. It looks quiet and faded but a century ago it was the toughest spot in Manhattan; Five Points was situated there and nearby a huge rambling building called the Old Brewery where swarms of Negroes and whites used to live. Seventy-five men, women and children once lived in one room of the Old Brewery. That ought to tell you how tough the place was. Murder was a daily occurrence and the kids in Old Brewery lived for years without leaving the rooms because in the hails they might get themselves knocked off by some guy with the blood-itch. The young punks were strong enough to stand up for themselves met their pals in alleys and there formed the first gangs of New York.

For the next hundred years the stretch from Mulberry Bend through Chatham Square and up the Bowery remained the centre of the sin industries of the metropolis. The gangs flourished.

So in those days the Mulberry Park district was plenty tough. Now the old gangs were dead, Chinatown and Mulberry Bend had faded into seeming innocence, but the district was still the breeding ground for thugs.