The Bamboo Blonde (28 page)

It was Captain Thusby who pushed her back now. "Reckon you'll have to stay till Vinnie gets back. I'd forgotten he wasn't here to drive the car. Glad I never learned. I want to hear this." He sat down again. "Go on, Mrs. Crandall."

"Kathie killed Mannie Martin because she found out he was using her in an attempt to bring Shelley to heel. She'd had experience in getting away with murder. I mean that literally." She flicked a glance toward the girl. "This isn't all intuition. I'll admit I've pieced some of it out of pretty small bits but I've done my checking. When I got suspicious I took the plane back to Kansas to go into her past life."

Kathie didn't look at her.

"Parsons doesn't talk much about home-town products that have gone wrong but obliquely they give you the picture. Rufus Treat wasn't happy with his wife, and her always wanting to live above herself, but he wasn't the fellow to kill himself. The two were alone in the house. It looked like suicide. Nobody wanted to make a fuss with Kathie's folks nice as the next, old friends of the Treats. Most everyone suspected his wife did it and laid it to her but there wasn't any way of proving it." She dropped vernacular. "She got away with it once. She might have again if she hadn't gone hog-wild and kept adding to her notches."

Captain Thusby blinked.

"Shelley was Mannie's woman. Vironova was only board and occasionally bed. When she fell for Kew, Mannie wasn't going to take it lying down."

Kew said, "She didn't fall for me. Maybe Mannie thought so. Shelley was doing a bit of work for me. But when she saw Mannie making a play for Kathie Travis, she was mad as hell and did try to make him jealous to get him back."

"They were both wrong," Dare admitted. "Mannie made his play for Kathie to make Shelley jealous. But Kathie didn't know it. She thought it was on the up and up. She came down with delusions of grandeur about moving into that palace of Martin's. She wasn't smooth about it, however; she'd never had experience in big time. He wasn't interested in her; it was Walker he needed, Walker was his friend, and he didn't want any trouble. Kathie was in his hair. I figure it was that night he told her straight out."

Griselda said, "But you don’t kill someone for that."

Dare spoke coolly, "Haven't there been times you've been furious enough to kill? And with the means, and that extra madness that makes a killer, you'd do it."

Kathie whispered, "I've never had anything. I've never had what you've had and you—all of you. I'm beautiful. I like nice things. I have a right to have them." Her voice broke.

Dare said. "Shelley must have found out something. So Shelley had to die."

"No," Kathie spoke up now. She looked at Kew for exoneration. "I killed Shelley because she was going to kill you." She was pathetic at the moment, huddled there alone, her eyes eating Kew.

He said, "She wasn't after me. It was Mannie she was gunning for. She thought he'd run out on her for good because of you. She came to me because she hoped I'd know where he was, or could find out from you. I didn't get to tell her he'd disappeared. Pembrooke came in before we had a chance to talk."

Kathie repeated with conviction, "No. She was going to kill you, Kew."

Dare said, "Shelley wouldn't have killed anyone. She might have tossed the gun around for dramatic effect but she wouldn't have shot Mannie if she'd found him in bed with you."

Kathie repeated stubbornly. "She was going to kill Kew. She told me that afternoon she had come to Long Beach to take care of a man. She showed me the gun. I knew you were" the one, Kew, because you'd said she was here and had broken a date with me for that night. After I left her I kept thinking about it. I went back to her apartment that night to stop her but she'd gone. I waited across in the Park." She was crying a little. "I saw her come back. I followed her upstairs. She had a box of shells and she was reloading her gun. I asked her where she was going and she told me to meet you and find Mannie. I said—" She sucked in her breath.

Dare smiled, "You said Mannie was dead."

She cried, "That didn't make any difference to her. She went right on loading her gun. She was kind of tipsy but she was still going to kill Kew."

It would have made a difference when Shelley sobered up, discovered that Kathie alone knew Mannie was dead. Kathie's rationalizing was a flimsy cover for her real purpose. "I knew then I had to kill her." She looked at Kew. "She didn't have a car. I offered to take her to Saam's Seafood place. I'd parked over on Cherry because I didn't want anyone in the apartment to tell about a car driving off."

"How did you get her to give you the gun?" Thusby asked.

Vinnie had come in. A sack of candy bulged his pocket, his mouth crunched, but he held it stationary, his cheeks askew, to catch Kathie's words.

"I told her that her lipstick was messed. I said I'd hold the gun while she fixed it. She was so conceited she wouldn't let a man see her unless she looked right, not even a man she was going to kill."

The blonde girl opening her bag, taking out mirror and Kleenex. Turning to the street lamp. And Kathie shot her in the back.

"I had worn gloves." She stood up shakily. "Vinnie's here. We can go." Her eyes were sick on Kew. "I'm not bad. I wouldn't have killed her only she was going to kill you."

* * *

Con and Griselda. Kew and Dare. The way it should be. Con mixed fresh ones. They could speak out loud after a while.

Kew began as before, "I met Shelley in Hollywood. I asked her to get the Pan-Pacific dope from Mannie that he wouldn't give me." He was bitter. "Kew Brent could do no wrong if it meant a story and I was determined to break that one. So far as I was concerned the Navy had been damned offensive to me on it, practically kicked me out of their office. I was going to show them. Didn't they know who I was? I was Kew Brent." Savage shame mottled his face. Dare touched his hand.

"Shelley Huffaker was a rotten little tramp. She was nuts about Mannie but she'd do anything for money, even steal from her lover. I paid her high; she came high. I was on the inside. I thought. Mannie didn't tell her his suspicions of the major."

Con said, "He didn't tell anyone. He couldn't reach Garth, he only hinted to Walker and to me. But he wanted to have it straight before he started tackling a man whose credentials were beyond suspicion."

Kew drank. "Yes, Pembrooke stood O.K; I had met him in Washington. No one was suspicious of him. I traded some dope with him. It didn't seem strange to me that he could get information on the new network which I couldn't; if he were a part of Britain's high command, that was logical enough. I didn't trust him but I didn't doubt his connections. Until some of the foreign correspondents began throwing hints, and he was missing. I wanted the yarn more than ever then and decided to tackle Mannie. I didn't run into the major out here until the night I went to the Bamboo Bar to meet Shelley. When I returned to my hotel after leaving Saam's, he was waiting for me. He didn't try to hide his real purposes then; he cracked the whip. Things were so tight he needed me. Incriminating documents had been stolen from him by Mannie Martin. He wanted them back. Either Mannie still had them or he'd passed them on to Walker Travis. Pembrooke knew they hadn't been turned over to Garth or Garth wouldn't have gone off fishing, leaving the major to carry on with his work. Pembrooke thought Mannie was hiding out but that I could get in touch with him.

"Pembrooke told me flat, either I'd help him out or he'd inform on me furnishing secret information to an enemy agent. I knew what that meant. Even if I could clear myself, there would always be suspicion of me. I wouldn't be of any value in Washington again; no one would trust me." His mouth was dry. "I gave him the impression that I'd play ball." He begged Con to see it.

"I was almost crazy. But I'd made up my mind. You were in town. You could arrange for me to see Garth. I'd tell him the whole yarn whatever it did to me. At least I'd be clear; I could hold up my head again."

Con said, "Take it easy."

"You can imagine what a slap it was when you said Garth had left town, inaccessible for two weeks. I didn't know that you were working with him again. Even if I had, I doubt if I'd have told you." His face was shadowed. "There's some things you can tell to an outsider that you can't to your friends. And too, I wanted to clear with the top." He drank again. "The safest way I could figure it was to keep Albert George believing I was standing with him. He wanted to meet Kathie Travis, to work through her on Walker. That was easy enough. She'd been playing up to me after Mannie's disappearance. And I wasn't averse
I wanted to reach Walker myself through her. Pembrooke ordered me to bring her to Catalina that week end. I knew I could show him he'd better let me act as the go-between. Her feelings by then were obvious to anyone. That way I could protect her too until Garth returned."

"What about Sergei?" Con inquired.

Kew said, "He was looking for you, Con. Not because you were Garth's man but because he thought you'd killed Shelley."

"He couldn't have!" Griselda was indignant.

"He did. That's what the papers were insinuating. He asked if I knew Con Satterlee. I said I'd put him in touch with you when I returned from Catalina, hoping to avoid him. I was leaving then. He must have had a hunch you were there too. Maybe Thusby hinted. Vironova was closeted with the police Friday evening."

Griselda said, "And he checked on it through me. Thusby saw me packing. And he knew I couldn't get away until next morning." She asked then, "Maybe you can tell me now, Con, why Chang was at Catalina."

"He gets worried about me," he admitted sheepishly. "But he came in handy. When I decided to break away where I could do my work uncluttered—"

"By a honeymoon," she said quickly.

"By too many parties and too many people, angel. Plus a damn suspicious major. I wasn't going fast enough. Sergei's rumors made it obvious that we couldn't suppress the finding of Mannie much longer. I had Chang call Vinnie to come over, gave him a faked message from Garth to the captain. Too much danger in using the phone. Vinnie flew the message back to old Thusby just in time for him to meet us at the dock."

"Thusby was in on it?"

"Not until after Sergei was murdered. He was so determined to release me then that I had to tell him. He hadn't liked taking me in the first place, Garth or no. I had to think fast all along to keep him amused so he wouldn't kick me out."

"Like having Chang steal the shells?" she suggested.

"Sure. I sent him to pack so he could get rid of them before Thusby could find them." He said, "Let's freshen these, Kew."

Griselda's voice was tight. "Why did Kathie kill Sergei?"

"She thought he suspected her," Dare said quietly. "She told me he kept asking questions and asking questions every time he saw her at the hotel. It made her nervous."

Kew said, "He didn't dream she had anything to do with it. He was just trying to find out all he could to pin it on Con."

"I'd like to know how she lured him into the Village where the shot wouldn't be heard," Con said. "If I suspected someone of murderous intent, that's the last place in the world I'd go willingly with them."

Dare's lips curled. "Con, if I were Kathie Travis I could do it with a knife in my teeth." She mocked, " 'Oh, there's someone coming. I mustn't be seen. Let's slip in here a moment.' But he didn't suspect her. To him doubtless it was, as Albert George thought, an amorous rendezvous."

Griselda asked, "Why was he so afraid of Pembrooke?"

Kew said, "They'd crossed paths in Europe. I had to insist he go in to dinner with us that night. Just seeing the major had thrown him into a panic. Sergei must have done some governmental work on the continent at some time. Albert George was certain he'd come to muscle in on the deal. He warned him off that night we were all on
The Falcon."

It had been Sergei in the Major's stateroom, too frightened to be shrill. Griselda's voice was small. "Just what was the deal? Was the information in the fish?"

"Yeah. A wad of paper inside had notation where the key was to Mannie's new strong box. The dope was in that. A complete report on all of our important radio stations, including monitory and field ones, with the names of the men to take care of sabotaging them. Even the names of men who would jam our Naval sending stations when orders came. The Pan-Pacific was a blind to get full information on our radio." He grinned. "Dare had the hunch about the fish tonight before you did. She filched it and passed it on to Garth."

Dare took no credit. "It wasn't a hunch, Con. While I was doing the great friend act tonight, trying to see if I couldn't get Kathie to let something slip, she told me Walker had given it to her on his return from Hollywood that Sunday night. Add it to Mannie's statement that Walker had possession of the facts, add the postscript to your letter; I was sure it counted. I asked Walker about it later. Mannie handed him the fish that night, told him to give it to Kathie to square himself. She was mad as hell because he wouldn't let her go with him to meet Mannie. He never thought of the fish as being important. But Mannie was smart. He knew Kathie would never give up any possession no matter how trivial. And he must have been certain that if anything happened to him, eventually Walker would catch on."