A Solitary Evening Read online

  When I climbed back into the room, the Red falcon was in the doorway still fuming. “Shameful.”

  “Whoever did this was looking for a letter. That’s why they took the mailbox.”

  “Well they didn’t get anything. Mrs. Lester lost her key, and I was keeping her mail.”

  The Fates must love me. I felt like dancing but kept my cool when I said, “Maybe I’d better take it all. Mrs. Lester can call for it when she gets back.

  The falcon turned her head in the way birds do and gave me a good hard look before agreeing. The bird led me into the groomers on the first floor and I waited hat in hand until she came back with a fist full of mail. One of the envelopes was large and stuffed to capacity. I thanked the falcon and left.

  I wanted to floor the gas petal to get back to my office but resisted. Force of habit had me locking the door when I got there, and I did a quick sort of the mail, three bills, four female friends, an answer from an employment agency, and a Communist Party pamphlet. All these went into the trash. The overstuffed envelope contained ten photostats, negative and positive on extra thin paper. The symbols, diagrams, and words were above my paygrade but reeked of importance. I folded them into a compact square and put them in the lamp on the wall. The ingenious thing came apart in the middle and had come from a retired magician friend. A young bird or chick was supposed to pop out of the hidden compartment when you turned on the light and scare you. The young loved the trick.

  I called Duke, but he’d left for the day, and when I called Hopper, I was told he was in Washington staying at the Lafayette. After promising the secretary to call him before six, I got long-distance, who told me the line was busy, and I’d have to wait.

  There was a half full bottle of sherry in the drawer, and I settled down to wait with the radio on. The announcer talked of missing documents and the gloom and doom that awaited us. He ranted and raved until a special news bulletin came on. The speaker told of ports being shut down and the arrests of people suspected of being spies. I had to smile because the documents that were causing all the uproar were safe and secure in my office.

  The phone rang and the operator on the other end told me my party was ready. I waited for the connection and heard Hopper on the other end say, “Hello, hello?”

  “This is Kaiser Wrench, Douglas.”

  “Oh, hello. How are you?”

  “Fine, I’m just calling to tell you not to worry. I found the documents Miles was holding, and they won’t be a problem. The stuff has nothing to do with you, and even if it did, it’s not like the newspapers can print it.”

  “That’s wonderful news. When can I see it? I’ll be back in town by Monday evening.”

  “It’ll keep. See you then.”

  After I said goodbye, I closed the office and headed for the bar. Velvet wasn’t back yet, so I was left to my own devises. The bar I ended up in had a TV. The thing sat behind the bar with the sound blaring. At seven o’clock the news came on and every head in the place turned to the small screen in rapt attention. The blurred, black-and-white image flashed the pictures of dinner in Washington along with the speeches.

  Eventually I drove back to my apartment. Before turning in, I checked the entire place for signs of an intruder and settled into bed with my .45 under my pillow.

  CHAPTER 10

  A Western union messenger stopped by my place late Sunday with a telegram from Velvet. The thing said mission accomplished and that she would be carrying the papers on the first plane back. The next morning, I woke up to a rainy Monday.

  I called the hospital again, and it only took saying my name for the doctor to answer my question.

  “Mrs. Swimson is doing well but is under police guard.”

  “Good males?”

  “Yes.”

  “And her father?”

  “He visits every day. I’ve talked to Mrs. Swimson and told her of our conversation. She’s taken an air of silence about the entire thing. I think I shall do likewise.”

  “Thanks.”

  We said goodbye, and I hung up the phone. Donning my raincoat, I went out to start the day. The rain came down in buckets. I’d hoped to catch Duke at the station, but he’d called in, saying his car was stuck and might not make it in at all today.

  Not sure how many cigarettes I smoked, but my pack was empty by the end of the day. At the corner drugstore, I bought another pack and used their payphone to call the airport. All the planes were on time, but the one from out west came in at around two o’clock. I checked my watch, wishing I’d paid more attention to the time and called Velvet at the office. When she didn’t answer, I thought of calling her at her apartment, but when I considered how tired from the trip she’d probably be, I decided not to.

  There was no reason to disturb her. Velvet would have left everything in the office. I hopped into the car and drove straight for the office. When I got there, the lights were on, but she wasn’t there. Traces of her perfume lingered in the air. I marched straight to the lamp, and sure enough the documents she’d brought back were there. I checked a couple pages and tucked them back inside the hidden compartment.

  Everything was all tied up and legal. I could take everything to Duke or the F.B.I. without any blood on my hands, and that crow of a judge who said I was no good could eat his tailfeathers. Maybe I’d hand over all the credit to Duke. The German shepherd wouldn’t like it, but oh well.

  When I reached for the phone, I saw the paper. A small square of typed cardboard. CALL LO3-8099 NINE P.M. There was nothing else on the thing.

  The fur on my back stood on end. Velvet would have written a note by hand or left a typed one in the typewriter. Plus, she was the only person who should have been in the office. The clock on the wall said ten to eight, but I wasn’t going to wait an hour. When I called, the phone rang without answering. There was no note in Velvet’s typewriter.

  The door to the washroom was open, and I went to close it. That’s when I saw the ring, Velvet’s ring, the one I’d given her sat on the edge of the wash basin, it’s blue sapphire glaring at me. Her wristwatch lay next to it. The air in my lungs turned cold, and I felt like someone had sucker punched me. There was no way she would have left it there. No crumpled paper towel was in the waste basket either. They’d taken her.

  The phone call was to tell me about making a trade. But that wouldn’t happen because they weren’t about to hold up their end of the bargain. They’d shoot me full of holes once they had the documents, and Velvet… What would happen to Velvet? Would anyone even find her body?

  I grabbed the phone and called Duke and didn’t let him say hello. “I’m at the office. I need to know where Longacre 3-8099 is located and fast.”

  Duke must have heard the panic in my voice because he agreed without question. I slammed the phone down and paced until the phone rang.

  “What gives, Kaiser? That number is a payphone in the Times Square subway station.”

  “Thanks.” I dropped the phone in the cradle and grabbed my coat. The people who took Velvet didn’t know who they were dealing with. I blew through a few stop lights on my way to the station. A beat cop was out in front, and I parked my car on the curb and flashed the F.B.I. badge I still had on me at the dog before he could bark. “Stay here and watch the car.” The dog saluted and let me pass.

  I ran down the stairs, dropped a dime in the turnstile and searched for the phone booth I needed. I only had fifteen minutes before it was too late. The phonebooth in question was at the end of a line of five over near the steps that led to the B.M.T. line. I took the booth on the opposite end and closing the door, cracked the overhead light with the butt of my gun breaking the bulb. I picked up the receiver, pretended to talk, and waited for someone to show up.

  Five minutes to nine the male appeared. The bird ignored all the other booths and walked straight for the end. When the time came, I dropped my nickel into the slot and call the number.

  It rang only once. “Hello.”

  “This is Kaiser Wren
ch, now what’s with the game?”

  “Do I need to tell you to whom you are speaking? Perhaps not. You have documents which we want. Let me say that we are holding your secretary hostage, if you do not wish to comply.”

  I said a few choice words into the phone.

  “What is your answer Mr. Wrench?”

  “Fine, you can have the stuff. What do I have to do?”

  “Good. At midnight, you will take the documents to the Pennsylvania Station on Thirty-Fourth Street and place them in one of the pay lockers at the end of the waiting room. Take the key and walk around on the street outside until someone says, ‘Wonderful night, friend,’ and give that person the key. Be alone and keep your hands in site at all times. You will be observed and those who are watching are armed.”

  “And the female?”

  “Do as instructed, and she will be released.” The guy hung up.

  I watched and waited until he had a good lead before following. Outside the station I passed him and got a good whiff of his scent. He was so intent on getting a cab he didn’t even notice me. I waited in my car until he climbed into a cab and started my car. The cop waved me off, and I followed the bird.

  There was no way I was losing this guy. As we drove, I tried figuring out where he was headed. If I hadn’t seen the sign on the movie house, I would have been totally lost. That and the smell of the river let me know we were somewhere in Astoria heading toward the water.

  Before the block ended, I cut my lights and drifted to the curb. I grabbed the keys and stepped out of the car. The slight fear of a miscalculation ruffled my fur as I watched the taillights of the cab. The vehicle stopped, and I breathed easier.

  The tommy gun I’d taken off the Feds was still in my trunk. I pulled it out shucking the case on the pavement. Loaded with two spare magazines, I was ready.

  I stayed close to the buildings. A drunken owl flapped back to his nest when he saw me. When the cab turned around and headed back down the street, I broke out into a full-on run.

  The bird acted like he knew where he was going, not realizing I was there in the dark, hidden from view. Past the houses, was the odor of decay, and noises that didn’t belong to the city.

  The rain came down again and the constant sound of the bird’s shoes on gravel disappeared. There was only an hour left, but a building loomed up ahead. The bird had to have gone in there. Only the top floors still had windows in the three-story skeleton. Boards covered the remaining openings.

  I was back in the jungle with all my senses alert. Death stalked with me through the darkness. I had the tommy gun slung just right for easy carrying and quick action.

  A cat walked in the darkness, and I knew he had a gun. He stopped three feet away and looked back with uncertainty. I let him see me just before my claws ripped out his throat along with the gun in his hand. His eyes showed the shock of his passing but little else. I made my way around the building. The weasel at the door must have thought I was the other guy because he let me get close, too close. This time I used my teeth as well as claws.

  Inside the building, I listened and waited. The reek of turpentine was enough of a hint to let me know the place was an old paint factory. Old and big, I didn’t have the time to search the entire building.

  They’d picked a good place to hide. Only they were lax in confusing their paths. Moved paint cans and trodden trash gave the route away to someone who knew how to look. Through the hall, up the stair, and down a corridor. The odor of the place hid their scent as it did my own. A shrew stepped out into the corridor and met the same fate as his companions.

  The door he’d come out of swung open and into a room. I heard her voice before I saw her.

  “No.” What little light was there didn’t touch the area where I stood. I had to see what I didn’t want to see, hear what I didn’t want to hear, and the rage built up inside as my mind took in everything.

  General Pavlov stood in a business suit, seemingly board with the proceedings, while the bird from the subway watched eagerly. The mole was there too. The damn secret policeman.

  Velvet hung stark naked from the rafters by a rope, her body twisted slowly in the light of an electric lantern. The mole in the pork-pie hat waited until she turned to face him then brought the knotted rope around with all his strength, and I heard it bite into her with a sickening sound. It brought her head up long enough for me to see that the pain the rope inflicted was lessening, blending in with the previous strikes.

  The mole yelled, “Where is it? You’ll die if you don’t tell me.”

  Velvet’s eyes opened, but she didn’t say a word.

  Tommy gun in hand, I smashed through the door with a roar and my finger on the trigger. The bullets tore holes through every one of them. The general’s body was cut in half and the bird from the subway tried to stop the bullets with his hands. He still lost his head to the onslaught. The mole tried for his gun but lost his arm first before I emptied the remainder of the magazine into his body.

  I loaded the second magazine, walked over to each one and made certain none of them had a face when I was done. Using care, I cut Velvet down, dressed her, and cradled her like a cub. Tears ran down my fur.

  Her fingers touched the dampness and said the one thing that blessed my actions. “I love you.”

  I carried her out of the building and laid her, wrapped in my coat, on a patch of soft earth. There was one thing I had to do, and I walked back inside the building, back into the room of death. I searched the moles clothes, took his wallet, and ripped out the lining of his coat.

  Downstairs, I left the tommy gun and F.B.I. wallet. I used the trash and sticky old paint to start the fire that would incinerate the building.

  Once I was back outside, I carried Velvet to the car and drove her home. I stayed there until the doctor I’d called quit hovering over her, and the nurse came to keep watch.

  Only then did I leave to go back to the office. I pulled all the documents out of their hiding place and spread them across my desk. Yes, the plan was clever as well as rotten to the core. They’d almost gotten away with it.

  The fire at the abandoned factory would give no answers, only questions, and most likely a coverup. Even if someone stumbled over the truth, they’d only have part of it.

  The whole thing was too big for me, and I called the only person who would understand what it all meant.

  CHAPTER 11

  On the sixth ring the phone was picked up, and Douglas Hopper’s sleepy voice came over the line. “Hello?”

  No doubt, I sounded exhausted myself. “This is Kaiser Wrench. I hate to call you this late, but I have to speak to you.”

  “That’s all right.”

  “Do you mind meeting me somewhere? A lot has happened since I last talked to you, and I’d rather not talk over the phone.”

  “Is it what Miles left behind?”

  “No, this has to do with someone else and government documents.”

  “But? Not…?”

  “Yes. It’s disturbing. Why don’t I pick you up in a few minutes?”

  “Yes, I’ll be ready.”

  I put the phone back in the cradle, grabbed the envelopes, and tucked them into my pocket. When I walked outside to get my car, it was still raining. Before I picked up Hopper, I made a stop at a rooming house where all the doors to the rooms each had their own private entrance. I knocked on the second door several times before the door opened and a pair of green eyes peered out of the darkness at me.

  “Hello, Mark,” I said.

  Mark pulled the door open, and I stepped inside. The panther owed me a lot of favors, and I was here to collect. Silently he got dressed, and we went back to the car. Once inside he asked, “Trouble?”

  “No trouble. All you need to do is drive.”

  We drove over to Hoppers, and I rang the bell. His place was equipped with one of those fancy new speaking tubes, and he said he’d be right down. A few minutes later he was scurrying through the lobby and out the front door.<
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  The rabbit grinned and shook my hand, but I was too tired to smile back. “Is it bad? You look exhausted.”

  “I am, but I can’t sleep with this on my mind. Come on, my car’s out front.”

  The two of us strolled down the walk, and I opened the door for him so we could both get into the back. I told Mark to take us to the bridge.

  Hopper looked at me as if to ask if it was safe to talk in front of Mark, but I shook my head. At the toll booth, I passed Mark a half dollar coin, and he gave it to the officer on duty. We started up the incline when I said, “Stop here. This is where everything started.” Mark stopped the car. “We’ll walk the rest of the way. Go get yourself a beer on the Jersey side and come back in a half hour.” I passed him a fin to pay for the beer as Hopper and I got out of the car.

  The weather had grown colder, and the rain turned into snow. Our feet made clicking noises on the cement. The high steel girders towered above us like huge silent trees.

  Hopper gave me a puzzled expression when I said, “This is where it started.” We had our coats turned up and hands in our pockets against the cold. “You wouldn’t know what happened here.” The hump was ahead of us. “I wanted to be alone and wasn’t expecting anyone on such a foul night. Two other people showed up, one female the other male with a stainless-steel tooth. Both died that night.”

  I took the fat envelope out of my pocket and pulled the pages from inside. “The best minds in the country are looking for these, and they fell right into my lap.”

  “How?” Hopper’s mouth was working but no other sound came out.

  “This is what I wanted to tell you about, but first I want to make sure the secret of these plans is safe.” I used my lighter, lit the corner of the paper, and watched it quickly burn until only a corner remained with symbols and numbers. The piece with the symbols, I put in my pocket and let the others scatter in the wind.