The Best of Argosy #8 - Minions of the Shadow Read online

  “But this gent cuts himself right out of the gravy. He don’t think the citizens should be robbed at all! It’s unprecedented, that’s what it is. He ought to be stopped. First thing you know there’ll be a revolution.”

  Millicent looked troubled. “Do you think that’s best, Harvey?” she asked. “After all, we don’t want a revolution.”

  Harvey got red in the face and glared at Omega. “Yes we do,” he claimed. “Once the people realize that the city government can be run on a greatly reduced budget, they won’t stand for an increase when Jim’s term of office is over. It’ll be a revolution, all right. A complete change from the corruption which has thrived in the past.”

  Omega snorted. “So you think it’ll last, do you? You’re wrong. It’ll last just as long as you do. As soon as you’re voted out, the gang will take over again. Maybe not the same gang, of course. But the budget will increase just the same. It’ll happen by degrees, so slow that the people won’t notice, but it’ll finally get back to where it is now.

  “There’s a natural law controlling it. A law just as binding as the law of gravitation. It’s called: All the Traffic Will Bear. When taxes reach that point, then the boys slow down, if they’re smart. If they’re too greedy, then they get kicked out and the cycle starts all over again.

  “And listen, Boy Scout — the same thing happens with any form of government, not just the democratic. Your history books are full of it. The taxpayer is the sucker, and there’s always somebody to take him. So why bat your head against a stone wall?”

  Harvey nodded. “That’s all very true,” he admitted. “But you take the wrong attitude, and therefore you forget one little item: your vanishing point, All the Traffic Will Bear, is getting smaller and smaller. The people are slowly getting smarter, and consequently harder to rob. The Fowler administration will leave the people of this city a little smarter than they were before. An honest administration will show them approximately what it costs to run the city. Result? The next crooked gang to take over won’t be able to steal quite as much as if there had never been a Fowler administration.”

  Omega scratched at a chin which couldn’t possibly itch. “Too fanciful,” he finally commented.

  “It’s all in the attitude,” Harvey amplified. “The proper attitude is that each step in the right direction is a means toward realizing the desired end, that of absolutely clean government, existing for the people and not for itself.”

  “And what’s it get you?” retorted Omega. “Glory?”

  Millicent decided to take a hand. “What does the other attitude get Pembroke?” she countered. “He’s trembling in his boots, scared to death that his crooked work will be exposed. He doesn’t have the respect of any man. Do you want Harvey to be in that position?”

  Harvey regarded her quizzically. “Whose side are you on?” he asked. “One minute graft is all right if it gets you a honeymoon in Bermuda. Next...”

  “Your side, darling,” Said Millicent sweetly. “If you want graft, I’ll be corrupt. If you don’t, I’ll join a Sunday school, or something. If you want gambling and vice, I’ll open a —”

  “Okay,” said Harvey, hastily. “That covers the subject. In fact, I think we’d better go see Patelli, right now. I’m going to need some help.”

  Chapter 13: Inside a Blonde’s Mind

  INSIDE the door of Club Patelli Harvey was stopped short. Two young men, immaculately dressed, stepped in front of him, scowling but sober. Harvey recognized them after a second, though they looked slightly different than they had when he last saw them.

  “We want to know,” said the foremost, slightly belligerent, “what you pulled on us last night.”

  “Why nothing. Nothing at all,” Harvey answered, piloting Millicent past them.

  “Oh yes you did,” the other persisted. “You see we can’t usually remember what happens when we get drunk, but this morning we both seem to remember the same thing — that you made your hat sail through the air by lifting your left eyebrow. That’s silly!”

  At the last word, spoken with such vehemence, Harvey’s eyebrows lifted involuntarily. His hat, and Omega’s as well, rose in the air and floated gently into the hands of the waiting wardrobe girl.

  “You lifted both eyebrows!” accused the first young man. “You’re trying to confuse us!”

  “You confuse easy,” Harvey stated. “Two hats, two eyebrows. Very simple.”

  The two stood dumbfounded as Harvey and his companions followed the headwaiter to a choice table. Then, after exchanging quick glances, they proceeded furtively to a nearby table and sat down. The shorter of the two cleverly removed a “reserved” sign and concealed it in a flower vase.

  “Ask Mr. Patelli if he’ll join us when he gets a chance,” Harvey requested, handing the headwaiter a folded bill.

  Mr. Patelli, it seemed, made his own chances. He excused himself from the company of a beautiful woman and a prosperous-appearing, middle-aged man, as soon as the headwaiter spoke to him. He was all smiles as he sat down at Harvey’s table. He shook hand with “Mr. Omega” and beamed affably. Then he signaled a waiter and ordered drinks.

  “I thought I was going to have some fun needling Danvers, over at the bar,” he said. “About your announcement in the afternoon papers, you know. But he didn’t needle so good.”

  “How did he like the idea of Fowler for mayor?” Harvey asked.

  “I don’t know,” Patelli said. “He was smart enough not to show he was mad. Just said what a good man Fowler is, and that he thought the party had made a wise choice.” He paused. “That came as a big surprise to me,” he added. “I thought they were already building Danvers up for the job.”

  Harvey nodded. “It was my work,” he admitted. “Pembroke went along when he saw that I could lick him. He double-crossed Danvers without turning a hair. Which gives you a good idea what might happen in your own case.”

  Patelli frowned. “I don’t get it,” he admitted.

  HARVEY downed his drink with a quick gesture. “You told me last night that Pembroke taxed you out of business when you had a gambling joint,” he reminded. “You also mentioned the fact that if the reform bunch got in, they could easily shorten your hours to the point where the profit would disappear. That’s why you wanted to know which way the primaries would go.”

  “Yeah. I asked all the big shots, before I asked you. They all said they couldn’t be sure until you said which way the fifty-second would vote.”

  “Then Pembroke knows what harm the reform crowd could do if they shortened your hours,” Harvey said. “What’s to prevent him from telling you that he intends to do the same thing unless all the night-club operators hand over a substantial donation to the party fund? He’s greedy, you know. He’s bled everybody he can, up to the present.”

  Patelli frowned. “You think he might do that?” he asked, anxiously. “I’ve already passed up a chance at the best spot on the edge of town. You said —”

  “I merely said that I thought you’d do better to stay in town,” Harvey reminded. “I still do. We’re putting in a party man, Fowler. He won’t do any of the things the reform gang would be sure to do. But Pembroke still controls the party. Now suppose we managed to displace him?”

  “Could that be done?”

  “It’s possible,” said Harvey. “If we could prove something on him, he’d have to step down to keep us quiet. Patelli, you said you once handed over some graft to Pembroke, didn’t you?”

  Patelli nodded.

  “Do you know any others? Men who are now engaged in legitimate business?”

  Patelli grinned. “I gotcha,” he said. “Sure. I know half a dozen. Two ran speakeasies during prohibition, and a couple were in the same racket as me. There’s another I know used to be a numbers banker and —” Patelli’s face suddenly fell.

  “What now?” asked Harvey.

  “I just happened to remember. We never had any dealings with Pembroke direct. Always it was donations to the party fund, like y
ou said.”

  Omega grunted. “What’s the difference?” he said. “Six to one. You can say you gave it to him, can’t you? You kept records, didn’t you?”

  Patelli’s eyes gleamed. “I’ll have to round up the boys,” he said. “We’ll figure something out. But wait a minute! How do we know Fowler won’t pull something? He was always hand in glove with Pembroke.”

  Harvey grinned. “He isn’t now. Fowler will do as I advise. Is that enough?”

  “Mr. Nelson,” said Patelli, “the boys all know about you. If you say Fowler will leave us alone, we’re for Fowler.”

  Millicent puckered up her lips and made a very unladylike sound, aiming it in Omega’s direction. “Yaah,” she said. “See what an honest man can do? Pembroke couldn’t get anybody to trust him even if he paid them.”

  Omega’s amiable expression didn’t change to one of chagrin, though he tried hard enough. “It won’t help much,” he said pessimistically.

  THE two young men at the adjoining table eyed Patelli suspiciously as he left Harvey’s table with such a purposeful stride. Then their attention reverted to Harvey, who noticed them at that moment. He was embarrassed at the fixity of their gazes.

  They looked at him unblinkingly, evidently determined not to miss his slightest move. A bottle, already far from full, stood between them within reach of either. And from the look of it, both were reaching frequently.

  “We’re being watched,” Harvey remarked. “Incidentally, how did you manage to do that hat trick without using your hands?”

  “Simple,” Omega claimed. “I’m not all inside this suit, you know. I extend in all directions around you, wherever there’s a light on the other side. Even ultraviolet and infra red, which you can’t even see. I’m a very remarkable — What are you looking at?” The last was directed to Millicent, who was regarding him calculatingly.

  “You,” she said, quietly. “I heard of drowning a shadow, once. I think we’ll try it on you. No hard feelings, of course.”

  “You’ll have to drown Harvey,” said Omega, with a sneer in his voice, though his face was pleasant enough.

  “She has the right idea, though,” agreed Harvey. “Look — if you were going to commit suicide, how would you go about it?”

  Omega chuckled malevolently. “I’d shoot you,” he answered.

  Millicent frowned prettily. “That won’t do,” she said, apparently weighing the suggestion carefully. “But I think there might be a way of shooting you. The idea just occurred to me —”

  “Won’t work,” Omega interrupted. “But has it occurred to either of you that Danvers might know something incriminating about Pembroke? He’s the party treasurer, isn’t he?”

  Harvey started. “And you can read minds! Let’s go!”

  Millicent bit her lip and followed that by finishing her drink with a very unladylike gulp, as her companions abruptly deserted her and made for the bar.

  “Head for that space down toward this end of the bar,” Omega said. “There’s a light that’ll cast me in the right direction.”

  Harvey stopped at the space indicated. He ordered two Scotch-and-seltzers. Danvers, in the company of a shapely blonde who was smiling at him bewitchingly, was about ten feet from him, and clearly visible in the mirror behind the bar.

  “What are they talking about?” he asked.

  “Quiet! I’m working on the dame. Oh boy, oh boy! Say, you ought to cultivate her acquaintance. But if you do, keep your hand on your wallet.”

  “I’m not fickle,” Harvey thought. “Start to work on Danvers.”

  For a long minute Omega said nothing, either aloud or in Harvey’s brain. He just looked pleasantly at himself in the mirror. Harvey also regarded the mirror as he finished his own drink and started on Omega’s. He couldn’t hear anything that was said. The humming babble of nearer voices prevented that.

  “Let’s go,” said Omega.

  Harvey downed the remainder of the drink and headed back to the table. “What did you learn?” he asked.

  “Wait’ll we get back,” said Omega, shortly.

  “DID you notice who the blonde was?”

  “I never forget a figure,” Mark answered. “She’s still alive, it seems. Do you suppose...”

  “Can’t tell,” Omega answered. “We may have prevented her murder, at that. It might tie in somewhere with what we’ve done. Then again, maybe, it just hasn’t happened yet.”

  “When was she killed?” Mark inquired. “Can’t you place it?”

  “I can’t identify anything in its relation to things we’ve changed,” Omega answered, with a degree of asperity. “I’m not used to this! I’ve got no power. I’ll be glad when we return to the present.”

  MILLICENT looked expectant but refrained from asking questions. Harvey was just as curious, but he also said nothing. Both looked at Omega, who seemed to be enjoying himself, keeping them on edge. The band was playing a discordant jitterbug number, and he was apparently absorbed in the ear-splitting cacophony. By the time he decided to speak, Harvey was fingering a table knife and seemed about to try its effectiveness on Omega’s clay throat.

  “Open up, you animated dummy,” threatened Harvey, “before I tear off that stone head of yours and throw it in your face.”

  “It’s a very peculiar situation,” said Omega, ignoring the outburst. Then he seemed to forget what he was going to say, and became lost in the raucous efforts of the band.

  “Go ahead, darling,” advised Millicent. “Stab him. He might have a vital organ if you hit the right place.”

  “Might ruin my suit,” muttered Harvey.

  “It seems,” mused Omega, “that Danvers is in a bad spot. He made a list of last year’s important contributions to the party fund, at Pembroke’s request, and lost it!”

  Harvey grunted. “How’s that put him in bad?” he asked. “He can make another list. I can get that information, myself.”

  “It also seems that along with the list were two other papers,” Omega continued imperturbably. “These contained the itemized expenditures for the year. One paper wasn’t the same as the other, but the totals of both agreed with the total of the contributions.”

  Harvey looked suddenly thoughtful. “I get it!” he suddenly erupted. “One was the list of expenditures which everybody sees, including advertising, rentals, etcetera. The other was a list revealing how the money was actually spent. Rentals, advertising, etcetera were much less than on the other list. Right?”

  “Right,” said Omega. “The difference went to Pembroke mainly, though there were a few other beneficiaries — minor ones who couldn’t be given city jobs to pay for their services.”

  There was a long silence, only punctuated by screaming blasts from the orchestra trumpet, which fondly believed it was playing music.

  “Let’s hear the rest,” said Harvey, quietly. “Who’s the blonde with the curves?”

  “Oh, so you noticed that!” said Millicent, somewhat vexed. “I suppose you’d —”

  Harvey stopped her with a finger to his lips. “I didn’t say I liked ’em,” he reminded. “Only a blind man could miss them.”

  “Not even a blind man,” said Millicent. “If he knew his Braille...”

  “Her name’s Dolly Patterson,” Omega revealed. “She copped the lists —”

  AT THIS point Omega’s recital of the facts gleaned by his mind-reading was interrupted by the arrival of Joe Patelli. He grasped the back of an unoccupied chair and slid it between Harvey and Omega.

  “I got in touch with the boys,” he informed. “They all kept records of their payments. They’re willing to hand them over, if they’re of any use to you. But the fools want to keep out of it personally. They’re so darned respectable now that they don’t want any publicity if they can get out of it. They figure you might be able to use their records to make Pembroke play ball, just by threatening to make them public.”

  Harvey nodded. “It’ll help,” he said. “Get hold of them as soon as you can, will you?
”

  “By midnight,” Patelli promised. “I’ll start now.”

  He left the table and Harvey turned to Omega. “Get back to your story,” he requested. “What does Dolly Patterson intend to do with those lists?”

  Omega hesitated. “I must have missed that,” he admitted. “You told me to get to work on Danvers, and I didn’t get that far into her mind. I suppose she figures on selling them back to Danvers — or maybe Pembroke.”

  Harvey abruptly shoved himself away from the table. “It doesn’t matter anyway,” he said. “I’ve got to get hold of...”

  “Harvey Nelson!” Millicent interrupted, with fire in her eye. “Keep away from that bulgy woman!”

  “Can’t,” he said. “I’ve got to get my hands on those lists! Before she has a chance to —”

  “Harvey Nelson,” said Millicent, quietly. “You stay away from that over-upholstered —”

  Omega cut her short. “We’re too late,” he said. “She and Danvers have gone.”

  Chapter 14: The Great Darkness

  THE doorman had little to offer in the way of information, except for the fact that Danvers and the blonde had taken a cab. He had held the door for them, but hadn’t heard Danvers give an address. In fact, he was almost sure that no address had been given.

  “If you really want to find out,” he suggested, “just wait here a while. The driver will come back. That is, unless he gets another fare before he returns.”

  “Omega,” muttered Harvey. “Did you happen to learn the lady’s address while you were reading her mind?”

  Omega didn’t answer for several seconds. When he did, he merely said: “Aaaah...” and then punctuated the remark by collapsing limply to the sidewalk. The clay dummy landed with a dull thud amidst the crumpled wearing apparel. It cocked itself sideways and smiled pleasantly at no one in particular.