“Why would your father jump when he’d got his money back?”
“But if he didn’t have the money, why should anyone kill him?”
“Several things might have happened. The murderer might have killed him in an attempt to rob him. He might have killed him while torturing him to make him tell where the money was.”
“But in both cases the murderer would have to think he had the money!”
“Right. Parker and Souders had reason to believe he had it. So did Westfall and maybe a half-dozen or more of his stooges including Hinchman. And then there was you.”
“Me! Why, you can’t—”
“No, I don’t think you killed your father for thirty grand, though even a girl your size could have pushed him out of the window.”
“Well, thanks. I suppose after what I tried to do to Westfall, you’d be justified in thinking anything of me — even murder.”
“Well, I don’t, but I’ve an open mind. Run along to bed now, and I’ll see you in the morning.”
My cab driver hadn’t waited for his fare, which had been plenty. He had beat it back to the Silver Dollar to tell all to Westfall and collect an appropriate bonus. I got another cab. It was ten-thirty when I walked into the Maramoor lobby. I went to a pay phone, closed the booth and called the Silver Dollar. I asked for Westfall, and got him.
“Ditson had his payoff,” I told him. “The girl has the money.”
“So I heard,” said Westfall. “Only my tip is you’ve got the double payoff.”
“Your tip’s right. I’m holding it, but you’ll get it back soon enough. I want you to keep it under your hat for a little while.”
“Anything you say. I feel sorry about my lack of faith in my boys. They were good boys. It’s too bad I can’t apologize to them.”
“Oh, you can’t? Why not?”
“A while ago they went over Briarton Cliff in their car. A sheer drop of over a hundred feet. It’s a shame.”
“Yes, it’s a shame.”
I hung up. I’d counted on Parker and Souders contacting me by this time. Now they’d do no talking, and it was going to be tough getting the indictments Keever had ordered.
I thought I’d concentrate on a different indictment. Westfall had shown his nasty temper. The hot-seat would sweat it out of him. Parker and Souders had been muggs, but they had also been human beings, and there’s a law.
I stopped at the hotel safe and deposited the thirty grand. Then I went up to my room. I hadn’t much more than turned on the lights when there was a visitor in the doorway.
“Mr. Corbett,” he said. “I’m Dwight Brown, Sheila Brown’s brother.”
“Oh, come in. How’d you happen along?”
“Carl Bronson told me about your visit. It wasn’t hard locating you. I’ve been waiting for an hour in the lobby.”
“Then you must have something important to say.”
“I have. Sheila’s death has been a terrible shock to me. But it’s opened my eyes to a great many things.”
“To what?”
“To the fact that Midtown’s a rotten place so long as there are rats like Spain Westfall!”
“I get it. You used to be one of his best customers — now you blame him for your sister’s death.”
“Oh, I know he wasn’t directly responsible. His connection was relatively remote. But if Ditson hadn’t been a sucker at the Silver Dollar, he wouldn’t have committed suicide. And if there hadn’t been any Silver Dollar, he wouldn’t have been a sucker. And if there hadn’t been any Spain Westfall, there wouldn’t have been a Silver Dollar.”
That was the way he looked at it, and I couldn’t blame him.
“Well, what do you want to do about it?”
“I want to bust the whole racket wide open. And I can do it!”
Chapter Three
Killing Takes Practice
I went over and locked my door. I got a bottle out of my bag and poured doubles. There were only two glasses — if Brown wanted a chaser, he could get it for himself. I didn’t need one. We drank.
“Well, son, let’s have it.”
“I’ve got enough on Westfall and Hinchman to put both of them away for keeps. You see, I’ve kind of palled around with Westfall. I think it flattered him to have me around. My family’s always been tops in this town. I think Westfall might have had social ideas in the back of his head. He talked of retiring when the war boom is over.”
Brown paused, looked around nervously.
“Mind if I have another?”
I got him another. I was on pins and needles, and forgot to pour one for myself, a rare thing.
“Yes, I’ve been pretty close to Westfall. Maybe you know how openly he plays the thing. A couple of summers back when the Reform Committee got things closed up for a couple of months he even ran an ad in the papers. It said: ‘Owing to excessive heat, the south wing of the Silver Dollar will be closed for the remainder of the summer.’ Just like that.”
“Why shouldn’t he play it open? With his protection he owns the town.”
“Sure. The chief of police, the sheriff and the D. A. are just hired help to him. Hinchman’s the boy who keeps them in line. He got the chief out of town as soon as the Ditson thing broke — he didn’t want a weak sister in his way. Even Westfall’s men don’t suspect Hinchman’s high man because the boss himself handles most of his payoffs.”
“I hope you aren’t just talking. You said something about being able to back this up.”
“Sure I can. I’ve seen Hinchman paid off a dozen times. Both he and Westfall took me for granted.”
“Is that all you’ve got — your word against theirs?”
“Hell, no! One day last summer I went fishing with Hinchman. He threw his coat over the back of the seat. Seven bank notes fell out on the car floor. They were on that many different banks and in that many different names. Hinchman didn’t notice them. I jotted down the data on the back of an envelope. I figured the information might come in handy some time.”
“For blackmailing Westfall into paying back your losses, maybe?”
“No. You must have been listening to Carl Bronson. According to him I’m a hopeless spendthrift gambling away my inheritance. Actually it’s almost intact. Westfall lets me win enough almost to break even. I just pay dues at the Silver Dollar. But I think maybe my bank account data might come in handy if Westfall decided to drop me and cash in real quick.”
“But you’ve got the goods on Hinchman, not Westfall.”
Brown looked me over. “You think Hinchman will take his rap alone? You think he hasn’t got enough on Westfall to take him with him? Break Hinchman, and you break the racket, too.”
“Well, the dope on the bank books combined with your testimony about the payoffs should do the trick if handled rightly — if you should live that long. A couple of Westfall’s boys, Parker and Souders, had some idea earlier in the evening. They went over Briarton Cliff. A sad accident.”
Brown eyed me thoughtfully. “So Stonie and Punch were going to sing? Westfall couldn’t have known that. They were on his list because they ran out with the booty to be handed back to Ditson.”
“I know. But you’ll get the same treatment if Westfall finds out you’ve been to see me. Is there any place you can hide out? Surely a young buck like you would have an address not in a telephone book.”
“I do. It’s a lodge in the hills out beyond Briarton Cliff. Nobody — no man, I mean, knows where it is.”
“Fine. Now, get out of here as fast as you can, only first draw me a diagram.”
Brown drew a crude one on a telephone pad and explained it.
Without a map it would take six squirrels and a finance company collector to find the lodge, it was that far back in the woods. I hoped Brown wasn’t kidding himself about its secrecy and that he wouldn’t be tailed. I don’t think I mentioned that he was a nice looking chap, not nearly the sad sister Carl Bronson had described him to be. Only I couldn’t forget that he might have dropped more dough at the Silver Dollar than he’d let on and that he seemed to know all about Westfall’s business. It was ghastly to think that in trying to rob Ditson he had killed his own sister!