“Okay, then. Have a squad standing by a phone, but first you come alone. Quick.”
He hung up without answering. I hopped a cab to the Naples and stood across the street. In 10 minutes another cab came along and the big man got out. He walked inside and when I was fairly certain nobody else was around, I crossed over and went inside. He was sitting there at a table with a cup of coffee in front of him, waiting.
I said, “It’s not so snotty like the first time, is it?”
His face was hard. “Let’s hear it, Ryan.”
For some reason I wasn’t edgy any more. I put my face in my hands and rubbed hard, then leaned on the table and stared at him. “Art Shay was killed,” I said.
He nodded again. “We know. The police think you did it.”
“Who found him?”
“Young kid upstairs who used his typewriter. Trying to be a free-lance writer. He’s clean.”
“So am I. No alibi. No proof. I’m just saying.”
He tried one on me for size. “Spanish Tom showed up.”
“Yeah, dead.”
“You get around. We squelched the story.”
“I was there right after it happened.”
His eyes slitted a little bit. “What did you know about him?”
“Nothing, but I’ll damn soon find out.”
“How?”
“I’m pretty sure I know where his partner will be tonight.”
“You want to tell me?”
“Not me, Big Man. I’m going all the way on this party.”
“All right, Ryan, what did you want to call this... this meeting for?”
I sat back and sucked in my breath. “I want some answers. I want them straight and to the point. I have a funny feeling that I’ve touched something someplace and I’m close to what I want. I never did like any part of this business, but I’m in it all the way and if I want to stay alive and you want to get your answers, check me off with the truth.”
He made a short gesture with his hand. “Go ahead.”
“Was I suckered into this thing with big talk or because I was suspect?”
For a moment he looked at my face, then made his decision. “A little of both. You were suspect because you were brought into it by Billings. We had to grasp at straws no matter how small.”
“Why?”
“You know why. Whatever Billings had was an international affair. The underworld of two continents was breaking out the war drums. We knew something was developing but we didn’t know why, where or how.”
“And how far are you now?”
The smile he gave me was cold. “In our own way we have made progress.” I waited and smiled back, just as cold. If he wanted anything, then he couldn’t afford to stop. He knew it and said, “Coincidence is the killer of men.”
“It’s late for philosophy.”
“Yes, it is. We know something about Spanish Tom and Lias. We can guess at what happened.”
I swung at a wild one. “They overheard something they shouldn’t’ve.”
The swing connected and big man squinted at me. He nodded, then went on. “A dock watchman remembered them drinking behind some bales of rags. It wasn’t too uncommon and it was easier letting them sleep it off than fight them off so he just forgot it.
“Later he was pulled away by someone yelling for help in the water and it took about an hour to drag some dame out who apparently didn’t want to go. She stalled as long as she could. Our guess is that it was a feint to get the watchman off so a plant could be made on the Gastry.
“We figure that sometime during the action, either Escalante or Lias overheard or saw what was going on and figured it for the usual smuggling bit and thought they could step into the play and make a fast buck for themselves.”
“How could you confirm it?” I asked.
“At that time Spanish customs, acting with Interpol, cracked down hard on all points. Nothing was getting out by the usual routes and four big outfits were broken up. Still, traffic had to get through and it’s well known that these operations all have emergency plans and in this case one went into effect. Whatever it was couldn’t stay in Lisbon without being uncovered sooner or later so the Gastry became the transporter.”
“Who was involved on board?”
“Nobody. These affairs are not of the moment. They’re set up far in advance. Undoubtedly the Gastry was fitted with a hiding place a long time ago to be used when necessary and without anyone on board being the wiser. When in the other port another operative would remove the shipment by preconceived plan. These groups are pretty smart. They’re big business. Even big government. We checked out every man on the Gastry so far and they’re clean. Lias and Escalante were there by coincidence. Some time we’ll strip the ship down and find out how it was done.”
“That brings us to Billings.”
The big man looked across the table at me, the question in his eyes a genuine one. “Do you know how, Irish?”
“I think so.”
“Are you going to wait to tell me?”
“No.” I let all the pieces come together slowly and began to fit them in place. I said, “Through a language association the two met a guy named Juan Gonzales. They mentioned what they had and wanted a buyer. Juan got greedy all of a sudden, I think. He knew he could buy for peanuts and sell big. Maybe the two knew what a good going price was and kept it fairly high. Anyway, Juan knew the guy with the loot who was looking for a touch. Billings had ten grand of ready money. He let Juan make the buy, probably on a partnership basis. Later he killed him and had the buy for himself. Juan was a scared lad. Maybe he knew he was set up to be tapped off. Billings was scared too. The original owners wanted possession and were going after it. Billings couldn’t run fast enough. They caught him. He went out letting me hold the bag.”
“Who was it, Irish? Who is Lodo?”
“Art died because he was about to find out. Lodo was the code name for the Mafia enforcer on the east coast here.”
He didn’t say anything. It didn’t seem to register on him.
“It’s important, isn’t it?” I said.
“Maybe. The Mafia is a catchall term sometimes. It’s still big, but sometimes is the patsy for other big outfits. We have leads into most of the Mafia sections and haven’t heard of this angle yet.”
“There’s always something new,” I told him. “Now... how new was what I told you?”
“New enough. It’s going to change our operation.” He paused, stared at me and rubbed his chin with his fist. “You left out some parts, Irish.”
“Like what?”
“Why everybody wants you dead.”
I let him see my teeth. “I wish I knew. When I do, I’ll have your Lodo, laddie.”
“Maybe you’ve done enough right now.”
He saw more teeth. “No no, daddy-o. Remember in the beginning... that big bundle of bills? I want them. I got plans.”
“Care to talk about them?”
“No. But I will give you something to look at. Whoever wants me has my place staked out. Some of those boys you’d like to have and you can get them if you try putting a decoy into my pad. It could prove real interesting.”
“We know where they are. We even had it in mind. We were there when the Etchings picked you up this morning.”
My mouth must have hung open. “Damn,” I said. “That was a ride. Why didn’t you move in?”
He shrugged casually. “I didn’t call it because I knew you’d come out of the trap. By the way, where are they now?”
I played it just as casually. “Someplace in Jersey and Stan Etching has a hole in his gut.”
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll put it down as a verbal report.”
He stood up and said, “Be careful tonight. If you need help, you can call.”