No Orchids for Miss Blandish, James Hadley Chase [most read book in the world .txt] 📗

behind her.

“You’re going to be sorry for this!” Anna yelled at Brennan. “I want my lawyer!”

“Sit down, Anna,” Brennan said quietly. “I want to talk to you.”

“Where do you get this Anna stuff from?” Anna snapped. “I’m Miss Borg to you.”

“Sit down and shut up!” one of the detectives barked.

“Ape!” Anna shrilled, but she sat down, looking uneasily from Brennan to Fenner.

“We have reason to believe that Miss Blandish, the girl kidnapped four months ago, is being held at the Paradise Club,” Brennan said.

Anna stared at him. Her face was bewildered.

“Have you gone nuts?” she demanded. “Everyone knows Frankie Riley snatched the girl. What are you getting at?”

“That’s what we thought, but we know different now,” Brennan went on. “The Grisson gang took the girl from Riley. We’re pretty certain she is in the club right now.”

“Are you trying to frame Eddie?” Anna said, her eyes narrowing. “Don’t expect me to help you, copper. I don’t know nothing about any snatch.”

Fenner said, “Time marches on, Brennan. Let her see the exhibits. If they don’t soften her, nothing will.”

Brennan nodded. He signaled to one of the detectives who moved over to Anna.

“Come on, baby. I’ve got something to show you.”

Anna looked uneasily at Brennan.

“I want my lawyer. You can’t keep me here…”

“Come on; don’t talk so much,” the detective said.

Anna got to her feet. She followed the detective out of the room. Fenner and Brennan exchanged glances.

“I don’t think she knows anything,” Brennan said. “We could be wasting our time.”

“We can but try,” Fenner said and lit a cigarette.

They waited.

After ten minutes or so, the door pushed open and the detective brought Anna back. He was supporting her. Her face was white and her eyes were pools of horror. She dropped limply into the chair and she hid her face in her hands.

“Can you identify him as Riley?” Brennan asked.

She shuddered.

“You dirty sonsofbitches,” she said. “How could you do this to me?”

Fenner went over to her.

“He isn’t a pretty sight, is he? The Grisson gang did that to him. We found the three of them: Riley, Bailey and Old Sam. It’s a sweet setup for Ma Grisson, and what a laugh Eddie must have had when you believed Riley had walked out on you. Riley got the blame for everything and all the time he was dead and buried. Did you get any of the ransom money? I bet you didn’t. All you got was a cheap strip job at the club and a tumble from Eddie. Well, here’s your chance to even the score. How about it, baby?”

“Get away from me!” Anna screamed at him. “I don’t know nothing about nothing!”

“Get smart,” Fenner said. “You’re in the clear now; keep in the clear. You cooperate with us, and we’ll cooperate with you. Now listen, we want to know if the girl’s in the club. We think she is, but we’ve got to know for certain. She’s in the locked room upstairs, isn’t she?”

White-faced and shaking, Anna glared at him.

“Find out for yourself!”

“Put yourself in that girl’s place!” Brennan said, leaning across his desk. “How would you like to be shut up with a moron like Grisson? Come on, Anna, if you know anything, spill it. There’s a fifteen grand reward, and I’ll see you get it.”

“Oh, drop dead!” Anna said viciously. “I’ve never squealed to a copper and I’m not starting now!”

Fenner said, “Can I talk to this baby alone for five minutes?”

Brennan hesitated, then he got to his feet. Time was pressing. He went out of the room, jerking his head at the two detectives who followed him out.

Anna faced Fenner.

“You’re wasting your breath,” she said. “I’ve got nothing to tell you.”

“I think you have,” Fenner said. “Anyway, I’ve something to tell you. I’ve been checking up on you. Brennan doesn’t know you had a room at the Palace Hotel on the night Alvin Heinie was shot to death. He doesn’t know you own a .25 automatic, but he does know Heinie was shot with a .25. It wouldn’t take him long to put two and two together and slap a murder charge on you if I told him what I’m telling you. You had the motive, the opportunity and the gun. You cooperate with me and I’ll keep my mouth shut, otherwise I’m going to tip Brennan off that you were at the hotel that night and then he’ll really work you over.”

Anna’s eyes shifted.

“How about it?” Fenner asked. “We’re wasting time. Is the Blandish girl in the club?”

Anna hesitated, then she said, “I don’t know, but there is a girl in that room. I’ve never seen her. I don’t know if she’s the girl or not.”

Fenner went to the door and called Brennan in.

“She’s had a change of mind,” he said. “She knows there is a girl in the locked room, but she hasn’t seen her.”

“How do you know there’s a girl there if you haven’t seen her?” Brennan demanded.

“I’ve heard the boys talk,” Anna said sullenly. “I’ve seen Ma go up there with stuff from the laundry. I’ve seen Slim go in there with packages from women’s stores.”

“Now start using your brains,” Brennan said. “How do we bust in there and get to the girl before she gets hurt?”

Anna shrugged.

“Search me. I’m not running your stinking police force. That’s your job.”

“When the club’s open, what are the chances of rushing the place?” Fenner asked.

“Not a chance. They’ve really got that end organized. Every member is known. Until they identify themselves, the door’s not opened.”

“Is there any other way in?”

“I don’t know of one.”

Brennan and Fenner exchanged glances. Fenner shrugged.

“Okay,” Brennan said. He went to the door and called the wardress. “Take her to Doyle’s office and sit with her.”

“Hey!” Anna exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “You’re not keeping me here! Now listen…”

“You’re staying here until we get die girl,” Brennan said. “Take her away.”

Protesting loudly, Anna was pushed out of the room. When her yells had died away down the passage, Brennan said. “She’s told us exactly nothing.”

“Except there is a girl in the locked room,” Fenner said, “and it can’t be anyone else but the Blandish girl, but how do we get her out?”

“If we’re going to bust in there,” Brennan said, “we’ve got to make sure none of the club members are there. The first move is to cordon off the joint and stop anyone going in. The club opens around ten o’clock,” He looked at his watch. “It’s not yet eight. If we could pick up one of the Grisson gang, we might be able to persuade him to talk. There may be another way into the club besides through that steel door.” He picked up the telephone receiver. “That you, Doyle? I want one of the Grisson gang, and I want him fast. No, I don’t care who it is. Get them all if you can, but I want at least one in a hurry. Okay.” He hung up. “If any of those rats are floating around town, we’ll have them. There’s not much else we can do now except wait.”

“We should tell Blandish what’s cooking,” Fenner said. “After all, she’s his daughter.”

Brennan hesitated, then nodded. He waved to the telephone.

“Okay: go ahead and tell him,” he said.

7

Eddie Schultz discovered he wasn’t as tough as he imagined he was. Although the movie he was watching had plenty of action, it didn’t hold his interest.

He kept thinking of Miss Blandish. She would be dead by now, he told himself. What would Ma do with the girl’s body? He guessed that would be a lousy job for him and Flynn to handle. How would Slim react? Eddie thought he wouldn’t be in Ma’s shoes for any money.

Suddenly he couldn’t stand the darkness of the movie house any longer. He got up and pushing his way roughly past the three people between him and the aisle, he walked to the exit. The time was three minutes past eight. He needed a drink. Crossing the street, he went into a bar, ordered a double Scotch, then went over to a telephone booth and called his apartment. He would tell Anna to join him at the bar, and they would have an early dinner together. He didn’t feel like sharing his own company any longer.

He was irritated when he got no answer. It was unusual for Anna to leave the apartment before nine. Where had she got to? He went back to the bar, tossed off the drink, paid for it and left the bar. He decided he’d drive over to his apartment. Maybe Anna had slipped out for a moment and would be back.

He reached his apartment, parked his car and entered the apartment lobby.

The janitor, a heavily built Negro, was sitting in his office, reading the racing sheet.

“Hi, Curly,” Eddie said, pausing, “did you see Miss Borg go out?”

The janitor lowered his newspaper.

“Sure did, Mr. Schultz. She went out ten minutes after you did.” He squinted at Eddie curiously. “She had a suitcase with her.”

Eddie frowned.

“Okay, Curly.” He crossed to the elevator and rode up to his apartment, unlocked the door and entered. He went into the bedroom. The closet doors stood wide open. He saw at a glance most of Anna’s clothes were missing.

He swore under his breath. So she had skipped! Should he tell Ma? He hesitated. Ma would have to know. He crossed over to the telephone as the front doorbell rang.

Who could this be? he asked himself uneasily. His hand slid inside his coat and his fingers closed over the butt of his gun. He went to the door.

“Who is it?” he called.

“A message from Miss Borg, Mr. Schultz,” the janitor called.

Hurriedly, Eddie unlocked the door which smashed open as he turned the handle, sending him reeling back into the room. Before he could recover his balance, two big men had piled into the room and were covering him with guns.

“Take it easy, Schultz,” one of them said. “Just keep your hands still.”

The janitor, his eyes rolling, peered into the room, then he turned and hurried away.

Eddie faced the detectives.

“You’ve got nothing on me,” he said, a cold uneasy feeling in his stomach. “What’s the big idea—busting in like this?”

One of the big men moved around him and took away his gun.

“Got a permit for this, Schultz?” he asked.

Eddie didn’t say anything.

“Come on. Don’t let’s have any trouble. If you want it, you can have plenty of it, but why want it?”

“I’m not coming with you,” Eddie snarled. “You’ve got nothing on me.”

“The same old story,” the detective said. “Let’s go.” Eddie hesitated, then he let the two men shove him into the elevator and down to the waiting police car. Ten minutes later, he was facing Brennan and Fenner in Brennan’s office.

“What’s the big idea?” Eddie blustered. “You’ve no right to bring me here. I want my lawyer.”

“Show him the exhibits,” Brennan said, “then bring him back.”

Shrugging, Eddie swaggered out with the two detectives, but he felt far from swaggering. Why had they picked up Anna? Just how much did Anna know? Had she talked?

Five minutes later, he was back in front of Brennan, white-faced and shaking.

“We know you and your pals knocked those guys off,” Brennan said. “Johnny talked before he was hit. We know you and your pals snatched the Blandish girl. You have a chance to save your dirty hide, Schultz. We want the girl out of the club. You tell us how