1953 - The Double Shuffle by James Hadley Chase

Author:James Hadley Chase [Chase, James Hadley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

chapter seven

I

The only light in the room came from the desk lamp that made a pool of light on the desk and carpet.

Police Captain Ed. Hackett rolled a pencil across his blotter, then rolled it back again. In the shadows, away from the light, Micklin chewed a dead cigar and scowled up at the ceiling while Fanshaw kept rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, yawning. He had been in bed when I had used the police phone to get him down to headquarters. I sat by the desk and nursed an aching arm. I had had four bits of shot picked out of my left biceps, and I was feeling low.

‘You have no idea who did the shooting?’ Hackett asked abruptly without looking up.

‘Not a clue. As the taxi driver told you, he couldn’t be sure if the killer was a man or woman and he was too scared to get the car’s number. I was too seared even to think of trying.’

‘Who was he after - you or Mrs. Hoffman?’

‘I have an idea it was me.’

‘Okay,’ Hackett said, looking up sharply. ‘Let’s see if we can straighten this thing out. Let’s start in at the beginning. Why did you go to Hoffman’s house?’

‘I found out he was working for Joyce Sherman. I hoped I could get him to loosen up and tell me what the job was.’ I went on to describe how I had found Hoffman’s card in Joyce’s drawer, and what Mrs. Hoffman had told me. ‘It’s my bet Joyce was to meet Hoffman the night she disappeared.’

‘Think he kidnapped her?’ Fanshaw asked.

I shook my head.

‘I’m beginning to think she hasn’t been kidnapped. My guess is she and Hoffman cooked up the kidnapping between them to get the ransom money for themselves.’

‘For the love of Pete,’ Fanshaw exploded. ‘How do you work that out?’

‘From what Mrs. Hoffman told me. She heard Hoffman ask Joyce for money. He was set to blackmail Joyce. She and he were mixed up in the murder of a janitor of a business block on 4th Street.’

‘You mean Joe Mason?’ Hackett asked sharply. ‘The guy who was knifed on Tuesday night?’

‘Yeah. The night of the kidnapping. I happened to be in the district that night, and I saw a woman leave the alley leading to Mason’s door. She was wearing a perfume called Joy. I ran into Hoffman in a Chinese restaurant next door. For some reason Joyce was interested in certain insurance policies held by a girl named Susan Gellert. Joyce hired Hoffman to find out where the policies were kept. When he had traced them to this girl’s agent, Joyce went with him to the agent’s office to examine them. Mason probably heard them break in. He was knifed while Hoffman was faking a robbery in another office to cover up the real motive of their search.’

‘Are you telling me Hoffman killed Mason?’ Hackett asked.

I shook my head.

‘I’m pretty sure he didn’t know Mason was dead until the police arrived.

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