The Venus Death_A Ralph Lindsay Mystery by Ben Benson

Author:Ben Benson [Benson, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, Fiction, murder, police procedural, Crime, Mystery & Detective, suspense, General
ISBN: 9781479436316
Google: eThJDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2018-01-18T17:52:02+00:00

I sat behind a dirty, littered table that served as a desk. I moved a spindle stacked with bills and waited. A shadow moved along the wall and Helen Toledo came in.

“Hi,” she said. “You’re a cop, huh?”

“Ralph Lindsey,” I said. “State Police.”

“Ah,” she said. She surveyed me. She sat down. Her mascara was heavy and her eyelids blued, and she was over thirty years old. She had voluptuous hips and she moved them from side to side as she adjusted her position in the chair. She tugged at her girdle. “Honestly,” she said confidentially, “I must be getting fat. I was built when meat was cheap and I got to watch my weight all the time.”

“You look fine,” I said.

“Thanks, kid. You got a cigarette on you?”

I took out my pack and handed it over. She picked out one, wet it with the tip of her tongue and put it in her mouth. I leaned over and lit it for her.

“It’s a chance to grab a smoke,” she said, taking the cigarette from her mouth and exhaling. “It don’t look good for me to be smoking out there,” she added virtuously. She ran her tongue over the bright carmine of her lips. “So you’re Ralph Lindsey, huh? You was in the papers this morning.”

“I know.”

“Manette used to mention you.”

“What did she say?”

“Nothing much—except that she fell for you like a ton of bricks. You fishing for something about her?”

“Yes,” I said. “We want to know where she came from. Her family, her past. Miss Toledo, did she ever talk to you about those things?”

“She never told me nothing.”

“You met her here at the café, Miss Toledo. How?”

She took a deep drag on the cigarette and blew the smoke out. “Manette comes in here alone one night. About a month ago. I serve her an orange blossom. Then she gives me a song-and-dance about being alone in the big city. Me and my big heart, I feel sorry for the kid. So I meet her outside after work and we go to an eating place. Then another time she phoned me and we went to a picture show. A couple of times I went to the house where she lived and we had a hen party. Then last week she meets you. It beats me how quick she changed. Brother, from then on she wants to talk about you all the time. I see she don’t need me any more, so I keep away. That’s all. Last night a cop comes to see me and says Manette was knocked off by some dame. Hey, was I surprised! I hadn’t seen Manette for two-three days.”

“She didn’t phone you or anything?”

“No. She always was a moody kid.”

“Maybe she had a reason,” I said. “Maybe she was in some kind of trouble.”

Helen Toledo was pensive for a moment, the blue tobacco smoke curling up from her nostrils. “Sure, something was eating her the whole time I knew her. But don’t ask me what, because Manette didn’t talk about nothing but you and the weather.

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