Leseprobe

 

 

 

 

JOHN CASSELLS

 

 

The Dead Are Dangerous

A Sugar Kane Mystery

 

A Novel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apex-Verlag

Content

The Book 

 

THE DEAD ARE DANGEROUS 

PART ONE 

PART TWO 

PART THREE 

 

 

The Book

When Sugar Kane, the boxer turned detective, met his old pal Bobby Hynd at Antrade's place, it never occurred to him that he would be talking over Hynd's case before the week was out, and Kane found himself rapidly caught up in a whirlwind of violence, mystery and vicious murder...

 

The Dead Are Dangerous by John Cassells (a pseudonym of the bestselling Scottish author William Murdoch Duncan; * 18. November 1909 in Glasgow; † 19. April 1975 in Glasgow) was first published in 1966; Apex is publishing a new edition of this classic of crime literature in its ENGLISH CRIME NOVELS series.

   THE DEAD ARE DANGEROUS

 

 

 

 

 

 

  PART ONE

 

 

 

  Chapter One

 

 

It was Tuesday; it was mid-November, and it was raining. The rain wasn’t too heavy as yet, but it was coming in on a chilling nor’easter and the Met. boys had promised it would be a nasty one for drifters, trawlers and the like and Kane, walking briskly along to Antrade’s place, began to wish he hadn’t started to get his books in order for Jack Harvey, the accountant, on the floor above. Running a one-man business had its advantages, but there were times when it didn’t work out so well.

This was one of them: this business of chasing up receipts, bills, expenses. Trying to remember what you’d done with the receipts for the week in Newcastle, or the ten days in Bristol last March. There was something to be said for having a nice smart girl in the office: one who could put her finger on this and that at a moment’s notice and save you a lot of headaches.

Kane was thinking that when he went into Antrade’s, peeled off his trench coat and shook it before hanging it up.

Antrade was at the bar. Johnny Antrade was plump, pale-faced and smiling. He was always smiling. Kane thought he had every good reason for smiling for this was a pretty good racket to be in. Every time Antrade moved, he made money, even if it was only handing over a box of matches to a customer. Antrade put up his white fleshy hand in greeting.

»A nasty one, Sugar.« He pushed over Kane’s usual drink.

Kane took it. »It’s going to be nastier yet. I got the

Met. report before I left the office. Storm brewing they say.« He stared out of the window towards the rain slanting down.

»Look at it come down, Sugar. You on the road today?«

Kane shook his head: »Books,« he said. »I have to get down to it, Johnny or the Chancellor is going to get into difficulties. This is the one week in the year, I hate. Let it rain. Best thing it can do. I wouldn’t...« He halted, staring across at a corner table.

Antrade followed his gaze. There was a quiet-looking little character sitting there, his face turned towards them. At the moment he was working on his main course. Antrade said: »What’s wrong, Sugar? You know him?«

Kane nodded. »I know him. Bobby Hynd - but I haven’t seen him for years.«

Antrade looked curious. »What’s his line?«

»Same as me.« Kane laid down his glass. »Thanks, Johnny.« He went across and stood at one side of the table. »Hullo, Bobby.«

This Bobby Hynd was no more than five foot six, was slim, fair and boyish-looking. He started smiling all over his thin face as he rose. »Hullo, Sugar. Nice to see you.« He shook hands and for a little guy, he had a good grip. »Imagine running into you here. What about having some lunch with me?«

Kane laughed. It had been two or three years since they had met. Last time it had been on an insurance job. In those days, Hynd had been an investigator with Sovereign Equitable and a very smart operator too. He waved Cibber over. »Bring the usual tray, Cibber. I’ll have it at this table today.«

Cibber brought the tray and more beer. When he had gone, Kane said: »They tell me you’re in the gumshoe game yourself nowadays.«

Hynd nodded. »Two years ago.«

»Like it better this way?«

Hynd laughed. »It’s harder work, Sugar - and the rewards aren’t maybe just as high. There’s no steady cheque at the end of the month. When you’re working -  you’re earning. When you’re not working, there’s nothing coming in - but I don’t need to tell you that.«

»You don’t,« Kane agreed. »Right now, I’m working on my accounts. They always get in a hell of a muddle around this time of year. Sometimes I wish I had somebody at the office to keep track of things. Receipts and stuff like that. Half the time I forget to ask for them and the rest of the time I lose them. I’ve been working on them since ten o’clock this morning and I’ll still be working on them at ten o’clock tonight.«

»That’s too long, Sugar. You should pack it in at the usual time - get a good rest and finish it nice and fresh tomorrow.«

Kane shook his head. »No dice, Bobby. By tomorrow I’d have forgotten it all again. I’ve got no head for business. All right for the likes of you. You worked in a bank once, didn’t you?«

»That’s right. Verricker’s Bank. Private bankers.« Hynd looked a shade surprised. »How did you know that?«

»You mentioned it once,« Kane said. »That’s the kind of thing I don’t forget. That sort of fact. And how is business these days?«

»I get plenty,« Hynd said. »I’m still one man, but I’m planning to bring in a woman maybe around the beginning of the year. Someone to answer the telephone and do the book-work. Someone I can use in a case now and again.«

»A woman operator?«

Hynd nodded. »You don’t know anyone who would fit the bill, Sugar?«

»I don’t.«

»I figure she’d be useful,« Hynd went on. »She’d only be doing that sort of work part-time, of course, but a capable woman would be a big help. A lot of my clients are women. Divorce stuff and so on. I know you don’t handle that sort of thing.«

»No. I’ve steered clear of it.«

Hynd said, »I hope to pack it in too, Sugar, but when I started my agency I did it on a shoestring. I had to get myself some quick capital, which means I had to take everything that came along. Nothing comes along more than divorce, so I had to handle it. I don’t say I like it - but I can’t afford to scrub it yet.«

Kane drank some beer. »Take my advice and scrub it when you get the chance. If you don’t, you’ll never get the kind of jobs you really want. There’s a lot of interesting work in our line but you have to get known to find it. After all, you don’t make name handling evidence in divorce cases. Anybody can do that, Bobby. Mark you, I’m not knocking the job. Somebody has to do it, the law being what it is - but there are other and more interesting things to do.«

»That’s right,« Hynd said. »I’m working on one just now that makes me think.«

»That’s the kind you want.«

Hynd pushed back his chair, felt for a cigarette then struck a match. »That’s right,« he said thoughtfully. »Maybe you could give me some advice about this one.«

Kane waited.

»Do you know a fellow called Hugo Bale?«

Kane looked surprised. »Do you mean Bale the restaurant fellow? Him who runs the Bronx Lane and the Dive and so on?«

»That’s the fellow.«

»I’ve seen him. I’ve never actually met him. I’ve never spoken to him. Hugo Bale is big business, I can tell you that.«

»What do you know about him?«

Kane looked at him hard for a moment or so. »Well, what I know is what I hear when I go around. It’s probably exactly what you know. Bale’s tough. He’s in the money. He wants to stay in the money. He’s a big spender and he’s got the reputation of being a big gambler.«

»Is that all?«

»Not quite,« Kane said. »Since this is between you and me, Bale has the reputation of being fond of the frauleins.«

Hynd sighed. »I know. I’ve heard that. You know, Sugar, this one puzzles me. I can’t...« He halted, for someone had stopped at the table beside them.

Kane looked up. »Hullo Joe.«

It was Joe Osborne, divisional dick and a very good friend of Kane’s. Osborne was one of those tall, rangy, fair types. A few years ago, he’d been full of face and fresh-complexioned. Now, what with winter coming on and a large bout of overwork behind him, his colour had gone a bit and there was the odd grey hair glistening among the fair ones. Now he stood there, unwinding a long, red and white, hand-knitted scarf and looking down at them. »I hope I’m not intruding, Sugar.«

»Not a bit of it. This is Bobby Hynd - in the gunshoe business like myself. This, Bobby is Joe Osborne, who’s a dick in this division. Sit down, Joe.«

Joe Osborne sat down.

Kane said: »Have you eaten yet?«

Osborne nodded. »I had a couple of pork pies at Pete’s Grill. That’s enough for me, Sugar.«

»You’ll feel better if you have some beer.« Kane rang for more beer.

Osborne said, »I called up at your office, Sugar. I thought I’d maybe get you before you left.«

»I left early,« Kane told him.

»So I thought I’d get you here. I hope I haven’t bust up a lunch appointment?«

»Nothing like it.«

»Good,« Osborne said. He was looking across at Hynd, then he grinned. »Of course. I wondered why you [ looked familiar, Mr. Hynd. You used to be with the Sovereign Equitable. I remember they brought us into a job seven or eight years back - and we had to cart Tim Feeney and Bert Stilton to the jug.«

Hynd’s eyes lit up. »Yes - I was on that one. I didn’t remember you, but...«

»Sergeant Foster was in charge,« Osborne said. »I was a kind of dogsbody. I’ve leaned a bit since then. I suppose we all have. You still with S.E.?«

»No, I’m working for myself now.«

»Like Sugar?«

Hynd laughed. »I suppose so. I’ll put it this way. I’d like to be like Sugar - but you don’t get that way all at once. You have to work for it.« He looked down at his watch. »And now, gentlemen, I’ve got to break it up.« He rose as he spoke. »I’m a working operator now. No more big meals in the Company’s time.« He looked back at Kane. »One of these days we must have a little get-together again, Sugar. What do you say?«

»A good idea. I’m in the book. Ring me when you’ve got time for it. You’ll know what it means if you don’t get any reply.«

Hynd laughed. »I’ll know,« he said ruefully. »Good day, Mr. Osborne.« He raised his hand in salute and left.

Osborne watched him go. »You get surprises, Sugar. Who would ever say that little fellow was a private operator? He looks more like a counter clerk.«

Kane said thoughtfully, »And yet Bobby Hynd is quite a tough, little number. He used to come around Ken Green’s gymnasium a lot when I was training there and I’ve seen him having a work out. He’s as hard as he needs to be. Not very much of him, but what there is, is good. I saw him go to work on Lance Harman once.«

Osborne looked surprised. »Harman was quite rough himself. I remember him.«

»But not rough enough,« Kane told him. He began to refill his pipe. »Hynd was twice as fast as he was and cut him to ribbons.«

»That little fellow?«

»That little fellow,« Kane agreed. »Don’t sell him short, Joe. And he was a pretty smart operator with S.E. He had to be. They’ve got no time for no-users.«

»Where is his office?«

»Damned if I know. I didn’t ask.«

Joe Osborne pressed out the butt of his cigarette. »It’s nice to know people are getting on so well, Sugar. Here I am, just keeping my head above water. Still, that’s about as much as the big majority manage these days.« He sat back frowning.

Kane grinned. He knew Joe Osborne with a wife and a raft of kids, didn’t have it any too easy. He said: »Let’s get down to it, Joe. You came looking for me.«

»That’s right. I want a hand out.«

»Who is it?«

Osborn said, »Mush Keegan.«

Kane looked up in some surprise. »Keegan? I haven’t heard of him in a twelvemonth. What has Keegan been up to, Joe?«

Osborne lit another cigarette, then held it out and looked at it. »That’s four today. I’ve got two to go. I’m on ration now. Keegan? A stick-up in Culver Street. Marston and Wills, Jewellers. That’s what they call themselves. Three boys walked in at 7 o’clock on Friday night and took them for around £3,000. One of them was tall, thin and left-handed. They all wore silk stockings or nylons - but it could have been Keegan.«

Kane thought it over. »Keegan isn’t a bad lad, Joe. What do you want me to do?«

Joe Osborne said: »The Inspector thinks it could have been Keegan. He’s got us chasing him. Now, I don’t know, Sugar. I’m easy - but I have to go on looking, which is not a very easy thing to do. Anyway, I’ve got plenty on my plate, so I remember you once found

Keegan for me before and I reckon what you have done once, you’ll do again - always provided I ask nice.«

Kane laughed. »You want me to shop him?«

»No - it doesn’t amount to that. But if you could have a word with him, Sugar it would save a lot of leg work for me, because I’ll have to keep on looking till I find him.«

»I’ll see what I can do,« Kane said.

Osborne sighed. »Thanks, Sugar.« He rose as he spoke, yawned as he did so. »Am I tired? I’ve done three nights in a row with no more than four hours’ sleep. It begins to get you down. So now I have to go along and see the Super. You’ll ring me if you get hold of Keegan?«

»That’s a promise.«

Joe Osborne grinned his boyish grin and went out.

Kane watched him go, thinking Joe was a very nice young character indeed and just a bit too conscientious. One of these days they’d make him up and he’d go to another division or maybe to Central. That would remove him from his present sphere of influence, but it would always be nice to know there was a guy like Joe Osborne hanging about in the background. Kane knocked out his pipe, squared the bill and walked thoughtfully back through the rain to the office in Proud Lane.

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

 

Kane worked till three o’clock on his books and packed it in. After that he locked up the office, buttoned up the collar of his trench coat then went round to the Underground Station and took a ticket for Notting Hill Gate. When he got there, he walked on till he came to a drab little street that ended in a blind alley, and at the very farthest point of it, there was a shop window and above it:

 

ISAAC FLEET

ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES

 

Kane lifted the old-fashioned latch and went in, figuring that the shop wasn’t very much of an advertisement for anybody in the electrical line of business, being about as gloomy as a November afternoon without any light at all. So far as he could see, the shop was empty, then, away back among a lot of dusty parcels and cartons, something stirred.

Kane kicked the side of the counter and said: »Shop.«

A little fat guy came bustling over. He touched a switch as he did so and Kane was suddenly left blinking. He was standing there trying to accustom his eyes to all this new light when he heard the little guy say:

»So help me, Sugar Kane.«

»That’s right, Ike.«

Ike Fleet came round the counter. »How come you’re in this part of the world?«

»I want a little help.«

Ike Fleet looked at him for a moment, then shot the

bolt on the door. »Come on round to the back, Sugar.« He switched off the light, took Kane into the rear room where there was one old armchair with stuffing bulging out of it and a collection of cartons and wooden boxes, bits of corrugated wrapping and the smell of insulating tape. »Sit down, Sugar. Take the chair.«

Kane sat down gingerly.

Fleet sat on a stack of cartons and proffered a cigarette, »Nice to see you again. You know who I ran into a couple of weeks ago? Johnny Hatch. There’s a feller for you. He’s in the big time now. Money to bum and a Bentley to drive around in.« He shook his head. »I remember when he used to cut my hair at Alf Mondino’s saloon.«

For ten minutes or so, they exchanged reminiscences, then Fleet said: »You didn’t come over here for that, Sugar. Who is it?«

»Mush Keegan.«

The little man kept looking at him. »What’s he been up to?«

»I don’t think he’s been up to anything,« Kane told him. »I’m just checking up on him. I want to have a little talk - that’s all, Ike.«

Fleet sat scowling. After a minute or two, he said: »Mush is all right, Sugar. Maybe a bit hot-headed at times and kind of strong in the arm. He don’t use what you might call discretion like a lot of other people, but a good boy for all that, so I just don’t like to think maybe I could be making trouble for him - eh?«

»No trouble.«

Fleet’s heavy features cleared. »You mean that, Sugar? No trouble.«

Kane said, »Let’s put it like this, Ike. I want to talk to him. I’ll give you my word that no trouble comes out of that. Any trouble that’s coming along would be coming whether I see him or not. You get me?«

Fleet thought it over. »I suppose so. Right, Sugar. You make a promise, that’s good enough for me. He’s got a room with a widder in Prain Alley. Name of Medder -  Mrs. Alice Medder. The number is 17. You’ll find him there.«

»When?«

Fleet looked at the watch on his fat wrist. »I’d say round about now. Probably be sleeping. He’s got a job at the Dive. That’s one of Bale’s places.«

Kane looked over in some surprise. »What does he do there?«

»Chucker-out,« Fleet said. »They don’t call it that, but that’s what it amounts to.« There was the sound of someone knocking on the bolted door.

Kane rose. »That sounds like a customer trying to get in. I don’t want you to lose money, Ike.« He began to walk towards the door.

»Let him go,« Fleet said indifferently. »If it’s a customer, he’ll be back. All my customers are regulars, Sugar.« He listened for a moment. »He’s gone now. Well, I hope you get hold of Mush. You better tell him I sent you.«

»I’ll do that,« Kane agreed. »Thanks, Ike.« He walked into the shop, drew the bolt and opened the door. »You say 17 Prain Alley?«

»That’s it - Care of Medder.«

Kane raised his hand in salute and closed the door. For a moment or so he stood in the doorway watching the rain come down as he buttoned up the collar of his trench coat. It was, he thought, queer that this Mush Keegan should be in the employ of Hugo Bale, when he had heard Bale’s name mentioned so short a time ago, but he didn’t waste much time thinking about it at all. In Kane’s line of business, you got to expect that sort of thing. Characters like Mush Keegan, who lived in the half-light, were quite likely to know night club owners. Most of them worked to get money to spend in those kind of places and anyway everybody knew Bale. He stepped out into the street now and walked on till he got a cab.

The cab dropped him at one end of Prain Alley which was a narrow, dark little street of grimy, grey tenements. He found 17 and it was just like the rest. Kane went through the shabby entrance-way and up a narrow stairway. On the first floor he saw a door on which a brass plate read:

 

S. MEDDER

 

Kane touched the bell and waited. He didn’t have long to wait, for in a moment or so came a little, old woman dressed in black.

She looked at him suspiciously. »Yes?«

Kane said, »I want to see Mr. Keegan.«

She kept on looking, then: »He’s sleeping right now. Works late, he does. How do I know he wants to see you? How do I know he won’t give me fits for it? He don’t like to be wakened up by people, he don’t.«

»You tell him Sugar Kane is here.«

She thought it over. »Wait here.« She went away and Kane heard a door open, then the mutter of voices. After a moment or so she came back. »He’ll see you. Come in. Wipe your feet. I’ve been washing out the ’all.«

Kane wiped his feet and was shown into a tiny little room which was lit by a wan bedside lamp. The door was closed behind him and he stood looking down at the iron grey hair and hatchet face of Mush Keegan who looked like maybe a shave wouldn’t do him any harm at all. Kane said: »Hullo, Mush. Sorry to break into it  - but it can’t be helped.«

Keegan drew himself up on the pillow. »Sit down, Kane.«

Kane sat down on a small, hard chair. He looked towards the man in the bed. »I won’t keep you for long, Keegan.«

Keegan picked up a packet of Players and shook one out. He struck a match. »That’s something, Kane. I didn’t crawl in here till two. I had a little job to do.« He took a long pull at the cigarette. »How did you get here?«

»I went to Ike Fleet. I knew Ike could tell me where to find you.«

»Fair enough,« Keegan said. »Just so long as you don’t pass the information about. It so happens one or two people are quite anxious to know where I hang out.«

»You’re not worried about the law?«

Keegan shrugged. »Not much. What’s on your mind, Kane?«

Kane told him.

Keegan listened to him in silence, then: »Osborne’s all right. For a dick he couldn’t be better. O.K. You can tell him this much. I don’t know anything about the stick-up in Culver Street. I never even heard of this Marston and Wills. They have to look for some other port-sider. That good enough for you?«

»Nearly,« Kane said. »Just one other thing, Mush. Osborne says this stick-up took place round about seven o’clock on Friday night. An alibi would be a handy thing.«

Keegan puffed at his cigarette. »Sure, I can see that, Kane. At seven o’clock Friday night? Where was I then?« His face cleared. »It’s in the bag. At half past six I went with Ed Amott to his flat out at Cockfosters to bring back some kind of parcel for the boss. That was on Friday night. We didn’t get there till after seven thirty and I wasn’t back at the Club till close on ten o’clock. That’s the best I can do.«

»Good enough,« Kane said.

Keegan frowned. »What’s the idea, Kane, in working for the cops?«

Kane laughed. »I’m not. I’m working for Sugar Kane. This Osborne is a good boy. You said so yourself. You’re pretty well on the level yourself. Osborne knows that but his inspector doesn’t. He says, ‘Bring in Keegan for questioning.’ Fair enough. That’s his job. Osborne thinks you’re in the clear. He asks me to check up on you. I take your word. Osborne takes my word. The inspector takes Osborne’s word. That way everybody comes out of it nicely.«

»Except you. What do you get out of it?«

»I’ve given Joe a hand out. He won’t forget.« Kane laughed. »I’ve given you a hand out. Maybe you won’t forget either, Keegan. It don’t do any harm to do an obligement to people.«

»You can’t run a business on obligements.«

»That’s true - but you can build up a lot of goodwill on them - and in the kind of business I run - that counts a lot. Most people have good memories.«

Keegan pressed out the butt of his cigarette. »Maybe you’re right, Kane.«

»Not all the time,« Kane said cautiously. »Sometimes I get stung. But I don’t think it will be this time. I reckon you won’t hear any more about it, Mush.« He rose as he spoke. »So now I get along. Good night.«

»O.K.,« Keegan said. »Just walk out. The old lady will be sitting reading in the kitchen. Like as not she’s forgotten you.«

Kane walked out.

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

 

The storm was blowing up by the time he got back to Proud Lane. He heard the wind singing in the rooftops and he didn’t like the sound of it too much, either. Rain cut savagely at him as he walked from the Underground Station to the office and when he got there he thought maybe there was something to be said for a night at the books after all. Leg work in this kind of weather wasn’t so hot in any man’s language.

Kane got into his office, hung up his sodden trench coat and turned up the heat. He thought maybe there was just about time to get a good hour’s work done before he went over to Antrade’s for his meal and he got the books out and went to work on them. He had been working for no more than maybe half an hour when he heard somebody knock on the outer door, turn the handle and walk in.

The footsteps came towards the door. It opened and a voice said:

»So you’re back, Sugar.«

It was Jake Levine, from the office above and he was carrying quite a large parcel under one arm. He said: »Excuse the interruption, Sugar. I see you’re busy.«

Kane said, »Come in and sit down, Jake.«

Levine shook his head. »Nothing doing. I’m late already on account of this parcel. Do you know what’s in it, Sugar? Fish. That’s what’s in it. We’ve got company coming to our place tonight and this company eats nothing but fish and I have to bring it because Muriel figures this character MacManus in Bell Lane is tops for fish. So there it is. ‘What’s the matter with our usual fisherman?’ I say, but Muriel says, ‘No, Jake, it has to be out of Mao Manus’s.’ Thus I gets stuck with all this fish to carry all the way out to Golders Green. Don’t you ever get married, Sugar.«

Kane said, »My heart bleeds for you, Jake.«

»Maybe.« Jake Levine remembered what he had come in about. »Anyway, before I carry all this fish home I came in to tell you there was a customer at the door while you were out. Not only that, but your phone was ringing more than a little. Half a dozen times at least, I hear it  - and then this character is sitting on the seat when I went round to pick up this bloody fish. I thought I’d let you know on account of maybe it would be important. Business is business these days.«

»Let’s get it in order, Jake. You heard the phone ringing quite a bit?«

»That’s right. Between three fifteen and five o’clock. It kept on ringing like someone was anxious to get hold of you. Then a little after five thirty I went round to Mac-Manus’s and this character was sitting on the window-seat. When he saw me he asked if I knew where you were or if you had packed it in. I said you would be out on a job maybe, but he should go round to Antrade’s and leave a message on account of you usually wine and dine there.«

»What did he look like?«

»About my height,« Levine said. »He had on a raincoat and a green Tyrolean hat. That’s all I can tell you. Now I have to get weaving on account of Muriel has to cook all this fish for her Uncle Lewis and that crowd of sharks, but I figured this is something you ought to know about.«

»Thanks, Jake.«

»O.K.,« Levine said. He left, grumbling.

Kane sat back thinking Jake Levine was quite a decent little guy to take all this trouble. After that, he started to think a bit more about all these phone calls and the visitor. Levine’s description didn’t mean so much. A raincoat and a Tyrolean hat on a character of Levine’s height  - which was around five foot seven - covered a lot of ground. He tried to make some sense out of it, then gave it up and got on with the books. Anyway, if it had been this caller was all that anxious to see him, he would come back again. For an hour longer he worked then packed it in and went round to Antrade’s.

Johnny Antrade was behind the bar as usual. When he saw Kane appear he poured out his usual drink. »A wild one, Sugar. I didn’t think you would make it.«

»I wasn’t so keen myself,« Kane said. »Tell me, Johnny  - did you have somebody round here this afternoon inquiring about me?«

Antrade shook his head. »Not today.«

Kane said irritably, »I wondered. If I’d known that I’d have stayed at 44 and settled for a ham sandwich and coffee from Keyser’s.«

»Worst thing you could do, Sugar. Don’t you ever read the advertisements by all the vitamin people? All this living on sandwiches is just about fatal. You need your vitamins - people like you.«

»Missing them for once isn’t going to do any harm,« Kane said. He went across to his usual seat, gave his usual order to Cibber and settled down to his meal wondering about this character Jake Levine had told him about. It was a pity he hadn’t left a message of some sort  - but it wasn’t surprising. A lot of Kane’s callers were people who weren’t too keen on leaving their names or messages. That was the kind of thing you were stuck with.

But Levine had done his best. He’d put him onto Antrade only the guy had been chary. Fair enough. He knew his own business best.

Kane put him out of his mind and got on with his dinner. After that he left, walking round to D.H.Q. and when he got there, there was a red-headed sergeant on the desk who was new to him. Kane said: »I want to see Joe Osborne.«

The sergeant thought he was in and sent a man to find out. He was and Kane went through to the detective’s room, where Osborne was sitting at a desk. When Kane came in, he laid down his pen:

»Don’t tell me you’ve got results already, Sugar?«

»I’ve seen Keegan. No dice.«

Joe Osborne sighed. »I told the Old Man that - but you know what inspectors are like.«

»I know. Anyway, Keegan was in the clear. Not only that but he’s got what I figure is likely to be an unsinkable alibi.«

»Tell me.«

Kane told him.

»That’s it,« Osborne said. »I knew it wasn’t Keegan. We’ll check on it - but it’s good enough to go on with. Good work, Sugar. Maybe some day I’ll do the same for you, eh?«

»Maybe,« Kane said. He began to rebutton his coat collar. »Now I’m getting back to the old grind, Joe. Three more hours will finish it. That’s something.« He left and walked back briskly to Proud Lane, still wondering about this mysterious caller. That was the way it was. You got a thing like that on your mind and for no real reason, you couldn’t get rid of it. He wouldn’t have been at all surprised to see this guy with the raincoat and the green hat sitting on the window seat outside his door when he got up.

But he wasn’t. There was nobody around at all and the whole building was quiet and still.

Kane let himself into his room, hung up his damp coat, then lit a pipe. After that, he settled at his desk and began to rummage among his receipts for a hotel bill for a week he’d spent on a

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: William Murdoch Duncan/Apex-Verlag.
Bildmaterialien: Christian Dörge/Apex-Graphixx.
Cover: Christian Dörge/Apex-Graphixx.
Lektorat: Mina Dörge.
Korrektorat: Mina Dörge.
Satz: Apex-Verlag.
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 04.02.2022
ISBN: 978-3-7554-0692-1

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