Tell It to the Birds Read online

  She smiled happily as she tucked the bill away. She was pretty, pert and sexy and for a brief moment Harmas regretted he was married, then he waved away such thoughts and went into the restaurant.

  Later, he called police headquarters. The desk sergeant told him Lieutenant Jenson was still out.

  “You could help me,” Harmas said and introduced himself. “I want to know who operates on Elmwood 68009.”

  The desk sergeant told him to hold on. After a delay he came back on the line.

  “That’s a public call booth on highway 57. If you have a Survey map of the district, the call box is in zone A.3.” Harmas thanked him, and hung up.

  Around ten o’clock the same evening, Harmas walked down the long corridor that led to Jenson’s office through the usual smell of disinfectant and sweat of a cop house.

  Jenson, looking dirty and tired, was talking to someone on the telephone. When he saw Harmas, he said, “Well, keep after it… yeah… yeah… call me back,” and he hung up. He frowned at Harmas who was now sitting astride one of the hard backed chairs. “What do you want?”

  “I’m just back from seeing Maddox. He sends his love. How are you making out?”

  Jenson rubbed the back of his neck. He looked like a man who had been under pressure for more hours than he likes to remember.

  “One of my men was shot to death by a hold-up thug who cleaned out the Caltex cash box on the Brent highway a few days back. The same gun that shot my man, killed Barlowe.”

  Harmas drew in a long, slow breath.

  “So what now?”

  “We’re checking on every bald-headed man in the district. We’re hunting for the gun,” Jenson said, his expression grim.

  “I have every man I can spare on the job.”

  “How much did the hold-up thug get away with?”

  “A little over three thousand.”

  “Did you get a description of the guy?”

  “Yeah… not the same guy who shot Barlowe. This one was tall,” Jenson leaned back into his chair, took a cigar from his desk drawer and lit it. “Here’s something odd. We had a report from the Marlborough hotel that a hat and coat were stolen on the night of the robbery. The hat was Swiss style with a cord and feather… the gunman had the same kind of hat. Could mean something. I had an idea that the gunman was passing through, but now I am beginning to wonder if he wasn’t a local man.”

  “Who gave you a description of this guy?”

  “The gas attendant.”

  “Could be he was in such a panic he has the description wrong. Could be the gunman is our sex killer.”

  Jenson blew smoke to the ceiling.

  “I guess.”

  Harmas brooded for a long moment, then said, “I’d appreciate it if you’d take me out to Jason’s Glen tomorrow morning.

  I have an idea… I could be wasting your time, but I don’t think I am.”

  Jenson wiped his sweating face.

  “I want to go out there myself. Okay, I’ll pick you up. What’s your idea?”

  Harmas got to his feet.

  “It’ll keep… then see you tomorrow,” and he made for the door.

  As Jenson was about to pull into the lay-by at the bottom of the dirt road leading to Jason’s Glen, Harmas said sharply,

  “Hold it!”

  Jenson trod on the brake and brought his car to a standstill. “Before you muck up the ground,” Harmas said, “let’s take a look.”

  He and Jenson went over to the lay-by. On a patch of soft ground they came upon a deep impression of a tyre track.

  Harmas stared at it.

  “This could be too good to be true,” he said. “If we find the same track at Jason’s Glen, I’d say my hunch is paying off.

  Take a look at this… see how the tyre is worn on the left side. It is as good as a finger print. If you saw it again would you recognize it?”

  Jenson examined the track for a long moment, then he nodded.

  “Yeah… so what?”

  “We’ll go up to the glen and see if we can find the same impression there.”

  Jenson shrugged and returned to the car. With Harmas at his side, he drove up the narrow road that led to the glen.

  It took the two men more than an hour of patient searching before Jenson came across the tyre track.

  “Here it is,” he called to Harmas who was on the far side of the glen.

  Harmas joined him. The track was clear in the sandy soil. The two men squatted beside it.

  “That’s it!” Harrnas’s expression showed his excitement. “Who says I’m not one hell of a detective!” He moved back.

  “This guy drove his car between these two shrubs. The car would be out of sight… yeah, that’s it!”

  “Will you quit talking to yourself and make with some explanations?” Jenson said. “You think this could be the killer’s car?”

  As they walked back to the car, Harmas said, “That’s my bet. Remember I asked Mrs. Barlowe why she and her husband came out here and she said he was in a romantic mood and wanted to?”

  “Yeah… go on.”

  “She let drop that they had gone to the Court road-house. I went out there last night and got talking to the barman. He says Barlowe didn’t want to come out here and they almost had a stand-up fight before Barlowe finally agreed to bring her here. She went to the ladies’ room and kept him waiting some minutes. I wondered if she had used the telephone.

  There’s a record of all out-going calls, and at the time she was in the ladies’ room, there’s a record of a call to Elmwood 68009. I checked and it’s the number of the call box we’ve just looked at. I think Maddox is right as usual.” Harmas shrugged. “He’s always right. I think she and a boy friend murdered Barlowe. The boy friend was waiting for her to call, alerting him they were on their way. He then drove up there, hid his car and when they arrived, he shot Barlowe.”

  Jenson looked worried.

  “Are you suggesting the boy friend then attacked and raped her? To hell with that for an idea!”

  “I’ll quote Maddox. He said he would be happy to be attacked and raped for fifty grand.”

  “That’s what Maddox says. A woman wouldn’t….”

  “But we are one jump ahead of you,” Harmas said. “We’ve turned a Tracing Agency onto this woman and they’ve come up with quite a dossier. She has not only been in jail for stealing she was also a prostitute before she married Barlowe. I think Maddox is right. A woman like that wouldn’t flinch from rough treatment if it gave her an alibi and earned her fifty thousand dollars.”

  “You think this sex killer is her boy friend?”

  “No. I think her boy friend did the Caltex job, and he duplicated the sex killing as a front. The fact your patrol officer and Barlowe were killed by the same gun, points to it.”

  “If these two were going to horn in on a fifty thousand dollar insurance,” Jenson said, “why should he risk his neck for a three thousand dollar hold-up?”

  Harmas stared at him for a long moment.

  “Yeah… that’s a point. Look, let’s keep an open mind on this. The Barlowe woman has already lied once. Let’s go and talk to her… maybe she’ll lie again.”

  Meg Barlowe was sitting up in bed as the nurse led Jenson and Harmas into her room. Although her left eye was stall badly bruised, Harmas was again aware of her sensual handsomeness.

  “I have to worry you again, Mrs. Barlowe,” Jenson said.

  “I’m told you’ll be leaving here in a couple of days.”

  Meg looked from Jenson to Harmas and then back to Jenson again. “Yes.”

  Harmas had an idea she was nervous. He stood back and watched her.

  “I understand you and your husband spent the evening at the Court road house and he then persuaded you to go with him to Jason’s Glen: Is that correct?” Jenson asked. Meg nodded. “Yes.”

  “Did you want to go with him?”

  “Not particularly. In fact I told him it mightn’t be safe, but he laughed at me. I
guess he was a little high… I guess I was too.”

  “It was his idea to go out there… not yours?” She stared at him for a long moment before saying, “That’s right.”

  “When you reached Jason’s Glen, did you see anyone up there… any parked car?”

  “No. I - I thought we had the place to ourselves.”

  “How long were you there before the attack started?”

  “About five minutes… a little more.”

  “What happened exactly?”

  “We were talking. Then suddenly I saw a flash and heard a bang. Phil… fell forward. I looked around and there was this man. He pointed the gun at me and told me to get out of the car. I got out and started to run. Although he was short and fat, he was very quick. He caught up with me and jerked me around, I struck him and his hat fell off. I saw he was completely bald.”

  “You are sure of that?” Jenson asked. “He couldn’t have been very fair or even white haired, and in the moonlight, you thought he was bald?” .

  Harmas grinned at him.

  “Maddox would love that remark. If you go on making those bright deductions, you’ll finish up as Chief of Police.” As he got into the car beside Jenson, he went on, “Hey! Here’s an idea! If she has a boy friend, guess which room in Barlowe’s house he is most likely to visit?” Jenson started the car. “Go on… I can guess.”

  “The way she keeps that house, never cleaning it, you might find his finger prints. Why not send your boys out there and go-ever the bedroom before she leaves hospital? You could do it nice and quiet without anyone knowing. If she has a record, he might too and then we could find him a lot faster than waiting for him to come out from under the wraps.

  And another thing… finger print the gun box. You might get a surprise there.”

  Jenson drove in silence to the hotel, frowning, then as he pulled up outside the hotel he said, “Yeah, you’ve got something. Okay, I’ll send the boys out there this afternoon.”

  “Who runs the Pru Town Small Arms Club?” Harmas asked as he got out of the car, “and where do I find him?”

  “Harry Seamore. You’ll probably find him at the club on Sycamore Street. Why?”

  “I want to talk to him,” Harmas said. “Stick around, I’ll get the^dossier.”

  Harry Seamore, a heavy built, red-faced man in his early forties, shook hands with Harmas after Harmas had introduced himself.

  “I’m interested in Barlowe’s gun,” Harmas said. “I’ve been told he gave the gun away about nine months ago. Do you know who he gave it to?”

  Seamore, settling in his chair, looked puzzled.

  “I think you have made a mistake. Phil wouldn’t ever give his guns away. I know for a fact he had one of them last week. I happened to have borrowed it from him.”

  Harmas leaned forward.

  “Guns? Did he have more than one?”

  Seamore grinned.

  “He had a pair and they were beauties. I ought to know. I got them for him: they were a matched pair: about the best .38’s I’ve ever handled.”

  Harmas ran his fingers through his hair as he frowned at Seamore.

  “You just said you borrowed one of his guns?”

  “That’s right. A friend of mine from Miami was staying with me. He reckons he is a pretty good shot.” Seamore’s pleasant face creased again into a smile. “We had a wager. I use a .45, but my friend is used to a .38 and he hadn’t his gun with him. So I called Phil and asked him if he’d lend me one of his guns. My friend and I had this match… he using Phil’s gun. I returned the gun to Phil three days before the poor guy was killed.”

  Harmas leaned back in his chair until the chair back creaked.

  “Where did this match take place, Mr. Seamore?”

  “Right here,” Seamore said, jerking his thumb towards the window through which Harmas could see a shooting alley.

  “We set up two target boxes and we both fired fifteen rounds. I pipped my friend by an inner.”

  “What are the chances of getting the spent bullets from both guns, Mr. Seamore?” Harmas asked.

  “Easiest thing in the world. There’s been no shooting for the past week. The slugs are in the boxes right now.”

  “You know which box your friend shot into?”

  “Of course.”

  “Could I use your telephone?”

  “Go right ahead.”

  Smiling happily, Harmas dialled police headquarters.

  CHAPTER 11

  Anson had two likely prospects to call on in Pru Town. He then planned to spend the night at the Marlborough hotel before returning to Brent.

  As he drove along the busy highway, he wondered what was happening to Meg. She would soon be discharged from hospital. He had already warned her to destroy the insurance policy he had given to Barlowe. This he was sure she had done. He had sent the policy for a claim of $50,000, signed by Barlowe to Jack Jameson, a young but alert lawyer who was now acting for Meg.

  Not for one moment had Anson any misgivings that his plans weren’t foolproof. The police would be hunting for the bald headed, sex maniac. The press was sympathetic towards Meg. Jameson would put in the claim and Maddox would have to meet it. There was, however, one slight uneasiness in Anson’s mind… this dossier Harmas had mentioned.

  Anson kept asking himself what could be in it.

  His two calls successfully completed, he drove back to the hotel. It was after he had finished his lunch and was walking towards the exit when he ran into Harmas.

  “There you are,” Harmas said. “I was hoping to see you. I want to talk to you.”

  Anson looked sharply at him, then followed him into the deserted lounge. They sat in a far corner.

  “What is it?” Anson said, waving to the waiter to bring coffee.

  “The Barlowe affair,” Harmas said. “Maddox is right. That man kills me! He is always right. The claim is phony.”

  Anson took from his pocket a pack of cigarettes. He offered it and the two men lit up.

  “Go on… tell me,” he said, his voice steady and wooden.

  The waiter brought them coffee. When he had gone, Harmas said, “I’m sure as I’m sitting here this woman, with the help of a boy friend, murdered her husband. They used the sex killer as a front.”

  Anson stared at the burning end of his cigarette. Don’t panic, he told himself. What has he found out? What have I done wrong? He remembered with a feeling of relief that he had an unbreakable alibi.

  “You don’t really expect me to believe this, do you?” he said. “Isn’t this something Maddox has cooked up to get out of settling the claim?”

  “No,” Harmas said quietly. “I have seen her dossier… you haven’t. She is capable of anything. I’m sure Maddox is right as he always is.”

  Anson’s mouth became too dry for smoking. He crushed out his cigarette. “What’s in this dossier, then?”

  “The woman has a jail record,” Harmas said. “She has been a prostitute. The Tracing Agency says she became infatuated with a man who lived with her. They don’t know who this guy is, but she turned thief to keep him and got a three months’ sentence. When she came out of jail, her pimp had disappeared. She met Barlowe. It’s an odd thing how someone like Barlowe… a mean-tempered, middle-aged man… does fall for a tart. He fell for her, and they married. It’s my guess she met her pimp again, and together they cooked up this idea of getting Barlowe to insure himself and then the two of them knocked him off.”

  His face expressionless, Anson said, “Can you prove any of this?”

  “I have some proof. Okay, I admit it wouldn’t stand up in court, but it is enough to make Maddox fight every inch of the way before we pay her claim.” Anson leaned back in his chair.

  “She is a client of mine. You don’t seem to realize how tricky this is for me. The word gets around Mrs. Barlowe is front page news. People are sorry for her. The newspapers have made a big play about her being raped and her husband being killed. If Maddox fights her claim, where do I stan
d? Don’t you see the situation I’m in? Every time I call on a prospect to try to sell him a life policy, he’ll say, ‘What’s the use? If anything happens to me, your people won’t settle… look at the Barlowe case.’ Can’t you see that?”

  “Sure,” Harmas said, “but you’re not suggesting that we pay out on a phony claim, are you?”

  “Is it phony? Just because you’ve found out this woman has a police record, does that make her a murderess. What proof have you got?”

  “I’ve caught her out in two lies,” Hamas said. “It was she who persuaded Barlowe to go out to Jason’s Glen and I have a witness who’ll swear to it, but she claims it was Barlowe who wanted to go… to be romantic. I have proof they slept alone. Barlowe wasn’t the romantic type… he was a pervert. It’s my bet that her boy friend was waiting at the Glen for them. There’s a telephone record at the road-house where they spent the evening that a call was put through to a call box near the glen. I can’t prove she actually made the call, but it certainly looks as if she did. I think she was alertting her boy friend that she and Barlowe were on the way to the glen.”

  “Pretty circumstantial, isn’t it?” Anson asked, staring at Harmas.

  “Oh sure, but it turns on the red light. There’s an impression of a car tyre by the call box and we found the same impression up at the Glen. If we find her boy friend has a tyre that matched the impression, he’ll have a lot of explaining to do.”

  Anson kept his face expressionless, but there was a sudden chill around his heart.

  “The impression could have been made any time, couldn’t it? What else have you got?”

  Harmas sat forward.

  “This is the topper,” he said. “Barlowe was a crack pistol shot: he owned two guns; .38’s. Both these guns are missing.

  Mrs. Barlowe told us Barlowe had given one gun away, but Harry Seamore, the secretary of the Target Club, is certain, Barlowe would never have parted with these guns. Now there’s something… Barlowe was shot with his own gun. We have been able to check the slugs. And here’s something really sensational; the same guy that killed Barlowe, killed the cop in the Caltex hold-up. How do you like that?”

  “You’ve certainly been busy,” Anson said as he bent to adjust his shoe string. He felt he had lost colour and he cursed himself for using Barlowe’s gun. At the time it had seemed so easy and convenient… what blind spot had led him into making such a stupid, dangerous mistake? He straightened. “What does Lieutenant Jenson think… does he think Barlowe did that holdup? Could explain how he got hold of the money to pay for his premium. Come to think of it, it could be the answer. He was desperate to start up on his own. He probably hadn’t the money to pay for the premium and staged this hold-up. Could explain why he paid up in cash.”