(1941) Miss Callaghan Comes To Grief Read online

  Jay wrote it down, thanked Fisher, and hung up. He thought maybe he was going on a fool's errand, but it was worth trying, anyhow.

  The taxi drew up outside a large tenement house. The driver said apologetically, “This is it, boss.”

  Jay got out and paid him off. He walked up the steps and rang on the bell. The place was dirty and horribly sordid. He felt people watching him behind ragged curtains all down the street.

  An old woman, very dirty, with a sack for an apron, opened the door and looked at him suspiciously.

  Jay raised his hat. “Mr. Fletcher in?” he asked.

  “He's on the top floor. You can go up.” She stood aside to let him in. “You tell that guy to pay his rent. I'm gettin' sick of askin' him myself.”

  Jay ignored her and went up the stairs. A big negro lounged against the wall on the first landing and looked at him insolently. As Jay passed he spat on the floor.

  On the top floor a large fat woman sat just outside her door, peeling potatoes. Jay asked her where Fletcher's room was. She jerked her thumb to a door without saying anything.

  Jay rapped on the door and pushed it open.

  A man lay on a dirty mattress. He'd got a three days' growth of beard, and Jay saw he was blind in one eye.

  He sat up, a scared look on his face, as Jay entered.

  “What do you want?” he said. He had quite a cultured voice.

  Jay looked round the dirty room and grimaced. “I'm Ellinger of the St. Louis Banner. I want to talk to you, pal,” he said.

  Fletcher got off the bed. “I don't want to talk to anyone,” he said.

  Jay thought he looked horribly thin. He began to cough and he had to sit on the bed again.

  Jay pulled up a rickety chair and sat down too. “Listen, Fletcher, don't fly off the handle. You're lookin' in a bad shape. I might be able to help you.”

  When he had stopped coughing, Fletcher said rather wildly, “Look what they did!”pointing to his eye.

  “They did that. Threw me down a flight of stone steps. One of the heels hit me in my eye with his elbow.”

  Jay lit a cigarette. He didn't like the smell of dirt in the room. “That's what I've come to see you about,” he said. “What's it all about? If I can help you I will.”

  Fletcher looked at him suspiciously. “Why?” he demanded. “Why should you want to help me?”

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  Miss Callaghan Comes To Grief

  “Now don't get that way. Been out of a job some time, haven't you? Now come on, spill it.”

  “It's Janet,” Fletcher began. Then suddenly his thin face crumpled and he began to cry.

  Jay pushed his hat to the back of his head and blew out his cheeks. He was very embarrassed. “What you want is a drink,” he said. “You wait. I'll get you one.”

  Fletcher controlled himself with an effort. “No, don't go away,” he said. “I'm all right. I guess I'm sort of low. I haven't had much grub.”

  “Well, come on. I'll buy you a lunch.” Jay got up. Fletcher shook his head. “Not now. Later, perhaps, but I want to tell you.” Jay sat down again. “Go ahead,” he said. “It's my sister, Janet. She went away one morning to work and she didn't come back. I've hunted everywhere. I've told the police, but they can't find her.”

  Jay sighed. He knew there were a lot of girls in St. Louis who went out and didn't come back any more.

  “Maybe she went off and got married. Maybe she thought she'd like to go to Hollywood. There're a lot of girls who suddenly get a bug in their conks and beat it without telling anyone.”

  Fletcher looked up. His one eye burnt fiercely. “You don't believe that rubbish, do you?” he said. “That's what the police said.”

  Jay shifted. “Well, what else could have happened to her? You don't think she's dead, do you?”

  “I wish to God she was!” He beat his fist on his knee. “The Slavers have got her!” he shouted. “Do you hear? The Slavers have got her.”

  “You don't know that. You only think they have. There ain't much of that stuff going on now. We've cleaned it up.”

  “You're wrong. It's going on every day of the year. Decent girls leaving their homes and being trapped.

  Decent girls forced into brothels. Any amount of them. And there's nothing done about it. The police know all about it, but they keep their mouths shut. Anyone who gets to know about it is given money to keep his mouth shut.”

  “You can't talk like that unless you've got some proof. Why did you kick up that row at the 22nd Club?”

  “Can't you guess? Grantham's working the racket.”

  “You're crazy. Grantham? Don't talk bull.”

  Fletcher lay back on his elbow. “I've been watching him,” he said. “One night, when the Club was closed, I saw a car draw up outside the Club. The street was empty. No one saw me. They took a girl out of the car. She had a rug over her head. Just as she got to the door she got the rug off and she screamed. They hit her on the head with something. They hit her very hard. I could hear the sound very distinctly from where I was standing. Then they carried her inside. You don't think anything of that? Well, I'll tell you some more.” There was a crazy gleam in his eye. “Another night I got on the roof. You've never been on the top floor of the Club, have you? Nor have I. But I've been on the roof. I've listened, lying on the tiles with my ear close to the roof, listening. I've heard things. I've heard girls screaming. I've heard the crack of whips. I've heard a lot of horrible things.”

  Jay was interested now. “You're sure of all this?” he said.

  Fletcher leant forward and grabbed his coat lapels. “Do you think I'd make it up? Don't you realize what all this means? My sister was one of those girls. She was taken into that place. They beat her until she was willing to do what they wanted. She's somewhere in this town, selling her body to anyone who'll pay for it. Do you hear? And everyone sits around, blast them, and tells me that it couldn't happen here. That this town's been cleaned up. And it's going on now... now... now!”

  Jay pushed him back on to the bed gently. “Take it easy,” he said. “I believe you, anyway. Listen, Fletcher, you've got to use your brains. It's no good getting in a state about this. You'll be wanted to give evidence. I'll see that you get some money and I'll fix a job for you. You'll have to leave everything to me. I'm going out after this business. We want to close the Club up, and you've given me the right lever to do it with. Leave it to me. I'll fix those heels.”

  Later, after he had made arrangements for Fletcher, he took a taxi back to the Banner office. The taxi couldn't drive him fast enough.

  22

  Miss Callaghan Comes To Grief

  8

  June 5th, 10.40 p.m.

  BENNY PERMINGER just wasn't interested in the fight any more. From the first gong he'd sat forward, his jaw set and thrust out, and his hands clenched on his knees. He'd given them three rounds to get warmed up. These big guys couldn't take chances in the first few rounds. They'd got to get set and take stock of each other, so Benny was patient.

  All right, this was the fifth round coming up and nothing had happened. These two punks just seemed to love each other. They poked feebly, and then shuffled into a clinch, then they'd break away, look at each other like they were surprised to see they were still standing up, and then start poking and clinching all over again.

  Benny sat back suddenly with a long−drawn−out sigh of disgust. That's when it happened. His ears slid along silk stockings. You don't go getting your head between a dame's knees every day. It shook him up. It took his mind right off the fight and kept it off.

  The dame shifted back fast enough, but it didn't alter the fact. Benny had had his head between her knees.

  She had been sitting right behind him on the tier seat. Maybe, she'd never seen a fight before, so she got excited. She came forward, _with her knees hovering over Benny's head.

  Benny was sitting forward too. There was nothing in it, both sitting forward trying to squeeze some excitement out of a punk fight. It w
as different when Benny sat back suddenly. It gave her quite a shock when Benny's head banged between her knees. The way that dame slid back on her seat was nobody's business.

  Her boy friend was quick too. One of those guys who missed nothing. He said, “Go on, give it away. Put it on a plate an' hand it round. Don't mind me.”

  Benny heard him. He sounded tough, so Benny sat still, feeling a little sick. He kept his eyes on the two punks shuffling around on the resin. He stole a quick look at Sadie, sitting beside him, but she hadn't noticed anything. She was half asleep.

  Fights bored her, anyway, but she'd got into the habit of going places with Benny. She liked best when they went to movies, because he didn't get excited, or look at other women, or curse.

  It was a lucky break for Benny that one of the fighters suddenly thought it was time to go home. He began to hit more seriously and immediately got the other guy in trouble. All the crowd began to shout and get excited, so Benny felt a lot less scared.

  All the same, he had lost interest in the fight. He wanted to have a look at this dame behind him. He knew that if he did he'd start something, so he just stared down at the brightly lit ring and made up pictures of what she might look like.

  It wasn't long before he'd got such a picture that he could hardly sit still. There were two more fights on the programme, but they weren't going to keep Benny sitting in that hall. He wanted to get home with Sadie, just as fast as his car would take him.

  He said, “Come on, honey, let's get outta here.”

  Sadie woke up and blinked around, stared at the two little men way down in the ring, and then looked blankly at Benny. “Where's the fire?” she said.

  Benny looked at her. She was good. She was just the right height, and her hair was curly, black and silky.

  She reminded Benny of the cuties who give you thoughts from the front cover of College Life. They'd been married now two years, and Benny liked her a lot. He had even kept off other girls. Sadie had been pretty good to him. The first six months had gone well for them both.

  Then Benny got used to it, and he began to slip back.

  At first he'd walk along with Sadie and compare her with other dames. Sadie was good, so she came out well in that game. When he began wondering what the other dames were like, then that wasn't so good. He knew what Sadie was like. Then, from just looking, he had to make remarks. He'd say to Sadie, “Did you see that dame, just then? Gee! What a figure! Did you see anythin' like that?”

  Well, Sadie felt pretty safe, and she thought Benny was just kidding her, but Benny wouldn't leave it alone.

  He'd say, “I bet that dame's a hot one. Yeah, look at the way she swings her can. Gee! I guess that dame gets pushed around plenty.”

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  Miss Callaghan Comes To Grief

  Nothing in it, but it hurt. It did more than that, it got on Sadie's nerves. She knew that one of these days he was going to cheat. Once he'd started cheating he'd go on cheating. It was no good. She'd done everything she could to hold him, but he'd got that sort of a mind. He couldn't help himself.

  When he went and put his head between that flossie's knees, something snapped inside Sadie. That finished it. He didn't think she'd seen that. All right, it'd be a surprise for him.

  Benny said again, “Come on, honey. Those punks'll drive me crazy.”

  They pushed their way past the other people and got to the gangway. Benny looked back. Sadie was waiting for him to do that. Benny's heart jumped when he saw the dame. Boy! She was good. It made him go limp inside just to think that he'd slid his ears along her stockings.

  Sadie said it for him. “I know,” she said; “don't tell me. She's cute. She's got everything. She's a menace to good men, and she's the world's biggest push−over.”

  Benny blinked at her. “Hey! Where do you get that stuff?”

  Sadie walked down the gangway, not listening to him. She was conscious of some of the men drawing their eyes reluctantly from the fight to watch her go. She swung her hips. “Go on,” she thought, “take a look at me. I'm not so bad myself.”

  Benny came running after her. “What was that stuff about the dame?” he said angrily. “I don't like that line.”

  Sadie looked at him over her shoulder. “Looked to me like you were having a good time,” she said, without stopping.

  Benny nearly fell over. She'd seen after all. Hell! He might have guessed that she couldn't have missed that.

  He had almost to run to keep up with her. “You ain't mad about a little thing like that?” he said anxiously.

  “It was an accidentyou know that.”

  She said bitterly, “Sure it was an accident. Pretty nice for you, wasn't it?”

  They got to the car, and she beat him to opening the door. She climbed in and sat close up to the door, away from him. He started the engine and began to drive slowly down the winding exit.

  “Forget it, baby,” he said. “It was just one of those things. Anyway, she wasn't so hot.”

  Sadie knew he was lying, but she suddenly felt very tired, and she leant back, shutting her eyes.

  As she didn't say anything, Benny hopefully assumed she wasn't mad any more. He drove along, his mind half on the traffic, thinking of the dame. She'd been a smasher. To think that had happened. If Sadie hadn't been there, and if that tough hadn't been there, maybe he could have dated her up. It would have been a pushover. It was a natural. He could hardly wait to get the car away.

  Sadie leant limply against the wall of the little elevator as it droned up to the sixth floor. She didn't look at him. Benny stood close to her, watching her anxiously as he wiped his sweating hands with a handkerchief.

  She was looking tired and a little irritable, he thought. Anyway, if he went about it in the right way it'd be all right.

  In the early days of marriage he would come in from work, sweep her off her feet into the bedroom, leaving the supper to burn. She'd always protested, but he knew she was pleased as he was when it was over.

  The elevator stopped at the sixth floor, and Sadie walked out. On the opposite passage Tootsie Mendetta had his apartment.

  It always made Benny mad to think that a rich guy like Mendetta should live just across his passage, and he'd never set eyes on him. He knew he was there, but he'd never seen him. Anyway, right at this minute, he didn't give Mendetta a thought.

  He fumbled at the keyhole, making two attempts before he sank the key. His hands shook a little.

  Inside the small apartment he let her take off her hat and coat, and then he sidled up behind her. He put his arms round her from behind. “I love you, honey,” he said, his voice shaking.

  “Put me down!” There was a snap in her voice that jolted him. He put her down and turned her. The cold, hostile look she gave him brought him up short, just like he'd rammed his face against a brick wall.

  “Say, what's wrong? I got to thinkin' of you in the car. I thoughtI thought maybe we could go back a couple of years.”

  She said, “Think again.”

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  Miss Callaghan Comes To Grief

  “What the hell is this?” he said, his disappointment making him suddenly mad with her.

  She walked back into the sitting−room. He saw her put her hand to her eyes.

  He wandered after her, feeling a suppressed rage welling up in him. He leant against the door−post. “What is it?” he asked.

  She said, “You know what it is.” Her voice sounded full of tears.

  “Don't talk in riddles. If you've got anythin' to beef about, why not save it? Listen, honey,” Benny said urgently, “this ain't the time to start fightin'. Come on with me. We'll have a good time togetherhow's that?

  You'll feel fine”

  She said, interrupting him: “Wait a minute. You've got a one−track mind. That floosie's got you burnt up, and you think you can take it out of me.

  'Pretty−daughter−sitting−on−father's−knee−makes−it−hard−for−mother' complex. Not this mother, it doesn't.”
r />   Benny took off his hat and threw it across the room. He was mad. “What the hell's come over you?” he demanded, his voice rising.

  Sadie went over and sat on the sofa. “I'm sick of the way you look at women. I've stood as much of it as I'm going to stand. Every woman who walks past you, you must look at. You're not content with just looking.

  You must tell me. All right, if you want every dame in the street, go and have her, but I shan't be around.”

  Benny rubbed his nose. “So that's it, is it?” he said, suddenly very quiet. “You're jealous, that's what you are. Listen, I haven't put my hands on one single dame since I married you. Why shouldn't I look at 'em?

  What's the harm in it, anyway? I'm not doin' anythin' wrong, just looking, am I?”

  “That's the way you look at it. I can't do a thing about it. So I've got to walk along the street with you and watch you gape at every girl for the rest of my life, have I?”

  Benny sat in a chair opposite her. With a great effort he tried to control his patience. In a patronizing tone he said: “Now, don't be screwy, honey. This is just crazy talk. You're feeling low. Tomorrow, we'll laugh about this. Get all these ideas out of your head and you'll have everything.”

  “No, I won't.”

  “You'll have everything.”

  “No, I won't.”

  “Now, don't go on like that. I said you'll have everything, and I mean you'll have everything.”

  Sadie sat up stiffly. “Shall I tell you what? When I said I won't, I mean I shan't have what I want. I'll have what you give me.”

  Benny felt the blood mounting to his face. “Okay, if that's the way you feel. You'll have what I give youso what?”

  “Nothing. It's going on the same way as it's been going on for the last six months. Do you know what that is?”

  “All right. You tell me.”

  “I'll be here cooking your food every damn day of the week. I'll be washing out your clothes when they want washing out, which is mighty often. We'll be living in this great apartment, without any servant, so that you can impress your friends. We'll be wondering every day how we are going to meet all the bills. I'll be getting into bed with you and waiting to see if you're too drunk, or if you're too tired. Then I'll be lying awake half the night wondering if anything's gone wrong while you're sleeping. Then I'll be so woke up that I shan't ever get to sleep until it's time to get your food again. That's what.”