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The Duchess of Skid Row
Louis Trimble
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The Duchess of Skid Row
Louis Trimble
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About This Book
When Special Investigator Jeff McKeon was called hurriedly back to the Puget City DA's office, it marked the end of a beautiful vacation and the abrupt beginning of an ugly frame. For while Jeff's back had been turned, his political enemies had been busy laying plans to give him a permanent vacationāin jail.This time they had the DA on their side, for the evidence seemed quite foolproof. Jeff, they convincingly demonstrated, was the new front-man for the Syndicate's big push into town.And when Jeff realized he had to tackle the Syndicate itself to disprove that, he knew that his fate now lay in the fickle hands of The Duchess of Skid Row āa gal who had every reason to want him dead.
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Letteratura poliziesca e gialli1
IF ANYONE had asked me, Iād have said that being pulled out of the California desert sunshine and dropped into the drizzle of Puget City in November was no way to end a vacation.
But I wasnāt asked. I was told.
At 10:00 A.M., I was warm and contented in the little off-the-road adobe shack Griselda Cletis and I had rented. At 10:05 A.M. a telegram was delivered by special messenger from Barstow.
Griselda read the telegram over my shoulder. She kneaded my upper arm with those strong fingers that already had me covered with bruises. She said, āDamn! Canāt he leave you alone?ā
I said, āSometimes heās human. It must be something important.ā
The telegram read: TAKE FIRST PLANE STOP REPORT IMMEDIATELY ON ARRIVAL STOP THIS MEANS NOW STOP LECLERC.
Robert LeClerc was District Attorney of Puget County. He was also my boss. The wire was typical of him. In ten carefully chosen words he had managed to shatter the first vacation Iād had in over a year.
ā¢ ā¢ ā¢
Jets are fabulous pieces of machinery. I caught one at the Los Angeles International Airport at 1 P.M. I was dumped off in Seattle where I caught a local flight for Puget City.
The County-City Tower clock was booming out 4 P.M. as I went through the door with āROBERT LECLERC, District Attorney,ā painted on the panel in gold leaf.
I got a scowl of welcome from Stephanie Bartlett, the DAās secretary. She had a dictating machine earpiece over her right ear and was busy giving her electric typewriter a workout. She stopped typing long enough to thumb me toward the DAās private office.
I didnāt even stop to admire the unbelievable Bartlett bosom. I rapped on the DAās door, turned the knob, and walked in.
I had been gone eight weeks, six on a job with the Los Angeles police, and two on an unpaid vacation. I couldnāt see that much had changed. The DAās desk was still covered with paper cartons of coffee. He was a very neat man. His desk top held nothing else except the cartons, a telephone, and his tape dictating machine.
I said, āWhoever heard of breaking off a vacation in the middle of the week?ā I would have said more but I became aware of a man sitting in shadow beyond the desk.
He occupied the VIP chair as if he belonged in it. His name was Ritter, Captain Orval Ritter, Puget City Police. He was chewing a thick cigar and hating me with his eyes.
Eight weeks ago, he couldnāt have bought standing room in the DAās office.
I said, āWhatās he doing here, sir?ā
The DA said to Ritter, āYou know Jeff McKeon, my special investigator, Captain.ā His tone was sarcastic. When he spoke that way, I looked for trouble.
Ritter had small eyes and a large, red-veined nose with a hard trap mouth pursed under it. The eyes kept on hating me. The mouth barely cracked open as he said, āI know McKeon.ā He pronounced my name āMcKee-ohnā instead of āMcQu-uhnā because he knew it annoyed me.
I ignored him and looked at the DA.
He gulped coffee from a carton and belched dyspeptically. āCaptain Ritter wants me to suspend you pending an investigation. I convinced him you had a right to be heard first. Thatās why I had you come home.ā
āWhat am I to be investigated for, sir?ā
Ritter took the cigar out of his mouth. He said, āI told you heād pull that crap.ā
I continued to look at the DA. He said, āAbout a month ago, a rumor started that the California Combine is trying to make a comeback here.ā
āTrying, hell!ā Ritter said. āItās ready for business.ā
I said, āWhat does that have to do with my being investigated?ā
āCaptain Ritter claims to have evidence linking you with the Combine, Jeff.ā His voice reflected no opinion of me or of Ritter.
He drank more coffee. āAccording to the Captain, you made contact with the Combine when you first went to Los Angeles eight weeks ago. You told them what our weak points are so they could know the best way to get back into power.ā
I turned to Ritter. āCaptain, three years ago I proved to you that three of your men were taking pay-offs. Instead of being grateful for having help in cleaning up the Racket Squad, you got mad. Youāve nursed that until itās turned into blind hate.ā
Ritterās face got redder than usual, but that was the only reaction I got from him. He said, āThatās quite a speech, McKeon.ā
āThereās more. I spent six weeks working with the Los Angeles police to nail that smuggling outfit thatās been operating between our two harbors. I went south at their request. I didnāt go down to talk to hoods.ā
Ritter got up. He threw the soggy butt of his cigar in the DAās wastebasket. He wiped his hand across the back of his mouth. He was bigāalmost as tall as I and carrying thirty more pounds in the shoulders. Edging fifty, he was still tough and hard and he still liked to use his horny fists.
He said, āHow I feel about you has nothing to do with the evidence I have, McKeon. My feelings have nothing to do with the proof that you contacted the Combine in L. A. and made a deal with them.ā
āLet me see that proof, Captain,ā I said.
āYouāll see itāwhen you come up for a hearing,ā he said.
I turned to the DA. āCan he hold back evidence when he makes a charge like that?ā
āIn this case he can, Jeff. While you were gone, Ritter was made head of the I Squad. He claims that to release the evidence now would be detrimental to the I Squadās investigation into the Combineās activities.ā
The I Squad was Puget Cityās latest effort at curbing crime. Weād taken our cue from the larger cities and set up an undercover outfit only six months ago. It was composed of smart men who had never been openly associated with local police work. And it had been run by Captain Clancy, a man who understood the special needs of men who had to work on their own, to think beyond the bounds of the book. But about the time Iād gone south, Clancy had taken sick leave.
I wondered what political maneuver had made Ritter the head in Clancyās place. There was no police Captain with less imagination, with less understanding of the special nature of I Squad work, than Ritter.
I said, āIām sorry to hear that. The I Squad boys were doing some good work.ā
Ritterās face turned redder. He took a deep breath and lifted one fist. We stared at one another long enough to count to a hundred backwards. Maybe he did. He dropped his fist and started around me for the door. His eyes met mine again. Triumph shone in them, and blotted out the hate.
He left the door open behind him.
I shut it after giving Stephanie a quick glance. She was still typing from the dictating machine. I went back to the DA.
āRitter isnāt wasting all this sweat just to get even with me.ā
The DA rubbed his thin nose with the side of a tobacco-stained finger. āWhen the voters elected us to clean up the town and the county, we surprised a lot of people by doing just that. And we hurt a lot of them too.ā
āAre you trying to tell me that Ritter belongs with those councilmen and cops we sent to the pen? Because I donāt believe it. When he was a rookie, he flattened his imagination along with his feet, but he didnāt pick up the habit of taking pay-offs.ā
āRitterās honest enough. I wasnāt talking about him. I was talking about the people we swept out of the corners when we cleaned up. Some of them are just waiting to get back into business. They know they wonāt as long as weāre around.ā
He paused long enough to drink more coffee. āBut in a way Ritter is in it too, Jeff. He hates us because we gave him a black mark when we exposed the men working for him. He has that kind of mind. We didnāt do our job by the book, so we did it wrong.ā
āIn other words, if someone fakes evidence to frame me, to make me look bad so the departmentāyouāwill be discredited, Ritter wonāt put that evidence under a microscope?ā
āThatās the way it is,ā the DA said. He sounded so positive that I knew he had more to tell me.
āI first heard the rumor about you yesterday. I had a little snooping done. I didnāt find out muchāRitterās nursing the evidence he has.ā
He paused and watched me light a cigaret. āBut I got this much,ā he said. āThe tip that youāre connected with the Combine came from two sources: an anonymous letter to Ritter, and a telephone call to the I Squad man he has on the case. They both said about the same thing. They connected you and the Combine.ā
āWho has Ritter got on the case?ā
āJohnny Itsuko. Heās been handling the entire investigation ever since the first rumble a couple of weeks ago.ā
āThatās the only good news Iāve heard since I get here. I introduced Johnny to his wife, and I got him out of that gym where he was teaching judo and onto the ...