A Shroud for Jesso Read online

  Bean Pole straightened up abruptly, turning to his buddy in the chair, who snapped his fingers once again and pointed to the clothes. Bean Pole was picking up the overcoats while Jesso was still standing there. Then he relaxed.

  “Boy,” he said.

  Nobody answered.

  “Boy, that’s training,” he said.

  Bean Pole was holding the coats neatly and the squat one in the chair looked as if he weren’t even there.

  “And no whips, even,” Jesso said. “Just snapping the fingers. Tell me, Porker-” but then the door to Gluck’s office opened.

  But it wasn’t Gluck and it wasn’t for Jesso.

  “Mr. Johannes Kator,” said the butler, and the man in the chair and the tall one with the overcoats moved as one. The heels made sharp little clicks. Kator went first, then Bean Pole. Jesso and the tall one looked at each other, but it didn’t mean a thing. Jesso was thinking that he didn’t like Johannes Kator at all.

  They came out again before ten minutes were up, which was just about as long as Jesso was willing to wait. So when the two men came out, Jesso walked through the open door before he was called. It was the kind of thing Gluck didn’t like.

  But Gluck didn’t show it. When the door banged shut and Jesso walked across to the desk, Gluck turned to look and he was ready with his smile.

  “Greetings, boy.” He took the dead cigar out of his mouth and tapped it. “Make yourself comfy for a sec, huh?” Gluck carried a folder to the room with the filing cabinets. He had a flat-footed walk, probably because of the weight he carried in his rear, and he made a grunt each time he took a step.

  “You shoulda waited outside,” he said when he came back. Then he sat down and the jowls around his face made a quick shimmy.

  “I waited. What in hell did you think I was doing out there besides waiting?”

  “Now, Jack boy, let’s act like buddies. You and me-”

  “Stop licking, willya, Gluck?”

  “Jackie boy, what’s eating you?” Gluck put the dead cigar back in his mouth.

  Jesso didn’t answer right away. He held it for a minute because it wouldn’t do to buck Gluck all the time. Not when it wasn’t important. Save your strength. Ignore the bastard, just the way Gluck knew how to ignore the things he didn’t like. It wasn’t easy to figure what he liked and what he didn’t like. Most of the time he took just about anything as long as he could call a man his buddy boy And then somewhere along the line buddy boy would get the shaft.

  “You know why I’m boss and you aren’t, Jackie boy?”

  The cigar came out and there was a friendly smile.

  “No,” said Jesso. “You tell me, President.”

  “I will,” and the cigar went back. “Because you don’t know people, boy. You never studied how to get along. Take me, for instance.”

  “Don’t. Don’t put yourself out, Gluck. Just keep the secret.”

  “Like right now, boy. You’re riled because I let you wait.”

  Jesso lit a cigarette and tossed the match at the ash tray. He missed. “Now I know why you’re president and I’m the punk around here. You know everything. So now let’s talk about Vegas. You read the stuff and papers I brought back?”

  “No.” Gluck smiled. “I didn’t have to. On account I read minds.” He sat back and gave Jesso a wink.

  “You’re not doing so hot, Gluck, or else you’d be reading right now you should stop clowning around.” Jesso got up and ground his cigarette out. “Let me know when you’re ready for a cabinet meeting, Gluck, about Vegas and so forth. Or better yet, go out there yourself next time and don’t send a flunky.” He turned to the door and then he heard Gluck’s chair creak.

  “I didn’t,” said Gluck.

  Jesso stopped. That was another thing about Gluck. He always got the last word or the last lick. And once Jesso turned around there would be jolly old Gluck swishing his cigar around. Jesso turned and went back to the desk. He put his hands flat on the top and leaned.

  “How did you mean that, President?” He sounded calm as hell. “You mean you didn’t send a flunky or you didn’t send me?”

  “I didn’t send a flunky.” Suddenly Gluck wasn’t smiling any more. “So you shouldn’t have gone there, Jesso.”

  Gluck hardly ever insulted a man in a straightforward way. And he hardly ever had a lit cigar in his mouth. Gluck was lighting it now and he never even blinked when the strong smoke crawled up around his face.

  “Sit down, boy. I want to talk about Vegas.”

  Jesso didn’t sit. He pushed himself away from the desk and thought about walking around to the other side, where Gluck was sitting, and starting out by grabbing lapels.

  “This is important. It’s all about you, Jesso.”

  Jesso sat.

  “You goofed, Jesso.”

  But this time Gluck made no impression. Jesso never goofed unless he knew about it.

  “And I’m taking the time to explain it to you because in this new setup, you working for us, you can goof and not know it. You haven’t got the background to know it.”

  Jesso kept still because Gluck was making sense.

  “Who told you to go to Vegas, Jackie boy?”

  “Nobody.”

  “So you goofed.” Gluck sat back and started smiling.

  Jesso sat back too. He took his time lighting a smoke, and this time he didn’t toss the match, but placed it in the tray as if he had nothing else on his mind.

  “Gluck,” he said, “there’s two things I don’t like. One, I’m not working for you. I didn’t before you came, I’m not doing it now. Two, I don’t goof. We been after a tie-in with those two clubs in Vegas for a long time. Those two were outsiders and we wanted in, right? They been using our bonding company, the money outfit that started right here with dough I put out long before you ever came along. We put up their bond and they never came across with their percentage off the tables. Now, you know I want in, I know you want in. So what did you and your glorified bookie friends do about it? Nothing. So I did. I don’t horse around sending messages on business stationery. I go out there. We’re in for a cut on those clubs right now. What would have taken you another year I did in twenty-four hours. And that was yesterday.”

  “Bravo,” said Gluck, but he wasn’t smiling. “And now I tell you why you goofed.” He squeeked his chair around and lit the dying butt again. “Let’s not talk about your taking off without my say-so. With you, I’ll overlook that. Let’s talk about what Limpy told me. Limpy called from Vegas and says you’re there seeing Buchanan and that sidekick of his. You’re seeing them about the percentage from their clubs. Next thing, you’re ready to leave town, the percentage guarantee all settled in your favor-and Buchanan in the hospital.”

  Gluck paused, trying to make an impression. Jesso just sat, because it didn’t mean a thing to him.

  “You roughed him up!” Gluck yelled, and it came so suddenly that Jesso wasn’t sure he’d heard it right. “You caused a stink, you lousy moron!”

  Gluck sat down again, and except for the color of his face he looked as settled as before.

  So did Jesso. He crossed his legs and said, “Say that again, President?”

  “This is the deal,” Gluck said, and for once he talked straight. “We do things in a new way around here, and that includes you. We don’t rough-house, we don’t attract attention, we don’t act like hoodlums in a gang war. It’s big business all around, which means be nice, do what you’re told, and when you shaft a guy you make him like it. Understand?”

  “Sure. But that’s not for me, President.”

  Gluck sighed. “You know, you’re asking for it, Jesso.”

  “What?”

  “The boot.”

  “Try it, Gluck,” and Jesso smiled.

  “Not me, buddy boy The syndicate.”

  Jesso just laughed.

  “What if I asked you to fade, Jackie boy? Blow, scram, never come back?”

  Jesso shrugged. “I wouldn’t go. I got som
e interests to protect.”

  “That’s what I like to hear, boy.” Gluck looked friendly. “I like to hear you’re interested in your skin and that it’s all tied up with us.”

  “So?”

  “So you can stay. Like on probation.”

  This time it stung. Jesso got out of his chair like a shot and slammed his hands on the desk.

  “Gluck, you sonofabitch, try pushing me! Just try.” Jesso’s voice was like a knife. Then it sounded foolish to him, because it wasn’t really Gluck that mattered. It was the spidery web of one big clique that nobody ever saw, a thing much bigger than one man. He stood still, waiting.

  “You listening, Jackie boy?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I got a job for you.”

  “Thank you. I got one.”

  “An easy job, Jackie boy, but it’s like probation.”

  “Like what? Apologize to Buchanan?”

  Gluck laughed. “We wouldn’t do that to you, boy. This job is easy.”

  “What?”

  “I’m farming you out.”

  Jesso got tense. He had to hold on, bide his time, stall them long enough to get his things in order. The syndicate might look polite, but in the end they handled things just about the way he did. One fast punch, or push, or shot, and the problem was solved. For good.

  Jesso sat down again. “What job, Gluck boy?”

  “They want you to find a man. That’s all.”

  “How much?”

  “Twenty grand. For me, not for you.”

  Gluck sat back, obviously hoping that Jesso would bust something. He watched as Jesso’s neck swelled and the eyebrows made a sudden line grow down the middle of the forehead. But Jesso didn’t do anything else.

  “I won’t do you the favor, President. I won’t goof,” he said. “I’m a good little boy taking his licking.” He took a breath. “Who’s the outfit?”

  “Here’s the card with the address.” Gluck handed it over. “Just an address, Jack boy, and it isn’t an outfit.”

  “No name, even?”

  “The name’s Kator,” Gluck said.

  Jesso got up and went to the door. “I’m going to do you the favor, buddy boy,” he said. “I’m taking that job.”

  Chapter Three

  Kator had a suite in an uptown hotel and Jesso got there at eight in the morning. If Kator wasn’t out of bed yet, that would be fine too.

  The tall guy opened the door. He took the card Jesso had brought, and that was all. He hardly nodded when Jesso wished him a good morning.

  “Remember me, friend? The clothes tree.”

  “This way, please.”

  “How’s Porker, friend?”

  “Mr. Kator is waiting.”

  The next room wasn’t large, but Jesso didn’t see Kator right away. He sat hidden in a high-backed chair, his small hands folded in his lap. The thick neck was wedged into a stiff collar, and Jesso had to walk around the chair before he could see the man’s face. Then Kator was out of his chair with an easy movement.

  “You are Mr. Jesso,” he said. He held out his hand. When Jesso took it he was surprised by the strength of the grip. “Now that you will be working for us temporarily, please be seated and listen closely.”

  Kator might just as well have left out the “please.” His voice was clear, machine-like. The English was so perfect that Jesso was sure that Kator spoke another language, one that he must like much better.

  Jesso sat.

  “Now that you are working for me, I will give you all the necessary leeway to do your job. However, I require a report of every step you take. The nature of your job and my interest in its outcome-“

  “What’s the job?”

  “Did you understand my instructions?”

  “Sure, Kator. Sure. What’s the job?”

  Jesso had been talking fast. The way he was starting to feel about Kator, it helped to talk fast.

  Kator pulled up his chair and turned his head right, then left. The stiff collar made a scraping sound on his neck.

  “A member of my organization has disappeared. You are to find him, Jesso. His name is Joseph Snell. He is, in fact, hiding out from me, apparently under the impression that I wish him ill. I know he is in New York. However, I do not know how long he will stay here. You can see it is imperative that he be found quickly. Those, in brief, are the facts. Find Joseph Snell, inform me of his whereabouts, and your job is completed.” Kator stopped.

  “That’s it?” Jesso lit a cigarette.

  “Yes. How do you propose to start?”

  “I’ll start with you. What’s your business?”

  Kator blinked. “I fail to-”

  “If I don’t know what your boyfriend Snell’s been doing, how can I look for him in the right places?”

  “It will be sufficient for you to know, Jesso, that I am a businessman. A businessman with far-flung obligations, and Joseph Snell is one of my associates.”

  “Why do you want him?”

  “Mr. Jesso.” Kator turned his head with that slow squeeze of the neck. “I will tell you what you need to know, and I will decide what you need to know I regard any questions as impertinence.”

  For a moment Jesso forgot all about Gluck and what might happen. For a moment, he forgot that he was in the middle of a squeeze and that it would take more than a punch or a push or a shot to get it all back to where he wanted it. Then he held still. He leaned back in his chair and blew smoke slowly. He concentrated on just that, and Kator. What got him was the way Kator had said it. He had said it just so; not to be insulting or to act big, but just so. Because Kator felt he was talking to a bug. There probably wasn’t a man on this earth that Kator didn’t think was a bug.

  Jesso kept sucking on his cigarette. When he figured his voice was going to be steady, he leaned forward again.

  “I’m going to ask what I need to know. I’m not a divining rod, Kator, but I got the job to find your flunky, and as long as I do your gumshoeing for you, you open up and answer. Or get someone else.”

  Kator sat still, waiting.

  “Who’s Snell?” Jesso asked.

  “An associate of mine.”

  “Why’s he hiding?”

  “I remind you, Jesso-”

  “The hell with that!” Jesso was up now. “Let me remind you of something. If Snell’s on the lam because you’re gunning for him, that’s one kind of job. If he’s got something you want, that’s another. I wanna know if he’s laying for me ready to kill, or ready to argue, or just lying there scared stiff.” Jesso took a deep breath. “So let’s have some answers.”

  “Joseph Snell is most likely scared stiff, as you call it, and I want him found because I must speak to him.” Kator raised his small hands and put the fingertips together. “Whether he is likely to take a shot at you, that is something you may tell me about after you’ve found him.” Kator shifted in his chair. “Now then, what else do you need to know?”

  “Has Snell got any friends in town?”

  “Really, Jesso. We’ve explored that angle.”

  “Has he?”

  “No. He has been with me for a number of years. We met in Europe and his ties in the States were severed long ago.”

  “How long?”

  “The early thirties. In fact, he used to know a man called Bonetti. I mention the name because you and this Bonetti are in a similar-uh-field.”

  Jesso started to pace the room. “Hell, Bonetti’s dead. He died-Wait a minute.”

  Jesso had forgotten about Kator and Gluck, about the stupid way this punk job had been thrown at him. He wasn’t thinking of any of this because now he had started to work. Jesso went to the phone and dialed long-distance.

  “Give me Las Vegas, the Sagebrush. I want to talk to Mr. P. Carter… Yeah, person to person. And call me back.” He gave his number and hung up. Next he called Murph, who was repairing the carburetor on one of Gluck’s cars. Murph got the call in the basement garage.

  “Murph? Jack. Listen.
Put out the word I want a guy that’s on the lam. He’s from out of town. His name’s Joseph Snell, might be using his own. Now, this guy’s an outsider, and-Kator, what’s Snell look like?”

  Kator had been watching without a word. He gave an involuntary start. “Short, thin black hair. His hands tremble, a condition he has. Eyes blue and somewhat protruding. He-“

  “That’s good enough. Murph? Listen,” and Jesso repeated the description. “Call the usual places and let me know when you hear something, Murph… To hell with his carburetor. Let him get a mechanic

  … No, right now, and get to it.”

  Jesso hung up. He stared right through Kator, and there was a concentrated frown on his face.

  “Do you propose to conduct your search from my telephone, Jesso?”

  “Why, you short of money?”

  “I’m trying to appraise your methods.”

  Jesso put his hands in his pockets. “Look, Kator, why’d you come to Gluck for this job if you don’t think we can do it?”

  “I didn’t. It was Mr. Gluck that suggested the arrangement.”

  “What?”

  “You are surprised? My original business with Gluck had to do with other matters. I have a ship in the East River and my business required special docking procedures, and Mr. Gluck’s-uh-unique influence over docking matters-“

  “You mean Gluck dreamed up this job in the first place?”

  “No. The job was there. I mentioned my efforts to find this associate, and Mr. Gluck suggested that you might help.”

  Not until then did it occur to Jesso just how badly Gluck wanted him out. That grinning bastard even went out of his way to hunt up a bum job for Jesso.

  The phone rang, but Jesso didn’t move. For a moment he felt pushed into a corner, squeezed from every side by Gluck, the thing he stood for, the big, invisible strength of the syndicate.

  “Jesso, the phone is ringing.”

  He reached for the receiver and said, “Yes, hello.” It sounded a little sharp.

  “I am ready with your call to Las Vegas. Go ahead, please.”

  “Hello. That you, Carter?”