A Hard Rain Read online

  Bev immediately stopped and then backed up almost to the landing. “So anyone my height, at this point, would see the Heart of the Adjuster as they were coming up the stairs.”

  “Exactly,” Dix said.

  “Were you and La Forge talking while you worked?” Bev asked.

  “Yes,” Mr. Data said. “We were discussing ways of getting the door open.”

  “So anyone coming up the stairs would have heard you, just about the time they saw the golden ball?”

  “It would have been possible, yes,” Mr. Data said.

  “Which was why it was so easy to take,” Dix said.

  Bev nodded. “I understand that.” She looked around the staircase, then up at Dix. “But my question is, why would anyone be coming up these stairs?”

  “To see me,” Dix said. “There’s no office in this building but mine.”

  Suddenly his words, hanging in the air, caught him like a hammer. “Of course. We’ve been thinking that some regular thief took it and then would sell the Heart, therefore allowing the Heart to make its way up to one of the crime bosses in the city.”

  “Logical thinking,” Mr. Data said, “because that is how all crime works in this city. It is controlled by the bosses, so anything stolen, they would know about.”

  Dix nodded. It was the reason they had gone after the crime bosses so hard. If something was stolen in this city, one of the bosses had it, or knew where it was. Usually that someone was Cyrus Redblock, but that wasn’t the case at the moment.

  “But why would a regular thief be in this old building?”

  “Good question, boss,” Mr. Data said.

  Bev smiled at Dix, knowing he had jumped ahead of her. “What happened if whoever took it wasn’t normally a thief?” she asked. “And then, if not a regular city thief, wouldn’t know how to sell it to one of the bosses.”

  “Exactly,” Dix said. He spun and headed back into his office. Why hadn’t he thought of this hours ago? He had been so wrapped up in walking on one road, he hadn’t noticed that there might be other roads as well.

  “Where are you going, boss?” Mr. Data asked as he and the others followed Dix back inside.

  “To see if I had an appointment about the time you were trying to fix that door,” Dix said over his shoulder. “I want to find out who had a reason to come up those stairs.”

  Dix opened the top drawer of the desk in the outer office, pulled out his appointment book, and flipped it open. “Mr. Data, what time of the day would you estimate it was when the Heart was stolen?”

  “About five in the evening in this city’s time,” Mr. Data said, “give or take fifteen minutes. I do not believe I can be any more accurate than that, boss, considering the circumstances of the reality of this world.”

  “Close enough,” Dix said.

  He flipped to the right page and scanned down the mostly empty appointment book. There were only two names anywhere near that five P.M. time. The first was Arnie Andrews, the husband of actress Marci Andrews.

  Marci, one of Dix’s favorite actresses in the city, had been killed at her stage door, and he had been working on his own to solve her case, talking to both her husband and her ex-lover, Brad Barringer. It seemed he had had an appointment with Arnie Andrews at 4:45 that day.

  Dix, of course, had not made it to the appointment, due to other outside problems, but had Arnie made it? That was a critical question.

  The other name on the list was a one-word name, circled, with the words “Dinner with wife” scrawled out beside the name.

  Bell.

  Five P.M. appointment.

  Detective Bell, his friend.

  Dix just stared at the name, not really believing it was possible.

  Yet there it was.

  Detective Bell had been scheduled to come up those stairs right at five, right at the time the Heart of the Adjuster had been stolen.

  If Bell had taken it, what did they now need to do to get it back?

  Dix stared at the names for a few long seconds, then made his decision.

  “Mr. Data,” Dix said, looking up at the five others in the office. “How much time do we have? Approximately.”

  “One hour and forty-five minutes,” Mr. Data said.

  Those words slammed down the fear and worry like a heavy weight, pressing on all of them.

  Two suspects and only one hour and forty-five minutes to find a golden ball. They had no choice. They had to go after both at the same time.

  “Mr. Data, you and Mr. Carter and two of the others downstairs go and find Arnie Andrews and search his apartment. If you don’t find the Heart, bring him back here. I don’t care how you do it. Just don’t kill him. We need to talk to him.”

  He scribbled Arnie Andrews’ address on a piece of paper and handed it to Mr. Data. “Don’t waste any time.”

  “Understood,” Mr. Data said, snapping around and heading for the door with Mr. Carter right behind him.

  “And what are we going to do?” Bev asked. Her face was white, the worry deep in her eyes.

  Dix scooted the appointment book over and moved it so Bev and the other two could read it.

  “Oh, my,” Bev said under her breath.

  “We’re going to set up a trap for a cop,” Dix said. He smiled at the Luscious Bev. “And you’re going to be the bait.”

  Clues from Dixon Hill’s notebook in “The Case of the Missing Heart”

  • Benny the Banger is either dead, recovering from being dead, or in jail.

  • Harvey Upstairs Benton did not have the ball, but managed to get both ledgers anyway.

  • Either Arnie Andrews or Detective Bell had the opportunity to take the Heart of the Adjuster.

  Chapter Nine

  Old Cases, Old Friends

  Section One: Confrontation

  OUTSIDE DIX’S OFFICE WINDOWS, the perpetual night of the city by the bay continued. The hard rain again pounded the street and rattled the windows. It was coming down so heavy that it was impossible to see more than twenty paces between the buildings. The gutters were filling up as the rain came down faster than the drainage could take it away. Every so often a burst of wind would swirl the rain, sending it sideways across the window instead of down to the street.

  Inside, the night’s chill had backed off some as the old radiator cracked to life and worked to fight the dampness. Dix sat alone, thinking, letting the last minutes of this city tick past slowly, grinding their way toward the end of everything he knew and cared about.

  A few minutes earlier Bev had made the phone call to Detective Bell like a pro, sitting on the edge of his desk, her legs crossed, her smile firmly in place. Her voice had had just enough panic in it to make it believable, yet calm enough to make herself understood. Dix was convinced she could have been a great actress if she had wanted to go that way.

  While she had talked, Dix had sat behind his desk and smiled back at her, listening to her every word, nodding at how perfectly she worked the bait.

  “Detective Bell, this is Bev, the friend of Dixon Hill’s.” Her voice had been hurried and insistent, just as it would have been if Dix had really been hurt.

  She listened for a very short moment as Bell said something Dix couldn’t hear.

  “No, you don’t understand,” Bev had said, making her voice sound as if it might break. “Dix was hit when we were trying to get away earlier. I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

  There had been another pause on Bev’s end as Bell reacted. She had winked at Dix, then focused back on the call.

  “We carried him back here. He wants to talk to you. He’s been asking for you when he is awake. I thought I’d better call you at once. There isn’t much time left.”

  There had been another short pause as she listened.

  “We’re in his office. Please hurry.”

  Pause again.

  Dix had watched as she nodded to something Bell was telling her.

  “Thank you, Detective Bell.”

  She had re
ached across and dropped the phone in its cradle like it was some sort of garbage that she didn’t really want to touch and was tossing away.

  “He’s on his way. Five minutes tops he said.”

  “You’re good at that,” Dix had said as he stood and moved around the desk.

  “I’m a woman,” the Luscious Bev had said, smiling at him and batting her eyes.

  That look had stopped him cold. “You mean because you are a woman, you can naturally fool men and lie to them?”

  “What do you think?” she had asked, smiling at him in the way that told him he was being played like a fine violin. Sometimes he enjoyed it, at that moment he hadn’t been so sure.

  “I’m going down to make sure everyone knows what they are supposed to do.”

  “Not a good idea,” Bev had said, hopping off the corner of the desk. “I’ll do it, you stay here. We can’t have Bell see you walking around when you are supposed to be dying, now can we?”

  Dix had agreed with her. She had been right.

  “Stay put,” she had said and headed out the door.

  When the door closed he had moved behind his desk and taken out his gun, making sure it was loaded and ready to use. Then he had put it on the desktop and sat down. For the first time since the Heart of the Adjuster had been taken, he had a moment alone to think.

  And now that was what he was doing.

  Thinking, feeling the time tick away like blood draining from a wounded man.

  As Mr. Data and Bev had suggested earlier, once he got a moment to review everything, he started back at the beginning, working through how this had gotten started, running over the different things that had happened, checking details, looking for any clue as to who might have taken the Heart.

  Anything he might have missed.

  He didn’t see anything.

  He had taken a great deal of precious time going through the crime bosses, making sure that a common thief on the street hadn’t taken the Heart and sold it to them. It had been a logical assumption, especially considering what had happened to Redblock and the nature of crime in this city.

  But now that the bosses were eliminated, he reviewed the two remaining suspects.

  Arnie Andrews, the husband of murdered actress Marci Andrews, had had a reason to be climbing those stairs at about the time the Adjuster was sitting unguarded. But was he the type to see the gold ball and instantly want to take it? That was going to be a question he had to find an answer to quickly.

  Then there was Detective Bell. Bell had bent laws and done favors in most of the ten cases Dix had worked, so Dix knew he was no innocent. But Bell was also a friend. Dix had had a standing invite to go home with Bell and meet his wife and kids and have dinner. Would Bell take something from a friend?

  And most important, Bell knew that Dix was looking for the Heart. He might not know how important it was, but he knew Dix thought it important. And if he had taken it, he might have found a way to give it back by now.

  But he might not have, either.

  Dix was going to have to tread lightly when talking to his old friend. If Bell hadn’t taken the Heart, then that just left Arnie Andrews. And with Mr. Data searching Andrews’ apartment, that lead was being run down at the same time.

  There were clicking footsteps on the stairs and in the hallway and a moment later Bev came back in, brushing the rain off her coat. “Everyone is in place and will come up behind Detective Bell. Once he’s in the building, he won’t be getting out.”

  She moved over to the window and glanced out through the rain. “He just pulled up.”

  “Okay,” Dix said, “stand off to one side. This is between me and Bell.”

  Bev nodded, closed the door, and then moved over to a spot near the window where she leaned against the wall, her arms crossed. Dix remained seated behind his desk, pretending he had been doing just standard paperwork.

  The heavy footsteps echoed through the building as Bell ran up the stairs and through the outer office. He opened the inner office door and then froze, rain dripping from his coat and hat.

  “Thanks for coming,” Dix said. “Come on in and close the door. Have a seat.”

  “What is this?” Bell demanded, staring at Dix sitting obviously unhurt behind his desk. “People coming back from the dead before they die now?”

  “I need to ask you some blunt questions, and I didn’t have time to go find you,” Dix said.

  “Yeah, so,” Bell said, “you knew where I was.”

  Dix shook his head. “No, I needed you here. And it had to be fast. We are all almost out of time.”

  “So you told her to lie to me?” Bell asked, clearly angry, motioning at Bev. “What kind of friend would do that to another friend?”

  “The same kind of friend that would ask you if you took the Heart of the Adjuster I’ve been looking for.”

  Now Bell looked really stunned.

  “Sit for a minute,” Dix said, before Bell could say anything more, “and let me explain why I would even ask that question. And why I had to lie to get you here.”

  Bell stared at Dix, then with a glance at Bev, pushed the door closed and sat in the chair facing Dix’s desk. He brushed water off his coat and then took his hat off and shook it at the floor.

  “Take a look at this,” Dix said, sliding his appointment book toward the detective, flipping it over so Bell could read it. “The Adjuster with the gold-looking Heart was sitting at the top of the stairs out in the hall, unguarded for about five minutes, somewhere between 4:45 and 5:15. That was when it was taken.”

  Bell studied the appointment book, then nodded and slid it back at Bell.

  “I know you’re a basically honest man,” Dix said. “Your name does not appear anywhere in either Redblock’s ledger or Slippery Stan Hand’s records.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Bell said, clearly still angry, “since I wouldn’t take a thin dime from either of those two slimeballs.” He flipped his still wet hat onto Dix’s desk.

  Dix ignored Bell and his actions and anger and went on.

  “I don’t know how to tell you how important that little-ball is to the continued existence of this entire city. You’re just going to have to believe me that if we don’t find it in the next ninety minutes, we will all die. You, me, your wife. Everyone.”

  “Ninety minutes?” Bell said, waving away Dix’s statement like it was a bug flying in front of his face. “Ah, come on, quit pullin’ my leg. This is getting old.”

  “I am not kidding,” Dix said, staring at his friend. “I wish I were.”

  Bell stared right back at Dix. Then after a moment Bell said, “You’re not kidding, are you?”

  “No.”

  “You said this had something to do with the strange weather and this night that will never end?”

  “It does,” Dix said.

  “And with me and the others coming back alive?”

  Dix nodded.

  Bell took a deep breath and sat back. “All right, I can see why you had to ask when you saw this appointment book. You had to talk to everyone who might have come up the stairs at the point the thing was taken, right?”

  Dix nodded.

  “Makes sense, friendship or no friendship. I’d have done the same thing.”

  “Exactly,” Dix said.

  “Still a cheap trick, telling me you were hurt.”

  “It got you here,” Dix said, smiling. He was glad that he had managed to get through Bell’s anger to the smart detective mind in there. He was going to need Bell’s help.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you this,” Bell said. “I didn’t take the gold ball. In fact, this entire day and long night have been so crazy, I forgot you were goin’ to have dinner with us. I haven’t been home, or had a good meal in so long, I have almost forgotten what my wife looks like.”

  He paused and thought for a moment. Dix didn’t interrupt. Bev also stayed silent, hands crossed over her chest, just watching and waiting.

  Finally Bell said, “I honest
ly have no idea where I was right at the time I was supposed to be here, since time and this night have gone totally bonkers. More than likely I was trying to keep somebody from shooting somebody else, or doing paperwork on somebody.”

  He looked directly into Dix’s eyes and kept talking. “So I didn’t come up those stairs to even see the thing you’re looking for. To be honest with you, I wish I had. I might have stopped whoever took it, and we’d be eating dinner with my wife and smoking cigars on the steps.”

  Dix stared at his friend for the longest time, then nodded. “Good enough for me. Sorry to have to trick you to get you over here.”

  “Had me scared to death,” Bell said, laughing. “So who’s the other name on that list? It rings a bell, but I’m so tired I can’t place it right off.”

  “Husband of Marci Andrews, the murdered actress.”

  Bell snapped his fingers. “That’s right. You were working that case. Seems like a long time ago now.”

  “That it does,” Dix admitted.

  “So I can tell you,” Bell said, “that you are going to need my help shaking him down.”

  “I don’t think so,” Dix said. “I have Mr. Data and a few others searching his apartment. If they don’t find the Heart, they’re going to bring Andrews here.”

  Bell laughed and took his hat from Dix’s desk. “That’s going to be some trick.”

  Dix looked at Bell. “Why?”

  “The cops working the Marci Andrews murder arrested Arnie Andrews about ten minutes before I got shot in that doorway.” Bell said. “He’s sitting in a holding cell downtown right now. Been there all night.”

  Section Two: Sweat Drips Just Like Blood

  Dix had Bev wait in his office with instructions to call him at once when Mr. Data returned, then headed out into the heavy rain with Detective Bell. The water pounded at him, closing in the already closed-in world around him, making him feel as if he were fighting against everything, simply trying to get to the car.

  Even though Dix had sworn he would never ride with Bell again, this time Bell’s speed didn’t bother him. They needed all the speed they could find as each second ticked them closer to the end.