The Double Vice: The 1st Hidden Gotham Novel by Chris Holcombe (free ebook reader txt) 📕

into his vigil, he heard the crunch of gravel underfoot. His senses heightened. This was unexpected. He anticipated the lights of the Avery apartment coming on once they entered in the usual way, and Dash would simply wait by the front door when they left. Now someone was coming down the alleyway. He willed his breathing still. More gravel crunching. Then a darkened figure entered Dash’s line of sight. The features were hidden in shadow. A man, judging by the suit. Or could it be Pru?

The figure’s gaze went right over Dash. It turned and leapt upwards and grasped the fire escape ladder. It climbed upwards to the second floor and then walked to the window of 2A. Dash heard, rather than saw, the figure slide the window upwards and step into the apartment.

Dash waited. What should he do now? Was this one of the Averys, as he suspected? A random burglar? Or someone else involved in the Müller melodrama?

He stayed put, tuning his ears and concentrating on what was happening nearby rather than the ambient noise of the city at night. Through the opened window of 2A, he thought he heard the clattering of shoes on the floorboards, doors and drawers being opened and shut, and the rustling of someone rushing about. Whomever was in there was moving fast.

The slide of the window again and shoes on the fire escape. There was a click and a loud clang! The fire escape ladder had been released and dropped to the ground. The figure muttered, “Damn!”

A pause.

Then the tink tink tink of someone climbing down.

Gravel crunched again, but instead of footsteps moving off, there was silence.

Have I been seen?

Dash held his breath again. The silence stretched for so long, Dash wondered if the figure was still even there. He fought the impulse to peek around the garbage cans.

A snick of a lighter. Cigarette smoke soon floated into Dash’s line of vision. Ah, the person had paused for a smoke.

Now is our chance.

Dash abruptly stood up, startling the darkened figure, who said, “Shit!” Her cigarette fell out of her hand, the glowing orange end smoldering on the ground.

The figure was less than three feet away from him. A woman. Dash flicked his own lighter so he could get a better view. His quarry was dressed in a sleeveless dress that was olive in color, silk in nature. A matching stole decorated her right shoulder, and a butterfly beret was clipped to her short, black hair. She was stunning. She was also frightened.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” Dash said. “But I’m afraid we need to talk, Mrs. Avery.” He stepped closer. “Or should I say, Mr. Paul Avery?”

24

A sharp intake of breath. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the woman replied, the voice pitched high.

Dash had exhausted all of his patience waiting for her. He closed his lighter, extinguishing the flame. “Yes, you do. We don’t have time for this. Walter Müller is hot on your trail and it’s only a matter of time before he finds you.”

“The man’s a brute but thick as a post. He won’t find us.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate him, Paul.”

“I prefer Paula, if it’s all the same to you.” A curious look. “How’d you figure out there was only one Avery, not two?”

“Marjorie’s eyesight isn’t that sharp. I figured you talked in two different voices. In the absent of a clear picture, her ears filled in the rest.”

“Hmm, clever.”

Paula then rummaged around in her bag. Dash panicked, wondering if she was reaching for the gun she had at the Shelton. Instead, she came up with a brass tin, extracting a cigarette from it, and a brass lighter. She hastily lit another cigarette, a line of smoke escaping her lips as she sighed.

“Well,” she said. “What happens now?”

“I was hoping you’d tell me. What’s going on, Paula? Pru’s being all cagey, and you’ve been impossible to get a hold of. What are the two of you afraid of?”

“The same thing you’re afraid of. Walter-fucking-Müller.”

“Why? What is the case you and Pru are working on?”

“How do you know it’s about a case?”

“Come on, Paula, give me some credit! I know you, Tyler Smith, Karl Müller, and Prudence Meyers all met at the Hot Cha. You talked earnestly, according to my source.”

“Where did you hear that bunk?”

“Zora Mae. The Baroness of Business herself. She’s the one who gave me your address.”

Paula eyed Dash uneasily. “Did she now?”

“The Baroness was very observant. She said that Pru, a lawyer, let’s not forget, convinced Tyler to do something the night before Walter showed up at my club and made his mark on my face. Next thing we know, Karl’s dead and so is Tyler.”

“A series of unfortunate events. Just like what happened to your face.” She gestured towards him with her cigarette. “Did you know Walter Müller before he did that to you?”

“No.”

“See? You randomly got caught up in his orbit but there’s no previous connection. Karl just happened to be Walter’s brother. Tyler just happened to be a former lover. Tyler just happened to be friends with Pru and I. They had nothing to do with what we were working on. End of story.”

“I don’t believe you.”

A bark of laughter. “Well, dearie, then I don’t know what else to tell you.”

“You can tell me why you and Pru and Karl were waiting for Tyler that night in my club. You were the one in the blue and gold dress, were you not?”

Paula considered denying it but thought better of it. “It’s a stunning little number, isn’t it? Certainly caught your eye.”

She thought while she inhaled another puff.

Her smoke-filled reply was, “We were going to wish Tyler bon voyage. He was moving to Paris.”

That matched what Emmett had read in the news reports of Tyler’s murder. But it didn’t match what Dash already confirmed with Pru.

He said as much to Paula, who said, “Jesus, what don’t you know?”

“The story with Walter. That’s the piece I’m missing.”

They stared at one another for a moment.

Paula