Out of Time

  Michael Z. Lewin

  OUT OF TIME

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty One

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Chapter Thirty Three

  Chapter Thirty Four

  Chapter Thirty Five

  Chapter Thirty Six

  Chapter One

  The girl sat in my outer office cum waiting room. She was fidgeting with a hanky. She ran it through the fingers of one hand, then the other.

  I opened my inner office door and took one step forward.

  She stood up.

  I said, in an earnest, utterly trustworthy way, ‘My name is Albert Samson. I’m a private detective. Can I help you?’

  She looked at me, but only for a moment. Her gaze dropped to my shoelaces. Despite the diffidence she was brassily beautiful. Falteringly she said, ‘Oh, I hope so, I hope so!’ A glance up. She fluttered her eyelids. ‘But it is a personal problem. And it’s so hard to know where to start.’

  I stepped aside and gestured to my office. ‘Why don’t you come in, sit down, and start at the beginning.’

  She lifted her baby blue eyes to mine and said, ‘Oh thank you!’ She dabbed at the eyes with the hanky. She walked into the office. I followed her and closed the door behind us.

  After a long moment she opened it again.

  She stood framed in the doorway, facing the camera.

  She said, ‘And that is how most of us picture the start of a new case for a private eye. The agitated girl, the shabby office that doubles as a home, the lone detective with his bottle of Scotch. Well, Albert Samson is a private detective and he does work alone, but I can tell you he hasn’t offered me so much as a whiff of whiskey and he says that he’s hardly ever had an agitated girl for a client. This is Tanya Wilkerson for WTRH-TV News and I’m Out and About. Most private detectives work for large agencies these days, but we’ve found one of the last of his breed, alive and well in our own Indianapolis. Does Albert Samson tread a noble lonely path through the maelstrom of human wickedness or is life for the modern-day dick not so glamorous as it used to be? Spend a few minutes with me in his inner sanctum and we’ll find out.’

  I watched the programme noble and alone. Well, not programme exactly. Two hundred and seventy-two second feature on the Monday evening WTRH news.

  It hardly seemed to last a minute. The interview flew by, like my life passing before my eyes.

  I needn’t have been alone. I could have watched with my woman friend and her daughter. But if I was to be thrust suddenly into the forefront of local private detection, with the phone ringing so much its perch would get wobbly, I owed it to the customers to answer the calls myself.

  The strategy proved to be a little optimistic. I hadn’t expected sudden fame from my television spot, but . . . something.

  At about nine-thirty I gave up on my silent telephone and went out to do some shopping. I spent twenty-five minutes in the supermarket and nobody looked at me twice, except when I was at the checkout. Circumstances require me to be a rather careful shopper and when I was going through my pockets to make the 20 cents on my $7.20 ticket, the bagger looked at me a second time. But I don’t think it was because I’d been on TV.

  When I got home I wrote Tanya a note saying how well she’d done her Out and About on me. They love flattery, show people. And who knew? Some follow-up on my more unusual cases? You have to keep irons in the fire for the future these days to keep from being overwhelmed by the cold steel of the present.

  Tanya had seemed interested enough while she was with me.

  How did you get into it? By a happy chain of accidents. (While eliminating all the good occupations.)

  Is it interesting work? A lot more often than you might think. (Once a year.)

  Do you get a lot of satisfaction out of it? It’s very fulfilling to give a client a full report on what he or she wants to know. (And to get a cheque, and have a square meal.)

  Do you carry a gun? No, I don’t even own one. (Which hasn’t kept me from being shot at a few times.)

  Can you really make a living at it these days? I’ve been at it for years and I’m still here. (Ignoring the detail that I pay no rent because I have a deal with my landlord to double as a watchman for his premises and a large quantity of plate glass he stores out back.)

  Do you meet a lot of sexy women? I’m not one to kiss and tell. (Or even to kiss, if it comes to that.)

  If any of our viewers have problems they think you could help with, do you have time at the moment to take on any extra work? I always have time to talk to people and advise them whether their problem is the kind I think I can be of help with or not. (Thank you, blessed Tanya, for asking like I asked you to.)

  I don’t know whether anybody watches WTRH. But they won’t hold Tanya Wilkerson long. She’s too good. She spent fifteen minutes just rehearsing her fidgeting.

  The next morning I got three calls as a result of my commercial.

  They restored my faith in the American way of life.

  The first was from a man who identified himself as Douglas A. Belter. He said he would like to consult me about a personal matter.

  I said I would be happy to meet him.

  What had been a conversation conducted in measured and businesslike tones then became hesitant. He said, ‘I. . . . Because of the nature of the situation would it . . .? Might I see you out of office hours?’

  I offered six p.m. He agreed immediately.

  As I entered the appointment in my notebook, I felt I knew the name in a vague sort of way. But it stayed vague.

  The second call came an hour later while I was getting my dirty clothes together. A male voice asked, ‘Mr Samson?’

  ‘Speaking.’

  ‘Saw you on the box last night.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Turned my stomach. All that soft soap about taking an interest in clients as people. Steering them to somebody else if their problem is something you can’t handle. You defectives are all the same. What a load of ball bearings.’

  ‘It’s nice weather for December,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you take a hike?’

  I hung up.

  Tanya warned me I might get nuisance calls.

  I sat a minute thinking about my laundry. Trying to remember whether this was the month to sort it into whites and colours or the month for synthetics and naturals. With the holidays coming there would be social commitments. The decision could be important.

  The phone rang again.

  When I answered it a man said, ‘Mr Samson, I saw you on television last night.’

  ‘I’d love to chat,’ I said, ‘but I’m up to my neck in filthy business here. If you have anything serious to say, then get on with it. Otherwise buzz off.’

  There was a long pause.

  He said, ‘If you introduce yourself to all prospective clie
nts this way, I’m surprised you make any kind of living at all.’ About this time I realised I was talking to a new caller.

  I began to waffle about crank calls.

  Coldly he said, ‘I have a job which I would like to talk to you about. My name is Normal Bates. I live in Tarkington Tower. Do you know it?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said.

  ‘1203. At three.’

  Despite myself as I put the receiver down I felt cheerful, thinking that my personal economic recession might be about to break. Maybe I would lead the country back to prosperity.

  I put the answering machine on and went out to the launderette.

  Mid-cycle I did the dutiful thing and called my mother, who runs a diner on the near-Southside. She said that she hadn’t seen me on the television herself, but a friend had and I had seemed ‘sweet’.

  Even that didn’t get me down.

  Chapter Two

  Tarkington Tower is on the near-Northside, an early effort at the kind of gentrification of a downtown area which has been pursued with intensity more recently by local politicians and businessmen.

  We’re awash with new buildings and projects in Indianapolis just now, attempts to divert some of the mainstream of national events, attention and prestige from other centres. A lot of rich and powerful people are deeply involved. I think it is a good thing: it gives them something to do and keeps them off the streets. There’s nothing more dangerous than rich and powerful people with time on their hands.

  I arrived at Tarkington Tower at two fifty-five. It is twelve stories high and the elevator worked. My rates and hopes rose with each passing floor.

  I rang the bell of 1203. Within a few seconds it opened wide to reveal an old man with bright eyes and a horseshoe of white hair making a ringer on his pate. He wore plaid braces which blazed on the background of a plain white shirt. The braces supported trousers which didn’t know whether to cover or reveal the extent of a substantial pot belly. Compromise ruled and they came up halfway.

  ‘The famous Mr Samson,’ he said.

  ‘And you are Mr Bates.’

  ‘Come in. Sit down.’

  He led me slowly but very surely down a short hall. We arrived in a sitting room, large but sparsely furnished. He settled into the one upholstered chair. It was squarely before a window that filled the entire outside wall of the room. Unexpectedly, he rotated on a masked swivel to look at the view.

  There was no obvious place for me to sit, so I moved the only other chair in the room from its location in front of a home computer at a side wall. The computer was on. The screen read, ‘Talk to me, baby.’

  I put the chair so it faced Bates and I sat down.

  The other furnishings in the room were a four-tier bookshelf on the wall opposite the computer and a floor-to-ceiling rubber plant near the entrance to a kitchenette.

  Bates said nothing, so I too turned to the window. It overlooked central Indianapolis to the south and there couldn’t have been more than a dozen places in town with comparable vistas. Exciting even on a grey day.

  ‘My city,’ Bates said. ‘My city.’

  Then he turned to face me. ‘So you’re a private eye.’ His eyes, seen again, appeared almost to glow.

  ‘I am indeed,’ I said.

  ‘Are you good?’

  ‘I do what I can.’

  ‘There is a man I would like you to investigate for me. Can you do that?’

  ‘It depends what kind of investigation you want. I can’t follow him for twenty-four hours a day myself, for instance. Though I can have it done.’

  ‘There may be some surveillance involved, but that’s not the essential part. Go over to the computer, will you?’

  I went to the computing rig.

  ‘Type “Lance Whisstock”.’

  I typed Lance Whisstock.

  ‘Now hit the “enter” key.’

  I hit enter.

  The screen came to life, displaying a collection of facts headed, ‘Lance Whisstock’. They were things like age, height and weight; where and when he had been to college; that he was divorced; and that he was such a good baseball player that he had been drafted as a pitcher by the Padres when he was in high school.

  Bates said, ‘Now hit the “F-1” key, type “Print” and enter it.’

  The machine accepted my instructions and clattered into life. It printed me a paper copy of what had just been displayed on the screen. I tore it off and came back to my chair.

  ‘Love these newfangled things,’ Bates said with a smile. ‘I’ve been thinking about having an ear pierced, but can’t make up my mind which one.’

  ‘I think you’re joshing me, Mr Bates.’

  ‘Maybe a little.’

  I looked at him and asked, ‘So, what is the story?’

  ‘The boy is the grandson of a friend of mine, and he seems to have gone off the rails. Hanging out with a lot of low-lifes. My friend is worried and I said I would try to find out what was up with the kid. That’s about it.’

  ‘I see,’ I said.

  ‘I’ve got a photograph of the boy,’ Bates said, and from a shirt pocket he took a snapshot and handed it to me. ‘Got a longer beard and longer hair now, but you ought to recognise him from that.’

  The picture was of a dark burly man who looked older than the twenty-six I knew him to be from the data sheet.

  ‘You must be a pretty good friend of the grandfather to go to all this trouble,’ I said.

  ‘I try to be a good friend,’ Bates said forcefully. ‘Choose ’em carefully, and stick by ’em. That’s the rule I’ve gone by and it’s never let me down yet. You know how old I am, Mr Samson?’

  ‘I wouldn’t want to guess,’ I said.

  ‘I’ll be seventy-six years old next March.’

  He didn’t look it. ‘You certainly don’t look it,’ I said.

  ‘And if I had one bit of advice to give to a young man it would be to stick by his friends.’

  I nodded.

  ‘But maybe you’ll be happier to take this than advice.’ He took a folded cheque from his pocket. ‘A little retainer.’

  I tried to exercise self-control as I accepted it. It’s not polite to grab.

  ‘His grandfather says that Lance has been spending time in the bars along Illinois, south of Fall Creek. They had a talk in The Fandango a couple of weeks ago. You might well pick him up around there.’

  ‘Not the most salubrious part of town,’ I said.

  ‘No,’ Bates said.

  ‘You don’t have things like a home address?’

  ‘Nor a place of work.’

  ‘I could go a long time without finding him.’

  ‘I understand that. And I understand that you may well have other commitments.’

  I shrugged agreement. One can hope.

  ‘I would like you to report to me frequently, however, even if you are not getting anywhere. My friend is anxious. If I can tell him I’ve talked to you each day, he’ll feel better.’

  ‘All right, Mr Bates. But are you aware how private detectives operate? I do have a few friends of my own, but no special connections that will provide all the information you might want by noon tomorrow. You might do better, or faster, by hiring one of the big agencies.’

  ‘Thank you for the suggestion,’ he said. ‘But you’ll do.’

  I headed towards home from Tarkington Tower, but by way of Illinois Street. There is a mile or so where the bars are numerous and the reputation is bad. Not the only place in town where the rougher gays get together or where you can buy chemical highs without American Express, but it’s not the kind of area you’d like your grandchild to spend its time. Not the same grandchild you dandled on your knee and dressed up as Santa Claus for.

  The only stop I made on the way back to the office was to deposit the cheque.

  When I got in I found a message on the answering machine.

  When I played it back, the message was a request that I call a Mr Lyon at 547 3577. The caller spelled the name.


  I hummed as I hung my coat up and mused about getting myself a new one for Christmas. Depositing cheques, even small ones, has that kind of effect on me. I dialled the number and then listened to myself ask for Mr Lyon while I was absorbing that the answering voice had said, ‘Indianapolis Zoo.’

  A little joke.

  Thank you someone.

  I felt suddenly tired.

  Chapter Three

  Douglas A. Belter was on time to the second by his Swiss pocket chronometer. He arrived in the only bespoke-tailored three-piece suit that had ever walked into premises of mine. The suit was a fine grey number which toned in with his carefully coiffed fine grey hair. He had grey eyes and a grey face. The only break in the cloudy exterior was the gold chain which led to the watch in his waistcoat pocket.

  I knew he was on time because he was holding the timepiece in his left hand as he came through the door and he said, ‘On time. I was afraid I was going to be late.’

  I was sitting in the outer office. ‘Busy day?’ I asked conversationally.

  ‘They all are,’ he said without trace of even a social smile. ‘Douglas A. Belter.’ He advanced on me with his right hand extended.

  What could I do?

  ‘Albert Samson.’ I rose and shook the hand.

  And I placed the name. There were Belters in Indianapolis who were bankers and who appeared on social pages. Sometimes, when I am not rushed off my feet with work, I read the paper thoroughly.

  ‘Are you one of the banking Belters?’ I asked.

  ‘I am,’ he said. ‘But this is a personal matter. Where do we talk?’

  I led him to the inner office, as advertised on television. I felt like a, beer, but couldn’t go to the ice box without offering him one. And he just didn’t strike me as beer.

  He looked to be in his late forties. Although I had sailed through a few of my fifth decade birthdays without threatening a soul, they are said to be a man’s dangerous years. I wondered if he had been dating a teenager and was now being blackmailed by the girl’s greedy granny.

  My mind sometimes goes on idle flights after six.

  Belter settled himself in my client’s chair and then took a deep breath. ‘I need,’ he said, ‘to be certain of the confidentiality of what I say to you.’