The Place: New York City, Hell’s Kitchen
The Time: 1941, August
World Events: Europe is under the thumb of the Nazis, Japan is running roughshod over China and the Far East. The USA is ostensibly neutral, but It’s only a matter of time before she is drawn into the conflict…
12:15 in the afternoon, and it was hot.
The kind of New York heat that softened the asphalt streets and caught high heels in the mire. My office fan blew the papers and photos around on my desk but didn’t do much to cool the place. Sweat dripped off my brow; the humid air caused everyone to sweat… and smell.
My office had a plain desk, two chairs, and a small sofa. A couple of filing cabinets ran along the wall opposite the couch, and a standing hat rack completed my furnishings. No pictures on the wall. Nothing personal on my desk; it coulda belonged to anybody. Only the name painted on the frosted glass identified the place: Ray Hammet, Private Investigator.
I was putting together my photos and writing up my findings on the Johnson divorce case when my door burst open, and a woman flowed into the room. But not just any woman.
“Ruth.” I surveyed her appearance: still gorgeous, with a body that curved in all the right places, and too well-dressed for this neighborhood. The only thing that changed in 12 years was her hairstyle. Long blond hair that swirled in an ‘S’ down from the side of her head so that it covered one eye, she was obviously doing her best Veronica Lake impression. Except Veronica was the hottest actress in Hollywood, and Ruth was prettier than her. “What the hell are you doin’ here.” I flipped open my Ronson and lit myself a Camel. Unfiltered.
“Ray, love. It’s Katerina now. Mrs. Katerina Muller.” She looked expectantly at me like she thought I was going to jump up and give her a hug. Sure. Call me ‘love’ and then tell me you’re married. Nope, not falling into your arms. Too much time gone by for that.
“Have a seat… Katerina. What’s on your mind.” I liked to ask a question but make it sound like a statement. It keeps people off balance.
“I’m in a bind, Ray. A pickle! Oh it’s terrible!”
The only thing terrible was her theatrics. “Go on.”
“He… he hits me, Ray. And more. Awful things like… I have to... service… his friends, partners, whoever he says.”
“Who is this ‘he’.”
“He’s my husband, Ray!”
“Well I don’t know what you need me for, you’ve solved the case already. Go tell your story to a cop, doll.” I stood up and walked past her to the door and opened it.
She sprung up like a cat and put her arms around me. “Ray! You gotta help me!”
I exhaled, blowing smoke in her face.
She didn’t flinch.
“You think that bothers me? That’s how I wake up every day, and that’s on a good day.”
“Look, whaddya want from me. You run out on me 12 years ago and now you want my help? Sorry, doll, I’m all booked up here. Tell your story walkin’.”
“Ray!” she cried out, her eyes now bloodshot and glassy. “I’ll... I’ll do anything you want. Anything.”
Yeah, I heard that one before. My version of ‘anything’ doesn’t usually match up to the dame’s version, know what I’m sayin’?
“There were two things I wanted from you but never got. One was loyalty. The other thing, well, you would never do that.”
Without a moment of hesitation, Ruth bent down on her knees in front of me and started undoing my suspenders. I gotta say, I was surprised. And intrigued. Ruth was always a ‘nice’ girl, and nice girls don't put their mouths on cocks.
“This thing, Ray?” Her lips encircled the tip of my cock.
Decision time. Kick her out, or see what happens.
I pushed the door closed… and placed my hands on her head.
- - - - -
We both sat in my office chairs, clothes disheveled, smoking cigarettes.
“You're really good at that. And you swallowed, too. That's a first.”
“I like the way you taste Ray. Seems like you had a lot stored up there.”
Criminy, she had a dirty mouth.
“Yeah, maybe I been in a dry spell.”
“Listen, Ray. You've fucked my mouth, why don't you fuck me next?”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Gimme a couple minutes.”
- - - - -
We both lay sprawled on the couch, naked, sweating, legs entwined, and sharing a glass of Fleischmann's.
“They make better gin, you know?” she observed.
I pinched her nipple hard. She didn't flinch. In fact, she purred. “It's American. I don't want any of that British shit.”
“It's better than schnapps; that's all I usually get.” She took a big slug, finishing up the glass. She got up and walked to get the bottle from the table and refill the glass, but she stayed there and leaned on the table, her legs spread in a lewd display. Without batting an eye, she drank half the glass.
“Ray,” she said in a small voice as she set the glass down. With her hands, she separated the lips between her legs. “Look how wet you get me, Ray.” She showed me her glistening pink insides.
Jesus Christ. I thought of myself as somewhat of a man of the world, but I realized I had been living a sheltered life. She slipped two fingers inside of herself and then took them out and licked them. Licked them with her own juices on them. My cock, which I sure as shit thought was dead a minute ago, began perking up.
“Ray? When you fuck me this time, will you kiss me? Please? Then I want you to think about what I said earlier: ‘Anything you want,’ and tell me what it is.”
She was a sex-witch she-devil, and I couldn’t resist her charms.
“Go get my necktie,” I ordered.
- - - - -
We both panted like dogs as we lay sprawled on top of the desk. All my papers and photos lay scattered on the floor, victims of lust. I loosened my tie from around her neck; it left a red mark. Being as it was my third time, I didn't have much squirt left. But the small amount I did have lay spotted on her ass.
“You didn't,” she began but had to swallow. “You said you would kiss me, but you didn't.”
I swatted her ass hard, making her yelp. “You said I could do anything I wanted. I didn't want to kiss you.” I got up off her and found my handkerchief in a drawer. I wiped the sweat off my brow.
“That was very humiliating, making me crawl around like I was on a leash.”
“Yeah, I bet it was. That was the point.”
She got up and started gathering her clothes. “I don't know why I came here in the first place.”
“I don't either.”
“You used to be nice, you were someone I could count on!”
“You used to be special. Now… you're just some Kraut’s whore.”
She whirled hard on me, but I caught her wrist before she could slap me. So she spit in my face instead. I slapped her face, which made her cry.
“Time to go.” Yeah, I was hard on her. When you wake up every day with your stomach in a knot, it makes a man hard. When the only thing that makes the pain go away is the gin that creates that knot, it makes a man hard. When the dame who gave you that pain waltzes in like nothing ever happened, it makes a man hard.
“Ray! Won't you help me? I'm in trouble. Real trouble.” A tear rolled down her cheek. I almost felt sorry for her. But not quite. “I'm… trying to get away from him, and I took some diamonds, Ray. Help me, and I'll split them with you. He doesn't know they are gone yet.”
“Ice, huh? Show me.”
Still naked, she pulled a small black leather case out of her Bergdorf-Goodman shopping bag. It was about four inches by six with a zipper on the long edge. She unzipped it and held it open… and about a hundred or so big rocks rolled around in there, all cut, faceted, whatever they called it. These were some big diamonds, ready for mounting and selling to some super-rich people.
“These’re hot, aren't they.”
“No. He gets them shipped to him from Germany. They’re legit.”
Shipped from Germany, Christ. Probably stolen from the Jews, her husband is probably a Nazi. What the fuck has she gotten herself into?
“Alright then, what's your plan?”
“Take them and move to Florida; he'd never find me there. Hey, why don't you come with me?”
“Me. In Florida. I can't see it.”
“Think about it, please? Ray, I gotta trust you. I'll split them with you. We go way back, you and me. I got another case, just like this one, but with fake diamonds in it. I just got it today from a friend. You wanna see?”
“Get your clothes on first, I got an appointment soon.”
Ruth “hmphed” at me but got dressed quickly, putting on her lipstick while I smoked another butt. Then she pulled out an identical case also filled with what looked like diamonds but were really just cut-glass pieces. They might pass for real diamonds in low light, but they were clearly fakes in the bright of day.
“I want you to hold the real diamonds for me, Ray, and I'll go and put the fake ones back in the safe at home!”
“You shoulda left the real ones there, then swapped them out for the fakes. The way it is now, he might notice.”
“Yeah but… you see it's… well I…” She seemed genuinely flustered. “That does make a lot more sense, doesn't it? Well, anyway, you got a safe to keep these in? Will you hold them for me? I'll come back for them tomorrow.”
“Half of them. You'll come back for half of them.”
“Right! Of course! Half of them. Where's your safe?”
I had my little Mosler safe right under my desk. When I bent down to spin the knob, I caught a glimpse of her switching the cases; she was gonna stick me with the fakes. Of course, she was. I shouldn't have been surprised. Why would she give me real diamonds? She slipped the real case back into her shopping bag.
“Okay,” I said and grabbed the case of fakes. But instead of putting them in the safe, I tucked them into the back of my pants. “They are safe now. When you coming back tomorrow?”
She gathered up her stuff and headed to the door. “Ten o'clock sharp, okay Ray?”
“You betcha. Hey hold up a second, doll. I've changed my mind about that kiss.”
“Oh it's fine, we'll have lots of time for- oh!”
I swept her up in my arms and gave her a big smooch. A nice long one. Our tongues swirled, and both of our bodies responded one more time. I set her back down, and we both came back to Earth.
“Ray… I'm so sorry… for everything.” She smiled so sweetly that I almost believed her.
“Don't worry about it, doll. But you better fix your face before you go; I smudged you up a little.”
“Oh dear me! I'm sure you did.” She set her bag down and rifled through her purse to get her lipstick.
As she puckered for her little compact, I reached for her shopping bag. “Doll, you left the case on top of your new clothes. Even though they're fakes, you don't want some urchin stealing it.” And with some quick sleight of hand, I switched the cases from the back of my pants and her shopping bag. Now I had the real diamonds, and she had the true fakes.
“See you tomorrow, Ray. Ten o'clock.”
“Sure, doll. I'll be waiting.”
I watched her from my second-story window as she crossed the street and walked up to the corner… where a car pulled up, and a tall, thin man got out. She planted her lips on his… those same lips that'd been wrapped around my cock less than an hour ago. He gestured to the car, and Ruth got in.
- - - - -
I cleaned up the joint and hid the diamonds. I didn't know what my next move was yet, but it wouldn't take her long to figure out that I switched up her switcheroo.
Loud footsteps climbed the stairs. Shit. I thought I would have more time. But then two big well-dressed goons burst into my office. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at their German accents.
“Vere ees Katerina Muller!”
They kept coming in; one guy, I’ll call him Hans, grabbed me while the other, Franz, held up a piece of paper with a handwritten note for me to look at.
“Never heard of her.”
“Bullsheis! This ees your name and address on ze paper, ja?”
In her handwriting, too. “Jawohl, shithead. But I still don't know any Katerina whatever.”
Oof! He punched my stomach pretty good, and I doubled over.
“Why ees your name on her desk?”
He punched me again, this time on the side of my face, splitting my lip.
“I'm pretty popular, Franz.” I spit some blood on the floor. “Maybe she needs my services, but I never heard of her.”
“Vell. She ees missing, diamonds missing, und your name on zee note.” He wound up this time and clocked me hard. I fucking felt that one. Hans let me drop to the floor. I looked over at my locked safe under the desk. Franz saw me do that.
“Ha! So easy. You Americans think you are so tough, but you fall apart so easily. Bring him over.”
Hans dragged me over to the safe, and Franz got right in my face. “Open zee safe, now.”
“Fuck you and fuck Hitler.”
I was able to absorb most of Franz’s kick with my arms, but I gave a convincing shudder and yelp.
“Next, I vill kick your balls and keep kicking zem until you die, zen take zee safe anyway.”
He convinced me. “Alright. Let me sit up.” I spun the dial, 36-26-36, and opened the safe. “See? No diamonds.”
Franz pushed me aside and saw for himself. “You are the fucker. But I vill take your Schmit und Vesson .38. Hans, search everywhere.” I hated losing my gun, but I hated him taking my $243 too. Hans didn't find anything, of course. He did manage to break most of my furniture, though.
“I vill kill you, but not today.” His last punch sent me to the ground, and the lights went out.
- - - - -
My dried blood glued my face to the floor, so that wound reopened when I pulled myself up. My head was killing me, and most of my body ached. But I wasn’t dead, and I still had my balls and the diamonds. I had only one thing on my mind, Stokely’s Bar and Grill. I grabbed a handkerchief to try and staunch my blood flow and headed downstairs to Stoke’s.
“Ray! What happened to you?” Stan, the dwarf doorman, escorted me straight to the nearest bar stool. “Dottie! Ray needs medicine!”
“Jesus, Ray! You poor thing.” Dottie Stokely made me a big tall Gimlet with lots of ice and slid it across the oaken bar. She put some more ice in a towel and hurried around from behind the bar. “Stan, make him another Gimlet. Oh, and use the Gordon’s.” Stan’s little eyebrows went way up. Gordon’s was expensive gin, and he figured Dottie was giving me free drinks.
By the time she got to me, I had already finished the first drink. The lime burned my lip, but that pain didn't bother me. Dottie touched the iced towel to my worst sore spots and purred like a momma cat. “You poor thing, what happened? Should we call a cop? Callahan just walked by a couple minutes ago; I'm sure we could find him.”
“Ouch! Easy there, darlin’. No cops, this was… personal.” I drank half of my second drink and looked at Dottie.
“Stan, another Gimlet for the boxer here, and lean on it. Then bring me the medical kit.” Stan sure did lean on it, seven inches of mostly gin and ice with just a hint of lime. Now that was an excellent fucking Gimlet.
Dottie, actually Dorothy, tended to my wounds with some witch hazel and these strange little things in a paper wrapping. “What are these? Why are they sticky?”
“It's called a ‘Band-Aid’, they're new. You just pull them off after a few days.”
It felt nice having Dottie fix me up. Almost too nice. Sure, she was a great gal, and we had slept together several times in the past, ever since her husband died. But she was a nice girl who just had nice sex, and I was a cad, a rake, a womanizer. She wouldn't stand for that. But the booze settled in, and she smelled good, and there would never be goons coming after me on account of her. That should mean something.
She fixed me up a cheese sandwich and some tomato soup. My mouth hurt too much to eat anything really solid. It was about this time that Dash Chandler came into the bar and ran up beside me.
“Ray! You okay? Stanley told me you got beat up. Who was it? Boy I tell you I'm gonna find those guys and give ‘em free knuckle sandwiches before I knock the shit outta them-”
“Watch your language, young man,” Dottie admonished.
“Sorry Mrs. Stokely. Ray, who were these guys?”
I set my soup spoon down. “Couple a Krauts. I got set up by Ruth. She was trying to run away from her bad husband and she was using me as a decoy.”
“I think I saw those guys. Tall? Blond hair? Expensive suits? I uh, I might need help to take those guys down. Can I have a beer, Mrs. Stokely?”
I chuckled at Dash. Kid had a lot of spirit, but his height fell somewhere between mine and Stanley’s. Scrappy kid, though, and smart as a whip. He helped me out on a lot of my cases when I needed extra eyes and ears. His dad ran out on him years ago. I did what I could for him.
“You old enough to drink, kid?” I ribbed him.
“Yeah! I turned 18 last month! How could you forget? You got me laid, remember?”
“Kid!” Dottie warned as she drew his Rheingold from the tap. “Keep talking like that and this will be the last beer you get here.”
“You're in a public place, kid, you gotta act respectable.” I dug in my jacket pocket and pulled out a diamond, carefully passing it to Dash. I lowered my voice so only he could hear me. “Take this to Donovan. You remember where he is? Good.” I told the kid everything I knew about Muller, the diamonds, and Ruth. “Finish your beer, kid. Then hustle up there and report back to me.”
“You got it, Ray!”
Dottie took away my dirty dishes and brought me my fourth Gimlet. “That's your last free one. I assume these guys that hit you took your money.”
“Of course.”
“You mentioned Ruth. Did you mean… that Ruth?”
In a moment of weakness a few years ago, I had told Dottie about Ruth. She knew the pain she caused me, and she held a pretty good grudge against her.
“Yeah, that Ruth. Showed up outta nowhere with a big story and played me for a patsy. Now her husband's goons are out to get me.”
Dottie pulled out ‘Joltin’ Joe’ from under the bar, a baseball bat she had gotten signed by famous Yankee slugger Joe DiMaggio. “She, or those goons? They come in here, they're gonna have trouble.”
The regulars started coming in, patting me on the back and one even bought me a beer. They'd seen me beaten up before. It happens in this line of work. You show a man naked pictures of his wife with another guy, he wants to hit something, and there I am. My buddies here, though, were pretty upset when they found out it was Germans who hit me. The war in Europe was raging, and we all knew it was just a matter of time before America got dragged into it.
I went to relieve myself, and when I came out from the back, Dottie was there in the narrow hallway.
“Ray,” she began, wringing her hands.
“What's the matter, Dot?”
She moved forward and put her arms around me, pressing her generous breasts against me. She kissed me, but she was careful to just kiss the right side of my mouth and avoid my split lip. She was always very thoughtful.
“Ray, I…” A tear ran down her cheek. “I can't stand to see you like this, all beat up. These guys are bad news, and they will be back. I think you should…” and her voice trailed off.
“It's okay, Dottie. I’ll be fine, really. I'll be right as rain in a couple of days and-”
“You should stay at my place,” she blurted out. “I know you're living in that shack of an office; they know it too. You'll be safe with me. They won't know where you've gone.”
I tried protesting, but she pressed her key into my hand. It had been a long day, and the thought of having Dottie watch over me felt… nice. I noticed something else in my hand, a pill.
“What's this?”
“It's not exactly legal, but it will knock out the pain and let you sleep.”
Hmm, sounded like opium to me. I didn't care. My head was throbbing from all of the hits it took today, and I knew I would be hung over soon. I went up the backstairs to Dottie's apartment and let myself in.
She kept a nice place, but I didn't pay any attention to it. I stripped down to my skivvies, took my pill, and fell fast asleep.
- - - - -
It took me a moment to get my bearings. The sun was up, I was in a bed, and there was flowery wallpaper. And someone was banging pots or pans. This certainly wasn't my place. Oh yeah…
I turned my head slightly and was immediately rewarded with a shot of pain from the side of my face. Oh yeah…
Dottie came into the bedroom wearing some really small, lightweight robe. Her ample assets were nearly on full display. She had two little mounds that looked like they wanted to poke through the material.
“Are you okay? I heard a… oh my.” She looked at my midsection. I just had a sheet over me, and, I'm proud to say, my Johnson was making quite a bump in the sheet.
My throbbing head seemed to calm somewhat, and I laughed a little. “I think I'm okay, parts of me, anyway.”
“I gotta turn off the stove,” she said with a sly smile. Half a minute later, she was pulling down the sheet and then my skivvies, too. She hiked up her robe and climbed on top of me. I held my hardness for her, and she slipped down easily on top of me.
This was all new. We only ever did missionary, and with varying outcomes. We also only did it in the dark. Shades drawn and windows closed, too. I had never even seen her completely naked. So when she took her robe off, and her upper body jiggled and swayed, I was awestruck.
“Grab my tits, Ray. Don't you like them?”
Who was this gal? Dottie never said words like “tits.” But I didn't ponder that too long. I reached up and got two big handfuls of her abundant flesh.
“That feels so good, baby. Grab them hard and just lie back. Let me fuck you, Ray.”
Okay, I am going to have to do a complete investigation here. Who was this person pretending to be Dottie? But she rode me good. Slow but steady strokes as she looked into my eyes, and her face seemed flush with pure euphoria. I rocked my hips to meet her strokes, but she stopped me.
“Shhh, Daddy. You rest, let Momma do the fucking.”
“Daddy?” “Momma?” Good God, I didn't know what she was talking about, but I had never been so hard. I squeezed her tits harder, and she just gasped… and fucked me faster. The mattress squeaked, the bed frame rattled and banged the wall, and both of us moaned as Dottie fucked me like a she-devil.
“Fuck me, Dottie!” I grunted like a caveman; it was hard to talk. I pinched her nipples hard, and she collapsed on me. Her sex quivered and gripped me tightly. I grabbed her ass cheeks and pounded up into her. She bit my fucking shoulder as I squirted inside her, something I shouldn't have done but couldn't help. She trembled and shook for a full minute before calming down.
She raised herself on her elbows and looked into my eyes again from just six inches away. The intimacy was nearly overwhelming. That wasn't me. I fucked girls for fun, for sport, like I did Ruth yesterday. But there weren't any feelings, and there certainly wasn't any intimacy.
“Kiss me, love.” Those actual words came outta my mouth. And Dottie kissed me so tenderly, so gently, and yet so soulfully, I felt as if I was being reborn and experiencing the world for the first time.
After several minutes of loving kisses, Dottie raised up off of me. “I’ve got to go douche, we did something we shouldn't have.”
Slowly, I got up and followed her into the bathroom. She looked up but didn't chase me away as she performed this very private function.
“So, Dottie, things seem to have… changed since we last, um, you know.”
“Since we last fucked? Yes they have. Do you like the new me?”
“I lo-” Jesus Christ! I almost said, “I love you.” I needed to get a grip. “I really like the new you. What happened?”
She stood there, one leg over the bathtub, as the water and semen mixture poured out of her. It was so strangely erotic. “Well, about three months ago my sister and her girlfriend came to town.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I remember them. But, did you mean girlfriend? Or… friend who is a girl?”
“Girlfriend,” she confirmed. “And, as you may recall, I was a little uptight when you and I used to fuck. Yes?”
“A little.” That's like saying summer in New York could be a “little” uncomfortable at times.
“So they loosened me up, showed me a few things. And I learned it was okay to be sexy, to be sexual. It was liberating, Ray. I've been wanting to show you, and this seemed like the perfect time.”
“Your… sister? You… did stuff with her?”
“Story for another time, fella. Let's get some breakfast. We've got to figure out what you're going to do with these German boys.”
We did eat breakfast, but we also made love two more times before we started thinking about the Germans and their diamonds.
It was that morning that I discovered I never wanted to “fuck” Dottie again or any other woman for that matter. I only wanted to make love to Dot, my Dot.
- - - - -
Little Stanley unlocked the doors to Stokely’s, and a harried-looking man burst in. Tall and thin, his expensive suit and hat made him stick out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood.
“Ray!” He shouted. “Is there a Ray Hammet here! Where is he?”
He looked sorta familiar, but he wasn’t one of the Krauts. I decided to answer him. “Who wants to know.”
He came over to me at the bar, and I recognized him as the guy Ruth met on the street after seeing me yesterday; she had laid one helluva kiss on him and then got in his car.
“It’s you, isn’t it. You’re Ray.”
“So what.”
“So stand up, you, you… bad man!”
I smirked. “Hey, watch it with the name-calling, buddy.”
He brought his fists up as if to hit me, and I laughed.
”What are you laughing at? Stand up so I can hit you!”
“Mister, if you managed to hit me at all you would break your thumb. It goes on the outside of your fist.”
“Oh, I see. That makes sense.” He adjusted his fists. “Thank you. Now stand up!”
I wasn’t gonna fight someone who had never been in a fight before. “Listen, fella, sit down and tell me what’s going on. Where’s Ruth?”
He dropped his fists and gave me a quizzical look. “Ruth? Who’s that? I’m here to fight you over Katerina!”
“Her name used to be Ruth. Now, what’s the problem?”
“She’s gone is what’s the problem! I figured she was with you. You two, you did... something… yesterday. Something not honorable.”
He was right about that. But I didn’t feel the need to let Dottie know about that stuff.
“She came over, we talked about old times, then she left.”
He stared at me hard. “No, she left the diamonds with you for safekeeping. Well, the fake diamonds, but you switched them.”
“She was setting me up for something. I didn’t like it so I kept the diamonds, yeah. You say she’s gone?”
“Yeah,” he said as he slumped down into the barstool. “I’ve never met anyone like her. We were going to get married. But she was acting all weird after she left your office. Normally when we meet we, uh… well we… it’s kind of a delicate matter, see? I have a room at the Waldorf and we would, um…”
“Fuck?” All heads turned to Dottie after she blurted out what we were all thinking.
They could have stuck this guy’s face on a pole and used him as a stop sign; he was that red. “Well, we would make love, yes. But not yesterday, which was unusual.” He gave me the evil eye, but I did my best to look unflappable. I really didn't want Dottie knowing I had been banging Ruth like a common whore just yesterday.
“So then what?” I wanted him to get past this part.
“Well she went downstairs in the hotel to get some aspirin, and she didn't come back. She didn't have her makeup on, she wasn't really dressed for going out, and she didn't bring her purse, just a quarter. And… she never came back.”
“What’s your name, pal.”
“Peter. Peter Stoneworth of Greenwich.”
I tried to hide my smirk. Greenwich, Connecticut. I hated that town. They pronounce it like ‘Grenn-itch,’ but they spell it something else. This guy‘s dad was in the papers last year; millionaire loses fortune due to gambling. So Peter, his heir apparent, was close to broke, too.
“Well, Peter Stoneworth of Greenwich, she’s already married. To some German criminal. She was running away from him with his diamonds.”
His face blanched. “Married? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. She is Mrs. Katerina Muller now. Two of Mr. Muller’s German buddies came and beat me up yesterday after she left my office; they were looking for the ice. She was using me as a decoy. You guys would probably be gone already if I hadn’t switched them out. Sorry, but I smelled a rat. And I don’t like rats.
“So, they didn’t get the diamonds, these Germans?”
“Nope.”
“Well, where are they?”
“Don’t worry about it, stretch.”
“Well… damn it all to hell!”
I almost laughed at his blustering, but Pete seemed genuine with his fiery language. His upbringing didn’t prepare him for the real world, and he was out of his element.
“I do agree with you, Pete. It sounds suspicious, her leaving like that. But I swear, she didn’t come here.”
Just then, Dash walked into the bar and grill. He looked worse for the wear and tear. “What happened to you, buddy?”
“Fucking Germans.”
“Hey, young man,” Pete lashed out, ”you watch your mouth.”
Dash shook his head. I saw a pretty good bruise on one cheek. “Who’s the stiff?” he asked, looking at me.
“Pete. Ruth’s boyfriend. What’s the flap about Germans?”
“I went and saw Mr. Donovan, like you said. Told him everything. I came back but Dottie said you was asleep. So this morning I'm minding my own business on Tenth Ave and these two guys pulled me into an alley. Started asking about you, where you were and such. I didn’t tell ‘em nothin’! Honest, Ray.”
“I’m sure you didn’t, pal. What else.”
“Well, one guy threw me against a wall, but the other guy said something mean to him in German. I got the feeling they weren’t trying to hurt me; the one guy just pushed me too hard. Anyway, they said, ‘Tell Ray we got the girl.’ And he gave me this phone number. Said for you to call him by noon, or she’s dead.” Dash pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. We all looked at the clock; it was a quarter to twelve. Pete snatched the note with a phone number on it.
“BAyside7-5309. That’s Brooklyn, we’ve got to call them!” Pete whined. “Right now!”
“Relax, sport.” Pete did not know how to play this game at all.
“They’re going to kill her! I insist we call that number, now! We need to arrange an exchange or… something! I say!”
“Pete, old man. Listen. They want the diamonds more than they want Ruth. They also know any leverage they have goes out the window if they kill her. So, sit tight. Kid,” I turned to Dash, “What did Donovan have to say?”
“Not much, Ray. He said he needed to see you in person, it can’t be on the phone. He got nervous but also excited; like this was some big news or something.”
I lit up a smoke, Pete took one too, but I wouldn’t give Dash one. It was bad enough he was hanging around bars with me. “Alright. Let’s go see Donovan. We need a plan to deal with these guys."
“How long are you guys going to be?” Pete asked, wringing his hands.
I shrugged. “Maybe an hour, maybe longer.”
“I'll stay here then, get some food. See you when you get back.”
I looked at him for a moment. “Pete. Don't do anything stupid. We will get her back, I promise.” I patted him on the shoulder in what I hoped was a reassuring move.
“Okay, I won't do anything stupid.”
“Ray,” Dottie called out. “Before you go?” She beckoned me to the end of the bar where we could get a little privacy. “I just wanted to tell you to be careful.”
“Careful? You know me!”
“Yeah, I know you. That's why I'm worried, silly.”
I chuckled because she was right. I wasn't known for being careful. She looked up at me with her pretty brown eyes. I didn't ever want to see these eyes disappointed in me. “Listen baby, I gotta tell you something important-”
But before I could speak, she threw her arms around me and pressed her lips against mine. She gave me a long, wet kiss as her fingers played with my hair. Her body melted into mine, and my brain just went blank.
Dash interrupted us. “Ray, we gotta go.”
Dottie’s lips left mine. “You tell me this important thing when you get back,” she whispered and gave me a small, lingering kiss.
Pete looked at me with a wry smile. I guess he figured out I had no real interest in Ruth, that Dottie was my woman. I winked at him as I headed out the door.
Dash and I headed crosstown to Rockefeller Center, where William Donovan had an office. “What does this Donovan guy do, and how do you know him?”
“My dad was in the Fighting 69th back in the Great War, led by Lt. Colonel Donovan.”
“The Fighting 69th? Like the movie? With Jimmy Cagney?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, like the movie.”
Dash leaped right into his Jimmy Cagney impression as we walked down 49th Street. He pulled out his finger guns like a gangster. “Alright, you dirty rat! You’ll never take me alive, see? Yeah, see?”
I laughed with him. “Not bad, kid, not bad. So anyway, my folks died of the Spanish Flu and Mr. Donovan kept an eye on me over the years, helping me out now and then. Roosevelt set him up here as-”
“Roosevelt? The Roosevelt?”
“Yeah, FDR. Anyway, he's now the Coordinator of Information; he gathers up all the intelligence he can find, especially info on Germans.”
“So he's a spy?”
“More like an anti-spy. He ought to be able to do something with our German problem.”
We met with “Wild Bill,” as his troops called him on account of his bravery, and hatched out a plan. We figured the Krauts wanted to swap the girl for the diamonds, and Donovan had a perfect location; a nearby empty warehouse that he could fill with his armed men. We take ‘em down, get Ruth, and break up whatever the Germans got going. As Dash said, it would be easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
But, as those in the military know, all plans go to hell once the first shot is fired. I called up the Kraut Muller to set the pieces in play.
“Ja,” he answered the phone.
“Herr Muller, it's Ray Hammet. We're ready to make a deal for Katerina.”
He just laughed, which I wasn't expecting at all. “You are too late, Mister Hammet. Ve already has a deal vith Mister Stonevurt. Auf Wiedersehen!” And he hung up.
My blood ran cold. Stoneworth had the fakes; they would spot them immediately and probably kill him. Fucking amateur. I called Dottie’s place but got no answer. I explained the situation to Donovan.
“Jeez Louise, he’s going to get everyone killed. What do you want to do, Ray?”
“We gotta get back to Dottie’s, right now! I need a gun, and all the guys you can spare.”
Donovan thought for a moment, then stood up. “All there is right now is me. My guys are out in the field right now, I thought we would have more time. I’ll get you a gun and some magazines. We’ll take my car.”
“What about me?” Dash asked. “I need a gun, too!”
Donovan looked at me, and I shrugged. “He’s 18.” He walked over to a locked cabinet and pulled out a Colt 1911 .45 automatic for me and... some tiny gun I couldn’t identify.
Dash’s visible excitement at the prospect of getting a gun quickly vanished when he saw how small it was compared to mine. “Well, this doesn't seem fair at all! Is this even a real gun?”
“Shoot ‘em in the eye,” Donovan encouraged. “They'll be dead enough. My car’s downstairs, let's roll.”
The Krauts were coming over from Brooklyn, and we now had a car. I was hoping real big that we would make it back to Dottie's bar before they got there. Maybe I could help Pete un-fuck himself.
- - - - -
We got to Stokely’s Bar and Grill and parked round back at the loading dock for the building. We barged in through the back door, and… Pete sat on a barstool sipping a beer, and Dottie looked up from her newspaper, both of them wondering why we were pointing guns around the place. We didn’t see any Germans.
“What’s going on, Pete, why did you call Muller?” I hoped I sounded as mad as I felt. “I told you not to do anything stupid.”
“I didn’t do anything ‘stupid’, and I’m quite offended you think that.” His righteous indignation didn’t sit well with me.
“You still want to fight, Slim? Cuz I’m ready to bust you in the mouth right now.”
“Now look here, Hammet.” Hmmm, suddenly, his voice didn’t seem so whiny and frail. “You guys are pussy-footing around while they’ve got my girl! I’m the only one doing anything to get her back. You guys missed the deadline, put her at risk, and now you show up with some fat guy-“
“Hey!” interjected Dash. “He’s not fat! This is Wild Bill-“
“Dash! I got it.” I quieted him down. I needed to get to the heart of the matter.
“Okay, Pete. What’s the play. Lay it out.”
“It’s very simple; they are coming here in about thirty minutes for the diamonds. Then they give us Katerina.”
“Too bad you don’t actually have the diamonds.”
“Well, I was counting on some help from you in that department.” He pulled out the black leather case with the fake diamonds from his inside jacket pocket and slapped it on the bar. I snatched up the small case.
“Come on, Dash. You’ll be my bodyguard. Back in five.”
Dash and I went out front and didn’t see anything unusual, so we hustled down the hundred or so feet to the door of my building. We got to my office, and it was in even worse shape than when I left it. The Krauts must have searched it another time or two.
“Gee whiz, Ray,” he commented as we picked our way through the trashed furniture. “They really messed up the place. So where’s the ice? They must have found it, right?”
I smiled at Dash. “Look for a screwdriver, Phillips head. There’s a couple around here somewhere.” I found it in less than a minute. I walked back to my door, closed it, and unscrewed the mail flap. It’s a piece of brass about a foot wide and a few inches high with a hinged piece of brass that the mailman can push the letters through when I’m not in the office. But it was also hiding a secret compartment I had built into the door. I’d only used it twice before, and it worked out well. And it sure proved its worth yesterday when I hid the diamonds in there instead of my safe.
I pulled them out and told Dash to count out 20 of the smallest diamonds in there. I counted out 20 of the smallest fake diamonds and put them in with the real case. Then I took the 20 real diamonds and stuck them in with the fake batch.
“Why are you mixing them up like this, Ray?”
“Cuz at the end of the day, Donovan is gonna confiscate the case with the real diamonds. In a week or so, whenever his guys realize that there’s a few fakes in there, he either won’t care or will just assume the Krauts had some fakes somewhere. Meanwhile, I get some as a fee for all of this… bullshit.”
Dash smiled. “You’re smarter than you look.”
“You little Weisenheimer! Don’t worry, one of these will be yours. Hell, you could probably go to college.”
“College? Not me. I’m joining up here pretty soon. I want to kill me some real Krauts.” Dash made it look like he was holding a machine gun and then made that annoying “rat-a-tat” sound like he was mowing down the enemy.
“Take it easy kid. Killing another person isn’t actually great. Now look, you need to tuck the diamonds down your backside, and you’re taking my big gun.”
“Why me? What’s the plan?”
“Not so much of a plan, as an insurance policy. Everyone expects me to have the diamonds. This will just put a spin on things. You’re my backup plan, I’m counting on you.”
“Swell.”
“Here, let me show you how this .45 works.”
After we ran through the basics a couple times, I told him to count to 300, then sneak out the back door of this building and sneak into the back of Stokely’s. I tucked the tiny gun into my underwear and the case of fake diamonds into my jacket pocket.
I headed out the front and down the sidewalk to Dottie’s bar. I shouldn’t have been surprised to have felt a gun barrel jammed into my back just as I stepped outside my door.
- - - - -
“Keep valking,” Franz growled. He walked me over to a car where two other Krauts lounged menacingly and told me to open the back door. There sat Ruth/Katerina, gagged with a scarf and her hands tied with a length of rope. Sitting next to her could only be Herr Muller, who held a gun pointed at Ruth. He had a nice suit, but was a very fat man. Hans sat up in the driver's seat.
“Give me ze diamonds, now!” Franz or Hans frisked me and found the case in my jacket pocket. Muller unzipped the case and could immediately see that these were fakes. The few real diamonds in here were hidden by the fakes. “Was ist das?“
I didn’t know any German, but I figured he was asking about the fakes. “I don’t know, Pete’s got them. Remember? You made this meeting with him, not me.”
Muller’s face burned red, and he let out a string of angry German. I got spun around and frisked again… and they didn’t find my little gun tucked in my undershorts. No man wants to touch another man’s cock.
“Ve go inside,” Muller announced. But he knew that it was risky to march Ruth down the street with a gag in her mouth, so he lowered it. Immediately, she tried to tell me something.
“Ray listen-“
And Muller popped her in her face, hard. “One more vord from you und I shoot.”
“Tell me later, toots.”
She rubbed her jaw, then nodded to Muller. They got out of the car, and we headed towards Stokely’s. Stan saw that I was compromised and ducked inside.
The two extra Germans went in first, followed by me, Hans and Franz, then Ruth and Muller.
The bar was darker than usual, and the few customers from earlier had cleared out. For some reason, Pete stood behind the bar next to Dottie. I didn’t see Donovan immediately, but then I spied him in the corner booth, looking like he was reading a newspaper.
My primary thought was how outgunned we were. There were five of them with guns against Donovan, Pete, and myself. Pete didn’t have a gun, and mine needed several seconds for me to go to it.
Muller called out to Pete. “You are Mr. Pete, ja? Where are the Diamonds?”
“I don’t have them. Either that guy in the corner has them or Ray hid them.”
Jesus Christ. Pete just gave away our only tactical surprise by telling them that Donovan was with us and not just a random customer.
Muller and Franz walked to the bar, and Muller slapped down the case on the bar. “This vas all he had, fakes. Someone better start talking, or I vill start shooting, beginning with you!” Muller pulled out a Luger pistol and aimed it at Pete’s chest. Pete immediately grabbed Dottie by the arms and held her in front of him, using her as a shield, so Muller’s gun was now pointed at Dottie. All the Germans pulled out pistols and pointed them at us non-Germans.
Ice ran through my veins. I had never felt so hard, so angry, so determined in my life. I was going to kill Pete and Muller for endangering my girl, and I would enjoy every fucking second of it.
Pete looked like he was going to cry. “Ray! Just give them the diamonds!” As Pete was speaking, I caught a glimpse of Dash in the hallway that led to the back. Nobody else saw him as they were looking at Pete. “Gee whiz!” Pete continued his whining. “You’re going to get us all killed!”
Muller smirked, then announced, “Das is correct, Meester Ray. I’m going to count to three, then ve shoot.”
“Von,” he called out.
“Dash!” I yelled, hoping he would do something to distract Muller. All the Germans looked at me, not knowing what ‘Dash’ meant.
“Hey!” yelled Dash as he poked his head into the room. “Here’s your diamonds, you fucking Nazis!”
Every head turned towards Dash as he lobbed the case into the air. Glittering diamonds spewed out of the unzipped case as it spun through the air. I immediately dug into my pants and pulled out my little gun since nobody was looking at me anymore. When the case hit the floor, the remaining diamonds scattered in all directions across the floor.
Dottie must have played some baseball or softball in her day. I say this because the speed with which she pulled out the baseball bat, Joltin’ Joe, from behind the bar and swung it at Franz’s head was a sight to behold. As he was crumpling to the floor, I fired three shots at Muller’s chest because he had the gun, then I gave the now unshielded Pete two shots to his chest.
Meanwhile, I saw Dash’s gun blazing, followed by Donovan’s and all the remaining Germans shooting until everyone’s gun was empty.
The noise was incredible. Movies don't capture just how loud a gun is, especially when it's shot inside. My ears were ringing, and I saw German bodies falling to the floor. I looked up and saw Ruth still standing but covered in blood. Her mouth was open, but I barely heard her screaming. All the Germans were down, Donovan was scrambling from his table and coming towards my group as he was changing magazines… and I couldn't see Dottie or Dash.
I got up and ran to the bar, jumping over it just as Dottie was rising up. I didn't see any blood on her, but I shook her and screamed, “Are you hurt?” several times before she shook her head and yelled back she was fine. Pete lay in a pool of blood but was alive. I looked over the back hallway and saw Dash slumped against the wall.
He was holding his stomach. And his goddamned white shirt was turning red.
“Call the police and get an ambulance!” I yelled as I ran to him. I slid in his blood and then sat down with him, holding him in my arms.
“It's quiet,” he said.
“Yeah, buddy. It's over. We won.” Dash’s face seemed to lose color by the moment.
“Did I…” He swallowed, struggling to talk. “Did I do okay?”
“Dash! My boy! You were spectacular! Your timing was perfect. We were all going to die if you hadn't done exactly what you did.”
A small smile crept over his face. “I think I got two of them.”
“I know you did, Dash. You did swell, real swell!” I could barely see as marbles began flowing from my eyes. I clasped his bloody hand in mine. He squeezed back, but only for a moment.
“Don't worry about me, Ray. I'm fine. Just… a little tired.”
He was going, and we both knew it. In the movies, the man or the woman always comes up with some great last line, but all I had was, “I love ya, kid. Like you were my own son.”
“I know. I've always known.”
His hand slipped from mine, and he stared off into space.
- - - - -
I don't know how much time had passed, maybe a couple of minutes, but eventually, I stood up and looked around the room. I walked behind the bar to Pete; he looked up at me with pleading eyes. I rested my foot on his throat. Holding onto the bar for stability, I put more and more of my weight on that foot until his eyes went vacant, too.
I looked over at the group by the door. Ruth was covered in blood but seemed unhurt; it was just blood from the others; a .45 to the head will cause some spraying and splashing.
I came back over to Muller, who was very much alive; I guess his corpulent body gave him some protection from my bullets. I was ready to finish the job but Donovan stopped me. “No, Ray! We need him alive! He's in charge of a spy network that covers the whole eastern seaboard.”
I tried to get around Donovan but I was losing steam at that point. My shoulders sagged, and I nodded, turning away from him.
“Oh Ray,” cried Ruth. “I can't believe what you did for me. You really do love me, Ray, don't you!” Her arms opened wide and she came to hug me, tears streaming down her face.
I punched her square in the face; the sound of her nose crunching under my fist gave me a lot of satisfaction.
- - - - -
Several hours later, the cops and the feds finally had enough info and went back to their offices to start writing reports. It was just me, Dottie, Donovan, and little Stanley lounging at the bar.
Dottie filled up our coffee cups. “I'm glad you broke her nose. That dumb bitch got Dash killed.”
We all sipped our coffees for a moment, cigarette smoke hanging lazily over us. Goddamn Ruth.
“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “I would have shot her, too, but I was out of bullets. She was never a real smart girl, but this whole thing was just ridiculous. You need to have some smarts to be a real criminal... I don’t know, I hate her so fucking much.”
“We can hold her for a while as a possible collaborator,” Donovan said quietly. “Couple years in a women’s prison, maybe. Oh, and don’t worry about Pete; I got it covered. He just got caught in the crossfire. I’m turning this into a federal case so the NYPD has to back off. There won’t be an autopsy. He endangered Dottie, you had to do it.”
“Thanks. Nobody threatens my girl and gets away with it. Goddamn coward.”
“Ray,” he continued. “I know you don't want to hear this right now, but you're going to get swept up in the draft pretty soon. Even a man of your age. They're gonna need everybody.”
“That’s fine. I think I would like killing Krauts.”
“No, Ray. I'm telling you this because you should come work with me. What we will be doing could save countless American lives. And it will also cost thousands and thousands of Nazi lives. Give it a think, huh? Let's talk next week.” He got up and patted me on the shoulder. “Oh, and… maybe these will come in handy.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out three diamonds. He set them on the table and winked at us. “I don't think anyone will miss these. We got close to 80 of them. That will help finance our efforts. G’night now.”
We all got up and hugged Donovan; Dottie kissed his cheek.
“Hey, Stanley? Can you close up for me? We aren't going to re-open for a while, I think. But don't worry, you're still on the payroll. And, here.” She tossed him a diamond. “For luck.”
Dottie dragged me upstairs and helped me get outta my bloody clothes. I set the case of fake diamonds on her little table where she kept her makeup and perfumes. She began filling the tub with tepid water and then scrubbed my arms at the sink to get Dash’s blood off.
Finally, I slipped into the tub, the water cooler than the hot room. Dottie knelt next to the tub and scrubbed my back. “Are you going to be okay?”
I thought about it for a few moments. “Not for a long while. I'm never going to forget Dash, what he did for all of us.”
“I loved him, too, you know. He was a great kid. No, I mean, a great man. The world is a lesser place without him.”
Dottie stood up and began undressing, slowly, until she was completely bare. She got in the tub with me, pushing me back and laying down on top of me. Her large breasts crushed into my chest.
“I was so worried about you, Dot.” I whispered as my arms encircled her, and my cock began hardening. “If something happened to you…”
“But it didn't, because you shot Pete. I tell you, I've never had a gun pointed at me before. I was so mad… The only reason I hit that other guy instead of Muller was that he was closer to me.”
“I saw you do that; it was incredible! I knew right then that you were the girl for me.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. A woman who can take care of herself? That's very sexy. After what Ruth did to me all those years ago, I didn't think I could ever trust another woman again. But… I trust you and… I love you.”
She reached down under the water, positioning my cock so she could slide down on me. Little gasps escaped her mouth as I entered her, slowly filling her up. She sank down completely, connecting our bodies. When we kissed, I felt our souls connecting, too. The world fell away; it was just me and her. Our romantic lovemaking turned frantic; several gallons of water sloshed out of the tub before we were both satisfied.
“I love you, Ray. I always have. Always.”
“Good. I think I've always loved you, I just don't know it.”
“You, um, squirted in me.”
I shrugged. “Only once. You want some more?”
She looked into my eyes. “I want all you've got. Any time, anywhere.” She wriggled on me, which got my cock going again.
“Well, I ‘got’ something else for you, and it's not my cock.” She looked expectantly at me. “I switched out some of the real diamonds and replaced them with fakes. I've got twenty diamonds in that little case over there, and ten of them are yours.”
“I… I…”
I smiled at her and kissed her again. “You've always talked about upgrading the Bar and Grill. Now maybe you can.”
“Oh my God, Ray! Seriously?”
“I'm serious.”
We hugged and kissed for several minutes with my cock still inside her. I don’t know how I could have been so happy and so sad at the same time. Life’s a funny thing, sometimes.
“Yeah, maybe make it a little bit of a fancy place, serve real nice dinners, too. People could have drinks, of course, but it will be more about the food.”
“And the dancing,” she added. “We could have a real swinging place here. We’ll call it... Dash’s Place.”
“Yeah, I like that name. Dash’s Place.”
She held my face and kissed me.
- - - - -
The End
Note: At the beginning of America’s entry into what became known as World War II, the real Wild Bill Donovan formed the intelligence group OSS, the Office of Strategic Services. After the war, the OSS became known as the CIA.
