Free The Big Kiss-Off of 1944: A Jack LeVine Mystery by Andrew Bergman

we were backed up by some very big people who needed some big things done. We were just messenger boys, I swear to Christ.”
    “The other guy was Fenton.”
    “On the nose, Jack. Duke Fenton. Duke started figuring he could put the squeeze on these guys, and got killed so fast that it’s positively scary. Get me? I figure I’m in for the same treatment on account of being Duke’s partner and knowing the story.” He leaned forward. “Jack, I could put the finger on so many people your hair would stand on end.”
    “I don’t have any hair.”
    “Your scalp then.” He just said it. He wasn’t even trying to make with the jokes. “The way I see it, Duke and I were set up for suckers the day we got hired. When Duke got cute, it just meant he got the payoff first.”
    “Al, who are these guys?”
    Rubine shook his head.
    “Jack, you’re a nice guy but you could make a fast bundle of cash letting them know where I was. I can’t tell you that. I hardly know you, for Crissakes.”
    “How much dough you figure I could get by turning you in?”
    “The kind of dough where you could move from Sunny-side to Park Avenue, that much dough.”
    “I like Sunnyside, but I know what you mean.”
    “You’re not so dumb.” Rubine slapped my knee. There was a lot of perspiration on his upper lip and he needed a shave. “Just kidding, Jack. You’re one of the smartest guys in the business.”
    “I was coming to that. What do you want from me?”
    “Not from, Jack, for. I want you to drive me to New Kingston, New York, that’s five, five and a half hours from here. There I got the films stashed away in a farmhouse that Fenton’s aunt lives in. I left my car in Margaretville. That’s five miles away. You get the films, I pick up my car and disappear.”
    “Why didn’t you drive down here?”
    “I was afraid of getting tailed to your house. Nobody’s tailed me yet but it’s bound to happen and I’m scared for real, pallie. So I dropped the car off on a side street in Margaretville and caught the late bus down here. It’s summer season starting, so they run a couple of buses to the city every day.”
    Rubine was filling me with useless information. With my brain still clumsy, I groped for the right questions before getting completely lost.
    “Al, why are you giving me those films?”
    “I can’t think of nobody else, sweetheart.” He had a lot of things to call people. “You’re an interested party, right? You were the guy came all the way out to Smithtown, so take ’em. And it’s a nice ride up there.”
    “At 3:30?”
    “It gets light out early these days.”
    I had nothing better to do and after three cups of potent coffee I could have gone over Niagara in a barrel faster than I could have gone back to sleep, so I shuffled into the bedroom and got dressed in brown corduroy pants, a yellow pullover sport shirt, my ancient khaki jacket, and a camel-colored cap. When I returned to the living room, Rubine was all ready and waiting by the door. And pointing a gun in the general direction of LeVine’s generous and forgiving heart.
    “Goddamn son of a bitch,” I said, angrier at myself than at Rubine.
    “Hey, don’t get mad, pallie, it’s just too risky without. Like I said, you could make a lot of dough taking me to the right people.”
    “Especially if I don’t know who they are.”
    “Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. What do I know, right? Put yourself in my position; you got to watch yourself, am I right?”
    “You’re afraid I’ll take you to the cops. That’s it, isn’t it, Al? You probably had a thousand reasons for knocking off Fenton. Once they grabbed you, the case would be closed.”
    “Sure. That’s why I’m giving you the films, because I wanted them so bad that I killed my own partner for them. You’re talking stupid, Jack.”
    “Maybe you wanted the films all for yourself and then found you were in too deep. Maybe you’re not giving me the films at all. Maybe you’re just a