Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories Read online

  Not if you tell me he isn't here.

  She said, It's up to you, Carl, Veronica Lake in the dim foyer. Do what you want.

  *

  Carl stood with Gary by their cars, Gary saying he looked in the windows back there but didn't see anybody. If he isn't here, it must be some other POW broke out."

  "I want to be sure," Carl said. "Park down the street and keep your eyes on the house." "What am I expecting to happen?"

  "He's in the house or he's on his way here, or it was somebody else who escaped.

  But something tells you he's here, huh? Is it your instinct or your years of experience?

  Carl said, Gary, all we're doing is covering our butts. I'm going back to the camp. Watch the house-- you see anyone go inside, drive over to police headquarters and call me at the camp. You see Shemane's Lincoln Zephyr drive off-- Carl paused.

  Yeah?

  Follow it.

  *

  They were in the sitting room now off Shemane's bedroom, bourbon, a bowl of ice and a pitcher of lemonade Gladys said for whoever wants a sour. It was time to straighten Jurgen out about leaving here on a train.

  "I'd be glad to give you money for the fares," Shemane said, "but you know, cops, G-men, somebody'll be watching the station and spot you. Your suits aren't bad considering where they came from, but they're ... different. They catch the eye 'cause they look like they were in fashion about a hundred years ago."

  Otto was relaxed in an easy chair after a couple of bourbons and didn't seem to care when they would get moving again. Jurgen s ipped his drink and seemed calm, less hurried than before.

  When they were in the kitchen with the lights off they had watched Gary looking in the windows and trying the locked door. As soon as Carl left, Shemane came out to the kitchen and into Jurgen's arms to press against him and feel him holding her. "He wanted me to invite him in. I said all right, if you don't believe me." She said, "He, was a different guy this evening, not so sure of himself."

  Now in the upstairs sitting room Shemane said, "You know I have a perfectly good automobile."

  Jurgen was shaking his head.

  "Honey, I was thinking you could steal it and go where ever you want."

  He stopped shaking his head.

  "But the best way to do it is if I drive." He said, "No, I won't permit it."

  "Quit acting so German and listen, okay? I drive. Mom and I are in front and you two hoodlums are in back, under a blanket we go through a town. If we're stopped, I say you forced us to come along, we're hostages. If that happens you're on your own. No one can say we went along for the ride. I was gonna say 'for the fun of it,' but I don't want too sound too sure of myself. Although I've been lucky my entire life. So I will say it, I'm going for the fun of it. And I'll bet my mom will too.

  Gladys raised her glass.

  "

  Otto said, "How much lemonade do you put in...?"

  Gladys said, "Here, sugar," and made him a bourbon sour.

  Shemane said, "But where're we going?" Jurgen said, "If you're serious--"

  "Come on," Shemane said, "just tell me where you want to go.

  "I was thinking," Gladys said, "remember how your dad used to sit in the mineral baths with a drink and then play blackjack all night?"

  "That's not a bad idea, Shemane said. You know who runs the place? Owney Madden, he used to have the Cotton Club. I probably have friends there I haven't thought of in years." She was about to say Teddy loved to go for weekends, but she was looking at Jurgen and caught herself.

  Jurgen said, "What is this place you're talking about?"

  "Hot Springs," Shemane said, "over in Arkansas."

  *

  After a while Gary U-turned the olive-drab Ford sedan to park on the other side of the street. Looking at the outside mirror now, his view was clear of trees and he could see the entire front of the house, even the light showing in an upstairs window. Once he adjusted th e m irror he could look at it sitting low in the seat, comfortable, motor idling to keep the heater on, and that's what he did, he sat there staring at the house.

  Was the Kraut in there or not?

  He could find out easy enough; he imagined taking charge of the situation and saw himself on the porch ringing the bell. The door opens. Gary says, "Excuse me, Sis, and touches his hat as he walks in past her. She says, "You can't come in my house." In her nightgown you can see through. Gary says, "Sweetheart"--he liked Sweetheart better than Sis--"Sweetheart, you want to bring me the Kraut?" He opens his suitcoat and draws his .38. "Or you want me to go get him?" Later on the newspaper reporters ask her, "what was it he said to you when he came in?" That was how you worked it. Get a witness to tell what you said and what you did.

  He saw the car appear, coming down the driveway past the house. It got him sitting up and now the house wasn't in the mirror. He started to crank the window down to adjust the mirror realized all he had to do was open the door and twist his head to look in that direction. He saw the Lincoln Zephyr going away from him, getting smaller, gone by the time he got the army car turned around.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jurgen and Otto on the Lam

  Sunday morning Carl got back to his dad's while they were having breakfast, Louly and Virgil, and Narcissa telling them about a s choolgirl complexion. They looked up and Virgil said, You get him?

  Carl, at the stove pouring a cup of coffee, shook his head. He heard Louly say, 'He got the phone call and flew out of the house. All he said was Jurgen's out again. I yelled after him, 'How do they know it's Jurgen?' But he didn't hear me. She said to him now, Was it Jurgen?

  Jurgen and an SS major named Otto Penzler. They went out wearing suits and ties, in a truck that delivers movies.

  Louly said, Not planning on coming back this time.

  Narcissa had gone to the stove. She brought a plate of ham and eggs to Carl, at the table now. I was telling them, Narcissa said, about this woman in an ad with a balloon coming out of her mouth? It had on it what she was saying, like in comic strips. Nice-looking woman. She saying, 'Notice how many men pick wives with lovely school-girl complexions?' My question is, how do we notice it's what guys are looking for?

  Or, Virgil said, are they looking for schoolgirls?

  Louly beat Narcissa about to speak with, Who I. D.'d Jurgen and the other guy? looking at Carl.

  They did it themselves. On the way out they left an envelope for the camp commander, but the letter was to me. They name who murdered Willi Martz and the ones who ordered them to do it. But we didn't see the letter until way later. They were having roll calls in all the barracks, see who was missing. But a lot of them playing games with us, not answering when their names were called, so we wouldn't get a true count. Jurgen didn't answer, but three others in his barracks didn't either. Wesley said, 'We'll see how these smart guys like being confined to barracks a few days.' He sent out guys to look for the truck and I left- went to Shemane's thinking it could've been Jurgen who got out. But she said, no, she hadn't seen him.

  Louly said, You took her word?

  I left Gary to watch the house. Anybody comes, get to a phone and let me know. Shemane drives off in her Lincoln, follow her. Carl looked at his watch. I like to think that's what Gary's doing and he can't stop to phone.

  Louly said, When did you read the letter?

  It was sitting on Wesley's desk while we're waiting on the roll calls. I thought of going back to Shemane's...

  To question her again?

  To check on Gary.

  Why didn't you search her house, Louly said, while you were there? Why're you so protective of her? What did you say, 'Have you seen Jurgen?' The whore says no, she hasn't? What'd you do, thank her, tip your hat?

  I trust her, Carl said. You ever meet her, make up your own mind. But you asked when did we read the letter. Wesley finally slit open the envelope, I think for something to do, looked at the sheet of paper, typewritten, and handed it to me. I started reading, I stopped and started over and read it out loud t
o Wesley and some of his officers there. Jurgen and Otto Penzler say they had to get out or the hardliners would kill them, and they listed the names. They swear these guys murdered Willi Martz, and that's the best they can do at this time. If we lock up the suspects till after the war, they'll come back from wherever they are and testify in court. Wesley was steamed up. He said, 'I want those people out of my camp,' the suspects, and meant right now. But this was a Bureau case from the beginning, I was only helping out the Provost Marshal's office. Carl paused a moment. It's funny 'cause this afternoon I told Jurgen I'd throw him to the FBI he didn't start talking to me. I called their Tulsa office, Wesley standing there watching me, and spoke to the supervisory agent, Bob Grispino- we go deer hunting, the same guys every year. I told him we had Nazi homicide suspects for him. Grispo said he'd rather wear down an arrogant Nazi and get him to whine, than shoot a 16-point buck from a mile away.

  It's too bad, Louly said, you and Jurgen were buddies. You could've put the FBI on him a long time ago.

  I never thought of him as a buddy.

  Louly said, You didn't think about a lot of things.

  He should never've mentioned going to Shemane's.

  Honey, Carl said, Wesley's already laid into me for fraternizing with the enemy, being lax in my investigation, and for bringing a gangster to speak to one of his prisoners. Carl felt Louly watching him finish his coffee. Every word Wesley said was true and I apologized to him. Carl laid his napkin on the table and got up. He said, If you all will excuse me, heading for the door, I'm going to bed.

  He heard Louly say, Isn't my husband well-mannered?

  For the next few days he'd try not to mention Shemane.

  Anyway, Narcissa said, you want a schoolgirl complexion so some guy will pick you? You have to wash your face with Palmolive soap.

  *

  Maurice gathered up the Tedesco brothers in the '41 La Salle he stole when it was new and had kept it up. They put the cases with the sub-machine guns in the trunk and got in back, the two like gangster cutouts in their tight suits, hat brims snapped down on their eyes. Maurice had on a black overcoat with a furry black collar from some animal he hoped wasn't a cat. Maurice loved this car. He'd squirt cologne around th e i nterior to keep it smelling nice. The two guineas were no sooner inside they were sniffing the air.

  Heading west from Okmulgee Maurice was telling them about last night: going out to Deep Fork to look at the army trucks -in the motor pool outside the prison yard- and pick one still had the keys in it. See, what he'd meant to do, ease the truck out of there and hide it in the pe-can trees down the road. But there was some kind of commotion going on, all the lights on in the buildings, soldiers running around, the motor pool busy, jeeps and trucks going out into the night...

  Was Tutti interrupted him saying, You had a colored girl in here last night, didn't you?

  Frankie Bones said, I can smell her.

  It's what I'm talking about, Tutti said.

  By now they were in the country, coming on to cars parked by a dinky white-frame church up ahead. Maurice eased off the road and could hear the congregation now belting out a hymn, a lively bunch of believers in there. He pulled in by the cars parked around the yard to wait for Teddy: Teddy's idea to meet here, see were there any last-minute questions, Teddy not wanting to be anywhere near guns going off. Maurice had a question: was the job still on? How they suppose to shoot up the camp if they didn't have a army truck?

  *

  What's wrong with using the La Salle? Teddy said.

  The four of them standing by his Packard while church service was going on.

  Chicago-style, Teddy said. Drive past with the Thompsons blazing away, the slugs tearing the fence into bits of metal, like shrapnel you're throwing at the Krauts.

  What Maurice saw were gun towers shooting at his La Salle. He said, Boss, it cost you more to use m y c ar.

  I'll go two grand, Teddy said. It'll be in the papers, but I want your estimate on the loss of life, how many Krauts these guys nailed. I'll be in Tulsa a few days - call me at the Mayo.

  Tutti gave Maurice a shove. Go wait in the car. He had something for Teddy and said to him as Maurice walked off, Me and Bones want to make you a deal. We split five grand to take out Mr. Carl Webster.

  Teddy was looking toward the church, people in there praising Jesus at the top of their lungs. He turned to Tutti.

  You want to become famous, Teddy said. Make a name for yourself, the guys who shot the Hot Kid.

  I got a name, Tutti said. What do you say a grand each?

  You kidding me? Teddy said. You guys get the chance, you'll do him for nothing.

  *

  Maurice drove the back road past pecan groves and oil wells, across the wooden bridge and through bare trees for a mile or so and stopped as he came to the cleared, bulldozed area: 50 yards of open ground to the fence running along the east side of the camp, the fence with bobbed wire on it and gun towers, six of them, looking down at the yard.

  The Tedesco brothers, in back fitting 100-round drums to their Thompsons, both looked up at the yard and the rows of barracks, Tutti saying, Where's everybody?

  There wasn't a soul in the yard or anywhere around, all the barracks' doors closed. Maurice said, Did all the Heinies escape on us or what? He remembered now Teddy saying something about a soccer match and told the Tedescos, I forgot, they all be down at the atha-letic field this afternoon.

  Except there wasn't any noise coming from down there, nobody yelling. Maurice looked at the tarpaper barracks again, row after row of them silent, like nobody was home.

  Bones said, Go up to the field there, check it out.

  Maurice eased the La Salle out to open ground and turned right to follow the bare trace of a road that circled the camp, Maurice creeping his La Salle along, 15 miles an hour, and looking through the fence at every building on the way to where they were supposed to be playing, a gray sky over it, Maurice wanting to see some guys, some Heinies kicking a soccer ball at each other, even sitting in the stands would be all right.

  It wasn't a bad day yet, but it didn't look good. Maurice cranked the wheel in reverse and got the car turned around.

  One of the gangsters said, What're you doing?

  Maurice said to the rearview mirror, They pulling something on us. They knew we coming and they ready.

  Who you talking about, the Krauts?

  The soldiers, man. They got a hundred and fifty of 'em here. They in the barracks keeping the Heinies quiet. Waiting to see you gonna start it or not. Fire a b urst, man, they come out shooting. The gun towers already have a bead on us.

  Bones said, What's he talking about?

  Tutti said, He don't want his car shot up.

  Maurice saw Bones roll down his window, and the La Salle jumped off, tires squealing, kicking dust, Maurice shifting through first and second, into high going 50 and swerved toward the road showing in the trees. The gangsters were getting bounced around and swearing at him, Maurice kept his eyes narrowed on the road, tore through the scraggly woods till he saw the bridge and slowed down and came to a stop. Maurice turned enough to look at the two guys sitting with their machine guns. He said, I'll tell you the truth, I been in this kind of situation where they waiting for you. You see it's gonna happen, man, you cut and run. We getting out of here, soon as I take a leak.

  Tutti and Bones watched him walk out on the bridge and turn to the railing. Bones said, You believe this guy?

  Tutti said, Don't worry about it. We still gonna get paid.

  Bones unbuttoned his suitcoat to bring out a .38 revolver. He rolled down the window and watched Maurice on the bridge relieving himself, buttoning his pants now before he turned and was facing the car when Bones shot him. It turned Maurice to grab hold of the railing. Bones shot him again and Maurice went down.

  Tutti said, I thought you didn't mind him.

  We need a car, Bones said, we don't need a driver. We got business with Teddy ... But first, I told you. I want to stop and
see this Shemane.

  *

  Louly turned the page in Life from Hellcat noses over on deck after landing with tail hook out of order, to the photo of a model with one of the smallest waists in Hollywood, 21 inches. Louly sucked in her stomach. She looked up to see Carl come in the kitchen barefoot, T-shirt hanging out of his pants. He looked over with a smile. Louly raised her eyebrows as if to say, Yes? She heard him say to Virgil, You need an extension upstairs, and his dad say, You mean you need one. He handed Carl the phone saying, It's your pard. Virgil came over to the table to take a seat with Louly and watch his boy.

  You still mad at him?

  I wasn't mad.

  But you see that woman after him.

  The kind she is?

  Louly had said at breakfast what she thought of Shemane, calling her a whore.

  How come you see her on the prowl, Virgil said, but you blame Carl?

  She'd need time to answer that one, so she didn't say anything. They watched Carl hang up the phone after a few minutes and look over.

  Gary, he ran out of gas. Followed the Lincoln to Henryetta, then east toward Checotah. But Gary didn't check the gas gauge when he took the car, Carl said. They didn't leave Okmulgee till four in the morning, so now it's after five and there's nobody on the road. He's out there a couple of hours before a sheriff's car picked him up. They went back to Henryetta to radio an all-points. But by this time he's hours behind the Lincoln.

  Louly said, Who was in the car?

  Shemane. Carl said her name and Louly didn't jump up or throw anything at him. He caught a glimpse of Shemane coming out the drive and what looked like her mom sitting in front. He couldn't tell if anybody else was in the car. When he did speed up to get a close look, the Lincoln took off on him, gone.

  Louly said, So they know they're being followed.

  I was them, Virgil said, I'd get over to Vian or Sallisaw fast as I could and head for the Cookson Hills. Best place in Oklahoma you want to hide out.

  Louly said, Shemane in her high heels camping? If Jurgen and this other guy, Otto, are in the car, I bet a dollar they're on their way to Arkansas. She said to Carl, Where's Gary now?