Jack Spade: Dream Detective

Chapter 16

                                              Chapter 16

With that said, Jennifer runs into his arms and showers him with kisses. “Hold on, baby, we got work to do!”

She agrees and withdraws from his arms. “But Jack, where did this negative come from?”

“It was in one of the bundles. Lauren’s a smart kid! She made a copy of the negative.”

Yes, Jack’s memory is back, and now they must decide what to do about it. He takes the money and puts it back in the cabinet; the negative He puts in his pocket.

“What next, Jack?” Jennifer asked.

“I’m going to give Mr. Moreno a call.”

“But what about the fifty thousand?”

“For now we’re just keeping it where it’s at.” But he has a second idea. “I think I will take about five hundred out.”

“For what?” Jennifer demands.

“I need a new car, baby.”

“But Jack, do you think you should do that?”

“Don’t worry about it, baby. It will be all right.”

“But, Jack…” He hurries her out the door. “Don’t you think you should call the doctor to check you out?”

“For what?” replies Jack.

“To make sure you’re okay!”

“There’s no time for that.”

“We’ll make time,” insists Jennifer. She takes Jack by the hand as if he was a little kid and sits him on the couch. “It’s best to play it safe,” she tells him as she dials Doctor Stevens.

“Okay, baby. You win,” replies Jack.

Within an hour, the doctor is there. He does a few tests on Jack’s eyes and fingers and announces what Jack already knew: he was fine. Jack looks over at Jennifer, smiling.

“See, what did I tell you? Thanks, Doc. Send me your bill.”

“You can count on that,” he says as he leaves. They hurry down the steps and into her car.

Once they arrive at the car dealer’s, he picks out a car just like the one he had before, a 1947 Chevrolet Coop (cheery red). He tells Jennifer that he will met her later at the club, pays the dealer then he is on his way.

But first he goes to his hotel room, takes a quick shower, then goes to see Jennifer.

When he gets to the club, Jennifer is at the mike singing. She truly has a beautiful voice. Jack takes a seat up front; Jennifer has reserved a table for him. Once she is done with her number, she comes over to his table. He jokes to her that he’d never had a table reserved for him. ”That means you’re coming up in the world, Jack,” she says, smiling.

“That was great singing, baby.”

“Thank you, Jack.” Then she grabs his hand. “Have you talked to Bill yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“So what are you waiting on?” Jennifer seems a little irritated.

“No rush, baby.”

Then she says, “Jack, it is a rush. I’m sure he knows where Lauren is at.”

 Jack looks at Jennifer, takes her hand and squeezes it. “I’m sorry, baby,” he says,

“But you have to trust me.”

Jennifer smiles. She can see from his eyes that he is not telling her everything.

“What is it, Jack?”

“Look, baby, I have to speak to you about Lauren.”

“Well then, what is it?” Jennifer says, her voice trembling a little.

“Not here, later at your place, after you get off.”

“All right, Jack.”

He gets up, walks out the door, gets into his car and drives

To the police station. He goes directly to Lieutenant Kimble’s office

And taps on the door, then walks in without waiting. First he does not say anything; he just stands there, in the doorway. Kimble looks up from his newspaper and realizes it is Jack. He gets up to greet him.

“Jack,” he says excitedly, “are you feeling better? Did you come here alone?” As he is speaking he has both his hands on Jack’s shoulders. “Well, come on in. Don’t just stand there …say something!”

Jack stares at him then finally speaks. “Have you always been this ugly or did it just happen overnight? I seem to remember you looking much, much better than this.”

 Kimble then lets out a wide smile. “Jack,” he says, “you got your memory back.”

They hug and shake hands. “So how do you feel?”

“Good, Peter, real good.” He sits down and begins to tell about his plan to make a deal with Moreno for the negative. The Lieutenant looks at Jack with disapproval. “Do you have the negative?”

“Yes,” replies Jack.

“And where did you get this negative?” replies Kimble.

“It was in the suitcase that Lauren Jefferson had pawned.”

Kimble looks over at Jack and says, “Jack, are you sure this plan of yours is going to work?”

Then he pauses. “And what about Jefferson?” “What about him?” says Jack.

“Is he mixed up in all of this?”

“Yes,” says Jack, “I think he is. For some reason he is the one who hired Deerfield.”

“And how is all this going to get Mrs. Jefferson back?”

“As long as you guys do your part, it will work.”

“We will be there for you, Jack, don’t worry about us,” replies Kimble. “And when is this plan going to take place?”

“I will let you know,” replies Jack.

“One more question,” says Kimble. “Is Lauren Jefferson alive?” Jack thinks about his answer then says, “

I’m not sure but one of them, Mr. Jefferson or Moreno, knows where she is at; maybe both.” Then he pauses. “In fact, I may have seen her a few days ago.”

“You did!” says Kimble, rising from his seat. “Where? And when were you going to tell me?”

“When! Was I!” replies Jack with that incurable smile of his. “I just remembered it. I’m not sure if it was her but a couple of her friends came by my office and told me to stop looking for her. In fact they were pretty insistent about it.”

“They rough you up?”

“You could say that.” Jack smiles sarcastically.

“The funny part about it was that they were colored.”

“Jack, what are you talking about now?” replies Kimble.

“Lauren Jefferson’s friends! They were coloreds.”

           “So?” replies Kimble as he sits back down behind his desk.

“You remember when you had that playboy, Jimmy, in here for questioning? Well, I decided to check out his story, about Lauren Jefferson liking to hang around colored clubs. It turns out he was telling the truth. I checked out one of the clubs, found this guy named Willie Jones, and went to his place.” “In n****r town,” says Kimble.

“I don’t like that word, Peter,” replies Jack, giving him a scornful stare.

“All right, I’m sorry. What happened then?”

“Well, I went to his place. I asked him if he knew Lauren Jefferson, he said he didn’t know her.”

 “Did you believe him?”

“No,” says Jack, “but I think I saw her in an upstairs window when I was outside casing the joint. Then I left.”

“And a couple of his friends rough you up the next day?”

“Right.”

“Okay, let’s go!” says Kimble.

“Where?” replies Jack!

“To pay this Willie Jones a visit, where do you think?”

They hurry down the stairs and Kimble gets into one of the cruisers. Jack just stands there, thinking. “What’s wrong?” says Kimble, ducking his head out the window.

“I don’t know about this. The last time I was in one of these, you guys arrested me.”

“Don’t worry about it, kid. You’re with me.” He smiles and gets in.

While they are driving, Lieutenant Kimble looks over at Jack without speaking.

“What is it?” snaps Jack.

“Have you ever worn a wire?” he asks.

“What! What’s a wire?” he inquires, his cigarette dangling from his mouth. He then turns to blow smoke out the window.

“It’s a new device we are looking into. We strap you in.”

“Wait a minute,” Jack interrupts. “What do you mean, strap me in?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not like that. It’s safe. I’ll show you later.” By this time they are near the area where Willie lives. They walk up to the front door and knock on it. It is around 8 pm. A few minutes later, Willie comes to the door and looks through the window. When he does, the Lieutenant shows his badge. Willie then opens the door but does not let them come in.

“Hello, Willie. Remember me?” says Jack.

“No, I don’t know you, man! I never seen you before …all you honkies look alike,” he says smiling, and tells them to leave.

Lieutenant Kimble says, “You can answer our questions here, or we can go down town, which is it? It doesn’t matter to me. We have a nice little cell waiting for you with all the comforts of home.”

“Okay, okay,”

Replies Willie. He opens the door all the way so that they could enter. He sits down on his sofa and pulls out a cigarette.

“Where is Lauren Jefferson?”

“I don’t know, man. She wanted me to do her a favor, and I did, that’s all I know. I swear to you, man.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“A few weeks back. She told me if a nosy private d**k called Jack Spade came looking for her, she wanted me to take care of it.”

Jack then jumps into the conversation. “She said nosy?” He looked hurt.

“Yeah,” replies Willie smugly. “Nosy.”

“So that’s all it took?” says the Lieutenant. “She asks and you do!”

“Yeah, man. Haven’t you ever seen her?” Then Willie turns and looks up at Jack. “So she’s not here?” “No!” he says.  

“And she was not here that night I was here?” says Jack.

“No, I swear it, man,” says Willie, crossing his heart.

Jack and Kimble still do not believe him.

The Lieutenant searches the downstairs area; he tells Jack to look upstairs, which he does. When he gets up there, he finds someone, a woman, but it’s not Lauren Jefferson. She is hiding in the closet in a bedroom. “What’s your name, baby?”

“Loretta,” the woman replies. She makes no attempt to cover herself; she is not wearing a stitch of clothing.

Jack hands her a robe that is hanging on a hook.

“Come on downstairs,” he says as he grabs her arm and brings her downstairs. “Is there anyone else up here?”

“No!” replies the woman sharply. “Just me!” They start downstairs.

“Anybody else up there?” Kimble asks Jack as he comes into the room.  

”No,” replies Jack.

Kimble looks at the woman. “Is this the woman you saw that night?”

“Well,” says Jack, “she could be. It was getting dark and I was looking through the window.”

“You mean you were peeping through the window?” shouts the woman.

“Pipe down,” shouts Kimble

 Then he looks at Jack. “You think I should run him in, Jack?”

 The woman shouts out, “We don’t know nothing, mister. Really we

Don’t. Lauren did come around a few weeks back but like Willie said, she told him if an investigator came looking for her, just take care of him.” “And nothing else?” says Jack.

“Well,” she pauses, “we did have a little ménage a trio fun every now and then.” She smiles.

“Ménage a what?” inquires Kimble.

“Come on, let’s go,” says Jack. “I’ll explain it to you later. They don’t know anything.” When they start to leave, Jack walks past Willie and leaves his calling card. He lands a punch right in his gut. “That’s for making me bleed.” Willie bends over and crumbles to the floor in pain.  

The woman runs over to him. “Oh baby, are you all right?” She starts screaming,

“Police brutality. Police brutality.”

 As they turn to go out the door, a man runs down the stairs, shooting wildly at

Jack and Lieutenant Kimble. One of his shots hits Kimble in the shoulder but as Jack and Kimble both return fire, they each hit the man; one in the head and the other in his upper chest. He comes bouncing down the stairs, fatally wounded. He sits at the bottom of the stairway, his head resting back against the wall and his eyes wide open, his fingers still gripped tightly around the trigger of his gun.

Kimble and Jack slowly walk over to him, and Kimble leans down to take the gun out of his hand. He looks over at Jack with an inquisitive look on his face. “I thought you said you checked upstairs.”

“He must have been hiding under the bed,” replies Jack with a confused look.

“Yeah, right,” replies Kimble. “Is this the other one?”

Jack takes a second look at him and says, “Yes. I didn’t recognize him at first.”

 Kimble goes over to a table and bends down to ask Willie, who happens to be hiding there with the woman, “What’s this guy’s name?”

“We call him Big George.”

“Big George. Is that all?” says Kimble. “No last name?” “No,” says Willie. “That’s all everybody ever called him.” “Okay,” replies Kimble as they begin to leave.

Willie yells, “What about Big George?”

“Just leave him right there, we’ll send somebody out to get him,” replies Kimble. Loretta runs upstairs to get a bedspread, which she uses to cover up Big George. As she does, Willie swears he will get Jack for this.  

When Jack and Kimble are getting back into the car, Jack asks him about his arm.

“How’s your shoulder?”

“It’s okay. The bullet went clean through.”

When they get back to the station, it’s around 9.30 pm. Kimble gets his wound taken care of then shows Jack how the wire system would work. Once it is on Jack, they try to explain it. “You see this goes here, and this goes around here and we listen from here.”

“Okay, I got it,” said Jack. ”Now get me out of this.”

“All right, keep your shirt on,” barks one of the officers. Jacks stands up and, as he is leaving, he tells

Kimble he better have that shoulder checked out by a doctor and that he will keep in touch. Kimble assures him he will take care of it himself.

When Jack leaves, he goes straight to his hotel room. He wants to see Jennifer but decides against it. It doesn’t matter; Jennifer

 Stops by to see him. As soon as he fixes himself a drink, she knocks on the door.

She is worried. They settle down on the couch

“Where have you been, Jack?” she asks with deep concern.

Jack can see in her eyes that she is upset and tries to ease her mind. “Just doing my job, baby.” He does not tell her yet about the information on Lauren. He is not sure just what to say to her. To change the subject,

He quickly turns on the radio and they listen to a prize fight. It’s a pretty good one, judging by the roars from the crowd. They catch the last few rounds of it; soon it is over. He turns off the radio. “Boy,” he says to Jennifer, “I wish I had seen that one.”

 Jack has always been a sports fanatic, any sport will do. You name it, he wants to pay or see it; well, maybe not golf. Jack succeeded in getting Jennifer’s mind off his work. Later they take a shower together then go to bed.

The next morning, Jennifer is still upset with the lack of progress that Jack is having in finding Lauren.

Jack is also getting a little frustrated so he does something’ totally out of character’ he decides to check into seeing a clairvoyant. When he tells Jennifer of his plans, she almost falls out of the chair from laughter. “Are you kidding me? You want to go see a fortune teller?”

Jack sits there with a look on his face as if he wants to smack her silly. He gets up and heads out the door.

“Wait a minute.

Where you going?” she yells.

“I told you,” he replied.

“Can I come with you?” “Yeah, but no wisecracks, understand!”

 “Sure, baby,” she says, smiling.

 Madame Zelda’s is a creepy little place on Fifty-Seventh Street, a part of the city where you would not find any of the well-to-do class of San Francisco. Jack knocks on the door; as he does Jennifer asks him where he found this lady. In a little while, a tall woman

Comes to the door. She moves the curtain aside and peeks out at Jack and

Jennifer. “Yes, may I help you?” she says through the door.

“Yes,” replies Jack. “We want to see you about finding someone.”

The lady then quickly opens the door. Jennifer whispers to Jack, “If she was any good, you would think she’d

Know that already!” Jack gives her a smack on her butt as she goes by.

The lady is dressed all in black; she looks to be in her early fifties, maybe younger. She points to a table in the center of the room. In fact, there is nothing else in the room but the table. It is a small wooden table with

What looks like a crystal ball in the center. The three of them sit down.

Jennifer and Jack look around the room. It is dimly lit with candles, and full of mirrors, wall to wall. As they are seated, Madam Zelda asks to hold Jennifer’s hand. “I see that it is a lady that you seek

And that she is very close to you, like a sister!”

Jennifer quickly looks over to Jack with puzzlement and amazement in her eyes.

Jack then asks, “Do you know anything about where she may be?”

“Where she may be!” She repeats then she lets go of Jennifer’s hand. “Do you have a picture of her?”

“Yes,” replies Jack. He reaches into his pocket for the picture then gives it to the lady.

She takes it and presses it against her heart. “I see blood, lots of blood.” She moans. Jack looks around the room as if expecting to see a ghost or something.

“Whose blood?” Jennifer shouts out.

“Your sister’s!” replies the lady.

“No! No! You’re wrong,” yells Jennifer as she jumps up from the table, grabs the picture and runs out of the house. Jack gives the lady some money then hurries to catch up with Jennifer. When he does, she is at the car, crying.

“Don’t worry about that old hag, baby,” he says. “She doesn’t know what she is talking about.”

Jennifer looks up at him. “Are you sure, Jack?”

“She could be wrong, and besides, she didn’t say she was dead. She just said she saw blood.”

“That really makes me feel better, Jack,” she says, rolling her eyes as she gets into the car.

“I know, baby,” he says. “This was a bad idea.” While they are driving back, Jack swings by the hospital to see how Sonny is doing.