Jack Spade: Dream Detective

Chapter 18

 She smiles as she looks around the room. Suddenly she runs over to the dresser, moves it a little and lifts up a loose floor board. She reaches down and pulls out a little black book; it was her diary that she kept as a child. Funny the things you write down as a child. She jumps on the bed and begins to read her childhood memories.

Jack is put up in the guest room.

It looks more like a man’s cave; a lot of Lena’s late husband’s things

Are still there. Lots and lots of books, a large king-sized bed; there is even a large bear skin rug on the floor. A number of rifles are mounted on the walls; he was quite the sportsman, he loved to hunt. Jack feels right at home

There is a light tap on his door, it is Lena. She peeks in. “I just wanted to give you these pajamas,” she says as she hands them to him. “You and my husband are

About the same size.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Wilson.”

“You’re welcome, Jack.”

He could

See the gleam in her eyes; she was so delighted to have them there,

Even for just a night… a time that went by much too fast.

As Jennifer hugs her mother the next morning, she doesn’t want to let her go.

“You call me

When you get back to San Francisco.”

“I will, Mom. I promise!”

Lena then gives Jack a hug. “You take care of my little girl, you hear.”

“I will,” replies Jack.

On the drive back to Frisco, Jennifer’s head rests on Jack’s shoulder. ”That was really nice of you, Jack,” she says as she holds tightly to his arm. “I haven’t seen my mother in quite a while. That was the best weekend ever.

I love you so much.” Then she falls to sleep. She sleeps all the way back until they are at Jack’s apartment.

“Baby, we’re here,” he says as he gently nudges her awake. They had departed her mother’s on Sunday morning. Jack is pretty

Exhausted so they go straight to bed.

In the morning he and Jennifer have breakfast and then she leaves for her apartment. “I’ll see you later, baby.”

Jack then leaves for his office. Once there he goes over to the cabinet, just to make sure the money is still there. The phone rings. For some reason, he is cautious about answering it. He lets it ring a few times; in fact, he does not answer it at all. He walks over to his desk and just stares down at the phone as if he knows it will start ringing again, and sure enough it does. It rings a couple of times before he finally picks up the receiver. He moves over to the desk, sits on the edge and answers it. “Hello,” he says.

A voice on the other end says, “Hello, Mr. Spade. This is Loretta, Willie’s girlfriend! Remember me?”

“Sure, Loretta,” says Jack as he loosens his tie.

“Are you still interested in information about Lauren Jefferson?” Her voice sounds funny, a little uneven, as if she may have had too much to drink.

“Yes,” says Jack, maybe a little too eagerly. “What can you tell me?”

“Plenty,” she replies. “Meet me at the Domino Club around 10 pm.”

 Jack says, “Okay, what’s the address?”

 As he writes it down and studies it, he realizes he has been there before. It’s the same club he had gone to look for Lauren that first night. Before he leaves, he calls Sonny, to let him know what he is planning but there is no answer at his place.

When he arrives at the club, he is having second thoughts about coming there alone. Maybe he should have brought Sonny or Lt. Kimble. “Well, I can’t worry about that now,” he says to himself. He checks his gun to make sure it is loaded, gets out of the car

Once inside he looks around the club until he sees Loretta sitting at a table in a corner by herself. Jack

Begins to think that this may have been a dumb idea. Again he thinks, ‘Why didn’t I bring Kimble?’ He just keeps having that funny feeling

But it is too late to start crying about it now. He walks over to Loretta and sits down across from her. “Okay, Loretta, what you got for me?”

She does not seem drunk anymore. She is speaking clearly and precisely. Jack looks at her and he sees the reflection of a man with a very large bat in the sunglasses she is wearing. He quickly jumps up, and the bat shatters the table, just missing connecting with his head.  

Jack then pulls out his revolver and fires two shots into the ceiling. The music soon stops and everyone runs for cover. “Hold it right there,” says Jack, mainly pointing his gun at the man with the bat. “Just put it right there,” he says, pointing to the floor. He tells everybody to be still and not to move.

As he slowly walks to the entrance of the club, he motions for the doorman to come on in. He had started in anyway when he heard the shots. Jack tells him to join the rest of the crowd. “Over there, big fellow,” he tells him, pointing his gun at him.

A lot of the men are just shaking their heads and smiling, as if they were saying,

‘We’ll get you next time, Whitey.’ Jack hurries

Out the door and into his car. He sits there with his hands gripping the

Steering wheel, shaking. “What a dumb move,” he says out loud. It was pretty stupid of him to come there by himself. After all, he had killed Big George, he and Lt.

Kimble.

He starts the engine but just then, Loretta comes running out of the club, screaming for him to let her in. She is banging on the window. He opens the door and Loretta jumps in.

“Go, go,” she yells at him. He takes off and they go to his hotel room.

Loretta is still a little shook up. She goes over to the sofa, crying. Jack gets her a drink and sits down beside her. “Okay, Loretta, you want

To tell me about it now? Why did you lie to me?”

“It was not my fault, Mr. Spade,” she says as she sips her drink. “Willie said if I didn’t get you there, he would hurt me bad.” Her body language seemed to say she was telling the truth. “

I didn’t want to do it, Mr. Spade, really.” That’s why I wore the shades’ I knew you would see his reelection’ 

 In some way, in her confession, she is coming on to Jack. She moves closer to him and puts her hand on his knee. You could say Loretta is a little promiscuous. She loves Willie but she also loves men, no matter the color.

Jack gets up from the sofa rather quickly. “Okay, Loretta, where do you live?”

“I live with Willie but I can’t go there now!”

“Well, you can’t stay here,” replies Jack, a little uneasy. “My gal Jennifer just wouldn’t understand. She’s the very jealous type. Don’t you have anyone who can take you in for tonight? A girlfriend or relative?”

 Loretta pauses. “Well, I guess I could go over to my mother’s.”

“Great,” says Jack. “Let’s go.” He takes her to her mother’s. By the time he gets back, it’s around 2 am. He goes straight to his bedroom and takes a shower. Later he thinks about calling Jennifer but decides not to. He has a smoke then goes to bed. The next day he arranges with Moreno to meet at Jefferson’s cabin, Thursday night, around 1am.   

“Why so late?” inquires Jack.

“I’m a businessman, Spade. I have to make sure my business is taken care of.”

“All right. I will see you then.” After Jack hangs up the phone, he sits back in his chair and thinks about the upcoming meeting

Jefferson is sure to be there, he thinks. Then he gets a visitor. It’s Mr. Jefferson. “Hello, Mr. Spade. I understand you have your memory back.”

“Yes. I’ve been so busy, I forgot to tell you.”

“Ha, ha.” Jefferson chuckles a little. “Very funny, Mr. Spade. Was that a joke?”

 Jack looks back at him, wondering what he is talking about then he laughs himself. “Oh, yeah, I see. Yes, that was a joke.”

 Jefferson has a seat and tells Jack how much he loved his wife. “

I just wanted you to know that I really do love my wife.” Jack nods his head. “She was so beautiful-”

“Was?” replies Jack.

“I mean, is, of course,” he says nervously. He then fumbles though his pockets for a cigarette;

Finally finds the pack, and lights up one.

He is all dressed up in his tux for a charity event he is having at his hotel but for some reason he has stopped by Jack’s office to confess his love for his wife. And he goes on and on. “…I tell you the truth, Mr. Spade, sometimes she made me so mad, I could have…” then he stops and says he is late and that he must be going. “I will see you soon,

Mr. Spade.”

 Once he leaves, Jack wonders what that was all about. Why did Jefferson feel the need to confess his sins to him?

 When Jefferson arrives at his hotel room, most of his guests are already there. One of them is Bill Moreno. When he sees Jefferson, he goes over to him, grabs him by his arm and pulls him to the side. “Where have you been, Tom?”

“Just stopped to see a friend...are we all set with Mr. Spade?”

“Yes,” says Moreno. “He is going to meet me at your cabin on Thursday night at

1am.” Jefferson seems upset. “But Bill, why my cabin?” “Because it’s out of the way, you i***t.

And calm down.”

“Does he have the negative?”

“Yes,” says Moreno. “And he only wants twenty thousand for it.”

“Is that all he wants?” Jefferson cannot believe that Jack only wants twenty thousand. But soon the other guests

Start to intrude on their conversation.

Margaret Gibson is one of them. “What are you two gentlemen talking about so intensely?”

“Politics,” replies Moreno as he attempts to smile.

“Oh no, you weren’t. I can tell.”

“Oh, Margaret, isn’t that the mayor over there?” As she turns to look, Moreno and

Jefferson go into Jefferson’s den

To continue their conversation in private. Once inside they lock the door.

Moreno sits down on the sofa and Jefferson hands him one of his Cuban cigars.

“Are you sure he’s going to be there?”

“He will be there,” says Moreno as he takes a large puff from his cigar and makes small smoke rings. He is confident that he has Jack just where he wants him.

“You know, Bill-” Before he can finish his statement, Margaret is pounding on the door, demanding they open up and join the other guests.

“Thomas, Thomas,” she yells, “you must come out here.” She is knocking so hard, Jefferson has to open the door. “Well, at last,” she huffs. “Thomas, dear, your guests are wondering where you are.”

Moreno and Jefferson go out and join the party. By 1am the last guest is gone and Jefferson is alone, sitting on his sofa with a drink in his hand. He has been drinking most of the night.

There is a knock on his door. As he slowly gets up, he knocks over a lamp. The intruder 

Is getting impatient; he bangs harder on his door. Jefferson picks up the lamp and slowly gets to the door. He is surprised to see it is the bell hop, Bobby, who helped him that night with Deerfield.

“Hello, Mr. Jefferson. That was some gala you had!” The bell hop is pretty sure of himself as he walks into the room and sits down on the couch.

“What do you want?” demands Jefferson. He then walks over to his bar and pours himself a glass of water. He thinks to himself that it must be the bell hop who is blackmailing him.

He says again, “What do you want?”

“Now Mr. Jefferson, don’t be that way,” he says as he 

Stands up. “I was just wondering if you had any more C-notes you might want to give me.” Suddenly Jefferson realizes it’s about Deerfield, not Lauren. For now he decides it’s not worth resisting so he pulls out his billfold and counts out one hundred dollars.

“Thanks, Mr. Jefferson,” Bobby says as he eagerly takes the bills.

As he turns and opens the door, Jefferson tells him, “I wouldn’t make this a habit, young man.”

The bell hop just smiles and says, “Goodnight.”

 Jefferson closes the door, goes into his bedroom and falls on his bed with his clothes on. He passes out on the bed. While he is passed out, the phone rings, and rings, and rings, and rings. Finally he wakes up but by the time he answers it, the caller has hung up. He sits there wondering who could have been calling at this time of night! He figures it must have been

Moreno so he gives him a call. “Hello, Bill. This is Tom.” “Yes. What is it?” replies Moreno, rather angrily.

“Did you just call me?”

“No! I didn’t call

You. Go back to sleep.” Then he slams the phone down.

Jefferson forgets about it, gets undressed, and goes to bed.

The next morning, a Sunday, Jack is in his room, wondering how all this is going to turn out. He is hoping that Lauren is still alive

But all the cards are saying that she may not be. He knows it would really hurt Jennifer and her mother if she turns up dead.

 Later on he talks to Jennifer on the phone. She wants to come over and be with him but he tells her he will see her at the club on Monday. Jack wants to be with her too but he is really tired and wants to get some rest. He sleeps most of the day and night. It’s about 10 pm when he arrives at the club Monday night.

 He sits at a table and orders a drink. Jennifer soon comes out and joins him.

“Well, baby, it won’t be long now. I’ve talked with Moreno and he has agreed to meet with me at Jefferson’s cabin this Thursday night.”

“In the mountains? Oh, Jack, are you sure you can trust him?”

“No but I will be ready for him. You see, I have told the Lieutenant

All about it.”

But Jennifer is still a little concerned. “Jack, you be careful anyway.”

“Don’t worry,” he says as he picks up her hand and kisses it. Pretty soon it’s time for her number. She goes up to the mike and starts singing. As Jack is listening to her, one of Jefferson’s friends comes over to his table and sits down.

His name is Gary Johnson, a young man in his late twenties. “Mr. Spade, may I speak to you?”

“Sure. What can I do for you?”

“I was just wondering if you

Realize how dangerous Tom Jefferson is.”

“What do you mean?”

 The young man is cold and blunt in his dislike of Jefferson, almost like a woman scorned.

“He’s no good and can’t be trusted. Be careful, Mr. Spade.” Then he leaves as quickly as he appeared.

 Jennifer had just finished her number; when she returns to the table, she asks,

“Who was that?”

“One of Jefferson’s boyfriends,” replies Jack with a sinister grin on his face.

“What did he want?”

“He wanted to warn me about Jefferson. He said he could not be trusted, as if I didn’t already know that.” As he looks at Jennifer, he can see the concern in her eyes.

“Now don’t start worrying again, baby.”

“But he’s right, Jack. That night when I went to see him, and he told me he could kill me, I think he meant it.”

Jack just shoved it off with a smile. “I’m sure he did. I told you, baby, I know what I’m doing, just trust me.”

Jennifer looks over at him and attempts to

Be more trusting. “Okay, Jack,” she says. “Can you take me home? I’m leaving early tonight.”

“Sure, baby, but where is your car?”

“I had to have a mechanic look at it, it was making a funny noise,” she replies.

“Okay, baby. No problem.”

After Jack leaves Jennifer is at her hotel room, he goes to his place. As he settles down to sleep, the phone rings. It’s Jennifer. Even though she said

She was not worried, she still is. “Baby, you got to have more faith in me.

I have been doing this for a long time. Believe me, Jenny, it will be all right.

Get some sleep.”

 She finally calms down and hangs up the phone. “Women,”

Says Jack softly as he smiles to himself. “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”

On Thursday morning, Jack contacts the police; later that evening, he is in

Lieutenant Kimble’s office with two other detectives.

 He is sitting in a chair and they are strapping the wire on him. “Now, Jack,” says the Lieutenant, “this has a radius of one hundred miles so there should be no problem keeping up with you.”

“Well I hope not,” replies Jack.

“In fact, Moreno will probably be there waiting.”

 Jack nods his head in agreement. “Most likely, and Jefferson too.”

“Just how far out is this cabin?” One of the other detectives asks.

“It’s about fifty miles outside of the city in the mountains,” says Jack. He then stands up and walks up and down the room, making sure he feels comfortable.

“Everything okay, Jack?”

“Yeah,

Terrific.”

 It’s about 9 pm now; Jack decides to go to his office. He will leave from there to the cabin. “Call us before you leave,” says one of the officers.

Jack nods in agreement then drives back to his office. While there, he and Sonny go over the plan. “I still don’t see why you don’t want me in on this, Jack?” says Sonny, with disappointment.

“I told you, kid. This is not your cup of tea. Things might get a little rough.”

“But you need me, Jack, now that Joe is gone!”

 Jack hesitates for a second

And smiles at Sonny. “I know, kid,” he says. “And if I had not already brought the cops in on this, I would have you there right by my side. But right now I need you to be with Jennifer.” He puts his hand on his shoulders. “Will you do that for me?”

“All right, Jack,” says Sonny. “You’re the boss.” After Sonny has gone, Jack waits until he gets the call from Kimble.

Meanwhile, at a nearby bar called Mike’s Bar and Grill, Bobby is having a drink and feeling pretty good about himself. He is a young man full of big ideas. Right now he is sitting there thinking how clever he is to pull a fast one over Tom Jefferson. As he is sitting at the bar, two men come up to him from behind. One of them puts his hand on his shoulders. “Hey, Bobby. How you doing?”

 Bobby looks up at him and says with panic in his voice, “Who are you guys?”

“We are friends of Tom Jefferson.” With that said, one of them pulls out a thirty-eight and presses it against his side. “Come on, Bobby, let’s go for a little ride.” Apparently Jefferson had informed Moreno about his visit from Bobby.

As Bobby gets up from his stool, he attempts to run away but the two men hold him tightly. Bobby yells out to the bartender but one of the men flashes a fake badge and says, “Everything’s under control. We just want to ask this guy some questions downtown.” The bartender nods his head in agreement then they quickly rush Bobby out.

Once outside, they hit him with their gun and throw him into the back seat of their car. They take him to his hotel room. When Bobby comes around, they are all sitting at his kitchen table. “You got a nice little place, Bobby,” says one of the thugs, smiling as he speaks.

“What do you guys want? What are you going to do with me?”

“Nothing, Bobby! We just want to have a little drink with you.” Then he pulls out a fifth of bourbon and pours a glass for Bobby all the way up to the brim.

 Bobby nervously takes it and swallows it all down with one gulp then smiles and asks, “Aren’t you guys having any?”

“No!” replies one of the men, laughing. “We’re driving.”

Then they pour him another glass full. They keep this up for about an hour; by this time, Bobby is as drunk as a skunk.

They hoist him up on the table and put a noose around his neck, secure it

By tying one part to the light in the ceiling and the other end to the faucet in the sink. Then they simply turn the table over and poor Bobby is hanging there with a broken neck; another victim of a suicide, or so it will appear to the police.

“Damn,” says one of the thugs as they are leaving.

“What?” says the other hood.

“We forgot to leave a note!” he says, smiling.

At midnight, Jack gets a call from the police. “Hello, yeah, I’m just about to leave now.” He goes downstairs, gets into his car and heads for Jefferson’s cabin. When he arrives at the cabin, Moreno and Jefferson are there,

Just as he had expected. He knocks on the door and Jefferson lets him in. “Well, I figured you would be here, Mr. Jefferson,” says Jack as he walks in.

Lieutenant Kimble and his men arrive a little later. The way the cabin is set up, it sits in a small meadow, with a pond to the right and woods and mountains to the left. There is a long dirt driveway, which is about twenty yards away. This is where the police stay and wait and listen. The wire is working perfectly. They can hear all that is being said inside the cabin as clear as if they were outside the door.

Jack is sitting at a table, playing with a deck of cards. Moreno comes over and demands the negative. “All right, Spade, no more joking around. Where is the negative?”

“You got the twenty thousand?” says Jack, without looking up from his card game.

Moreno reaches into his vest pocket and throws an envelope on the table. “Here,” he says. “It’s all there.”

Jack then goes to hand him an envelope but just before he gives it to him, he asks Moreno just why he killed Mrs. Jefferson. Jefferson looks at Moreno with amazement.

“What is he talking about, Bill?”

“I guess it doesn’t matter now,” says Moreno. “As I said, the little b***h wanted more money from me, can you beat that?”

“What?” screams Jefferson. “What did you say?”

 “I said I killed your precious Lauren! Yes, it was funny. I killed her and put her body back in the same grave you put her in. And it was me who left the blackmail note. I had

To get my money back.” Moreno then smiles. “You see, Thomas, I saw the fight

You two had that night, here at your cabin. I watched eagerly as you strangled her with your bare hands then buried her out there in That shallow grave in the woods.

“You thought she was dead, and I did too.

You should have used a gun; they never fail you,” he says, smiling back at Jack as he takes out his gun and points it at him. He tells Jefferson to search him. Jefferson removes Jack’s gun then Moreno puts his gun aside and continues to tell his story as he takes some rope and ties Jack’s hands from behind.

“The little tramp came back to me and demanded more money from me. Said somehow she had lost the other fifty thousand so I killed her right there in the club. The night you came to see me, Spade,” he brags. “I brought her body back here and put her in the same grave you had her in, Tom. Wasn’t that smart of me?”

By this time Jefferson is furious. He points his revolver at Moreno and fires it at him a number of times until the chamber is empty. As the smoke from the barrel fills the room and the empty chamber is spinning, Moreno falls back onto the couch, stone dead.

He still has that silly smile on his face.

By this time the police rush in. “Well, it’s about time,” yells Jack.

Where the hell you been, Peter?”    

“Sorry, buddy. We couldn’t risk not getting all of his confession on tape. Didn’t think Jefferson would shoot him.”

“Well, he did,” replies Jack.

 They put the cuffs on Jefferson. “Who killed Deerfield?” says Kimble as he begins to untie Jack’s hands.  

“I did,” replies Jefferson as they take him out the door. “And the state trooper too.” Jack stands up ,starts to brush himself off and then gets ready to leave. “Oh

Jack,” says the Lieutenant, “did you forget something?” as he holds out his hand.

“Why, what do you mean, Lieutenant?” He has that innocent look on his face as if he doesn’t know what he is talking about.

“Blackmail is still against the law, Jack. You want to give me the twenty thousand that you got from Moreno?”

 Jack smiles and

Gives him the money. “You don’t miss anything, do you, Peter?” “I try not to.

And are you sure you don’t know anything about the fifty thousand?”

“Why, Peter, I’m shocked,” replies Jack with a big grin.

Jefferson shows them just where Lauren is buried. As the officers take her body out of the grave, Jefferson stands there, watching and saying how sorry he is. I really did love her he says’.

                                           ****

Later, at Jennifer’s club, Jack slowly walks over to where she is sitting at her table. He looks at her without saying a word. Jennifer looks back with tears falling from her eyes. “Lauren’s dead, isn’t she, Jack?”

He takes her hand as he sits down. “Yes, baby.” Then he looks into her eyes and says, “But you still got me.” They slowly stand and leave the club.

They drive to Jack’s place. First Jennifer just stands there in the middle of the room. He slowly takes her in his arms and carries her into the bedroom as he slowly undresses her, then himself. You can feel the tension in the room. They had made love before but this time it is different. It is as if it was for the first time.

 After they are both completely unclothed, Jack lays her back on the bed. First he begins to kiss and caress her tiny feet. He kisses her big toe then works his way across to her little toe, then he slowly turns her on her stomach. He kisses her ankles then her long shapely legs up to her perfectly pear- shaped buttocks, kissing and caressing each one until Jennifer moans for more. “Oh baby,” she cries out. “I love you so much. Please don’t stop.”

***