Shell Game – Chapter 29 – Eye Patch

Four minutes later, Evan entered the lobby of The Webster. He checked his watch and sucked his teeth in frustration. Not only was he upset by how age and inactivity had slowed him, but he was also mad at Katherine for making him run all the way. It seemed like everything was working against him. Evan worked to regain his breathing rhythm as he breezed through the foyer and then up the elevator to the 10th floor.

Evan rapped on the door of 1045, and five seconds later, it opened. Lauren Bacall stared at him with her golden hair and cold eyes. It was the first time he’d seen her without her trench coat. Evan almost didn’t recognize her. She greeted him, brazenly displaying her shoulder holster like any other ordinary gangster or plainclothes detective. Evan smiled politely, and the young woman made way for him to pass.

“Through there,” she grunted and pointed Evan past the entryway into the suite’s sitting room.

Standing in the center of the room, holding a cup and saucer, was the dark figure Sophie had described. He was a man dressed from top to bottom in the inkiest black Evan had ever seen. It was so black it seemed like it drew light into it like a magnet attracts iron filings. Even though he was indoors, the man wore a wide-brimmed hat, a long, unbuttoned overcoat, a suit of a style Evan could not distinguish, and polished boots that stopped just under his knees. Only his face and hands were left uncovered by the black garments. The latter held the delicate dishes, and the former had a polished sliver eye patch covering the right eye. Evan could not decide which was more unnerving, the presence of the eye patch itself or the ability to see himself at all times while conversing with this strange creature.

The man took a sip of his drink before setting it down, then walked, though Evan thought it looked more like a glide, up to him. He looked Evan up down, smiled unsettlingly, and asked, “Do sit, won’t you?” Then with a very long arm, he gestured for Evan to an armchair positioned in the center of the room. “Would you care for a refreshment?” the man asked.

“Sure,” Evan said as he sat.

“I’m afraid all I have is coffee and water. The delicacies here are quite limited,” the man said.

“Coffee’s fine,” Evan said, adjusting his coat.

The man turned to Ms. Bacall and said, “Margo,” with an implied command, and the young woman reluctantly retreated into the kitchen. Eye Patch, as Sophie had called him, sat across from Evan on the high-backed settee.

“I apologize we could not meet on more agreeable circumstances,” the man began, “but I’m afraid my hand has been forced a bit, and so, alas, here we are. I can say I have heard a lot about you since arriving here.” The strange man crossed his long legs over each other and set down his cup and saucer.

The man in black forced another uncomfortable smile and said, “What brings me here is a certain item. It has been lost to me for quite a while now, and I would like to get it back so I can be on my merry way. It is an important item to me and a great many others. The longer it remains unsecured, the more problematic my situation becomes. The more problematic my situation becomes, the more problematic your situation becomes. I hope you understand.”

“I assume you’re talking about the pearl?” Evan asked.

The man’s face went blank for a moment, darted his eyes around the room, and then rested them back on Evan, “Pearl?”
Margo came back, holding a second dainty cup and saucer. She offered it to Evan. He took it, and she stayed facing him, looking like she was ready for a fight at the slightest provocation.

“Thank you, Margo,” the man said. “We need to talk serious business, and it would be best if we could do so freely. I’ll call you should we need your services again.”

Margo cut her eyes to her boss, cut them back to Evan, and receded into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
“Where did you find her?” Evan asked, “She seems built of steel.”

“She has served useful to the cause,” the man said.

Evan took a sip of coffee, felt the roof of his mouth and tongue burn, and the warmth of the liquid spread throughout his chest. He rested the cup and saucer on the coffee table. “So, back to the pearl. I assume this is what all the hubbub is over.” When this was still not registering on the man’s face, Evan added. “I’m sorry. I thought that was all this was about. It’s what your man Huber has been offering me money for and what I assume is the cause of two men’s deaths. Am I missing something?”

Then a look of recognition locked onto the strange man’s face, “Ah, yes. The pearl. Is that what you call her?” Eye Patch smiled in a wolfish way and chuckled to himself, “How amusing. Yes. Let’s talk about the pearl. But before we do, I want to know in what capacity you present yourself.”

“Capacity?” Evan asked.

“Yes. Are you a detective, a representative, something else?”

“You need to help me out, mister. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Evan said.

The man cleared his throat. “Are you here on the Porter woman’s account?”

Evan shook his head.

“Huber?”

Again, Evan shook his head.

“Then, why are you busying your time sticking your nose into my business and making it very difficult for me to conduct my affairs in the manner in which it is best to conduct them?”

Evan smoothed his hair. “Listen. It’s true I’ve been hired by Miss Porter for protection. And it’s also true I’ve been offered a sizable sum by Mr. Huber, which I assume really comes from you if I can cough up this pearl. And, maybe this is what you mean, I’m still getting my sea legs here, I don’t know, but there has been this thought rolling around in the back of my head that if there is such all-fire interest in this pearl – so much so, men are getting shot over it – maybe there is an interest I have in recovering it for myself. Do you take my meaning?”

The smile evaporated from the inky man’s face. “Well, at least you’re honest. I appreciate that. That’s hard to come by.”
“So,” Evan said, “do you want to talk about it?”

“What?” the man said.

“The pearl.”

The man’s cold eye looked at Evan. Evan tried to concentrate on it instead of his reflection in the eye patch. “Yes,” he said, dragging out the sss, “let’s talk about the pearl.” Again, he nearly spat out the word. “What do you know?”

“Only what they’ve written about in the paper,” Evan said with a dismissive wave of his hand, “which is to say nothing. I know it exists, that you’re clawing all over each other to get it, and that somewhere someone or someones are willing to kill to get their hands on it.”

“Porter didn’t tell you anything about it?” the man asked.

“No, just a lot of fretful nonsense.”

“And Huber?”

“He just offered me the ten g’s.”

“So you really don’t know what all of the fuss is over?” the man mused.

“I was hoping you could tell me,” Evan said. “That’s why I came down here, even though I didn’t want to.”

“And one can also assume,” the man continued, lost in thought, “that those two fools also have no idea… though, that surprises me as they have been after it for quite a while. Perhaps Lillian has been on her good behavior.” He laughed mildly to himself. “All the better. All the better. What they don’t know, or rather what they assume, should only accrue to my benefit.”

“How about you let me in on your joke?” Evan asked. “Then we can be two people who have an understanding with each other, and we don’t have to talk in code, which can only bring about more problems.”

The man let out a victorious sigh and said, “Oh, I don’t imagine we need to work at that level of speed or intimacy, Mr. Gold. Not at this point anyway. You don’t hold the cards you think you do.”

Evan leaned forward. “That may be true, but let me shoot straight with you. I know where it is; you know what it is. I’m certain we can work out a tidy arrangement where we both come out of this very happy.”

The man’s confidence blazed into anger and flashed his attention on Evan, “You know where it is? You have to tell me. You have to tell me!”

Evan smiled coolly. “Oh, I don’t imagine we need to work at that level of speed or intimacy at this point.”

The man stood and moved to the back of the settee. “This is unacceptable. You expect me to cave to you? Tell you everything I know while you just gather information? That is unacceptable. You must give me something too!”

“Keep your shirt on, mister,” Evan said, his voice rising, “You can’t expect me to give up my leverage. I’m just the little guy here. I need something to protect my interests. Besides, I’ve learned a lot in a short amount of time. However clever you and your band of thieves think you are, a couple more days like this, and I’ll know as much about the pearl as you do. I can just keep chipping away till I figure things out on my own.”

“NO!” the man said and brought down his fist on the back of the settee. An instant later, Margo appeared with her pistol drawn.

Evan also stood and distanced himself from both of his hosts. “That’s how it’s going to be,” he said. “And you can keep her away from me if you know what’s good for both of you,” Evan pointed at Margo, who looked like she wanted to eat Evan for a snack. “I was raised with a certain view about violence to women, but she and I get in a life-or-death situation, I will protect myself.” Evan started to walk over to the suite’s door. “Listen, you need a chance to cool off. I’ll be back here at five. You can tell me then if the situation has changed to where you and I can work together. Until then, stay far away from me.”

With that, Evan pulled the door open and slammed it behind him. Then, he straightened his hat, adjusted his tie, and punched his fist into his palm. If no one was going to play ball with him, he was going to keep poking the bear until something turned up.

Evan walked down the hallway, avoiding the elevator, and turned to find the stairwell. Once on the street, he turned east on Fifth and then north on Commercial.