Chapter 49 - With Friends Like These

 "That's a pretty desperate bluff, CH.  So, now I assume I look over at the roof, and while distracted you rush and disarm me in some hope that you'll triumph in the outcome?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Tannehill responded, apparently unconcerned that his gambit had failed and veered ever closer to infinite darkness.

Murphy snickered.  "What's next, you'll yell 'lookout behind you!' and try the same asinine maneuver?"

"Nah," Tannehill responded, "you'll find out what's behind you soon enough."

As Tannehill spoke these words, Murphy took an unconscious step backward.  He felt something hard press against the back of his skull.

"Probably better that you didn't look," Tannehill pondered, "Spinoza may have gotten spooked and blown half your face off before you were able to turn around."

"If you'd be so kind as to hand your weapon to Tannehill, we can dispense with any issues regarding my nervous trigger finger," the disembodied voice announced behind Murphy.  Murphy paused, weighing his options, wondering if it were better to inflict some final damage to Tannehill before feeling searing heat in the back of his head and experiencing extended silence.  He then considered his chances with the courts in Capital City and thought better of it.  He pointed the weapon toward the ground and yielded its stewardship to Tannehill.

Tannehill fished for some change in his pocket with his free hand and passed it to Vera.  ¨Go call the local precinct and ask to speak with Detective Novak.  Tell him what's happened and who's involved.  Make sure to tell him that the scene is secured and that I've temporarily taken Lieutenant Murphy into custody until he arrives."

Vera turned to leave but immediately wheeled on her heels, "can I bring the gu...?"

"No." With that response, she wheeled back in her initial direction to make her appointed phone call. 

Tannehill disassembled the machine gun, removing the magazine and the firing pin, and tossed the firearm over the railing of the walkway.  It clattered loudly in protest before resting in silence.

Tannehill patted Murphy down for additional weapons, but found only Murphy's service revolver. He gave it the same unceremonious treatment as he did to its more ostentatious cousin.  Spinoza produced a pair of handcuffs and shackled the police officer's hands behind him.

"Where did you get those?" Murphy asked in disbelief.

"What?" Spinoza's voice was thick with annoyance.  

"Those," Murphy did his best to gesture with his head toward his back.

"They're handcuffs, not battleships.  They're not too hard to obtain." Spinoza placed a hand on Murphy's shoulder and forced him to sit facing the storage area courtyard, legs straddling the railing of the walkway.

Tannehill leaned on the railing near Murphy, careful to keep his distance.  Spinoza kept an eye on Emily and Otto, though they seemed more invested in finding a spot to sleep off their hangovers than finding a way to evade capture.  Both of them slumped against the exterior wall of the storage unit, nodding drowsily.

"The problem with perpetuating systemic corruption," Tannehill opened pensively in the lieutenant's direction, "is that it breeds laziness.  Most of the time any unforeseen issues can be swept under the carpet, but, every once in a while, they require the skills an individual is supposed to be trained for rather than ones he simply claims by fiat."  He was silent for a moment.  "What's sad about you, Murph, is that you've always just been a thug with a badge.  Lord knows I've made my own egregious mistakes, but I didn't dive into the system with reckless abandon and begin to believe my own press.  It's what kept me sane.  Poor, but sane."

Murphy stared at the far end of the courtyard, unresponsive.  Tannehill took that as acquiescence to continue.  "While it's true that I don't have many friends left in this town, it's not a giant leap to assume that I probably would've had some back up with me, paid or otherwise.  If I were facing anyone other than you, I would've had to be more cautious.  But you," he wagged a finger in the direction Murphy was staring, "you came to believe that I was so incompetent, that I'd just rush headlong into your trap.  You were so cynical in your own relationships that you never recognized that friends who've had a falling out could reconcile and even risk their lives for one another when it matters." He stared down at his feet in an unspoken disappointment of his adversary's skills.  "One could say that I took a big gamble with such a simple plan, but I knew I was up against you, so there was no real gamble in such a simple strategy in the first place."

Murphy sneered with a glint of triumph remaining in the corner of his eye.  "When the whole," he paused for effect, "brigade" - he said the word with such flourish that his confidence in his outcome was all but guaranteed - "When your brigade arrives, why do you think anyone will believe you?"

Tannehill let the question echo through the courtyard.  "You mean, why do I have faith in the same corrupt department that will do almost anything to protect its own, even if it means damning ten innocent men for expediency's sake or one extra, paltry dime?"

"What are the chances that they'll believe you, CH - a disgraced laughingstock of a former officer who's actively despised by his former co-workers? And, even if they do, what makes you think they'll ignore their loyalty to the department?  And to me?  Loyalty goes a long way in this town, and it makes a lot of careers."

"That's where you're hemmed in by your own biases, though, Murph.  You can only see things through your own lens.  Not everyone sacrifices their moral compass for unencumbered ambition.  I've watched Novak.  He may be a jackass and he may be insufferable, but he's not corrupt.  He understands and accepts his station as a public servant and all of the sacrifices it entails.  I suspect it's what helps him sleep at night."

Murphy continued to sneer, "if Novak can't be bought, he can certainly be dealt with."

Tannehill sighed, "sadly, you're right.  That's why I had to come up with contingencies."

A glimmer of worry crept into Murphy's sneer.  "What contingencies?" He spat out the syllables of the word as though it were an epithet.

"Well, while I agree that loyalty is highly prized among the civic-minded leaders of our fair city, political cover and deniability is of equal import.  Spinoza's taken dozens of pictures even prior to your arrival at the bakery and made sure to transcribe every word you've said since we've arrived at the storage room.  It's why I waited until morning to move ahead with my little plan.  The flash from his camera would've been too obvious a tip-off that something fishy is going on - even for you." Tannehill cleared his throat for emphasis.  "There's no way the department will back you in this venture once the rest of the press gets a hold of it.  They'll claim that you acted alone and, for once, they won't be lying.  Of course, everyone will miss the subtext that you're a monster of their own creation that shouldn't have been allowed to roam in the first place, but one battle at a time, my friend.  They'll be more than happy to hang you from the highest gallows and then point in the direction of your corpse while they continue to pick the pockets of the city clean with noble largesse."

The two men fell silent, one reminiscing on the poor choices of his past, the other fearful for his future.  They remained quiet until Vera approached from the far end of the courtyard, a large complement of dark blue marching purposefully behind her.

[Author's Note: I went back and forth over the course of the novel determining who was going to murder whom and had several different scenarios.  I wasn't even certain who was going to remain alive at the end of the book.  I considered killing off Vera or Spinoza at one point to adhere closer to the noir spirit of the novel I had originally intended, but the story really didn't support it.  Today's version is 1310 words for a running total of 53091 words for the book.  If I had to guess, there will likely be two more chapters in this first draft.]

Chapter 48 - Honor Among Thieves

 "You, the aspiring Vaudeville actress, go in and turn on the light," Murphy motioned with his head in Vera's direction.  Vera, happy to put her arms down, complied as cheerfully as she could given the circumstances.  Murphy gestured for the other three to stand to the side of the door at a safe distance, so he could peer in at the inventory and keep an eye on his hostages.  

When the door opened, it swung inward into the storage space and to the left.  "Ok," he snapped at Vera, who answered his bark with a scowl, "go stand behind the door." She did as commanded.

"Now what?" her muffled voice retorted.

"Now come back so I can see you again."

"What was the point of that?"

"I just needed to be sure that no one was behind the door to ambush me." Murphy glanced over at Tannehill.  "I'm willing to bet you have more figured out than I'm giving you credit for, even though your clearance rate as a detective was pitiful, CH."  Tannehill creased his mouth and shrugged in an indication of lackadaisical acknowledgment.

"So, what's actually in the room?" Murphy addressed his question to the audience at large, causing everyone to remain quiet for an extended beat.

Vera broke the silence. "Several dozen priceless artifacts, German bonds, and a fairly sizeable chunk of US change."

"How much in cash and bonds?"

"About 2 million dollars, US currency," Emily responded curtly.  Murphy whistled, impressed with the haul.  "But," she continued, "we're willing to share, of course."

"You're willing to share?" A note of amused confusion crept into his voice.

"Certainly."

"And," he smacked his lips, "what makes you think I'm willing to share?" He swung the machine gun to face her directly.

Emily paused in shock at his response.  "Because," she stammered, "because you can't gun down four people and claim it was in self-defense."

Murphy cocked his eyes upward in a dramatic imitation of deep thought.  "You, know, you're right.  I can't gun down four people in self-defense, but," he let this last contraction linger in the air, "A reckless pair like yourself and Otto would certainly gun down two innocent people and then disappear with the most expedient goods, like a bundle of cash worth two million dollars.  When they don't find you, they'll just assume you've dashed away to some exotic local."

"So," Tannehill interjected, "has it always been your intention to gun down all of your associates, or was that just happenstance?"

Murphy jerked back in an exaggerated pantomime of shock, "I have a fairly strong sense of honor, CH.  I didn't plan to kill Snell.  He brought me into," he waved the gun in dramatic fashion toward the storage room, "this! And I was certainly grateful."

"He brought you in for protection?" It came out as a question but Tannehill intended it as a rhetorical one rather than an interrogative one.

"Of course," Murphy's tone matched Tannehill's in his own rhetorical response.  "It's easier to move this much merchandise knowing you've got someone to help handle the logistics.  He was going to give me a fairly substantial cut, even at the expense," he glanced over at Emily and Otto, "of our other partners."

"So why did you shoot him?"

"Because he decided to play me for a fool!"  Murphy's demeanor flashed to irritation immediately, recalling the night's events.

Tannehill was confused. "What do you mean?  What did he do to exacerbate any situation that would lead to his death?"

Murphy whined, irritation peaking.  "When I came to see him about visiting this room, he wouldn't respond to any of my questions in a coherent fashion.  He simply stopped cooperating and didn't have the decency to tell me why.  He simply played the role of an idiot and made me look foolish as a result."

"So you grew angry and shot him?"

"Yes!  He wasn't going to put one over on me in such a juvenile fashion.  He could've simply told me he had a change of heart and we could've negotiated.  Instead, he decided to act like a simpleton and pretend that he no idea what I was talking about."

Tannehill snorted derisively at this comment and glanced toward Otto, who was still trying to grasp the context around the confession.  He regained his composure and continued.  "Bellucci?"

"Well, Bellucci," Murphy grew pensive, "Bellucci just got a little too nervous.  He did the honorable thing and took the fall for Snell.  I promised him that I could arrange a lighter sentence for Snell's death - something along the lines of an accidental discharge of a firearm - and a larger cut of the goods for taking the fall, but he just got anxious.  He started worrying that others would ask too many questions and piece everything together and that we'd both end up at the end of a hangman's noose.  This after being an informant for the Capital City police department since prohibition.  When have we ever been unable to adjust a crime to fit the civic good?"

"Not too often," Tannehill mumbled in reply.

"And yet," Murphy continued without breaking stride, "he still wondered aloud - aloud and in direct conversation with me - if it were better to come clean and take whatever retribution was due.  So," he shrugged awkwardly, machine gun still in hand, in a what-can-you-do-but-strangle-someone-in-their-cell-and-blame-it-on-suicide type of gesture.

"That's the second time you've mentioned 'honor' and, in both cases, your confederates came away dead.  Seems like there's not a whole lot of pay-off in an honorable agreement with you."

"Frankly, CH, I'm a bit insulted at such a slight, but I can't argue that you have point." He stepped back leveling the gun.  Tannehill, who was in front of the others, including Vera, who'd exited the room to gather with the other hostages, stepped back a foot and motioned for those behind him to follow suit.

"A foot here or there isn't going to make a bit of difference, Tannehill.  Hell, even your noble efforts to shield the others won't do much either.  But, at least, we can both agree that, for once in your life, even if it's at the very end of it, you're doing something honorable."

"Oh, I agree nothing I'm doing will make much difference to your tommy gun," Tannehill continued backing his hapless group away from their would-be assassin inch by inch, "but it will give the sniper a much cleaner shot."

[Author's Note: Well, well, it looks like we may not be too far from wrapping this case up, in one blood-soaked fashion or another.  Today's chapter is 1074 words.  The novel continues to chug along at 51781 words.]

Chapter 47 - Say Hello To My Little Friend

 "I'm still unclear why we needed to wait until morning to show up at Loving's." Vera's voice was hoarse with three martinis and a shot of whisky.  The unaccommodating bumps in the road made her misery that much more acute.

"I'll explain it all in a bit."  Tannehill, aware that his plan could easily fall apart if he'd consumed too many martinis over the course of the night, prudently stopped at one.  Otto, who was driving, and Emily, seated next to him in the passenger's seat, hadn't and seemed to feel the bumps as viscerally as Vera.

"I also don't understand why Spinoza left this morning."

"I'll explain..."

"...it all in a bit.  Yeah, I've memorized that line already," Vera hiccupped.

Before leaving Emily's apartment, Tannehill had phoned ahead to the precinct, telling Lieutenant Murphy to bring a squad to the bakery to inventory and secure the stolen goods and arrest Snell's and Bellucci's murderers.

At 9 AM, the disheveled and groggy group arrived improbably, but exactly, on time, coming to rest in one of the many shallow potholes filled with the previous day's rainwater that dotted the building's crushed gravel driveway.

20 yards ahead, just in front of the entrance was a single, dark, unmarked government vehicle.  Lieutenant Murphy's head peering over the roof from behind the car at the approaching party in keen interest.

Tannehill watched carefully as Emily, Otto, and Vera exited in succession from their own vehicle and then followed slowly.  He'd drawn his revolver - which had been holstered for most of the trip over - before closing the door.  Upon seeing the lieutenant, he prominently indicated that he was securing his own weapon in his shoulder holster and posed no threat.  

"Mornin' Murph."

"Mornin' CH."

Tannehill glanced around in dramatic fashion at the lack of a police presence.  "Your back up's a little light.   Been paying too much overtime to the crew lately?"

Murphy chuckled mirthlessly and reached through the driver's side window before moving over to the hood of the car.  He leveled a Thompson submachine gun at the four hapless pedestrians.  "I think I can handle this on my own.  "If you don't mind, CH, stop where you're at and raise your hands and keep them where I can see them.  You've gone far enough."

Though the response was directed at CH, everyone stopped suddenly and did as commanded.  That is, with the exception of Emily, who doubled over briefly and, with a deftness and violence that surprised her, vomited. The act was due less to the shock of what was unfolding in front of them than from the gin heavy martinis she'd been guzzling since the previous afternoon and the sudden change in equilibrium from exiting the moving vehicle.  She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.  "Excuse me," she belched quietly before staring back at the weapon pointed at her and raising her arms belatedly.

"I agree, Murph," Tannehill continued, ignoring Emily's act of social transgression, "don't want to go too far."

Vera looked down at the splattered expectorant on the crushed gravel and then back at the tall man pointing a machine gun at them, "if this is a performance art piece, I don't get it."

"You don't look too surprised at this turn of events that we're facing on this fine morning, CH."

Tannehill shrugged, "I suppose it's not out of the question that someone on the force decides to participate in extracurricular activities.  In my experience, it's better to follow orders and keep your head down in hopes of getting out alive.  But, no, I didn't expect you'd be pointing a machine gun at me."

Due to the distance between the two men, they had to shout in order to make themselves heard, but there was no danger of anyone hearing their conversation.  The area was equally as deserted at the start of the workday as it had been on the previous visits.  Only the rats were aware of the ignominious acts now occurring.

Murphy clucked his tongue and yelled back, "that's good advice to follow, CH." 

"Yup," Tannehill drawled.

"Then I suggest we don't waste time and get started.  You'll have to excuse me.  While I'm aware of what we're looking for, I'm not quite sure where it is, so you'll have to lead the way."

"We're headed to the storage rooms behind the building."

"Fine by me," Murphy motioned with the weapon for everyone to walk in front of him.  "Though I don't believe that it bears a reminder, I'll say it anyway - no sudden moves, or I fear that the last meal Miss Brunner ejected will have been her - and your - last."

Vera briefly considered pointing out that the group of them hadn't previously dined on Emily's vomit collectively, but thought better of it, given the serious expression on everyone's faces.

"Who is this man and how does he know Miss Brunner's name?" Otto whispered over the crunching gravel beneath their feet.

"He's your silent partner." Tannehill made no effort to lower his volume in response.

Murphy chuckled when he overheard Tannehill's quip, aware of what the German had likely asked and why he was also confused by the situation.  He decided to play along.

"You see, Otto...  It's Otto, right?" 

Otto stopped and turned, answering slowly in a steady state of confusion, "Yes." 

Murphy motioned with the Thompson to keep moving.  Otto complied.  "You see Otto, when you move the amount of, umm, merchandise," Murphy grinned widely though none of them could see it with their backs facing him, "that you have through our fair city here without notifying the proper authorities of its value, we tend to get a little agitated."

Murphy's sarcasm was lost on Otto.  "Why would I notify the police about stolen goods from Germany?"

Murphy continued without breaking character.  "The police department in Capital City functions a little differently than what you'd expect." He stopped and stood thoughtfully before resuming.  "Then again, where you're from, it shouldn't be all that unexpected," and guffawed at his own joke.

When they reached the storage lockers, Tannehill asked Vera which of the lockers was the one they were seeking.  She paused briefly, debating whether or not she should indicate the literal rats' nest as a decoy in hopes of finding a seam for bursting their current execrable situation open.  Tannehill caught the deliberation behind her pause and shook his head slowly and subtly to dissuade her from any heroics.  She stuck her arm out hesitantly and pointed toward the locked treasure trove she and Spinoza had uncovered days before.  The group shuffled across the rain-soaked courtyard, climbed the stairs to the entrance, and stopped.

"I'm going to reach slowly into my pants pocket and pull out the key, Murph.  I don't intend any funny business, but I can let you perform the honors if you'd prefer."

"It seems to me, CH, it'd be funnier business if I reached my own hand into your pants pocket rather than let you handle it." Feeling relaxed at reaching his goal, Murphy chortled again at his own unintended double entendre.  "Just make sure everything moves nice and slow."

Tannehill did as instructed and pulled the key from his pocket.  He inserted it and slowly turned the knob to open the door.

As the door began to swing open, Murphy continued, "See, the problem is CH, that you've been friendless for so long that, when given the opportunity to choose new friends, you chose poorly."  He paused for effect.  "With different choices, you could've been a very rich man."

Tannehill muttered lugubriously over the creaking door, "don't I know it."

[Author's Note: Today's post brings us across the finish line for the original goal. So, I'll pause for a few musings.  I never actually thought that I'd get very far, given my previous history of maintaining a blog for any consistent amount of time.  Although, to be honest with blogs, it's always a matter of wavering between a consistent topic and simply writing about what I fancy.  The former has a higher probability of making me money, whereas the latter is my desired state, so I tend to waffle and then neglect my writing.  But not in this case!  Currently, in standard font, this novel would come in at about 200 pages - short by novel standards, but certainly the longest-running piece - personal, academic, professional - that I've ever written.  And, I'm still not finished!  Not only am I amazed that I've hit my goal, I'm amazed that I did it in nearly the time allotted (1 year).  Technically, it's about 50% over estimate at 1 year and 5 months, but that's no different (and far better) than any major software project estimate.  I had no expectations to go back and edit the work in its entirety, but as I come closer to wrapping up, it seems like turning this into a polished work begins to make more sense, now that I've seen the characters take on their arcs.  But, first I've got to finish the rest of it.  Today's edition is 1274 words.  The running total is...50,707 words!]

Chapter 46 - The End

 All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play make Jack

[Author's Note: Kidding!  Though this gets me to 50000 words.  There are at least another 3 chapters to go (one of which I just finished the first draft of and will publish after my usual editing pass).]

Chapter 45 - We Didn't Have Enough Room for A Wrestling Ring

 "Are you OK, Vera?"  Tannehill could see his friend standing a few feet behind Emily Brunner, Vera's hands casually draped at her sides.  Behind her, Otto was stooped, dusting his suit off over what looked like a pile of broken furniture.  Though the composition of the picture in front of him was perfectly framed - each subject occupied a vertical third of his vision - the subject matter of what he was seeing bordered on the surreal or the chaotic.

"Well, did you bring any dry vermouth?"

"No." He was hesitant, as though the question was a previously agreed code phrase to indicate that real danger was still present but had not yet made itself known.

"Then I've been better." She shoved Emily abruptly, causing the latter woman to lose her balance and stumble to her right.  Vera took advantage of the opening to move past her and stop in front of Tannehill.  "Hi," she exhaled in a friendly, familiar grin.

He pointed the revolver toward the ground, still eminently confused.  Was she expecting a hug?  A grand, sweeping gesture?  "Hi."

She stuck her hand out toward him and flicked it swiftly to the right twice. After a brief pause, recognition filled his eyes and he moved aside, ready to act as a human shield on her behalf from her two attackers.  She exited the door and looked right, exclaiming "Hiya Phil!" to the figure obscured by the exterior wall of the apartment.  With the exception of Vera, all of the other players in the afternoon's drama remained motionless. The two outside the apartment were frozen in confusion.  The two inside, with a mild exception to be made in Otto's case - who continued to bat at the dust on his suit, were frozen in exasperation.

She moved to the next unit down the hall and knocked discreetly on the door.  After a brief exchange with a figure in the doorway, she returned to Emily's unit and squeezed politely past Tannehill again to move into the kitchen.  She was holding a bottle of dry vermouth.

"Who wants a martini?" She held up the bottle in triumph.  Otto looked up at her from his suit and raised a finger in eager acknowledgment.   Emily smirked in resigned disgust but signaled with her own weary digit.

"Are you drunk?" Tannehill stepped through the doorway into the apartment.  Spinoza followed, holstering his pistol in the process after determining there was no longer any immediate threat. 

"Not yet," Vera reached for the gin on the counter and began pulling cabinets open to find martini glasses.  Once she located them, she set them down neatly at equal spacing on the cramped kitchen counter.

Spinoza looked around at the wreckage of the room and quipped in Tannehill's direction, "you still concerned that she can't take care of herself?"  Tannehill looked askance back at his friend with equal parts confusion, amazement, and annoyance.  "What happened here?" Spinoza continued.

"We were trying to clear room for the bandstand, but things got out of hand," Vera had commandeered an ice pick and was chipping shards into a silver cocktail shaker.  Otto and Emily did nothing to confirm or deny her account.  They simply looked in Vera's direction in anticipation of a drink they each felt they deserved.

Following Spinoza's lead, Tannehill secured his own weapon in a shoulder holster, cocked his fedora back and wiped the remaining sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.  For a brief moment, only the sound of the shaker in Vera's hands was audible.  "You made a poor choice in abducting my friend.  Whatever bargaining power you have is now gone, and I'd just as soon as see you arrested for kidnapping as for murder, grand theft, and whatever charges accompany moving stolen goods across international boundaries."

"We didn't kidnap her.  It was simply a mix-up among well-meaning individuals.  She's obviously fine.  She's making martinis!" Emily sniffed indignantly as if to prove her case.

Vera briefly stopped shaking and glared at her.  "You're getting the martini with the bruised gin."  She resumed.

"Just because you botched the effort, doesn't mean it wasn't a kidnapping," Tannehill continued.  "The crime is in the intent not in the effectiveness.  Otherwise, the two of you wouldn't have to be concerned about serving a day of jail time."

"We'll share the proceeds of the Jewish items in the storage locker if you're willing to forget this little," Emily gestured around the room, the folds of her skirt following behind assertively, "incident."

Tannehill was silent again - as his plan was quickly becoming extraneous - and he had to adjust to absorb the information he was receiving.  Much of the plan had involved bargaining with Emily and Otto to keep Vera safe and convincing them that he and Spinoza could be bought with a cut of the proceeds from their allegedly stolen treasure.  Once they admitted they'd stolen the items, it was a matter - not necessarily foolproof - for them to admit that they'd murdered their two other accomplices.  With Emily admitting that she knew of the stolen items and attempting to bribe him them, and with the two of them caught in the act of kidnapping Vera, he decided to go for broke on the final crime.  "Why did you kill Snell and Bellucci?"

Otto's face reddened instantly to the same degree Emily's went pale.  He was about to unleash his pent up indignation in the form of a vehement denial before Vera interrupted - "They're not murderers." She strained her cloudy, chilled concoction of booze into each of the glasses.

Tannehill whipped around to face her, "how are you so sure?"  He didn't mean to sound accusatory, but the shock of her statement and his still heightened stress levels removed any sense of decorum from his thought.

Vera was unflappable as she moved between the three glasses, pouring equal measures into each.  Finally, she took a large chip of ice and plunked it into the middle glass, spilling a quarter of its contents onto the counter.  "That's yours." She glanced at Emily.  Then she turned toward Tannehill.  "Look at how this delightful," she paused, "afternoon has turned out.  I'm an ostensible kidnap victim making martinis for my abductors.  The only weapon I've seen them use is a novelty lighter.  Its greatest danger is that its flame may burn a little too impure.  As you just mentioned, these two seem to be incapable of carrying out anything more than a botched stick-up of a child's lemonade stand."

Both Otto and Emily nodded eagerly, attempting to confirm that yes, in fact, they were too incompetent to carry out such a nefarious plot.

"Besides," Otto chimed in helpfully, "it would have been impossible to have murdered Bellucci when he was in police custody.  He was their friend.  A - what is it - an irritant."

"Informant," Emily muttered out of the side of her mouth.

"Informant," Otto continued.  

Tannehill drew back, startled.  "Bellucci was an informant?"

"Yes.  Snell believed those connections with the police would prove useful during our little...adventure."  Otto capped his statement with a wry smile, proud of imparting new information that Tannehill hadn't been aware of previously.

Tannehill scratched his chin in thought and motioned Spinoza over toward the door.  The two of them whispered excitedly before realizing they could continue the conversation in the hallway without endangering Vera's safety or their plan to entrap their Nazi suspects.  As they moved toward the hallway, Vera pushed the martinis across the breakfast bar to her once-and-would-be captors, "Cheers!" She hoisted her glass, as they did the same.

A handful of minutes later, Tannehill re-entered the apartment without Spinoza.

"Where's Phil?" Vera took another swig of her martini.

"On an errand.  He'll be back in an hour or two."

"In an hour or two?  How long are we planning on staying here?"

"All night.  We'll be heading to Loving's tomorrow at 9 AM.  For now though, we'll need to sit tight and make sure no one's," he glanced over at Emily and Otto, "up to any funny business.  Spinoza will come back to help make sure no one gets any ideas about leaving before then.  So we can all settle in for one long, slumber party."

Vera accepted the abrupt and unannounced plan with good cheer.  She had suddenly moved from captive to captor.  "Well then.  Martini?"

Tannehill nodded in acceptance.

[Author's Note: Hopefully the characters won't be too drunk for the denouement.  Today's edition is 1394 words.  The running total is 49433 (so close!).]

Chapter 44 - The Roller Coaster That Is Capital City

 30 minutes earlier...

"Can you drive a little faster?"  The constant drizzle so prevalent in Capital City had turned into a mid-afternoon downpour, thickening Spinoza's windshield with rain as his car plowed through flooded streets, parting water from the macadam and depositing on the sidewalks.

Spinoza squinted through the windshield as the rain beat angrily on the car's roof and thought he heard thunder (Thunder! - a sound not common in precipitation events west of the Rockies) in the distance.  "If you don't like my driving, you can always take the bus."

"Can you at least drive like there's some urgency attached to our task?"

"Why are you anxious all of a sudden?  Fifteen minutes ago, you seemed unflappable in your confidence."

"Maybe it's the sense of motion, however retarded that may be.  Or the realization that an innocent bystander's been kidnapped by murderers."

"If it's the sense of motion, going faster will only heighten your sense of anxiety, so I'm doing you a favor by slowing down."

"I'm worried about Vera."

"Me too, but getting us killed won't improve her situation any.  Besides, she's resourceful enough as long as neither one of her kidnappers turns into a giant rat."

"Otto can be unpredictable."

"Yes, but, like you pointed out, not very bright.  Without having met him or Emily Brunner, I'd still place my bets on Vera in a battle of wits."

"She can be a bit acerbic, and I'm worried how they'll react if she goes too far."

"Look at the facts.  If she comes to any harm, they lose any bargaining chip they have, and they've exposed themselves as murderers and will have no treasure to show for it.  Stupid or not; impulsive or not; I'm sure that scenario's occurred to them."

"True."  The torrent stopped as suddenly as it started.  Or, rather, it reverted from being a cumbersome downpour to its usual steady trickle that caused the men of the city to fret about their suits puckering and the women to complain about the uselessness of spending any hard-earned money at a hair salon.  

With the change in road conditions, Spinoza's automobile climbed the city's hills at an accelerating rate and then descended cautiously while its operator pumped the brakes.  At the nadir of each urban cliff, both men began to feel nausea overtake them due to the constant stop and start motion.

"Why don't you just coast down the hill like a normal driver?" Tannehill burped in discomfort.

"The shocks on this car aren't exactly in the best shape.  One errant bump at high speed, and you and I will be sliding along the ground, steering wheel in hand, while the rest of the chassis rumbles behind us." 

As the car approached downtown, the terrain flattened a bit, and their nausea eased, the two men began to refine their plan to rescue Vera, force a confession of murder from the would-be international entrepreneurs and find a way to repatriate the stolen items.  Given that they had approximately five minutes before they sped through the central business district and reached Emily Brunner's waterfront apartment, much of that plan involved storming the lobby of the building, menacing any uncooperative doorman, and rushing up the elevator in order to negotiate with Otto and Emily at the point of a gun.

"What it lacks in Shakespearean complexity it makes up for in expediency," Spinoza noted.

"Do you have a firearm?" Tannehill asked, unphased by Spinoza's retort.

"In the glove compartment." Tannehill was more than a little surprised that not only was the answer "Yes," but also "and it's within easy reach of where you're sitting now."  Spinoza sensed this surprise and continued, "It's Capital City.  And I'm a crime reporter.  Who works mostly at night."  He emphasized the end of each sentence to accentuate the obviousness of his statement.  Satisfied with that logic, Tannehill pulled the pistol from its resting place and briefly inspected it before replacing it.

"Why are you concerned if I have a firearm?  We stopped by your office to pick up your own service revolver."

"It's Capital City.  We're chasing murderers.  You can't be too careful," Tannehill mirrored in Spinoza's previous tone.

Fortune - or the still dwindling number of serviceable cars, even on the plush streets of downtown, that could be attributed to the depression's slowly weakening grip - allowed them to park across from the building.  Spinoza reached across Tannehill to open the glove compartment and grab his pistol, performing his own cursory inspection before exiting the vehicle. They dodged a couple of hasty drivers on the waterfront highway who showed their support for the men's mission by saluting them with high-pitched wails from their horns and muffled insults from behind their windows as they sped precariously by.

Once inside the lobby, they encountered the same obstinate doorman who'd hindered Tannehill during his first visit to the building in the week prior.

Tannehill darted past him and the doorman's voice followed him with a resounding "HEY!".  Tannehill slid to a stop in front of the elevator bank and turned to face the doorman and Spinoza, who'd lagged a few steps behind.  "Keep him here," he said, addressing Spinoza.  "I don't want him to call up to Brunner's apartment and tip them off."  Spinoza turned to the doorman, who was now facing him in a mixture of confusion and indignation, and shrugged.

Tannehill hastened into the elevator bank and mashed the up arrow repeatedly.  After an excrutiating 15 seconds, the ding of the elevator alighting in the lobby became audible.  He rushed into the car and promptly forgot what floor Emily Brunner's apartment was located on.  He then sprinted to the mailroom across the way, swearing briefly in resignation as the door closed and the elevator began to climb ever higher.  Scanning the mailroom, he found her - Brunner, 802 - and ran back to the elevator bank, pressing the up arrow with even more impatience than his first attempt.  As he climbed in, he could hear the soft murmur of voices from the lobby and a chuckle as the doors closed around him.

Once, he reached the eighth floor, he stepped in the hallway and stopped, breathless.  He gulped down the stale air of the floor's entrance foyer and wiped the sweat from his brow in an effort to compose himself before confronting Vera's assailants.  A loud ding boomed behind him and he turned, watching Spinoza step breezily into the foyer behind him.

"I thought I told you to watch the doorman!," Tannehill barked.

"He's not going to do anything," Spinoza answered in a measured tone.

"How are you so sure?"

"I informed him that I'm a member of the press, and, if he helps us out on our little errand, I can get a prominent spot in any resulting story."

"And if he decides that's too thin of a promise to keep him from changing his mind before we reach the door?"

Spinoza rubbed his nose.  "I thought of that."

"And?"

"I informed him that I'm a member of the press and, if he doesn't help, I can find enough dirt on him to bury him in any resulting story."

Tannehill smiled and drew in one more deep breath before heading toward Emily Brunner's apartment and exhaling.  He motioned for Spinoza to stay a few steps behind and out of sight as he drew his revolver.  They reached the front door of apartment 802, and Tannehill knocked nonchalantly, but with purpose, leveling the revolver at waist height.

From his vantage point a few steps down the hallway, Spinoza watched the door open and heard a familiar voice from the interior of the unit, "Oh, thank God!  Tannehill.  Did you bring any dry vermouth?"

[Author's Note: Well, unless I get extremely ambitious in the next four days, I'm not likely to finish the novel by the end of November - which was a long shot anyway.  But there's a good chance the first draft will be done in conjunction with the long, strange year that 2020 has been. This chapter is 1285 words.  The grand total is 48039 words.]

Chapter 43 - Thanks, But It Just Isn't the Same Without an Olive

 "I'd like a martini," Vera studied her nails and repeated her request before adding "please" along with a toothy but insincere grin.

"We're out of dry vermouth," Otto countered, no hint of irony in his voice, as though he were taking the order seriously.  

The abduction had not gone the way Emily planned.  She had flashed a small, silver firearm in Vera's direction while instructing Otto to leave a note for Tannehill and escorted her captive out of the diner.  She expected that Vera hadn't made a peep while leaving, because she was too frightened by the shock of the events.  She assumed that Vera's facade would crack, once the three of them were barrelling down the city streets toward downtown - a mix of screams, hysterics, tears, and pleading in a snot covered blur of a face begging for her life.

Instead, Vera rested her hands in her lap and her head against the back window and hummed.  She took advantage of staring down from the summit every time they climbed one of the city's famous hills.  She remained in this state of serene meditation the entire ride.  The. Entire. Ride.  Now, back at Emily's flat, she sat calmly in one of the high-backed, armless dining chairs at the head of the table, her white smile matching the impeccable leather of the chair and somehow accentuating the hideous lime green uniform she wore, asking for a martini.

"A manhattan, then."

"Actually," Otto pursed his lips thoughtfully, "we're out of vermouth, full stop."

"Bourbon, neat, please, with just a couple of drops of water."

Otto rounded the breakfast bar, pulled a bottle of bourbon from the counter, and began opening cabinet drawers searching for a tumbler.  "Glass?"

"Drawer to the right of the sink," Emily responded.

Otto finished the order and returned to the dining area.  He motioned for Vera to slide away from the table and she obliged, re-orienting herself in the chair after backing up.  Otto placed the drink on the table, out of her reach.  He sat on the edge of the dining room table and faced Vera.  Emily, disappointed in the cavalier use of her furniture - much of what she had was rented, while she still waited to settle in, but her dining set was brand new - bit her lip and grimaced. "Now, tell me what the notebook says, and you can have your drink," Otto continued.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" he hissed.

"Have you seen the notebook?  The notes in it are incomprehensible."

"Yes, but" he began to blubber, "but it's your notebook!"

"What gives you that assumption?  That it was in my possession?  That I'm a woman and must be a secretary?"

"Yes," he exhaled, as if the answer to all three of those questions were self-evident.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to give me the notebook for safe-keeping?  Isn't it more likely that you'd go after Tannehill to get the information you needed?"

"No. Well, yes, but, you have the notebook."

"Otto," Emily interjected, worried that Otto may start an argument with himself.  His face, wide-eyed in confusion, turned toward her.  "Even if she doesn't know what's in the notebook, it's highly likely that she has at least some of the information we seek."

This seemed to inspire a swift change of demeanor in Otto, who swiftly walked over to Vera.  Red-faced with eyes blazing flecks of gold he grabbed her by her hair, yanking her head back over the chair.  She winced with pain.  "WHERE ARE OUR ITEMS?"  He waited briefly for a response before throwing her head unceremoniously against her chest.  He began to turn back toward his previous position at the table to further cement his menace and wait for Vera to come to her senses.

Before doing so, Vera grabbed him by the wrist gently and stood up to face him.  Eyes brimming lightly with tears from such a violent jolt to her sinuses, she smiled thin-lipped and meekly at him.  He smiled back.  Then she slugged him in the solar plexus.

He doubled over, emitting a combination cough and noiseless howl before staggering over to the table and pressing all of his weight on another chair, causing one of its legs to snap.

Emily, more enraged by the demolition of her dining room set than by the assault on her partner, moved across the room and slapped Vera.  Vera, undeterred, kicked Emily in the shin.  This caused Emily to tumble backward and trip over Otto.  Otto, Emily, and the newly wounded chair collapsed to the floor in concert.

There was a slight shifting of forms audible through the wall and a quick muffled exchange of concerned voices.  A few seconds later there was a click of an exterior door and then a polite knock on Emily's own.  While Otto, Emily, and the chair were still tangled together, Vera took the opportunity to answer the door.  She opened it wide to a diminutive man with thinning brown hair dressed in an oversized cerulian cardigan.  

"Excuse me, Miss...," he paused in surprise, "oh, you're not Miss Brunner."

"No," Vera paused as though realizing she was not, in fact, Miss Brunner, "I'm a guest of hers."

"Oh, sorry!" the diminutive man exclaimed, "I'm Mr. Sugarbaker from next door," he paused to gather himself.  "My wife and I heard a commotion.  Is everything alright?"

"Yes, certainly.  We were just a little excited at the realization that we're unable to make martinis for our soiree."

From behind, Emily began to stand apart from what appeared to have been the world's most uncoordinated spider.  "That's correct," she smoothed her skirt as Otto groaned below her, "we have no dry vermouth."

"Oh," another brief pause, "oh," Sugarbaker glanced toward his unit and hitchhiked a thumb in its direction, "it's no problem.  I can..." he stammered.

Vera waved him off.  "No need." She walked over to the table and swallowed two fingers of bourbon in a single gulp.  She coughed, pounded her chest, and continued hoarsely, "we were able to improvise."

"Yes, improvise," Emily affirmed.  "Mr. Sugarbaker, please close the door on your way out, if you don't mind."

"Certainly," and he did, as the two women watched the door seal the view of the exterior hallway.

When Vera turned to face her would-be abductors, she noticed that Otto had closed the distance between the two of them and had Emily's small, silver revolver pointed in her direction.  "What are you going to do with that?" She puffed out her cheeks and blew exasperatedly.  

"If you don't sit down and behave, I intend to kill you."

"No," she glanced at the barrel of the gun and back at Otto, "you don't."

"Yes," he stopped to match her previous pause, "I do."

"No," she kept the cadence up, "you don't."

"And how do you know this to be true?"

"Well, for starters, that pistol barrel isn't bored, so it would be exceedingly difficult to fire a projectile at me.  And, to cap it off, I saw that pistol lying on the end table of the sofa earlier once Emily dropped it there, after our road trip.  It's a cigarette lighter.  So, unless you intend to set me on fire, I don't believe you intend to kill me."

With that explanation, Otto let the gun swing around his finger by the trigger guard and replaced it on the end table in a demonstrable 'what can you do?' manner.

Another knock sounded at the door, sterner than the first.

Emily elbowed Vera out of the way in her haste to open it before Vera decided to play hostess again.  "Mr. Sugarbaker, I told you, we don't need any..." the door swung wide and Tannehill was plainly visible holding a revolver leveled at Emily Brunner.  A real one.

[Author's Note: I've been thinking about this chapter since at least the middle of the book.  What happens to Vera when she's kidnapped?  Does she wilt?  Does she face a couple of psychopaths and barely make it out alive.  Then I remembered that in addition to film noir, another popular genre of the 30s was the screwball comedy, and I was able to pick a scene that matched the current tone of the book.  I didn't want to waste her character development as a damsel in distress, but I needed her to get kidnapped to move the "plot" along.  Today's edition is 1303 words.  The novel's total is 46754 words.]