Read Online Getting Away With Murder by Howard Engel - Free Book Online

show-off, he became the opposite. After a while, I couldn’t get him to tell me anything.”
    “Was that because he was getting into drugs?”
    “Maybe, but I don’t think so. By then I was going out with him. No, he stopped talking to me all at once. I mean he still talked. He could talk my head off. But he didn’t talk about the jobs he was doing any more. You know he was breaking into houses in those days?”
    “You knew his friend Dave Rogers?”
    “Oh, sure, Dave. His name wasn’t Rogers in those days. Yeah, he and Abe went everywhere together. Then Abe started seeing me and Dave got a girl of his own … You know how it is.”
    “What did you like about him?”
    “Oh, I always went for the tough guys. Gangster types. I liked living the danger at second hand. I still get a kick out of it. I still know a few of the bad boys from Miami. They call me when they’re in town. I guess they liked the way I could keep buttoned up. I never told tales. That’s why it makes me nervous talking about this stuff with you.”
    “Can you think of anyone who would want to kill Abe Wise, Paulette?”
    “Ever since you called, I can’t think of anything else. You know, there are a lot of bad characters who pick up the hates wherever they go. Abe was never like that. What I liked about Abe was that he loved a good time. He didn’t pretend that I talked him into it the way some of the boys do. He loved being seen with me and showing me off. He got a bigger kick out of it than I did, to tell you the truth. I liked his jokes and the tough guys he always surrounded himself with. Have you ever heard of Frankie Carbo? He used to fix fights in New York and all over …”
    She was moving away from the area of my interest again. I knew that Frankie Carbo wasn’t a current crime figure, although I couldn’t remember where or how he’d met his fate.
    “What about somebody wanting to kill him, Paulette? I’m not talking about the old days, but about right now.”
    “Benny, I don’t see him any more. Not for the last ten years. If it wasn’t for the phone … But people don’t change. I’m sure he still rubs people the wrong way. He has a vile temper. But he tries to keep his business as fair and square as a crooked businessman can. He never went out of his way to buy trouble. Even when he drank, he was a happy drunk, big tipper. Still …”
    “Still?” I coached, hoping for a breakthrough.
    “Still, Abe was what he was. He did what he had to do. And he did it fast, and as tidy as he could. Like the pro he was. None of the Mafia-style dramatics. That wasn’t his way.”
    I heard a noise in the hall followed by the sound of the door being slammed. Before we could both readjust, a redheaded young man with a wedge-shaped face strode into the room. His face was bright with anger.
    “Hart! I wasn’t expecting—”
    “Shut up, Mother! Just what do you think is going on? What are you doing to me? Can’t you leave me alone for ten minutes?”
    “Darling, what are you talking about?”
    “Him, for a start.”
    “Darling, I told you on the phone about Mr. Cooperman. Mr. Cooperman, this is—”
    “The last thing I need is a private eye prying into my life! Get rid of him!” I returned my outstretched hand to my glass.
    “Hart, he’s here as my guest.”
    “ Get rid of him! I want him out of this house!”
    “Darling, be reasonable!” I got to my feet. The last thing I needed was a fight with this madman.
    “Maybe some other time,” I said to Paulette. When I turned, Hart was standing blocking my way. “Excuse me,” I said and repeated it in the same reasonable tone. Hart remained fixed like a post. Paulette’s face had gone quite white as she felt the conflicting roles of hostess and mother. Hart still hadn’t moved when I looked back at him, so I sat down again, which seemed to confuse him.
    “I want you out of here!” he said, not quite facing me. “You have no business mixing in our lives!”
    “Maybe