Chapter 16
The Palace: Reprise
When I got to the office the next morning, Betty had already arrived and there was freshly brewed coffee on the hot plate. It smelled good. I poured myself a cup and sat down in the cushy chair behind my desk. I opened the Stanton file, trying to figure out if I missed anything else.
After a while, the outer office door swung open and in flew Lieutenant Sanders. He passed Betty without so much as a hello and stormed into my office.
“Joseph made bail! I don't know how he even got before a judge. I have a couple of boys on him for now. I also sent Simon to take care of Mrs. Stanton until she can get on the train later today.”
“Who signed the paperwork?” I asked.
Lieutenant Sanders just looked at me.
“I'll call the courthouse.”
He started to pick up the phone, when Betty yelled from her desk, she was already on it.
“Jeez,” said Lieutenant Sanders, “I don't get this kind of response at work.”
After a few moments, Betty came in with her notepad.
“It's because I don't work there anymore. The processing officer was Sergeant Simon Church,” she said.
“Simple Simon,” shouted Lieutenant Sanders.
“Not Stupid Sammy,” I said, “Simple Simon. How long has Simon been with the SFPD?”
“About a month, I guess. He was with the New York Police Department. He's been fully vetted,” replied Lieutenant Sanders.
“Betty, get Hart on the line for me,” I said.
She hurried to her desk and made a call.
“What if Parrish was Martin's inside man?” I asked.
“Got him,” yelled Betty.
“Ask him Parrish's full name,” I said.
“You think Parrish and Church are the same man?” Lieutenant Sanders asked.
“Parrish falsified reports for Martin Stanton at National. I'm sure he was quite capable of forging documents about being a cop, and he probably has enough buddies to back him up.”
“It's Simon,” called Betty.
“We have to get to The Palace and now!” I said.
“Look, Watcher, what else do you have other than a reference of a first name?” he asked.
“Who okayed the paperwork for Joseph to see a judge? And where was Simon when Mickey got shot? How was it he showed up at my place after the shoot-out; it wasn't his shift?”
The Lieutenant called the precinct and spoke with the desk sergeant. He asked about the order and then “uh-huh” a lot before hanging up the phone.
“When Simon signed the order, he told the desk sergeant I wanted Joseph out on the street to be tailed. When I ordered the tail this morning after Joseph had been released, the desk sergeant didn't give it another thought. We'll take my car,” he said. “Make sure you have refills for that hog-leg of yours.”
I patted my pocket, got up, and we left.
Out on the street, we paused. Lieutenant Sanders had an odd look on his face. He pointed at the police call box.
“I've got a hunch. I need to call in again and check something.”
We walked over to the police call box. He unlocked the box, picked up the phone, and reported to the station.
“I need the status of Sergeant Church,” he said.
After a moment he turned to me.
“He checked out for the day,” the Lieutenant said. “Supposedly he's on an undercover case at The Palace and we should stay away so as not to break his cover.”
“Well, his cover is blown,” said the Lieutenant into the phone. “He is about to become a kidnapper, and I don't know what else. Where's Joseph?”
Lieutenant Sanders held up the phone so I could hear.
“We pulled his tail, per Sergeant Church’s orders,” said the voice on the phone.
“Jeez, send patrol cars to The Palace and cordon off the streets, Sergeant Church is about to attempt a kidnapping. He is not, repeat, not to be allowed to leave the area. If possible, take him into custody.”
Lieutenant Sanders hung up the phone with a little more force than he should have and slammed the door to the call box. He shouted more expletives in less time than I have ever heard anyone do. We moved quickly to his car, momentarily looked back at the call box. I memorized its number. I'll put in a service check on it later.
Then we climbed into the car, Lieutenant Sanders started the engine and pulled into traffic with lights and siren.
“It would be nice if you could have made that call on a two-way radio,” I said.
“Yeah, fat chance in hell of that ever happening,” replied the Lieutenant.
While lights and siren are nice, drivers still don't know what to do when you are coming upon them. The good news was the Police were already setting up barricades when we arrived at The Palace. The bad news was we had no idea where Simon was or what his plan was.
We pulled up alongside one of the police cruisers and got out. Lieutenant Sanders spoke with the police officer in charge.
“We suspect that there are two men, Mrs. Stanton's ex-chauffeur, and Sergeant Church. Their plan is to kidnap Mrs. Stanton, but for the life of me, I don't know why,” he said to the officer.
“It's because they don't know where the accumulated money is,” I said.
“And Mrs. Stanton does?” said Lieutenant Sanders.
“No, she has no idea,” I replied, “These two, along with William Mason, have been chasing this since Martin Stanton left Miami.”
“Then there's three of them?” asked the officer in charge.
“No,” I said. “Mason's dead. He's must be one of the bodies in the morgue; I don't know which one. Run their photos past National, I'm pretty sure one of them is a match. Remember, except for Mickey, no one has ever seen Mason, not even Hart.”
“What?” interjected Lieutenant Sanders. “I thought he was the brains… Was he hired help or a partner?”
“Partner,” I said, “but not the brains.”
“Let's deal with these two; you can fill me in later,” said Lieutenant Sanders.
We headed for The Palace lobby. Our hope was that we got there before Simon and Joseph with Mrs. Stanton. As soon as we walked through the front doors, Billie Whitehall waved to us. I pointed him out to Lieutenant Sanders and we went over to see him.
“I saw Mrs. Stanton's chauffeur and one of the detectives go up in the elevator just a while ago,” he said. “The detective pulled his badge at the front desk to get access to the penthouse. He said something about Mrs. Stanton being under investigation. He was bein’ a bully about it, which didn't make no sense to me. Also, what the chauffeur doin’ out of jail?”
“Long story short, they're kidnapping Mrs. Stanton,” I said.
“Is there a service elevator to the penthouse floor?” asked Lieutenant Sanders.
“Yep, it opens off the hall to the back and to the kitchen,” said Billie.
“That's where they'll go to take her out. They won't risk trying to take her out the front,” said Lieutenant Sanders.
“Billie, get everyone away from that hall. There are about to be some fireworks,” I said.
Billie pointed the way to the hall and we started running, I pulled my Colt and cocked it. I carried it wide and pointed down. Lieutenant Sanders pulled his automatic and held it barrel up. Billie started pulling various workers aside and pointed them in the opposite direction.
There were double swinging doors with portholes into the back hall. We paused long enough to determine that there wasn't anyone waiting for us. Billie ran into the kitchen to keep the staff from using the hall. There was a corner for us to turn before we would get eyes on the elevator.
We paused, waited, and listened. I took a quick look. The hall was empty and the back doors to the outside on the opposite wall were closed. The familiar bell of an arriving elevator sounded. I ducked my head back and indicated we go on three. We could hear footsteps and we knew that they would head in the opposite direction towards the back doors.
“No counting, move,” said Lieutenant Sanders. “Now!”
We each moved to an opposite wall of the hall and the Lieutenant shouted for Simon and Joseph to stop. Neither had a gun displayed. Simon swung around and pulled Mrs. Stanton in front of him. He wasn't a particularly tall man, so she was a good cover for him.
Joseph was left out in the open with no cover, so he did the only thing a stupid man would do: he pulled his gun and swung around, I didn't give him time to pick a target, I shot him in the shoulder; that swung him back against a wall. His hand with the gun hit the wall with enough force to knock the gun to the floor.
Simon took the opportunity to pull a gun, and I cocked mine, both Lieutenant Sanders and I had a bead on Simon. Joseph slid to the floor complaining he had been shot again. He was too far from his gun to be a threat any longer. Simon was standing straight ahead of me, and Lieutenant Sanders had him at an angle.
“There is no place for you to go, Church, or should I call you Parrish,” said Lieutenant Sanders.
“Well aren't you the clever one, or is it your shamus friend here who figured it out?”
Simon pointed his gun at Mrs. Stanton's head.
“Drop your guns, or the little lady dies,” he threatened.
“Don't be an idiot, Simon,” said Lieutenant Sanders, “She's the only thing keeping you alive.”
“Nice try, Lieutenant,” he said with a sneer, “but I've been working with you. All you would do is watch her die.”
“Not me,” I said, “I'm tempted to put a bullet through her into you, just to take you down.”
“Hold on,” said Lieutenant Sanders.
“You made a serious mistake in not letting Mrs. Stanton change shoes, Simon. A woman in heels can't run very fast, all she can do is step down hard.”
I had raised my voice when I said Mrs. Stanton, and when she looked at me, she knew I was talking to her. She had used her heel last night to deal with a drunk. She was already ahead of me when I said “heel”, she raised her foot and she brought the spike down hard onto his foot and then dropped like dead weight. Simon yelled, and when he went to recover his grip on her, he was already exposed. Lieutenant Sanders's weapon cracked the silence twice and Simon took two in the chest. He tried aiming his gun, and as his hand wavered I took aim at it and pulled the trigger. His gun went flying harmlessly onto the floor.
Mrs. Stanton broke free and ran to me. I took her in my arms and cradled her. Lieutenant Sanders walked up to Simon as he slid to the floor. Joseph started for his gun, and I cocked mine again. Joseph looked up and stopped. Lieutenant Sanders stood above Simon.
“That's for Mickey, you son of a bitch.”
Simon expelled his last breath.
Lieutenant Sanders yelled, “Clear.” The back door swung open and a small contingent of cops raced through the doors. Lieutenant Sanders pointed to Joseph and told them to take him to the hospital and not to let him out of their sight. He told another cop to get the bus for Simon. He holstered his weapon and I did the same with mine.
I turned with Mrs. Stanton and walked her out into the lobby. Billie Whitehall was out there, and he handed Mrs. Stanton a glass of water. He looked at me and shrugged. She took the water and smiled at Billie. We walked to the elevator and I took her back to her suite.
