Locked rooms - Laurie R. King [105]
“I see. Any you can trust to take your money and not sell you as well?”
“One or two. What do you want?”
Holmes took out his bill-fold and removed a piece of paper with some writing on it, putting it in front of Hammett. “I'd like to know a little more about these three men. Charles Russell was my wife's father, killed in that accident. That's his home address, and I think he had an office in the Flood Building. I picked up a rumour that he was involved in some what you might call ‘shady' activity during the fire in 1906, thought it would be good to make sure he was clean.”
“What sort of deal?”
“That's all I know.”
“Okay, I'll see what I can come up with.”
“The other two, it's just to be certain that the help they offer is not in fact a hindrance. The first, Auberon, is the manager at the St Francis; I don't know his Christian name or his home address. The last is a Chinese bookseller who goes by the name of Tom Long; his Chinese name could be almost anything. The address is for his store, just off Grant in Chinatown.”
“Auberon and Long, got you.”
“Shall we meet here tomorrow night, at say, eight o'clock?”
“That's fine.”
“And Hammett? Don't try to do anything else tonight. Get some sleep.”
“Right you are,” he said. He put some money down next to his mug, waved two fingers at the waitress, put on his hat at a rakish angle, and walked off into the fog of the evening, shambling bones in a dapper brown suit.
With the satisfaction of two lengths of old steel rod nestled in the sock-drawer across the room, Holmes slept the sleep of the just.
He was up early on Monday morning, fed and brushed and out of the hotel before eight o'clock, taking the lengths of brake rod with him. He found a photographer's studio nearby, where he left Miss Adderley's picture with instructions. When he left the shop, he walked a route sure to reveal anyone on his tail, but he reached the telegraphist's office without detecting anyone. The man, rather curtly, told him that he'd barely opened his doors and that nothing had come in, try again later. So Holmes went looking for a bank.
When he found one that was open, he went in and hired a safe-deposit box, giving the name “Jack Watson.” Into the box he put his evidence. It probably would have been perfectly safe lodged with Mr Auberon, but one did not place more weight on a reed than one knew it would bear, and Mr Auberon was as yet unproved.
Next, after consulting his mental street map, he located the street-car that ran to the end of the city, to the Cliff House and Sutro Baths. There he got off, walking south in the direction of the beach where he and Russell had strolled at sunset on Tuesday. This time, he was interested less in the beach than the place where the bookseller's father had saved the rabbi's daughter from drowning.
The cliff on which the restaurant perched rose sharply out of the sand, with a scattering of boulders to mark the transition and a sharp tangle of white-capped rocks scattered off-shore, sunning spots for sea-birds and bellowing sea-lions. Down the beach children played in the sand; two boys flew bright kites out over the water. Holmes climbed onto a rock and took out his pipe. It was indeed a vicious spot to be taken unawares by the sea. The waves rose fast into their long, white curls to break hard against the black cliffs; every so often one would show extra vigour and reach wet tendrils around the base of the rock where he sat. He could well imagine, come the winter, that these waves would be killers.
When the pipe had gone cold, Holmes knocked it out on the rocks and retraced his steps, presenting himself at the telegraphist's door just after noon. This time, the man glared at him, but slapped two envelopes down on the counter as well.
“You know,” he remarked sourly, “it's much easier on everyone if you just let the boy bring it to you.”
To appease him, Holmes counted out the tip the boy would have got, not in the least expecting that it would be passed on to its intended recipient. Mollified, the man pushed the envelopes over, and Holmes left the