The Case of the Vanished Lover
a Stealthboxxer Mystery



Chapter 2


The Wharfman Pub, Jack's place, is located in a very seedy part of the roughest neighborhood down near the docks at the south end of the waterfront. It's not a good place for an evening walk if you don't have a bulldog with you or a shotgun for personal protection. I only carry a handgun so I decided to take a cab. The driver dropped me at the corner of 4th and Davis and I paid 20 for a 12 dollar fare. The driver argued with me about taking the coin until he bit it and his gold tooth stuck. Then he drove off smiling spinning his rear tires and throwing a spray of filthy rain and street filth on my pants. I'll have to remember to go by Lu Tan's cleaners tomorrow and pick up my laundry now that I can pay the old guy back the money I owe from last month's cleaning. I'd been making due for 3 weeks on 2 pairs of worn out trousers and 3 white shirts that were beginning to yellow pretty bad. This lonely lady with the bag of gold coins was already paying off pretty well already.

I didn't have a clue where to start looking for her man but since she already paid me a bigger retainer than any single case I had in three years I figured I could milk that strange dame for at least a couple of weeks and get caught up on my debts. I hadn't even looked in the envelope yet that she gave me but I figured that if she had been to Jack's place that was as good a start as any for me. Besides, I wanted to wet my gullet on some good bourbon before turning in for the night and get a fresh start in the morning.

I dropped down the steps below street level to the Wharfman Pub and was met at the door by a 350 lb 6ft 8 wall of human flesh. "Hello, Mike. How's knocks these days?" Mike was the bouncer that helped me muscle those two thugs who robbed Jack a couple years back. I put out my hand to shake his.

"Not bad, Mr. S," he said as he crushed my hand like a cracker in a vice. "Jack takes pretty good care of me and I still get to have some fun every now and then when the sailors get a little too much liquor in them."

"Jack working the bar tonight? I need to ask him some questions about a case I'm working on"

"Nope. Jimmy is on the bar tonight. I don't like that weasel. I'm supposed to get half of the tips these saps leave round here and I think that Jimmy is not giving me my full share. Jack's not been in a good mood lately. He hasn't been working the bar for a couple of days. He should be in his office though. Hey, SB, you might have some work for me on this case of yours? Things are a little slow around here if you know what I mean."

"I'll let you know, Mike. Never know when a guy could use a hand in this business."

"Thanks. Go on in, I'll let Jack know you're here." Mike reached around the side of the door post and pressed a hidden button twice that lit a red light under the bar and in the office of the pub. That was the signal of a friend entering. It was a holdover from prohibition days but was still useful for getting a message thru to the barkeep without words.

The Wharfman was originally built somewhere around 1842. Over the years it had burned down twice and once been leveled in an earthquake only to be resurrected again. Its current reincarnation was as a dark little dive thick with cigar smoke and the smell of watered down whiskey and spilled beer. The cedar plank floor was always filthy and the tables and chairs pocked with cigarette burns. The walls were plastered with nicotine stained pin up girls, beer signs, and lithograph paintings of cargo ships that called this town home port. There was a single fan spinning slowly above the bar that moved the smoke and smell around in little wisps but never really improved the air quality.

The place was a little slow for a Friday night. Six patrons total: one derelict passed out at the corner table next to the head, two old sea dogs at the bar drinking whiskey and beer chasers, one skinny guy with a big scar across his cheek at the other corner table drinking beer from a bottle, and two burly longshoremen at another table in the center of the room. These last two were sharing a bottle of rum and from the looks of it they were about 2 pours short of finishing it. Behind the bar was Jimmy, Jack's brother in law. He was ugly, scrawny, perpetually smelled of B.O. and had the look of someone who would cut your throat if you turned your back to him for more than a second. I never trusted Jimmy and I suspected that he was somehow connected to the robbery but Jack wouldn't hear it. I'm sure that had to do with Jack's wife though. Jack knew he was dirty. Even told me he caught Jimmy filching from the till a few times but figured that as long as he kept Jimmy gainfully employed he wouldn't have to hear his wife nag him about it so he just looked the other way for the most part.

I caught a glimpse of Jack thru the barred window on his office door. He nodded at me but I walked up to the end of the bar and sat down. I wiped away some spilled beer with my coat sleeve and Jimmy came over. "Well, Mr. big time detective. Haven't seen you in here for quite a while. What's the matter, the private dick game so bad you gotta come round here lookin for some more sailors to roust?"

"You know as well as I do, Jimmy, that those two slimeballs were the ones who knocked over Jack's place. I only got back what rightfully belonged to Jack."

"Yeah, and took a 20% cut for yourself." He leaned in close so I could smell his rotting teeth, "You know that cut should have been mine, would have been mine too if you hadn't put your nose in where it didn't belong."

"That's right, Jimmy. I got my cut for recovering the stolen money and you got to keep your place here at Jack's bar. You want me to let Jack know the truth about you and those two sailors? Seems a like slow night, I'm sure Jack can handle the bar himself and I bet Mike wouldn't mind having a sparring partner keep him on his toes."

He backed away and stood up with his hands on his hips, "What you want, Stealthboxxer?"

"Bourbon, straight. And make it the good stuff that Jack keeps under the bar, not that watered down slog you serve the losers around here. In fact, give me the bottle and a paper bag, I'm gonna talk to Jack and then I'm gonna get out of this scum joint before my own teeth start turning yellow." I flipped a $20 coin in the air and it clanked down on the bar. Jimmy scooped it up and reached under the bar and put the bottle on the table along with a shot glass.

I poured a shot and slammed it quick. Jimmy opened a cupboard and pulled out a paper sack from a market a few blocks away and set it next to the bottle. I poured another shot, drank it quick and put the cap back on the bottle. "Jack's in the office." He nodded. "I'll let myself in." I picked up the bottle and the bag and walked toward the office door. "Oh, by the way Jimmy, you can keep the change from the twenty and buy yourself a toothbrush but don't forget Mike's share or he might be inclined to beat it out of you." He snarled as I walked to the end of the bar and down the narrow hallway to the small office.

I knocked twice quick on the door and Jack opened it. He was on the telephone and I could tell he was getting chewed out by his boss. He motioned to the chair next to the desk. I sat down while he took the chewing. He slipped in a few yes, sirs every now and then and finally said, "Ok sir, I will get right on that first thing. I'll have the books ready for your assistant on Monday morning. No, of course, I meant Sunday morning. Yes, sir….Yes, sir. Alright, you can count on me, sir. Thank you sir."

He hung up the phone and slumped back in his chair. He wiped the beads of sweat off of his brow and reached into the desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of gin and poured himself half a stained coffee cup full and drank most of it before turning to me coughing. "Well, SB. I figured I'd be getting a visit from you soon. The way I seen it either that broad was headed for the funny farm or she would end up hiring you for sure. I hope you got paid up front."

"Yeah, she took care of me alright. Thanks for the referral, Jack. Now, tell me, what the heck was she doing here in the first place? She's certainly not your regular clientele. "

"Strange broad showed up here at about noon yesterday. She kept banging on the front door and demanding to speak to the `proprietor'. I've been sleeping here most nights since Margaret and me had a fight last week so I was sacked out in the back room on that cot that I used to let Mike sleep on. She woke me up, and during broad daylight too." He finished the drink and poured another. He offered the bottle to me and I showed him the bourbon I had bought. "Hey, that's the good stuff. That dame really must have taken care of you for you to be dropping fifteen smackers on a bottle of whiskey. Only time I ever seen you buy a bottle is when you just got lucky."

"Like I said, thanks for the referral. Tell me more"

"Anyway, she kept making a big fuss outside and she sounded like she was crying so I eventually let her in. She spoke like some kind of duchess or royalty of something all proper and such. Weird. She said that she was looking for her boyfriend or husband or some guy, I never caught his name. She said that this guy had mentioned my bar in a letter that he had left for her and that she, how did she say it, "must be reunited to him or I shalln't endure another fortnight". She actually said that. I had no idea what the heck she was talking about and I didn't really want to continue the conversation so I gave her your name. Hey, SB, I hope I didn't cause you some kind of trouble by sending this whack job your way. I know things haven't been great for you lately so I figured that if this dame was really that desperate to find this guy, she probably wouldn't mind parting with a little dough to get him. I was just trying to throw you a bone seeing how you helped me out a while back. By the way, if you hadn't found those creeps and got that money back I would probably be wearing concrete galoshes by now. You know how Mr. Patello is about his money."

"Yes, Jack I have heard about how Mr. Patello takes care of his possessions. I'm just glad for my own sake as well as yours that I found those thugs. If Patello and his men had found out that you hired me and I didn't turn up with the money I'm sure they would have assumed that I did and just didn't come to them with it. You and I both would be talking to the fishies by now. So, you never seen this broad before yesterday? You have no idea of who she was looking for?"

"Nope. I have no idea what she was talking about. She did mention a ship called the, uh, Escalate I think she said or something like that. Portuguese or Spanish sounding name I thought. Said that this guy she was looking for was supposed to meet the captain of this ship in my bar two months ago. I have never heard of the Escalate and have no idea of who she was talking about. But, there are a lot of sailors that come thru this port and most who come in here don't usually want to talk about who they are or the name of the ship they are from. Guys that want to brag about their merry sea life do that at those swanky joints up on the north end of the wharf. My place is dark and quiet and my customers like it that way. And so do I. I don't want to know anything as long as they pay for their whiskey and don't break my glasses."

"Yeah, I figured that Jack. Escalate…I think I'm gonna have to pay a visit to the harbormasters office and find out about that ship."

"You plan on going there now?"

"Nope, I'll do it first thing in the morning. Ms Mystery lady is going to have to wait for old Stealthboxxer to do his work on his time schedule. I've got a bottle of good bourbon, a pocket full of change, and a hankering for some fried chicken from Stella's place. I'll work on the mystery ship and her captain tomorrow. Thanks for the tip Jack, I needed a good case to bring in a little dough. I appreciate it." I got up and headed for his door. "By the way, when you gonna get rid of Jimmy? That dirt bag is a no good leech and you know it."

"Ah, dang it, SB. That's what Margaret and me were fightin about last week. She threw me out for even mentioning that the little weasel might have been involved with that robbery a while back. I know he's skimming the till but he knows that I've been holding back part of Patello's take to cover some sideline deals and he has me over a barrel right now. I have to put up with Jimmy or lose a leg. I think that Patello knows about my side deals and I have to be real careful right now. One of these days I'm gonna pay off Patello for good and get rid of that stinking low life Jimmy and I don't care what my wife says about it. He's her brother, she can take him if she wants him."

"Well, good. I'm glad you have a plan at least. I just hope that your plan doesn't end up costing you your life and not just your marriage. Thanks again for the referral, Jack. I'll let you know what I find out about this broad's missing man."

I shut the door to the office and walked back down the hall to the bar room. Jimmy was wiping the sludge out of a tray of shot glasses with a dirty towel. He just glared at me as I walked by the bar toward the door. The drunk had fallen over and was now lying across two chairs at the far table and the two longshoremen had left already, their empty rum bottle and dirty glasses and ashtray was still on the table. I said goodnight to Mike and told him that Jimmy had some money for him on the way out the door and he slapped me on the back and I almost lost my breath. I headed back up the steps to the street level just in time to flag a cab and headed toward home.

The harbormasters office was always open due to ships coming and going at all hours of the day and night. The head pilot for the harbormasters office didn't work weekends which was fine with me. I had run into some trouble with him a few years back on a case involving a gun runner from Panama so I figured that it would be best to call on the office on the weekend anyway. I planned to show up around 10 am and work the junior pilot over for some information about a ship called Escalate. Then I would have enough time to make contact with my friend from the FBI. If the bureau had any info on this ship or on the missing man my friend might be able to help me out.

That was my plan anyway. After a dinner of Stella's chicken and corn biscuits I headed back to my place to have a few stiff drinks of bourbon. I was taking off my coat when I remembered the envelope. I opened the envelope that the lady had given me and found this strange message:

Dearest -----------

It is with a heavy heart that I must leave you this letter. Haste
causes me to rely upon pen and paper to convey my sentiments of sorrow
at my leaving you for a time of unknown length. Had I more time I
would deliver this message to you, my dear, from mine own lips
directly to your delicate ears. But time is a preciously scarce
commodity for me now. I regret to tell you that I am now embarked on a
mission of great import, of such import that I cannot even dare to
write for fear of discovery. Failing in this endeavor would be
catastrophic, so much is at stake. I know not if I shall even return
but if all goes well I shall return to you in two months hence. In
the event that I do not return by All Saints Day, inquire of me in the
town of Olympia on Puget's Sound at the public house nearest the
waterfront. All I can say is that I am to meet the captain of the
cargo ship, Escalate, in one week. I cannot tell you why I must meet
this man only that all of our future depends on what will transpire
there. I will miss you dearest, pray for my success and soon return.

Yours forever,

----------

Not much to go on. Not even a name. This woman was not making it easy on me. But seeing how she paid so well I figured I could afford to play along. I had another drink and then passed out on the couch. I didn't wake up until 1pm the next day.





To be continued . . .







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