Private Dick Casefile 01 - Lily White Rose Red Read Online Free PDF Page B

lead the way, his hulking shadow ominous against the brick walls.
    “So how do you know about this joint if you don’t go there?”
    “Word gets around. I know a few guys.” He smacked his lips, and I got the drift. Artie liked a good mouthful.
    “What’s the drill?”

    Lily White, Rose Red: Grey Randall, Private Dick Casefile #1
    27

    “Same as a speak. You knock three times, some goon slides back a spyhole in the door. Show him the sign, he opens up.”
    “And what the hell was a skirt doing carrying this around?” I muttered out loud without really meaning to.
    “Could have been the fella,” Artie pointed out.
    I looked at him. That was way too smart for him to come up with on his own, and anyway, he was smirking again. “Spill it.”
    “She was a torcher, or so I heard. Heard she worked at that club.”
    “A queer joint? Employing a dame?”
    He shrugged and pointed. “See that door?”
    I looked. I still had the flashlight in my pocket, but I had the feeling the management wouldn’t take too kindly to lights being flashed around. I mean, they’d gone to a lot of trouble to keep it discreet, locating in a spot that was virtually deserted at night. No lights showed anywhere, but I could hear the faint sound of music.
    “Want I should stick around?”
    “Nah, they see your ugly mug, they’ll probably shoot me before they’d let me in. Encouraging a bad element to hang around. Take a powder.”
    “Have fun.” His dirty leer along with his flattened nose made him look more menacing than he really was. Artie wasn’t a very successful boxer.
    I waited till he eeled out of sight before I snapped the brim of my fedora to the correct angle and went up to the door. It was a good strong one, with iron hinges and a big handle. There was a square of metal fastened to the brick wall, but instead of a name, it just had the same symbol engraved on it: Lambda.
    I could see why Reggie said wait until dark; he knew me. He knew once I was on the scent I’d want to case the joint out right away, and they probably didn’t have daylight hours. I took the disc out of my pocket and knocked on the door. The lookout slid open, and with it came music, louder now, and the acrid scent of cigarette smoke.

    28

    CATT FORD

    I held the disc up to where a pair of eyes glinted in the dim light.
    Without a word, the owner of the eyes slid the lookout shut, and the door opened for me.
    He was big, about as big as Artie, although his nose was still the original shape he’d been born with. Good-looking too, but I wasn’t here to tomcat around. His face relaxed when he gave me a glom, and he nodded, gesturing for me to go on inside. What can I say? It’s a secret fraternity with a select membership. Sometimes you just know, and he could tell I was one of them.
    I walked down the short hallway to the room that opened up into a nightclub scene that could have given the Morocco Room at the Rising Star a run for its money. The bar was located in the center of the room, which was an unusual spot for it, but it made room for the tables and dance floor. It was glossy black and bathed in blue light that shone upward on the faces of the two bartenders. There were booths lining the walls and small tables in the space to my right. The atmosphere was smoky and hot. Booze, drugs, illegal gambling, and a hint of more deviant sins swirled just under the surface of what you saw. You could get whatever you wanted there, legal or not. You just had to know who to ask. Some of the booths had the curtains drawn, and I could guess what was going on behind them.
    To my left was a small stage, two steps up from the dance floor.
    When I first walked in, the sight of men dancing together in a clinch hit me. It was something you don’t see everyday, so it seemed strange. It gave the place a forbidden, secret kind of allure, but I liked it. I acclimated real quick, and I realized I was in danger of feeling a little too comfortable there. After all, I