Chapter Five
Marsha Blackwell opened the door of apartment 27 for Casey. "Miss Blackwell?" Casey said. Marsha nodded as she balanced herself on her crutches. She was casually attired in a university women's soccer team warm-up suit and one tennis shoe on her left foot. Her right foot was heavily bandaged with a tan elastic wrap. "I'm Lenore Case from the Daily Sentinel," Casey introduced. "My co-worker, Mike Axford, contacted you earlier today about an interview."
"Yes," Marsha smiled. She took two hops backward to give Casey room to enter. After Casey cleared the door Marsha closed and locked the door and applied a security chain.
The entrance to Marsha's apartment was in the living room. A hallway immediately to the right of the door led to the bedrooms. Marsha's furnishings were simple, yet adequate, and tidy. The only things that appeared out of place were the college textbook and notebook lying open on the coffee table.
"Won't you sit down?" Marsha gestured toward the sofa and matching chairs situated in a C shape in the living room. Casey could tell Marsha had occupied the couch, no doubt to keep the injured foot propped up, so she opted for a chair. "Coffee?" Marsha offered.
"No, thanks," Casey said.
Marsha sank onto the sofa, simultaneously stretching her leg across the length of the couch and laying the crutches on the floor. "Thanks for coming, Miss Case," she said.
"Mike..." Casey stopped herself. "Mr. Axford has wanted to interview you since Mr. Reid's article ran."
Marsha shrugged. "I don't know what I can add. I thought Mr. Reid's article was most concise." Marsha slapped the arm of the sofa as she remembered something. "I'm sorry, Miss Case, I should've told you this first thing. Mr. Axford called just before you arrived. He said there was a grocery store fire near him and he was going to cover it, so he'll be a few minutes late."
I wonder if he'll try to blame the fire on the Green Hornet, Casey found herself thinking.
Outside of Marsha's apartment building, Bob Newby and James Costello sat inside a parked car, keeping the entrance to the building under surveillance. Twilight overtook the sky while they kept vigil. As the streetlights came on the two men turned their stare from the building to each other. Newby looked at his watch. "Let's go," he said.
"Do you think Dusty was ratting on the boss when you saw him at the newspaper today?" Costello said.
"It doesn't matter what I think," Newby replied. "For all I know he was placing an ad for a lost puppy. But you know the boss."
"Yeah, well, if I stood to make as much as a million dollars on one race, I guess I'd be that way, too."
The two men left their car and entered the building. Instead of taking the elevator they walked the stairs to the second floor. The corridor was empty as they left the stairwell. Both men silently made their way to the door marked 27. Costello did the honors of knocking.
"That must be Mike," Casey said upon hearing the knock. "Do you want me to get that?"
Marsha had already stood, obviously taking little time to adapt to the crutches. "Thanks, Miss Case, but I've got it." She hobbled to the door, removed the security chain and opened the door.
Newby barged in first, causing Marsha to gasp in surprise. Costello followed, quickly closing the door behind him. Marsha turned one of her crutches into a baseball bat, swinging for Newby's head. He ducked and the crutch hit the wall. Newby grabbed the crutch and pushed his weight behind his grip, sending Marsha falling backwards. One step on her injured ankle caused her to collapse onto the floor.
Casey was momentarily startled by the intrusion, but she recovered quickly enough to reach into her pocket for what appeared to be a ring with a large green stone set. She pulled on the green stone, then slipped the ring back into her pocket.
Halfway across town, the Black Beauty was en route to Sid Scott's residence. An alarm blared from the bank of devices in the car. The Hornet checked to see what was causing the alarm. He saw the radar put the location of the distress signal from the vicinity of Marsha Blackwell's residence. "That's Casey," the Hornet deduced. "We'll catch up with Scott later, Kato. Head for Marsha's apartment. Something's wrong."
Kato nodded and set about changing direction.
Casey was quickly tied to a straight back chair from Marsha's dining room suite. The intruders left Casey at the dining table. They moved the other chair to the hall, where they bound and gagged Marsha. Marsha flinched in pain when Costello applied tight pressure to the rope that dug into her injured ankle. "That hurts!" she managed to approximate through the fabric in her mouth.
"It hurts?" Costello asked for clarification. "Too bad," he scoffed after Marsha nodded. "You shouldn't have jumped the other day. It would've saved us all a lot of trouble."
Newby picked up the phone on Marsha's coffee table and dialed a number. "Mr. Scott? This is Newby. We have Dusty's sister. Don't worry, she won't be jumping this time." He listened to Scott on the other end, his expression changing from jubilation to concern as his boss talked. "Yes, sir," he said slowly, "I got it. Bye."
Costello was tying Casey's gag when Newby hung up. Newby gestured for Costello to join him away from the table. "What's up?" Costello asked.
"The boss said tomorrow will be Dusty's last race," Newby replied with a somber tone and a look of disapproval on his hardened face.
"He's gonna kill him?" Costello hissed in a low voice.
"Looks like it."
"Then what are we supposed to do with these two?" Costello said in an angry whisper. Newby silently shrugged.
A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. The two men looked at each other in surprise, then at each woman at opposite ends of the apartment. Newby produced a gun from his jacket and slowly followed Costello to the door. Costello reached for the doorknob, but Newby grabbed his elbow to stop him. "Maybe they'll leave if we don't answer," Newby whispered. After a few tense seconds another knock came. "The lights," Newby mused. "They must've seen the lights on from outside."
Costello put his hand on the doorknob but did not open the door. "Maybe I can make 'em think they're at the wrong address," he whispered to Newby. He then raised his voice and called in a groggy tone, "Who is it?"
"Sid Scott sent me," came the reply from the other side of the door.
Costello's brow wrinkled. He attached the security chain then cracked the door open. He was greeted by a kick applied to the door by Kato. The chain on the door was powerless to withstand the force of Kato's foot. The door flew open as the chain collapsed helplessly to the doorframe, pulled from the latch on the door. The combination of the surprise and the force behind the door sent Costello backwards on his heels. Kato took two steps inside the open door then applied his left foot to Newby's rotund stomach with a kiai shout. Newby landed on his bottom before Kato's foot returned to the ground, the gun in his hand landing where he had stood before Kato applied the kick.
Costello recovered and reached for the gun, only to find a black shoe on his hand. He let out a yelp of pain and looked up to see the Green Hornet staring down at him. The Hornet applied additional pressure to Costello's hand with his foot, causing another shout of pain. Costello pried his hand free. The Hornet kicked the gun across the floor, where it came to rest under the chair Casey was tied to. Costello started to his feet. The Hornet grabbed him by his collar, helping him up then gave him two powerful punches – a left, then a right – to his face. Costello became reacquainted with the floor, landing face first. The Hornet paused to close the apartment door lest someone pass by and take notice of the fight.
Newby had the unfortunate task of trying to deal with Kato. He stood near the masked man, his fists extended and moving like a boxer feeling out his opponent. Seeing that he was a good six inches taller and knowing he weighed more, he allowed a false sense of security to cause him to attack. The first thing he felt was Kato's left shoe against his right ear. Before he could react to the pain Kato applied three more blows, one to the stomach and two to the neck. Newby collapsed to the floor, lying in a similar position to his partner near the door. Kato stood over him for a moment, his right arm at a 90 degree angle and his left arm pointing straight down toward his prey, looking for any sign of movement. When no movement occurred Kato turned his glance to the Hornet.
The Hornet saw Casey tied to the chair at the table. He looked down the hall and saw another form in the dimly lit corridor. He silently gestured to Kato to go down the hall. Kato jumped over Newby's fallen form and went to free Marsha. The Hornet went to Casey. He first removed the gag from her mouth. The liberation caused her tightened jaw muscles to shoot a tinge of discomfort through her face as her mouth returned to its normal form.
"You don't know how happy I am to see you," Casey said so softly she nearly mouthed the words instead of spoke them.
"Where's Mike?" the Hornet asked in an equally inaudible voice.
"Covering the grocery store fire," Casey replied as the Hornet untied her bonds.
"We heard that cleared on the police scanner. He should be here shortly." He looked into the hall and raised his voice. "We've got company coming, that Sentinel reporter Axford. Step on it."
"Right, Boss," Kato called. He finished freeing Marsha. "Are you okay, Miss?" he asked with the same gentle tone that had caused Marsha solace earlier in the week upon her initial meeting with the Green Hornet.
"He tied it too tight on my ankle," she replied, the pain in her foot evident in her voice.
"We have to move fast," Kato said. "Let me carry you."
Marsha was in no position – physically or emotionally – to argue. She nodded her approval, and Kato picked her up from the seat. As he came down the hall the Hornet went to the door and opened it for him. "Get her to the car," the Hornet said. "I'll be down in a second."
"My crutches," Marsha called.
"Don't worry about them," Kato said as he left the apartment. The Hornet closed the door after them then walked to the phone. He dialed Frank Scanlon's office.
"Scanlon," Frank answered on the first ring.
"This is an anonymous tip," the Hornet said. Frank knew exactly who was on the other end of the line, but because the incoming phone line was not outfitted with a scrambler that kept uninvited people from listening in on the conversation, he made no indication that he knew the caller. "Get to Marsha Blackwell's apartment," the Hornet said, "142 Andrews Drive, apartment 27. You'll find two members of Sid Scott's gang there, gift-wrapped. Good night." The Hornet hung up.
Casey joined him at the phone, Marsha's crutches in her hand. "Thanks, Casey," the Hornet said with a gesture of his head toward the crutches she had retrieved.
"I think you need to know," Casey said solemnly, "I overheard them say that Sid Scott plans to kill Dusty after the race tomorrow."
The Hornet sighed at the news with a shake of his head. "Let's hope we can prevent that."
"Would you like me to go watch for Mike?" Casey offered.
"No," the Hornet replied. "You can get down to the car. I'll be down as soon as I tie these two up." Casey left the apartment with the crutches. The Hornet quickly tied the unconscious men up with the ropes that had held the two women prisoner. He then pulled his Hornet Gun out and gave each man a quick dose of Hornet Gas under their noses. The sound of sirens faintly broke the silence in the apartment. The Hornet put the gun back into the inside pocket of his overcoat and left the apartment, closing the door behind him. In the hallway the Hornet heard the whirring of the elevator moving. He ducked into the stairwell just as the doors opened and Mike Axford stepped out.
"Let's roll," he instructed as he jumped into the back seat of the Black Beauty. Kato put the car in drive and took off, the door the Hornet had entered through barely having time to close before the automobile was in motion.
Marsha was in the back seat with the Hornet, while Casey sat in the front passenger seat. After the Black Beauty escaped the area where police were closing in to respond to the phone call Frank had relayed, the Hornet turned his attention to Marsha, who sat dumbfounded on the other side of the car, staring intently at the man in the green mask. "Hello again, Miss Blackwell," he said.
"How did you find me?" she asked timidly.
"I was curious as to why you didn't tell the Sentinel anything that you told me about your brother, so I did some checking. I was coming to ask you to verify things, and I just happened along at the right time. The right time for you, at least."