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“
Sorry
it didn’t taste better,” I said over my shoulder and went
on.

Carol
and Susan Levy were playing jacks on the sidewalk. When Carol saw me,
she snatched the ball from the other girl’s hand and gathered
up the jacks and ran to me with hands full and braids flying. I swung
her up in my arms.

“
Papa,
policemen were here,” she cried. “Mommy made me go out of
the house, but Allen Gillette said they were having to face somebody
who was perhaps a murderer. I could feel his eyes continue to watch
me.

“
Papa,
Susan’s father said it too,” Carol was saying. “Susan’s
father told her mother a man was killed in our garage. It isn’t
true, huh, Papa, is it true?”

“
It
was an accident.”

“
How
did it happen, Papa? Who was the man?”

Susan
Levy saved me from thinking up a reply. She was waiting in front of
my house. “Aren’t you going to finish the game, Carol?”

“
Can’t
you' see my father came home?” Carol said importantly.

The
door opened and Esther stood in the hall. She had a smile for me, but
it was a wan, forced thing that required an effort. Her face had lost
its rich color. She kissed me before I could put Carol down — a
fierce, clinging kiss that had no passion but only fear.

I
set Carol on her feet. “Did they search the house?”

Esther
nodded vaguely and looked back at the phone, as if expecting it to
ring. “That man called a short

while
ago, the one who called last night and said he was Raymond Teacher's
brother.”

I
stared at her. A thin line of madness ran through everything that had
happened since six o'clock yesterday.

“
What
did he want?”

“
He
would only speak to you. He said he would call back. I didn't —
“

“
Mommy,
what man called.?” Carol broke in.

Esther
said sharply: “Carol, for God's sake!” she caught herself
and made her voice casual. “A man Papa is trying to sell a car
to. Come into the kitchen and help' me with supper.” She rolled
her eyes toward the stairs — a signal to me.

I
went up to our room. Esther followed in less than a minute. She left
the door open, stood just inside the room so that she could hear
Carol in case she decided to follow. “I set her to shelling
.peas,” she explained. “That should keep her busy for a
few minutes at least.”

“
Why
didn’t you get rid of her like this yesterday when I wanted to
know about the bag in the car? You could have followed me up to the
bathroom.”

“
It
was a long story and I wanted to tell it all at once.” She
shook her head distractedly. “Does that matter now?”

“
What
about that phone call?”

“
He
asked to speak to you. That slow voice of his frightened me so that I
could hardly tell him you weren’t in. Then he said he’d
call back and hung up.”

I
reached in my pocket for the cigarettes I had bought on the way home,
but didn’t get them out. Esther threw herself at me and held
me. “Darling, he’s the man who killed Jasper Vital.
Shouldn’t we call the police?”

“
What
did Lieutenant Woodfinch do beside search the house?”

“
He
came with two other detectives and asked all sorts of questions. Then
they searched every corner, from the attic to the cellar.” Her
fingers dug into my back. “Darling, they think you have the
bag.”

“
Yes.”

“
But
these men are killers, Vital and the others. Can't they investigate
you and find out that you never did anything wrong in your life?”

“
They
did,” I said. “This morning, I think, Woodfinch had an
idea I was one of the gangsters. By this afternoon he found nothing
shady in my record, so he figures it another way. When Vital offered
me five hundred dollars for the bag, I realized that it must be
immensely valuable and I picked up a tire iron and killed him and hid
the bag. Then I made up a cock-and-bull story about Larry and Crooked
Nose and being taken for a ride and knocking out Larry. The thing is
that I can’t prove that Larry exists. They think he’s
only a red herring.”

“
But
they didn’t arrest you.”

“
They
don’t think they have enough evidence yet.”

I
felt her stiffen against me. “Lieutenant Woodfinch asked me so
many questions. If Raymond Teacher had been in my car before the
accident. If I had seen this man Larry. If I heard anything in the
garage. He went on and on like that.”

“
That’s
why he kept me at headquarters,” I said. “He wanted to
speak to you without me around.”

“
Darling,
the real murderer is going to call back. If we let the police know,
they’ll be able to trace the call as soon as it comes and
capture him.”

“
Funny,”
I muttered.

She
tilted her head back. “What do you mean, funny?”

“
This
man who killed Vital is no dope. Why should he stick his neck out
telling us he’d call back? Unless — “ I paused.”

“
Unless
what?”

“
Unless
he has reason to believe I wouldn’t be anxious to give him
away. Or unless he has nothing to be afraid of.”

“
But
he did kill Vital?”

“
I
can’t see it any other way,” I said. “You’re
right, though. We should call the police before he calls back.”

She
took her arms away from me and together we went down the stairs. The
phone rang before we reached the hall.

We
looked at each other. Esther closed her eyes and gripped the
banister. I went down the remaining stairs. “Hello?” I
said into the mouthpiece.

“
Adam
Breen?” that agonizingly slow voice said.

“
Yes?”

“
You
know now that the bag’s no good to you.”

Esther
had come to my side. I looked at her without quite seeing her: “What
is it?” she whispered tensely. “You turned so pale.”

“
Hello,
Breen?” the dragging voice said.

“
I
don’t know what you mean,” I heard myself say.

“
You
can’t use the bag. I’ll give you a grand for it.”

“
I
haven’t got it.”

“
That’s
the top price, Breen. Take it or your life isn’t worth a dime.”

“
You
have the bag,” I said.

“
Save
that for the coppers.' Do we do business?”

“
I
can’t, I tell you. I swear — “

“
Then
it's your funeral,” he said.

There
was a click at the other end of the line.

“
Listen,”
I said. “Wait. Let me — “

I
stopped talking into the dead phone. Slowly I hung up and stood
facing the wall.

Carol
demanded: “Who called up? Who’d you speak to, huh, Papa?”
She had come out to the hall.

Esther
whirled. “Get into the kitchen!” she snarled. “And
stay there!” Carol’s mouth went slack. Her mother had
never before spoken like that to her. She darted back into the
kitchen.

I
heard Esther breathing hard at my side. “Darling, did he say he
didn’t have the bag?”

“
He
offered me a thousand dollars for it.”

“
Then
he couldn’t have murdered Jasper Vital!”

“
The
murderer has the bag.” I jerked myself erect. I slammed my fist
into my palm. “Goddam it, what am I going to do? I can’t
make anybody believe I haven’t got it.”

Esther
was staring up at me as if she had never seen me before. “Darling,
you can be honest with me.”

I
met her dark, sick eyes. I wanted to yell, but I kept my voice low.
“You too?” I said hoarsely.

“
I
didn’t mean that.” She was hard against me, sobbing
against .my chest. “Oh, God, I didn’t know what I was
saying.”

Tenderly
I patted her hair. “Forget it, baby. We say all sorts of
foolish things when we’re scared.”

Carol
timidly poked her head into the hall. “Mommy, aren't we going
to have supper?”

“
In
a minute, dear,” Esther told her without turning ^her head. “Go
back into the kitchen.”

Carol’s
head vanished. Esther stepped out of my arms and sniffled. I handed
her my handkerchief. She said with the handkerchief to her eyes:
“Maybe he’ll call again. Hadn’t we better let the
police know right away?”

“
I’m
not going to tell the police.” The handkerchief remained at her
eyes. “Why not?’ she muttered.

“
What
will I tell the police?” I said. “That the man I’ve
been insisting murdered Vital and took the bag hasn’t got it
after all? That’ll be almost as good as a confession.”

“
You’re
going to keep quiet about it?”

“
I
don’t see what else I can do.”

She
took the handkerchief from her face. Her eyes were dead. There was
not even disbelief in them, not even horror. She said listlessly,
“I’m going up to wash my face,” and turned to the
stairs.

I
lighted the cigarette I had wanted for a small eternity.

The
smoke was harsh and bitter in my throat.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

Mr.
Redfern said: “You can’t kid me, Mr. Z. Your schedule of
a corpse a day is a phoney.”

His
fleshy face was set in stern, hard lumps. His cigar was as inflexible
as a naked flagpole sticking from a corner of his mouth. I looked
blankly at him as I got out of the demonstration coupe which I had
driven home Monday evening. A little matter of murder had prevented
me from returning it and showing up for work until now, Wednesday,
nine A.M.

“
You’re
falling down, Mr. Z.,” Mr. Redfern said. “Here the week
is almost half over and only one murder so far,” Abe Silvers
and one of the other mechanics had come over to this side of the
maintenance room. They stood with their fists on their hips and
mouths poised to grin as soon as they got the point of the gag. Mr.
Redfern’s humor was the sort that built up to a terrific
letdown, but he was the boss, so we laughed. Nobody laughed now.

“
All
right, it’s funny,” I said, “whatever it is.”

“
Who’s
trying to be funny?” Mr. Redfern tapped my chest with a pudgy
forefinger. “You were trying to be Monday. You phoned me and I
told you, a mysterious man was asking questions about you. Then you
gave out with wise-guy stuff about being Mr. Z. with a schedule of
corpses every day but Sunday. And what happened a few hours later
right in your garage?”

He
sounded angry about it.

Abe
Silvers said eagerly: “Gee, Adam, what’s it about? The
cops were here yesterday and looked all over the place, like we had
something hidden here.”

“
They
acted like maybe I was a criminal,”'Mr. Redfern complained.
“Like I was Mr. Z.’s boss. They asked me about you. That
I can understand; a man was murdered in your garage. But why did they
want to know all about my business?”

I
walked across the maintenance room to the office. Mrs. Hesterberg
turned from her typewriter; her eyes glittered excitedly at me from
behind her black harlequin glasses. Since Monday night I had achieved
glamor.

“
You
had plenty of excitement,” she said tentatively, as an opening
wedge for detailed conversation.

“
Plenty.”
I hung up my .hat and went into the showroom.

Mr.
Redfern tagged after me. He removed his cigar with a flourish,
stepped close to me, made his voice low and confidential. “Now
we’re alone, Adam, you can tell me. I know you’re in
trouble.”

“
Yes.”

“
I
asked you the same thing when you phoned me Monday evening,” he
reminded me triumphantly. “But all you gave me was wisecracks.”

“
I
didn’t know then that I would be in trouble.”

A
plump hand went to my shoulder. “Adam, you’ve been
working for me a long time. I gave you your job back without question
when you came out of the army, and gave you a salary even though
there weren’t any cars to sell yet. You can talk to me like to
a father.”

It
was easier to tell him than not to. I left a lot out, especially
about the man with the dragging voice who had phoned me twice. Even
so, his hand withdrew from my shoulder before I was quite finished.
Although he didn’t move, all of him seemed to be withdrawing.

“
There
it is,” I said. “It mightn’t sound reasonable, but
that’s not my fault. Do you still want to help me?”

He
frowned uneasily. “The police — well, I couldn’t
interfere with them — I mean even if I was in a position to.”

“
There’s
one thing,” I said. “Those two crooks changed their
attitude toward me when I told them I worked here. They got the
notion I knew something important. Why?”

“
My
God, what did you get me into?” Mr. Redfern burst out.
“Yesterday the police were here and turned the place upside
down. They had a warrant, but they wouldn’t tell me what they
were looking for. What will happen to my reputation if police keep
coming in here —” He stopped. His eyes widened. “They
were looking for that bag. My God, they think I’m hiding it for
you!”