I saw then that they had taken care of everything. If Miss Wonderly said I had passed out, then they'd hang the murder on her. They wouldn't care so long as they hung it on someone.
"Okay, baby," I said. "Lie if you want to. He's right. They've been a little too smart for us."
"I'm not talking," she said, and began to cry.
That was right up Flaggerty's street. He grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her out of her chair. "You'll talk, you floozie!" he bawled, and shook her so her head snapped back.
I'd left my chair and reached him before the two cops could move.
I spun him around and hit him in the mouth. It was a sweet punch, and I felt my knuckles grate on his teeth. He went over backwards, spitting blood. It did me a power of good.
Then the cops jumped me, and one of them bounced a nightstick across my head.
I came round as Flaggerty was sitting up. I had a bump on my head, but he had lost a couple of teeth.
Killeano sorted us out.
After a while the atmosphere quietened down, but Flaggerty was still too groggy to continue questioning. Killeano took over. He stood in front of Miss Wonderly, his short fat legs astride.
"Unless you tell us what happened you'll be arrested," he said to her.
"What does it matter?" I said, rubbing my head. "Why do it the hard way? Tell 'em you passed out, and know nothing about it. They've got all the witnesses they want."
One of the coppers slapped me across the mouth.
"Shaddap," he said.
"That's going to be too bad for you," I said, and the look in my eyes made him edge away.
Miss Wonderly looked at Killeano and then at me. She was pale, but there was a light in her eyes that gave me hope.
"He didn't do it," she said. "It was a frame-up. I don't care what you do to me. He didn't do it! Do you hear? He didn
't do it!"
Killeano looked at her as if he couldn't believe his ears. His fat face went yellow with rage.
"You bitch!" he said, and slapped her hard across her face.
One of the cops wound his night-stick across my throat and held on. I couldn't move: I couldn't breathe.
Flaggerty and Killeano just stood looking at Miss Wonderly. She held her burning cheek and looked back at them.
"He didn't do it!" she repeated, wildly. "You can keep your rotten money. You can kill me. But I won't go through with it!"
I gave a croaking cheer.
Killeano turned to Flaggerty. "Arrest them," he said, in a thin reedy voice. "We'll get her on an accessory rap. And soften both of them." He looked at Miss Wonderly. "You'll be sorry for this," he said, and crossed the room, opened the door and went out. He closed the door gently behind him.
8
"Get that punk dressed," Flaggerty said, "and watch him." The two cops and the two plain-clothes dicks convoyed me into the bedroom. "Are we going to have a swell time with you when we get you to headquarters?" one of the plain-clothes dicks said. He was a massive guy with a red, rubbery face and hard green eyes.
His name was Hyams. The other dick was thin and dyspeptic. He had a long red nose and his ears were so big they made him look a taxi-cab with its doors wide open. They called him Solly.
"I hope I have a good time too," I said, smiling at them.
The copper who'd slapped me dug me in the ribs with his night-stick. "Get dressed, wise guy," he said. "I'm one of the boys who'll work over you."
I climbed into my clothes. They went over each garment before handing it to me. They weren't taking any chances.
Solly said, "I hope Flaggerty lets me handle that diz."
"He'll handle her himself," Hyams said. "But, I'd like to be a fly on the wall."
"What a break!" Solly exclaimed, licking his lips. "Fancy taking a tutz with her build to pieces."
"Yeah, and legally at that," Hyams said.
They grinned at each other.
I fixed my tie and put on my coat. If I didn't start something soon, it'd be too late. Once they got us down to headquarters, it was going to be just too bad for us. From the look of these thugs, Belsen would be a picnic to what they'd do to us.
"Come on, punk," Hyams said, "and listen, if you start anything, we'll shoot first and apologize after. We don't want to kill you before we've had a chance of working on you, but we will, if you try anything smart."
"I wouldn't dream of it," I said. "I've only read about the third degree. I'd like to experience it."
"You will," Solly said, looking at me out of the corners of his eyes.
We went into the sitting-room.
Flaggerty was pacing up and down. Miss Wonderly sat in a chair, and the stout woman stood behind her.
Flaggerty grinned at me. He looked nasty. There was a gap in his teeth and his lips were swollen.
"Five men in four months," he said, standing in front of me. "A killer, huh? Well, we'll show you what we do to killers. You've got two weeks before you come before a judge. That means two weeks of hell for you, Mr. Killer Cain."
"Don't be dramatic, you big-mouthed pixie," I said.
The big Irish cop, who'd slapped me before, clouted me from behind with his club. I staggered forward and ran into a bang in the jaw from Flaggerty. They were two juicy wallops, and I went down on my hands and knees.
Flaggerty gave me the boots. I got my head out of the way, but his heavy toe-cap sank into the side of my neck.
"We don't want to carry the creep." Hyams said, worried.
Flaggerty drew back. "Get up," he snarled.
I was lying near the blanket-covered body of Herrick, and I pretended to be dazed. I put my hand over my eyes so they couldn't see what I was looking at: peeping out from under the blanket was my Luger. They'd forgotten to pick it up, and when they'd covered Herrick, they'd covered the gun.
Flaggerty was bawling at me. "Get up, you louse, or I'll boot you again!"
"I'm getting up," I said, crawling slowly to one knee. I acted like I was half dead.
The blood-smeared gun butt was six feet from me. I tried to remember if any of the dicks carried guns in their hands. I didn't think they did. They were all too cocky, now they were sure I was unarmed.
Flaggerty booted me.
I flopped over on top of Herrick. It gave me a funny feeling to lie on the body, stiff in death. My hand closed around the gun butt. It was slippery with blood, but I didn't care.
I stood up.
Flaggerty's face turned green when he saw the Luger. The other guys turned into waxworks.
"Hello," I said. "Remember me?"
I didn't point the gun at them. I held it loosely, and I stepped to the wall so I could see everyone in the room.
"Well, come on," I said, smiling at them. "We were going to headquarters for fun and games."
They didn't move or say anything.
I looked over at Miss Wonderly. She was sitting on the edge of her chair, her eyes round with wonder.
"Just a bunch of weak sisters playing at tough guys," I said to her. "You coming with me, baby?"
She got up and came over. Her knees were knocking, and I put my arm around her waist.
"Can you be useful?" I asked, pulling her against me.
"Yes," she said.
"Go into the bedroom and pack some of my stuff in one of the bags. Take the best stuff, and leave the rest, and hurry."
She went past the waxworks without looking at them, and disappeared into the bedroom.
"Any of you guys know how fast I can pull this rod ?" I asked cheerfully. "If you're curious, just give me the chance to show you," and I stuck the gun down the waist-band of my trousers.
None of them moved. There were eight of them, and the stout woman. They were too scared even to bat an eyelid.
I lit a cigarette and blew smoke at Flaggerty.
"You boys have had your fun," I said, "and now I'm going to have mine. I came here for a vacation. All I wanted to do was to have a good time and spend my roll. But you thought you'd be smart. You wanted to murder Herrick because he was in your way. You picked me for the fall guy, and you nearly got away with it. If you hadn't been so dumb, you would have got away with it. You killed Herrick, but you haven't killed me, and you'll find I'm a lot harder to kill than Herrick. I'm going to find out why you wanted Herrick out of the way, and then I'm going to complete his job. I'm here until I've taken this town to pieces and found out what makes it tick. I'm here until I've bust your Administration wide open: try to stop me if you can. I don't like being crowded by a bunch of small-town yeggs. It hurts my pride."
Still they didn't say anything.
I beckoned to the Irish cop.
"I want you, brother," I said.
He came towards me like he was treading on egg-shells; his hands above his head.
I let him get to within six feet of me, then I hauled off and busted him in the nose. He staggered back, banged into Flaggerty, and they both sat on the floor.
They remained like that. The cop's nose began to bleed.
Miss Wonderly came out of the bedroom, carrying one of my grips.
"Wait by the door, honey," I said.
I walked over to the window, pulled back the curtain, and collected the cigar box I'd hidden behind the pelmet. The box contained eighteen grand: my vacation money.
Although I didn't even bother to watch them, they still didn't flutter a muscle. I guess my reputation stood pretty high in Paradise Palms or else they were plain yellow through to their jaegers.
"We'll go," I said to Miss Wonderly.
She opened the door.
"So long," I said to Flaggerty. "Come after me if you feel like it. I'm itching to be forced into a fight, but I don't shoot first. I don't have to." I winked at him. "I'll be seeing you."
He sat on the floor hating me with his eyes, but he didn't say anything.
I took Miss Wonderly's arm and we crossed to the elevator.
The cage doors slid back the second or so after I'd rung.
"Going down, sir?" the attendant said. It was the guy who'd sworn he'd taken Herrick up to my room.
I pulled him out of the cage, and hit him between the eyes. He fell down and lay as quiet as a mouse.
I pushed Miss Wonderly into the cage and stepped in myself.
"Going down," I said, smiling at the attendant, and closed the cage doors.
Chapter Two
THE HEAT
1
"Do they know where you live?" I asked Miss Wonderly, as I shot the Buick out of the hotel garage.
She shook her head.
"Sure?"
"Yes. I changed my apartment a day or so ago. No one knows yet."
"We'll go there and get you some clothes," I said. "Where is it?"
She clutched my arm. "No. Let's get out of town. I'm scared."
"We've got the time," I said. "And you don't have to be scared. They won't get us if we use our heads. Now where is the place?"
"It's at the corner of Essex and Merrivale."
I nodded. "I know. I passed it as I came in."
I pushed the Buick along, and I kept my eye on the mirror.
No one was following us—yet.
"You and I have a lot to talk about," I said, casually. "Thank you for being on my side."
She shivered. "Will they catch us?"
"They couldn't catch a train," I said, but I wasn't all that happy. I wondered if they'd taken the number of my car at the hotel, and how soon it would be before the attendant gave it to Flaggerty. I wondered where in hell we were going to hole up, or if it'd be better to get out of town. . I didn't want to get too far away because I was determined to go after Killeano. I had to be near at hand if I was going to bust him, and I was going to bust him all right.
"Listen, honey," I said, in my soothing voice, "I want you to use your head. Is there anywhere
in town or near at hand where we could stay and be reasonably safe?"
She twisted around. "We're going to get out of here," she said wildly. "You don't know what they'd do to me if they caught me."
I patted her hand and nearly pushed in some guy's fender who had pulled out suddenly from behind a truck. We cursed each other amiably.
"Now take it easy," I said. "No one's going to catch you. But we're bucking the police, and they'll seal up all the highways leading out of town. We shan't get far with their two-way radio sets working against us. We'll have to hole up until the heat's cooled off. Then we'll slide out one night, and blow."
"We'd better go now," she said, clenching her fists.
"Well be all right, but you must think. We want a nice snug hideaway for three or four days. Now think, and keep on thinking."
While I was talking we reached Essex and Merrivale. I whizzed the Buick down Essex Street and nailed her before a shabby looking apartment block.
"Come on," I said, grabbing the cigar box, "let's hustle."
We ran up the wooden steps to the house, and she led me up the stairs into a big bedroom overlooking the front of the house. She packed her things as if the devil was pricking her with his fork. She was so efficient that I just stood back and gave her room. In three minutes flat she had a big grip crammed full of the pick of her cupboard and drawers.
"Swell," I said, grabbing the grip. "Now watch my dust,"
As I reached the head of the stairs, I paused. She clutched at my arm, looking at me with round eyes.
"What is it?" she whispered.
I motioned her to be quiet and listened. The radio was giving a police message. They were telling Paradise Palms to watch out for us.
"How do you like being called a blonde killer?" I asked, smiling at her.