"I"m not having her in the club again," Ma said. "I"m not having anyone here who talks."
Eddie started to say something, then seeing the evil look in Ma"s eyes, he stopped. He remembered Anna had asked who the girl had been in Slim"s room. If he told Anna Ma wouldn"t have her in the club, Anna might turn nasty. She might even start talking about this girl. He knew if he told Ma this, she would get Flynn to knock Anna off.
Ma saw by his expression that he was uneasy and worried about something.
"What"s on your mind?" she asked, staring at him.
"Look, Ma," Eddie said, "so far we have got away with murder. We have this club: we have all the money in the world and we"re sitting pretty. But for how long? Okay, Anna talked and it looked like the setup was going to blow up in our faces. We had to knock off Johnny and this newspaper guy. So we"re now sitting pretty again, but for how long, Ma?"
Ma moved restlessly. She knew what Eddie was driving at. There came a tap on the door and Doc Williams came in! His face was flushed. Ma could see he had been drinking again.
"What happened?" he asked as he sat down near Ma.
"It"s all fixed," Ma said. "You"ve got nothing to worry about."
"Until the next time," Eddie said. "Why don"t you get smart, Ma? So long as the girl is here, we"re sitting on dynamite."
"Are you telling me what to do?" Ma snarled, glaring at him.
"That"s what I"m trying to do," Eddie said. "We would be in the clear with not a thing to worry about if it wasn"t for the Blandish girl. Why did we have to knock Johnny off? Because we were scared the cops would bust in here and find the girl. If she wasn"t here, we could have let the cops in and we could have laughed at them."
Doc took out a handkerchief and wiped his sweating face.
"He"s right, Ma," he said. "So long as she"s here we"re vulnerable."
Ma got to her feet and began to pace up and down while Eddie and Doc watched her.
"Couldn"t she have a heart attack?" Eddie asked Doc. "Slim wouldn"t know you had anything to do with it." He was putting his finger right on the problem. He knew both Ma and Doc were frightened of Slim.
Ma stopped prowling. She stared at Doc.
"I could give her something," Doc said. He looked appealingly at Ma. "I don"t like doing it, Ma, but we just can"t keep her here any longer."
Ma hesitated.
"Would Slim know?"
"He couldn"t prove anything," Doc said. "She"d die in her sleep. He--he"d find her dead."
Ma looked at the desk clock.
"He"ll be back in a couple of hours." She stood hesitating, looking from Eddie to Doc and back to Eddie again.
"We"ve got to do it, Ma," Eddie said.
Ma sat down. Her great hands turned into fists.
"Yes, we"ve got to do it." She looked at Doc. "You fix it, Doc. When you"ve done it, get out and stay away until late. Let him find her. I"ll tell him I haven"t been near her. You keep away too, Eddie."
Eddie drew in a long deep breath. It would be all right now, he was thinking. Once the Blandish girl was dead, Anna could come back to the club.
Doc stood, hesitating, sweating and scared.
"Get going," Ma said to him. "The sooner it"s done now, the better. Don"t sit there like an old fool. This had to happen. Get going."
Doc got slowly to his feet and went out of the room.
"And you get out," Ma said to Eddie. "I don"t want you around until ten tonight. Go to a movie or something, but keep out of the way."
"Okay, Ma," Eddie said and started for the door, then he paused. "When she"s gone, it"ll be okay for Anna to work here, Ma?"
"Yes, it"ll be okay," Ma said.
She moved slowly to her desk and sat down. Eddie watched her.
"I"ll have to find Slim another girl," Ma said. "He"s got the taste for girls now."
Eddie grimaced.
"That won"t be so easy," he said.
Ma"s face crinkled into a cynical smile.
"I"ll find someone," she said. "You can do anything if you have enough money."
Eddie went out. He saw Doc Williams going up the stairs. He was glad he hadn"t to do the job. He felt sorry for the Blandish girl. She had had a tough break. As he walked across the courtyard to where he had parked his car, he was thinking she would be better off dead anyway.
He got into his car. There was a movie he wanted to see. He"d take a look at it, then he would pick Anna up for dinner.
As he drove away, two detectives, acting on Brennan"s instructions, took up positions where they could watch the entrance of the club without being seen.
4.
Slim stood at the foot of the stairs looking up at Ma.
Flynn and Woppy were behind and to the right of Slim. There was an expression on Ma"s face that Flynn had never seen before. He had never thought of Ma as being old. It came as a shock to him now as he looked at her to realize just how old she was.
Slim knew something bad had happened. He too had never seen this slack, defeated look on Ma"s raddled face. "What"s the matter?" he demanded. "What are you looking like that for?"
Ma didn"t say anything. One of her great hands rested on the banister rail, gripping it so tightly her knuckles were white.
"Say something!" Slim yelled at her. "What"s the matter?"
Ma thought: when I tell him, he"ll kill me. If only Eddie was here. Eddie is the only one who has the guts to stop him. Flynn won"t. Flynn will stand by and watch him kill me.
She found herself saying in a cold, flat voice, "The girl"s gone."
Slim stiffened. He leaned forward to peer up at Ma, his thin lips lifting off his discolored teeth.
"You"re lying," he said. "You"ve done something to her, haven"t you?"
"She"s gone," Ma said. "I went into her room a couple of hours ago--she wasn"t there."
Slim started up the stairs. Ma watched him come. When he reached her, she stared fixedly at him.
"You old cow," Slim snarled. "You"re trying to frighten me, but I don"t scare easily. If you"ve touched her, I"ll kill you. I told you, didn"t I? Anyone who touches her has me to reckon with."
"She"s gone," Ma repeated.
Slim went past her, and down the pa.s.sage. He pushed open the door and went into the sitting room. He looked around, then entered die bedroom.
Ma waited. Her sagging face glistened with sweat. She could hear Slim moving from room to room. Flynn said, "How did she get away, Ma?" Ma looked down at him. She saw the stark fear on his face. "I don"t know. I went in there. She had gone."
"Where"s Doc?" Woppy asked, a quaver in his voice.
"He"s gone," Ma said. "You had better go too. We"re washed up. This is the end of the road. The cops will have her by now."
"If they had her," Flynn said, "they would be here by now." He started up the stairs as Slim came out into the pa.s.sage. Slim had his knife in his hand. His yellow eyes were gleaming. Flynn paused, half way up the stairs, staring at Slim who moved silently and slowly towards Ma.
"You"ve killed her, haven"t you?" Slim said. "You always wanted to be rid of her. All right... so you killed her. Now, it"s my turn. I"m going to kill you."
"I haven"t touched her," Ma said, as motionless as a statue. "Someone took her away. She couldn"t have got away by herself. All right, Slim, go ahead and kill me if that"s what you want. Then you won"t have the girl and you won"t have me. Maybe you"ll be better off with neither of us."
She was quick to see a sudden flicker of doubt in Slim"s gleaming eyes.
"Go ahead," she went on. "See where it gets you. See what it"ll be like to be on your own. You"ve always wanted to be the big shot, haven"t you, Slim? But watch out. You won"t be able to trust anyone. You"ll have to keep under cover. You"ll have to find some place to hide." She stared at him. "Where will you hide, Slim?"
The gleaming knife pointing at her wavered. Slim hesitated. He suddenly seemed lost as he looked from Ma to Flynn and back to Ma again.
"What are we going to do, Ma?" he asked. "We"ve got to find her."
Ma drew in a deep breath. It had been a close thing. Even now she was afraid to move.
A sudden commotion at the Club entrance made them all look around. Flynn"s hand dropped on his gun b.u.t.t.
Doc Williams came panting up the stairs. His face was sweating and purple. He saw Slim standing by Ma, knife in hand. He saw Ma, stiff as a statue: Woppy leaning against the wall, his face the color of dough: Flynn with a half-drawn gun in his hand.
Unsteadily, he walked to the foot of the stairs.
"Rocco"s got her!" he said. "Hear that, Ma? That G.o.dd.a.m.n little wop"s got her!"
Slim came down the stairs, shoving Flynn aside so violently Flynn nearly fell. Slim caught hold of Doc"s s.h.i.+rt front and shook him.
"Where is he?" he snarled. "How do you know he"s got her?"
Ma came lumbering down the stairs. She caught hold of Slim"s wrist and shoved him back.
"Leave him alone," she said, then to Doc, "Let"s have it. Are you sure Rocco"s got her?"
Doc wiped his sweating face.
"Get me a drink," he said and went over to sit on one of the sofas.
Ma signaled to Woppy, who ran into the bar.
"When I left you, Ma," Doc said. "I was ready to pull out. I felt bad. I had to have a drink. I went to the bar at the corner..."
Woppy came over to him and thrust a tumbler half full of whiskey into his hand. Doc drank greedily, then he set the gla.s.s down.
"Get on with it!" Slim snarled.
"I got talking to the barman," Doc said. "He asked me who the redhead was he had seen getting into a taxi with Rocco. I sat like a fool, drinking and talking for over an hour before it jelled. I came right back, Ma. It adds up, doesn"t it? Rocco and a redhead. It would be his way of leveling the score."
Slim started towards the exit.
"Wait!" Ma said. "Don"t go off half-c.o.c.ked..."
Slim didn"t even look around. He went down the steps, jerked open the door and moved out into the darkening courtyard.
"Go after him," Ma said to Flynn, "and you too, Woppy."
"To h.e.l.l with him," Flynn said. "I"m getting out of here. I"ve had enough. Give me some money, Ma. I"m quitting."
"Oh, no you"re not," Ma said. "You"ve got nowhere to quit to, you dope! You"re getting no money from me! Go after him and you too, Woppy!"
Flynn hesitated, then cursing under his breath, he jerked his head at Woppy and went down the steps to the door.
When Woppy had followed him out into the darkness, Ma put her hand on Doc"s shoulder.
"I thought I"d seen the last of you, Doc," she said. "Now what are you going to do?"
Doc was a little drunk.
"What is there to do? I was going on the run, Ma, but I suddenly realized there was nowhere to run to. He"ll bring her back and it"ll start all over again."
"He hasn"t got her yet," Ma said. "You stick with me, Doc. I"ll find a way out of this mess. You stick with me."
5.