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Jolt of panic when I woke, directly inspired by the absolute darkness cocooning ht on Muddled, thinking I was falling, I twisted in the narrow box and slapped my hands hard on what should have been an earth-filled mattress Struck wood instead
Ow
Then I res are quiet and sht rest complete and oblivious, and I pick up exactly where I left off, but this time this time I&039;d dreah not nearly as clear and horrific as the ones that came when I was separated from my soil, these hadn&039;t been pleasant, what little I could recall of theardless of the presence ofaware of them His idea was that the earth was soer one of the drea another sickening headfirst dive off the Elvira, I was sure I glu
Maybeout, butitself felt, or perhaps tootrouble digesting it all Either way I didn&039;t want a repeat co Not that there was much I could do about it
I floated out of the box and stretched Quietly From the sounds below, the tobacco shop was still open for business
Back through to the washrooer and rinsed with hly spitting the stuff out I don&039;t care much for the process, but soer onand be picked up by others Offensive to my friends, it was also a telltale clue to people who knew about va real
Not that there weremy part to keep it that way, since my one encounter with them had been a pretty lousy experience
They&039;d decided I was a public eneotbook froht have i of revealing s musty Damn all this crap I wanted a real shave, fresh clean clothes, and about five years of vacation No rest for the righteous-or even those with seriously bruised consciences Ti-and-pony shoould have to wait until I found out how the day went for everyone else
The outer office was as I&039;d left it I tried the phone, figuring it pretty unlikely for us to be tapped like Gordy, and dialed the private number for Coldfield&039;s club, the Shoe Box
Escott answered "Hallo, I thought it ht be you"
"Ti, old ht?"
"Rested and restless"
"But quiet?"
"If you like that sort of thing"
"Heart and soul"
"Fortunately one of us has his senses Shoe and I went out to the Pacolike blood pressure anyht off just then
"Jack?"
"I&039;m here Charles, in the na?"
"That I cannot operate in a vacuum of information"
Theto spill out on what an idiot he was and accepted the situation He&039;d probably heard it earlier from Coldfield on the drive out "What did you find?"
"Aside frorounds, nothing I couldn&039;t persuade Shoe to go very close, but as far as we could deterlasses, the place appears to be deserted After a bit of futile observation we ca Lakeshore Drive and noted that the Elvira is back in the yacht basin She also appears to be deserted Shoe refused to pursue that one as well If you were up to it, I thought-"
"Oh, no, I&039;h of boats and that daela and what&039;s left of Kyler&039;s mob have probably found holes to pull in after them"
"Actually, we don&039;t know that at all They could be huddled in the ether Not likely, but it is unwise to overlook all possibilities I&039;ve asked Shoe about lending a hand in a search, but he is not too terribly inclined to risk any of his people by having them check around"
"I don&039;t blame hi to help us get out of town, but that is not a path I wish to take in regard to the resolution of this situation"
I sighed, pinching the bridge of o away unless I put ela one more time"
"Indeed The only way out that I can see is if you could privately talk to Miss Paco and firmly request she cease and desist any plans she may have to eliminate either of us"
"I can do that, but I have to find her first"
"If you&039;re not ena the yacht, then perhaps you would not object to looking the estion as to where everyone has got to"
I groused and grumbled on for a minute, just so he kneasn&039;t a pushover My objectionsthat can wait until I&039;ht and thought I was a buo by the house first and change"
"If you feel the need"
"You&039;re daht as well check thefrom there?"
"I left ht pull a bit of cash from the safe Fifty should do it"
He&039;d surprisedall this will take and want sufficient funds for at least a feeeks"
"Jeez, Charles, if this goes on for that long, I&039;-eyed crazy"
"Then we shall have to s as quickly as possible"
Weme "Yeah, yeah But only after I pull on a pair of shoes that don&039;t squeak Gimme a couple hours and I&039;ll come by the club with your stuff"
"I&039;d be ed"
I cradled the receiver He&039;d want to hitch along, but on this I&039;d dotalked into it I&039;d cracked some ribs once-hell, they&039;d been broken-and hadn&039;t liked it one bit He was going to rest or I&039;d save him the trouble of suicide by overwork and kill him myself
The next call was to Gordy&039;s; he didn&039;t let it ring so long this ti?" I could take a good and probably accurate guess, but wanted to give hinize ards back, wants to talk with you pretty soon"
"It ot some business to clean up first"
"How about we meet somewhere?"
"Sounds fine Maybe you and et some air, then call me at home in about an hour" By then I&039;d be in a fit state to talk toup
One cab ride later-and looking the way I did it was da the house by way of the alley that ran behind the buildings Things looked all right there, though it&039;s a sad day when you have to act like your own hoh place, certainly much better than the cheap hotels I&039;d flopped in since I first began writing for newspapers and found out not everyone, myself included, has Pulitzer potential
The house was three solid stories of brick A couple of decades back when the neighborhood wasn&039;t so nice it used to be the local brothel, then Escott bought the e the insides up I had a couple of rooms and a bath on the second floor, and a very unofficial chamber hidden behind a false brick wall in the basement In its secret and silent fireproof safety I usually slept the day away in reasonable security and coht it also doubled as my office, so the clatter of my typewriter wouldn&039;t disturb Escott&039;s atte his inso immick, but there was also a concealed trapdoor under the kitchen table Escott used it to duck down to ht in order to hide out from yet more of Kyler&039;s men
When they couldn&039;t find hi for me to turn up It wasn&039;t to present hn Kyler haddebt He had one solution for those interfering in his rackets: make the poor bastards disappear forever He was too crazy foract, which made hi to figure out how best to deal with hiht like one of her own grenades and with about the sa her kidnapped father Frank back along with the control of his gang, and she didn&039;t much care who she had to kill to do it Since Kyler had felt the same way about her it was a hell of a s in the city Though Kyler was safely dead, the dust had yet to settle I could figure everyone who had a hint of as going on aiting to see ould happen next between his lieutenants and little Angela
Just put me at the head of the line
All was dark and quiet now as I circled the area of the house, just the usual cars parked in their usual places, including my dark blue Buick out front Escott usually kept his Nash (a secondhand purchase froe out back, only noas in a shop so fixed The motor was fine, but when the cops see a car drive past with the glass starred and cracked and the body pocked with a hundred or so bullet dents along one of its extra-thick steel sides-all courtesy of Kyler&039;s goons-they get curious
The back door to the house was locked; I left it that way and slipped inside nice and quiet, re-for to hear but more quiet The place had a hollow, deserted feel to it that I didn&039;t like My back hairs were up, but I wasn&039;t sure if it was for soined Hard for h, es ready to cut A man shouldn&039;t have to live like this
Gried the stiffness out of my shoulders
We hadn&039;t had a chance to clean upas Escott when it cos neat, so that wasn&039;t the problem so much as the fact the house had been invaded Someone had broken into my private territory and the violation hit me the same as with the office: I wanted some skulls to bust, preferably those of the ones responsible, except they were already dead Guys like Chaven, Vic, Hodge, Kyler
Had to stretch oncenauilty about a dead roach? It was past ti this to myself or I&039;d be ready for the loony bin like Frank Paco
Walked slowly into the hall, still listening Nothing Good Went to the front door, unlocked and opened it, and pulled a wad of ot the papers, too
My arms were full when I backed inside, kicked the door shut, turned, and abruptly caun
I don&039;t knoas the more surprised, ht a split second before disappearing again,been shot several tihI heard Deiter&039;s sharp cry of horrified shock He&039;d been on the boat last night, had pulled the tarp froe of the deck ready to roll into the water Chaven, repeating what Kyler had said, had told hi able to vanish; until now Deiter had no reason to believe him
Great, another loose end to tie up Well, I&039;d put a bow on this one
"Where are you?" he said, his voice all shaky and hoarse "Where?"
He had guts Given the same circuoing
I floated around him to the front rooh to drop everything on the couch No need to ate He walked right through ets real cold in the space I occupy
According to Escott, the chill goes a bit ht down to the soul
"Where are you?" Deiter de like a kid whose voice had just broken You could alht behind hiun with one hand, and snakedhiot aith it slick as sweat He choked and struggled, and ed a kick or two to my shins, but never really had a chance, and I think he knew it I wrested the gun away, firrip, and felt the sudden sag of his weight His heelsblackhiain Nothing Not at first
I tiptoed into the hall and noticed the door to the understairs closet was open
He&039;d been hiding there, being particularly quiet, and slipped out to shoot me-Escott really, since I was supposed to be dead-while I&039;d been busy with the mail
Time to closeon it I could hear them, like rats in the walls I&039;d almost rather have the rats, they&039;re smaller and harder to catch, but they don&039;t pack any heat Had to assu upstairs were all arht with no pants than leave their guns at hoh world
I checked the Webley Deiter had reloaded it, though where he&039;d turned up the 455 ammunition I&039;d like to find out Escott often co too scarce for hi as it was, I left the Webley on the hall table I wouldn&039;t really need it this tihbors, after all Besides, Escott did have a nu handy around the house Left over fro crossbows, spears for the spear carriers-stuff he&039;d e props There were other, more practical items tucked away in odd places and overlooked like old pencil stubs I tried the drawer on the hall table
Pencil stubs Also a dried out fountain pen, scrap paper, rubber bands, a bowie knife that needed sharpening, and a couple of blackjacks-nor, I picked out and hefted the larger blackjack, liking the feel of it
Near as I could tell fro-the one sound besides their heartbeat they couldn&039;t stop-there was a guy in my set of rooms and another in Escott&039;s down at the end of the hall They must have heard the business with Deiter, but hadn&039;tthey&039;d been waiting for Escott to co Deiter&039;s raw aet That led to the question of who sent the to pick up where he and Kyler had left off? Escott wasn&039;t ela, so why still be bothering with hiet the answers shortly, first I had to flush out so no sound at all, I vanished completely to enterbehind it, probably peering through the crack to watch the upper hall It didn&039;t take much to put him out of business I went solid and whacked him behind one ear with the blackjack He dropped with a very satisfying thusouy held his place I kept grinning, deciding to let hiot hi some excitement into it He took the bait and rushed out to see, but by then I&039;d vanished and got behind hi Babe Ruth&039;s record for hitting &039;ehts were on, so I renize theht during an atte rooet the drop on them, then the club bouncers took it frouy with the scraped face was Tinny
Muchleft to play with I relieved them of their supplies of deadly hardware and went down to the front room to check on Deiter He was still inert, but there was no need to take chances I found sos I found under the sink to gag them
Then I stopped, stood back, and took stock of the situation All three were downstairs now, tied up snug-and me with no idea on what to do with them I couldn&039;t exactly take theht of it the ood state for me to be in when I started with the questions that were already bu around up in my head The last tiry had been with Frank Paco That hy he went nuts, because s up in his mind I didn&039;t want to do that to anyone else, even if they were rats
But the longer I thought about the here to kill Escott, the worse I got I needed tiain
So I said to hell with them and went upstairs to do what I&039;d come here for in the first place
By the time I was clean, properly shaved, and in fresh clothes, I felt a whole lot better about oons didn&039;t have it so good
Chick had woken up and nearly spit out his gag-couldn&039;t blame him since it smelled (and tasted) like dust and furniture wax-but I stuffed it back in place despite his mumbled and no doubt obscene protests He started to thrash around, so I fixed him with a look, and when I had his undivided attention told hi nap He instantly dropped off
No need to worry about Tinny, he was still out to lunch, but Deiter was starting to coh, so I went to the kitchen and called the Shoe Box again
Coldfield answered
"Sooons were at the house to juot &039;em all quiet, but I don&039;t knohat to do with them Any ideas?"
He said "shit" a few times then demanded details There weren&039;t that many to share-well, thattheir na to Escott, then finally turned the phone over to him
Once more I said I didn&039;t knohat to do with them
"You can&039;t let them wander loose" His voice went faint as he turned from the receiver "Shoe, do you think-"
"Uh-uh, I&039; zookeeper to Kyler&039;s leavings"
Escott came back to e"
He hung up just as I heard Coldfield start with another objection
It looked like we all had a peachy night ahead
I got a glass, put so on the coffee table to face Deiter Pouring the water on his face had been et all pained over having a daers and sprinkled It had about the saroaned and tried to e, then his eyelids flew open
After that he just didn&039;t have a prayer
He went under fast and hard, and I pulled out the gag, certain he wouldn&039;t shout the house down His eyes were as empty as a dead h knuckles and all that
"Deiter, we&039;re going to have a little talk You want to tell ht?"
His jaw tre the rest of his expression "Uh-huh"
"Now tellon with Kyler&039;s people"
"Kyler&039;s dead"
"I got that, what are his people doing?"
"Keeping low"
"And who gave you the bright idea of co over here?"
"Frank Paco"
That stopped me short Frank Paco was barely in shape to dress hiela Paco?"
"She was just passing Frank&039;s orders"
So, she was bulling through with her ga her to run hisfor Paco now?"
"He made us a sweet deal"
"I just bet he did Did he hire all of you away?"
"So off, see what happens"
"You expecting souy out to pick up the slack"
"What guy?"
"Sullivan, Sean Sullivan"
The nah Irish h as they come While the others would kill you for a reason, the Irish would ace you just for the hell of it "What&039;s he going to do?"
"Pickup the slack"
"Yeah, I got that part, but what&039;s he going to do about Paco?"
"Don&039;t know"
"What&039;s Paco going to do about him?"
"Don&039;t know"
Deiter was, after all, just one of the soldiers, why should Angela let hi decisions? Or maybe she didn&039;t knohat to do herself
Yeah, fat chance of that She&039;don s before they could scatter too far "You were supposed to come here and kill Charles Escott for Paco?"
"Uh-huh"
"Where is he? Where&039;s Angela?"
"Flora&039;s Dance Studio"
"Where&039;s that?" He didn&039;t have the nuave the street name and that it was close to a ht place I&039;d been to a few ti dancing, but the joint was always closed by the time I came around to catch a late feature "How many people does she have with her?"
And so it went, with ela still had her core of insiders: Doc, Newton, Lester, and, of course, Daddy Frank No news of Opal, though She hadn&039;t arrived by the tiela&039;s accounts with Escott
"When does she expect you to report in?"
"When the job&039;s done"
"What, later tonight, tomorrow?"
"When the job&039;s done"
I was getting a headache Too ot a rope twisted tight aroundI told Deiter to take a nap Maybe Escott had a solution for me
Only it wasn&039;t Escott, but Bobbi My headache lifted
"Hi, sweetheart," I said It was so great to hear her voice again I wanted to hug the phone "I&039;ve missed you Is it safe to talk?"