That was wrong. If I had tried for a bulls-eye I would have winged him. Chinless Jerry hadn't laughed himself blind. He beat me to the shot. His shot burnt my wrist, throwing me off the target. But, missing Thaler, my slug crumpled the red-faced man behind him.
Not knowing how badly my wrist was nicked, I switched the gun to my left hand.
Jerry had another try at me. The girl spoiled it by heaving the corpse at him. The dead yellow head banged into his knees. I jumped for him while he was off-balance.
The jump took me out of the path of Thaler's bullet. It also tumbled me and Jerry out into the hall, all tangled up together.
Jerry wasn't tough to handle, but I had to work quick. There was Thaler behind me. I socked Jerry twice, kicked him, butted him at least once, and was hunting for a place to bite when he went limp under me. I poked him again where his chin should have been--just to make sure he wasn't faking--and went away on hands and knees, down the hall a bit, out of line with the door.
I sat on my heels against the wall, held my gun level at Thaler's part of the premises, and waited. I couldn't hear anything for the moment except blood singing in my head.
Dinah Brand stepped out of the door I had tumbled through, looked at Jerry, then at me. She smiled with her tongue between her teeth, beckoned with a jerk of her head, and returned to the living room. I followed her cautiously.
Whisper stood in the center of the floor. His hands were empty and so was his face. Except for his vicious little mouth he looked like something displaying suits in a clothing store window.
Dan Rolff stood behind him, with a gun-muzzle tilted to the little gambler's left kidney. Rolff's face was mostly blood. The blond kid--now dead on the floor between Rolff and me--had sapped him plenty.
I grinned at Thaler and said, 'Well, this is nice,' before I saw that Rolff had another gun, centered on my chubby middle. That wasn't so nice. But my gun was reasonably level in my hand. I didn't have much worse than an even break.
Rolff said:
'Put down your pistol.'
I looked at Dinah, looked puzzled, I suppose. She shrugged and told me:
'It seems to be Dan's party.'
'Yeah? Somebody ought to tell him I don't like to play this way.'
Rolff repeated: 'Put down your pistol.'
I said disagreeably:
'I'm damned if I will. I've shed twenty pounds trying to nab this bird, and I can spare twenty more for the same purpose.'
Rolff said:
'I'm not interested in what is between you two, and I have no intention of giving either of you--'
Dinah Brand had wandered across the room. When she was behind Rolff, I interrupted his speech by telling her:
'If you upset him now you're sure of making two friends--Noonan and me. You can't trust Thaler any more, so there's no use helping him.'
She laughed and said:
'Talk money, darling.'
'Dinah!' Rolff protested. He was caught. She was behind him and she was strong enough to handle him. It wasn't likely that he would shoot her, and it wasn't likely that anything else would keep her from doing whatever she decided to do.
'A hundred dollars,' I bid.
'My God!' she exclaimed, 'I've actually got a cash offer out of you. But not enough.'
'Two hundred.'
'You're getting reckless. But I still can't hear you.'
'Try,' I said. 'It's worth that to me not to have to shoot Rolff's gun out of his hand, but no more than that.'
'You got a good start. Don't weaken. One more bid, anyway.'
'Two hundred dollars and ten cents and that's all.'
'You big bum,' she said, 'I won't do it.'
'Suit yourself.' I made a face at Thaler and cautioned him: 'When what happens happens be damned sure you keep still.'
Dinah cried:
'Wait! Are you really going to start something?'
'I'm going to take Thaler out with me, regardless.'
'Two hundred and a dime?'
'Yeah.'
