That got me nothing. No change in her expression, or lack of expression. No word. I thought I would like to spank her. I said:
'I've given you your chance to talk. I'm willing to listen to your side of the story. But suit yourself.'
She suited herself by keeping quiet. I gave it up. I was afraid of her, afraid she would do something even crazier than her silence if I pressed her further. I went out of the flat not sure that she had understood a single word I had said.
At the corner I told Dick Foley:
'There's a girl in there, Helen Albury, eighteen, five six, skinny, not more than a hundred, if that, eyes close together, brown, yellow skin, brown short hair, straight, got on a gray suit now. Tail her. If she cuts up on you throw her in the can. Be careful--she's crazy as a bedbug.'
I set out for Peak Murry's dump, to locate Reno and see what he wanted. Half a block from my destination I stepped into an office building doorway to look the situation over.
A police patrol wagon stood in front of Murry's. Men were being led, dragged, carried, from pool room to wagon. The leaders, draggers, and carriers did not look like regular coppers. They were, I supposed, Pete the Finn's crew, now special officers. Pete, with McGraw's help, apparently was making good his threat to give Whisper and Reno all the war they wanted.
While I watched, an ambulance arrived, was loaded, and drove away. I was too far away to recognize anybody or any bodies. When the height of the excitement seemed past I circled a couple of blocks and returned to my hotel.
Mickey Linehan was there with information about Mr. Charles Proctor Dawn.
'He's the guy that the joke was wrote about: 'Is he a criminal lawyer?' 'Yes, very.' This fellow Allaury that you nailed, some of his family hired this bird Dawn to defend him. Albury wouldn't have anything to do with him when Dawn came to see him. This three-named shyster nearly went over himself last year, on a blackmail rap, something to do with a parson named Hill, but squirmed out of it. Got some property out on Libert Street, wherever that is. Want me to keep digging?'
'That'll do. We'll stick around till we hear from Dick.'
Mickey yawned and said that was all right with him, never being one that had to run around a lot to keep his blood circulating, and asked if I knew we were getting nationally famous.
I asked him what he meant by that.
'I just ran into Tommy Robins,' he said. 'The Consolidated Press sent him here to cover the doings. He tells me some of the other press associations and a big-city paper or two are sending in special correspondents, beginning to play our troubles up.'
I was making one of my favorite complaints--that newspapers were good for nothing except to hash things up so nobody could unhash them--when I heard a boy chanting my name. For a dime he told me I was wanted on the phone.
Dick Foley:
'She showed right away. To 310 Green Street. Full of coppers. Mouthpiece named Dawn killed. Police took her to the Hall.'
'She still there?'
'Yes, in the chief's office.'
'Stick, and get anything you pick up to me quick.'
I went back to Mickey Linehan and gave him my room key and instructions:
'Camp in my room. Take anything that comes for me and pass it on. I'll be at the Shannon around the corner, registered as J. W. Clark. Tell Dick and nobody.'
Mickey asked, 'What the hell?' got no answer, and moved his loose-jointed bulk toward the elevators.
XXIV. Wanted
I went around to the Shannon Hotel, registered my alias, paid my day's rent, and was taken to room 321.
An hour passed before the phone rang.
Dick Foley said he was coming up to see me.
He arrived within five minutes. His thin worried face was not friendly. Neither was his voice. He said:
'Warrants out for you. Murder. Two counts--Brand and Dawn. I phoned. Mickey said he'd stick. Told me you were here. Police got him. Grilling him now.'
'Yeah, I expected that.'
'So did I,' he said sharply.
I said, making myself drawl the words:
'You think I killed them, don't you, Dick?'
'If you didn't, it's a good time to say so.'
'Going to put the finger on me?' I asked.
He pulled his lips back over his teeth. His face changed from tan to buff.
I said:
'Go back to San Francisco, Dick. I've got enough to do without having to watch you.'
