I managed to step clear for a second and I hit him on the point of his jaw. He went slack. The sergeant dragged him down the passage, down some stone steps, into a large bare room.
Ackie came in a minute or two after, looking worried. “Lazard saw all that,” he said. “I spotted him across the road.”
The sergeant was furious. He took hold of Katz and shook him this way and that. Then he dumped him like a sack of coal on the floor.
Ackie said to him, “Lazard'll get him out, Pat, if you give him the slightest chance.”
The sergeant shook his head. “This guy'll stay right here until this time to-morrow,” he said. “No one comes down here. I've got the key and the rat can bawl till he busts... no one'll hear him...
Katz said from the floor: “You'd better cut this stuff out You'll catch something you won't like if you don't turn me loose.”
I thought the sergeant would explode. His red face went black with congested blood and his great hands knotted into fists the size of footballs. He reached out and jerked Katz off the floor. His right fist whistled up from his knees and hit Katz on the side of his jaw. At the same time as he hit him he released his grip. Katz hurtled across the room and thudded against the wall. He slid down and lay on his side.
I said, “I guess we'll leave you to play with him. We'll be along to-morrow night to charge him.”
The sergeant didn't even hear me, he was moving slowly towards Katz, his fists held a little forward and a deep growling sound coming way down in his chest.
Ackie and I stepped outside the room, shutting the door on a sudden terrified howl that sprang from Katz's throat.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ACKIE SAID: “That starts it, Nick. We gotta go ahead now.”
“You think Lazard'll try an' spring him?”
“I guess he'll see Spencer. A guy like that always jumps into anything with both feet.”
I went over to the car. “Listen, Mo, we gotta break this business up fast, before they get him out. You go to the Federal Bureau an' tell 'em everything. Get the sergeant to turn Katz over to the Bureau tonight. Once they've got him, Lazard won't get to the first base.”
Ackie pushed his hat to the back of his head. “What are you goin' to do?”
“I'm lookin' for Mardi,” said grimly.
“Yeah—but where? You just can't run around in circles. You gotta have some system.”
“I ain't had time to get round to Sarah Spencer with you yet,” I said. “I'm makin' a guess, but I'll swear I'm right. She's got Mardi hidden up.”
I told Ackie the tale as far as I knew it myself. What Mardi had told me, and how we had fitted Sarah into the set-up, and why I thought she had kidnapped Mardi. “She's gettin' desperate,” I concluded. “I'm bettin' she's bankin' on me startin' a lot of trouble as soon as Mardi disappeared. She's right, but she ain't goin' to sit on the fence any more. I'm goin' to push her off, and let her have some trouble for herself.”
Ackie listened with his jaw slack. When I had finished, he shook his head. “No—it don't fit,” he said. “Sarah Spencer ain't got it in her to pull a job like that. I've seen her, you ain't. She's just a dizzy blonde, with the brain of a cow an' the morals of an alley-cat. 'Sides, she's crazy about Spencer—I can't believe that tale.”
I shrugged. “You don't know everythin', Mo,” I said shortly. “Anyway, I'm goin' to have a look at this dame—I might find somethin'.” .
Ackie screwed up his face, but he didn't say anything. I could see he thought I was up the wrong alley, but I told myself that I had to start somewhere. If Sarah Spencer was the woman on the 'phone she'd have to tell me a few things before I was satisfied that she hadn't had something to do with Mardi's kidnapping. I gave him a little push. “You've got to get goin',” I said, “an' make it stick—”
Still Ackie didn't move. “Just how much am I to tell these G-men?”
“Tell 'em every thin' Katz told us. That's enough. Don't bring Blondie into it, and don't mention Mardi. Just blow up the Mackenzie Fabric racket—that's all you gotta do.”
Ackie nodded. “How far do you want to be in this?”
I thought it over. “Yeah, you're right. Suppose you leave me right out of it. I might want to do a lot of running around, an' if I've gotta sit answerin' a lotta bull from the cops it might cramp me.”
Ackie began to drift. “You take the car,” he said, “I'll get a taxi. You'll take it easy, won't you, pal? Don't start anythin' you can't finish. That's a tough gang to play around with.”
I gave him a little shove. “Don't worry about me,” I said, “I'll watch out. When you're through with the cops, go back to the pressroom—I'll contact you there.”
I climbed into the car and engaged the gear. Ackie stood at the corner of the street and raised his hand as I swept past him. Although I didn't know it, I wasn't going to see that guy for several weeks.
Spencer had a swell house on Parkside. It didn't take me long to get there, and I drew up on the opposite side and killed the engine. The house stood in about a couple of acres of grounds with a lot of trees and shrubs that more or less hid the house from the street.
I swung open the off door and got out. Crossing the street, I took a lock at the big gates. I told myself I wasn't going to walk up the drive and ring on the bell, I was going to surprise that dame. Then something happened that surprised me. The electric horn on Ackie's car gave a strangled croak, just like someone had touched it gently. I looked over at the car quickly,, my hand going to my hip pocket, where Katz's gun was. In the darkness, I could
