'She didn't see you?'
'No.' Willie hesitated. He was undecided whether to tell Felix what he had overheard. He didn't want to make an enemy of Felix. He would have to work with him long after Lorelli was forgotten, and Felix wouldn't be pleased if Willie told Alsconi the news without first telling him. It wasn't as if Felix could now stop him tilling the old man.
Alsconi was waiting for him, and that would be more than Felix dared do. And since the old man was waiting for him, Felix wouldn't dare get tough with him either. He decided to tell Felix. Two moments of sensation were better than one, he reasoned. In his position of safety he was tempted to see Felix's face when he heard his girl was selling him out. 'If she had seen me,' he said and leered, 'she wouldn't be here now.'
Felix's reaction was so quick Willie hadn't a chance to grab his gun. He found himself caught by his throat and slammed against the wall.
'What the hell do you mean?' Felix snarled, his face livid with rage and fear.
Willie caught hold of Felix's wrists and tried to lever his hands from his throat. His grotesque face covered with white lather turned purple as the steely fingers sank into his windpipe. Felix shook him, then slackened his grip.
'What do you mean?' he repeated.
Willie drew in a long, shuddering breath.
'Let go of me!' he gasped. 'I'll tell the boss. Get away from me!'
Felix slapped his face very hard with his open hand. The lather flew in an explosion of wet whiteness and splashed the wall.
'Why shouldn't she be here?' he demanded. 'Come on; spill it before I knock your teeth down your throat.'
'She's double-crossed us,' Willie panted, tears of pain starting from his eyes. 'She's sold us out.'
Felix lifted his clenched fist, then stopped. His face had turned the colour of snow.
'You lying rat!' he said viciously.
'I heard her,' Willie gasped, trying to grind himself into the wall to get away from Felix. 'She said she wanted to quit the organization. She wanted money. She said she would get Micklem out for two hundred and fifty grand.'
Felix remembered what Lorelli had said: You and I have to get out of this racket before it's too late. Sooner or later the police are going to get on to us. We've got to get out!
The crazy little fool! She was committing suicide.
He stepped away from Willie.
'You heard her say that?'
Willie put his hand to his face and wiped off the lather.
'Yes. You've got no right to hit me...'
'Shut up!' Felix snapped. 'Let's have it. Every scrap of it.'
Willie told him how he had seen Lorelli enter the villa and how he had gone after her in case she ran into trouble.
'I did what you told me,' he said, his voice snivelling. 'There were three of them in the room: the guy who got away the other night, a fat old bloke they called Cherry and this girl Rigby. She said she would go to New York right away.
Then Lorelli said she was going to tell them something she wasn't supposed to tell them. She said Micklem would never be released and we were after all his dough. She said if they promised to pay her two hundred and fifty grand, she would get him out.'
'Did they agree?' Felix asked.
'Of course they did, but it's my bet she'll never see the dough. She said she would work out a plan how to get him out.
She's going to see them again Thursday night. She's going to show them where the alarms are and tell them about the guards.'
Felix leaned forward. There was sweat on his face.
'Listen, Willie, if you're lying, I'll kill you,' he said in a low vicious voice.
Willie flinched and cringed back.
'I'm giving it to you straight',' he whined.
Felix took out his handkerchief and wiped his face.
'What are they going to do - tell the police?'
'No. Lorelli made them promise to keep the police out of it.'
Felix moved away from Willie.
'You haven't told anyone about this?' he asked.
'No,' Willie said.
'You didn't tell Jacopo?'
