that?”
The least I expected was she would have me beaten up. I took a casual stare at the safe. It
was shut. She couldn’t know I had tampered with it!
“Now wait a minute,” I said, sitting forward, “you can’t get away with that. We made a
bargain. I want my dough!”
If I didn’t make out she was scoring off me, she might still decide to put a bullet in me. The
rage and dismay I got into my voice even surprised me.
“We made another bargain,” she said, “you’re forgetting that, Johnny.” Her eyes were
bright with spite. “I said no other women - remember? You’ve gypped yourself out of a
quarter of a million. How do you like that? Was Miss Laverick worth all that money,
Johnny?”
I twisted my face into what I hoped was a mask of infuriated rage and started up.
“Sit down!” Ricca said, and the gun covered me.
I sat down.
“Throw me out if you like, but I’m going to have that money!” I snarled at her.
“You’ll leave here without a dime and on your feet!” she said. “The guards have been told
to let you out only if you are walking and you’re not carrying a bag. You’ll have a nice long
walk ahead of you, and I hope you’ll enjoy it!”
“Don’t imagine you’ll get away with this!” I shouted. “If you think you can gyp me …”
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She was revelling in it now. I made out I was going to spring at her. Ricca stood up,
threatening me with the gun.
“Empty your pockets on the desk,” Della said.
“Make me!” I said. “I’d like to see either of you get close enough to make me!”
“That won’t be necessary,” Ricca said. “Do what she says or I’ll shoot you in the leg and
you’ll damn well have to crawl out of here!”
I thought of those three one-hundred-dollar bills I had hidden in my shoe, and I had trouble
in keeping a straight face.
“I’ll fix you too!” I snarled at him, and began emptying my pockets on the desk.
When I was through she made me pull out the linings of my pockets to make sure I’d kept
nothing back. I was glad I had stashed the keys in the chair. If she had seen those she might
have looked in the safe. All the time I had been in the room I had kept my hat on. The receipt
for the suitcase was burning a hole in my head, but neither of them thought to look inside my
hat.
“Okay, Johnny,” Della said, “now you’re all set to go. I hope you’ll be hungry tonight. I
hope no one gives you a ride. I hope you rot in hell!”
“I’ll fix you for this!” I yelled at her, and moved to the door.
“Better get going fast, Johnny,” she said, and a cruel little smile lit up her face. “I said I’d
throw you out as I found you, didn’t I? Pepi and Benno are on their way over. They should
arrive any moment now. They seemed very interested to hear you were here. So this is where
you came in, darling. You’re on the run again, and I hope they catch you!”
I started to say something when the door opened and Louis walked in. Ricca hid the gun
behind his back.
“What do you want?” Della demanded. “Can’t you knock?”
Louis’s fat face looked startled. “I thought Mr. Ricca was alone.”
“Well, he isn’t. What do you want?”
I went cold. I knew what he wanted. He had come to ask if I had managed to get the safe
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open.
“You talk to them,” I said to him. “I’m clearing out. That fat boy’s your new boss.”
