The car stopped on the fifth floor and the two lounge lizards got off: nobody got on. That
left the starter, the girl and myself.
“Twenty-second, please,” the girl said, and ran her thumb along the length of the halter, just
inside.
The starter goggled at her, his eyes shifting to her suntanned legs.
“Yes, miss,” he said. He looked at me as he closed the doors. “What’s your room, mister?”
“I’m making a call.”
“Sorry; against the rules. You have to check at the desk first.”
“A little late for that, isn’t it?”
The blonde was staring at me now. She dug her thumbs into the elastic top of her shorts,
pulled it away from her waist and let it snap back again. She seemed full of cute tricks.
“I’ll have to take you down, sir,” the starter said, his mind more on the girl’s shorts than on
me.
“Please yourself,” I said, shrugging.
The car stopped at the twenty-second floor and the doors swung open. The blonde got off.
206
She began to walk down the long corridor. The starter paused to watch her go. Her behind
jiggled as she walked: it seemed to fascinate him.
I tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned my fist connected with his jaw. I hit him so hard
I nearly tore his head off his shoulders. He folded down on hands and knees and stretched
out. I picked up the suitcase, stepped out of the car and pressed the outside button, closing the
doors. Then I set off down the corridor after the blonde.
I caught up with her as she was putting a key into the lock of a door marked 22/4454. She
was opening the door when she became aware of me standing behind her. Her eyes popped
open and she took a hasty step forward that took her inside the room. I had Benno’s .38 in my
hand and I touched her naked midriff with it.
“No screaming,” I said pleasantly, and rode her into the room, closed the door with my heel
and set down the suitcase.
“What do you want?” she asked, in a strangled voice.
“Sit down and take it easy,” I said. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. The cops are after
me, and I am staying here until they go away.”
She sat down. She seemed glad to.
I lugged the suitcase to the open window, and looked out. It was a long, long way down to
the promenade. Already there was a big crowd gathering outside the hotel. As I looked three
prowl cars with wailing sirens came rushing towards the hotel entrance.
“In ten minutes or so,” I said, turning away from the window, “the cops are going to call on
you. Please yourself what you do. I’m wanted for four murders: one more won’t make any
difference to me, but a lot to you. Tell them you haven’t seen me. If you try any tricks you’ll
get the first bullet. Okay?”
She blanched.
I was sorry for her, but I was in such a jam I couldn’t afford to pull any punches. I kept by
the window. The crowd grew every second. More prowl cars arrived. The cops started to
shove the crowd back, leaving a wide space before the hotel. There must have been three
thousand people down there, and their numbers were growing every second.
I heard sounds in the corridor. No cop can walk quietly, and when there are a number of
them, they sound like a herd of buffalo moving around.
207
They were going from room to room as I guessed they would. Well, it was up to the blonde
now. If she let me down I was sunk.
