He came to the foot of the bed and stood looking at me. Riskin stepped aside; a benign
expression on his wrinkled face.
“Hello, Johnny,” the fat man said. He had a soft, fruity voice as if it came from a throat
well cushioned with fat.
58
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. It was as if I had been pitchforked into a horrible
nightmare.
“He looks fine, doesn’t he?” the fat man went on, smiling at Riskin. “Jeepers, Johnny, you
gave me a scare. I’ve been looking all over for you. How do you feel?”
“I don’t know you,” I said, and my voice was husky. “Get out of here!”
“Take it easy, boy,” Riskin said mildly. “Give him a chance to talk to you. You want to get
well, don’t you? We’ve got to get this mind of yours working again.”
“I tell you I don’t know him!”
The fat man put the carnations down on the bedside table.
“You’ve taken a pretty bad knock, Johnny,” he said. “The doc thinks I can help you. I want
to help you. You know that.”
I was scared of him. In spite of his smile there was something about his eyes that warned
me he was as dangerous as a rattlesnake.
“I don’t want to talk to you.”
He puffed breath at me, and his diamond flashed in the sunlight coming through the open
window.
“Come on, Johnny, let’s try to get on top of this thing,” he said. “There’s Ginny to think of.
You haven’t forgotten Ginny? You can imagine how she is feeling. She wants to see you,
Johnny.”
Was there no end to this? I found myself clutching hold of the sheet again.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I don’t want you in here. Get out!”
“You don’t remember Ginny - the girl you’re going to marry ?” He looked over at Riskin,
raising his fat shoulders. “I can’t believe that. Would you like to see her? Is that what you’d
like?”
I just lay there, staring at him while a cold wind blew through my mind.
“You two get together,” Riskin said. “I gotta go. Take it easy, boy. It’s going to work out
all right, only you’ve got to be receptive.”
59
I wanted to tell him to stay. I wanted to tell him to take this fat horror out of here, but no
words came. He went off, scratching his ear and shaking his head.
There was a long pause after he had gone. The fat man puffed gently, his smile remained
fixed, and his snake’s eyes watched me.
“You get out, too,” I said.
Instead, he reached for a chair and sat down.
“Know what they call that guy on the Force ?” he asked. “They call him Foxy Riskin. He’s
made a hit with you, hasn’t he, with his ‘boy’ this and his ‘boy’ that? You think he’s trying to
help you, don’t you? Well, he isn’t. All he wants to do is to get your confidence, and when
he’s got that, when he’s softened you up and got your guard down, he’s going to slap a
murder rap on you, and he’s going to make it stick.”
I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. I turned hot, then cold.
“If it wasn’t for me,” the fat man went on, resting his pudgy hands on his fat knees and
staring at me, “you’d be in jail now. All he wants is the motive, and I could tell him that, but
I’ve kept my mouth shut because you and I are going to make a deal.”
“I won’t listen to you,” I said. “Get out of here!”
