Maurer shifted his eyes away.
'Hello, Ferrari.'
'Big Joe sends his love,' Ferrari said, and smiled.
Maurer nodded. He knew how dangerous Ferrari was, and he was dismayed to find him here. He had to make an effort to get a grip on the situation.
'What the hell have you three been playing at?' he demanded. 'Why haven't you got rid of the girl? It's three weeks since I've been away. She should have been hit days ago.'
'Not so easy,' Seigel said. 'We don't know where she is, for a start.'
'You knew where she was!' Maurer snarled. 'Why didn't you hit her then?'
'We took Weiner first,' Gollowitz said quickly. 'He was the easiest.'
'The easiest! Don't you realize she is the dangerous one? With her out of the way Weiner's evidence wouldn't have amounted to a thing! You should have taken her first!'
Gollowitz had long ago realized his mistake of killing Weiner instead of Frances, and it bothered him that Maurer had so quickly spotted the weakness of his strategy.
'You know she's talked?' McCann said. 'She claims to have seen you knock off the Arnot woman. That's why there's a warrant out for you.'
Maurer's face turned a dusky red.
'Then she's lying! I didn't touch June!'
'They have pretty solid evidence,' McCann said slowly.
'Enough to convince any jury.'
Maurer looked at Gollowitz.
'What evidence?'
Gollowitz told him of Frances's statement and about the gold pencil.
'We tried to get the pencil,' he concluded, 'but they beat us to it.'
Maurer stiffened.
'What do you mean – beat you to it ?'
'Seigel went out there with a bunch of boys and surprised Conrad and a couple of coppers who were digging up the pencil. There was a gun fight, and before Seigel could clinch it, a bunch of cops took them in the rear. We lost five of our boys.'
Maurer looked as if he were going to burst with fury.
'Was that one of your stunts?' he snarled, leaning across the desk and glaring at Gollowitz. 'You crazy fool! You should have left it alone. I knew about that pencil. I had a story to cover it. Five of our men killed! You must be out of your head!'
Gollowitz dropped back in his chair, his face ashen. He felt Ferrari's eyes on him, and in a moment of sick despair he realized that the story of his failure would get back to the Syndicate.
'You not only throw lives away, but you underline the importance of the pencil,' Maurer went on. 'I dropped that pencil down the drain two days before June was killed.'
'But there was her blood on it,' McCann said sharply.
Maurer's little eyes gleamed.
'It was my blood. I cut my hand on a bottle. The blood smeared the pencil and as I was wiping it clean it dropped out of my hand and fell down the drain.'
'That won't do,' McCann said curtly. 'Sorry, Mr. Maurer, but it won't do. The blood on the pencil belongs to Miss Arnot's blood group, and it happens to be a fairly rare group at that.'
Maurer jutted out his chin.
'What group is it?'
'B group.'
'Would it surprise you if I told you I'm also in B group? I had a Wasserman a few years ago, and I was told I was in B group. How do you like that?' He swung around and glared at Gollowitz. 'If you hadn't tried to be so goddamn tough, this would have been a soft touch if it ever came to a trial.'
Gollowitz wiped his face. He looked suddenly old and very tired.
'I didn't know.'
Maurer looked at him contemptuously, then turned away with a shrug of his shoulder.
'Where's the girl?' he asked McCann.
'I wish I knew,' McCann returned. 'Forest has hidden her somewhere, and no one knows where.'
'Don't you?' Maurer snarled. 'Goddamn it! You're still Captain of Police, aren't you?'
'No one knows except the D.A., Conrad and twenty of my best men, who are guarding the girl. Conrad took her away the night Weiner died. Forest tells me no one but his office is to know where she is until the trial.' Maurer clenched his fist and thumped on the desk. 'We've got to find her and wipe her out!' He looked over at Seigel. 'That's your job! I want to know where she is the day after tomorrow. Understand? If you slip up on this I'll damn
