'I don't know.'
'You'll know when I tell you what happened,' asserted Cardona grimly. 'That phone call came through. I
took it. I'll show you what I nearly got.'
He motioned to one of the detectives. The man produced the fake telephone. Cardona exhibited the
parts to Slips Harbeck.
'See?' quizzed the detective. 'Right up against my ear like that. It would have got me, if I hadn't turned
wise all of a sudden. Say, Slips' — Cardona spoke as though he had a sudden idea—'I think you're all
right, after all. Lucky, I call it. You were going to that office. You were going to answer the telephone.
Maybe this was meant for you.'
Slips grinned derisively. Cardona snapped at the opportunity. It was exactly what the detective had
wanted.
'So you don't think it was meant for me, eh?' questioned Cardona. 'Then I guess you knew about it.
Knew it was a plant, eh? All set to bump somebody off. That looks bad for you, Slips!'
A WORRIED expression registered itself upon the gangster's face. Slips realized that he had put himself
in a predicament. He saw the flash in Cardona's eyes and feared the consequences. Slips knew that
Cardona had the facts regarding that last call which the gangster had received from Larry Ricordo.
'Lay off me,' pleaded Slips. 'You've got me all mixed. I didn't know nothing about that phony phone.
Maybe you were right, Joe. It might have been meant for me.'
'Somebody double-crossing you, eh?' quizzed Cardona derisively. 'Fine guy for you to stick up for.
Come on — it's your only chance. If you were double-crossed, you've got a right to squeal. If you don't
talk, it proves you knew the game. That's sure enough, isn't it?'
Confronted by this dilemma, Slips tried to play a middle course. He licked his lips and blinked his eyes as
he tried to face his inquisitor.
'You said you'd give me a break,' he protested. 'Honest, I wasn't in on any lay like this. I guess you're
right about the double cross.'
'You see it now, eh?'
'Yeah. Somebody wanted to get me, I guess. I'm sort of mixed up, Joe, but I guess you're right. A
double cross, but I didn't know it. I guess Larry did want to — '
Slips Harbeck stopped suddenly and bit his lip. He realized his mistake. Joe Cardona glared triumphant.
The detective, unwearied, was quick on the job.
'Larry, eh?' he questioned. 'You're talking about Larry. Larry— what's the rest of his name?'
'I don't know nothing!' snarled Slips.
'Larry,' checked Cardona, in a speculative tone. 'There's a lot of Larrys who pack guns, aren't there,
Slips? I'm trying to think of some who would be in on this.'
The detective turned to question one of his subordinates. His eyes were away from Slips Harbeck.
'Say, Mayhew,' questioned Cardona, 'what's become of Larry Ricordo. You know — the guy that was
going to be a big shot, but got cold feet.'
'I don't know,' responded Mayhew. 'He took out to the sticks, so they say.'
A momentary smile flickered on Slips Harbeck's sullen face. Cardona's turnabout had given the gangster
a momentary respite.
But that was part of Cardona's game — an old trick which he frequently worked with Mayhew. The other
detective was watching Slips from the corner of his eye.
'You've hit it, Joe,' said Mayhew, with a grin. 'Hit the bull's-eye. Larry Ricordo's the one we want!'
This, too, was a follow-up in Cardona's game. Mayhew had learned his part from experience. Cardona's
pretended lack of vigilance; Mayhew's sharp observation; then Mayhew's comment. These were three
steps.
Cardona provided the fourth. He swung back to Slips Harbeck, and loosed a sweeping volley of
denunciation.
'So it's Larry Ricordo, eh?' demanded Cardona. 'You know why he beat it out of town, don't you?
Because he double-crossed Louie Muth. You didn't know that, did you? Didn't know who Muth's mob
was gunning after? Well, you know now! You'd better be glad we pinched you, Slips. If that mob had
ever found you out — '
CARDONA'S outburst was well calculated. His statements were fictitious. He knew that some mystery
surrounded the death of the mob leader whom he had named. He also was subtle when he introduced the
suggestion of a double cross. That was the very element that he had been building up in Slips Harbeck's
mind.
'Come clean,' added Cardona, after a pause. 'You asked for a break. I'm giving it to you. Come clean,
Slips!'
Cardona had driven the wedge. It was all that he had needed. Slips Harbeck, exhausted, no longer
possessed the strength to battle back after Cardona had gained a definite point. The naming of Larry; the
logical guess that it might be Larry Ricordo — these had given Cardona a step toward the fact he wanted.
The ace detective followed up his advantage. He purred smooth questions, and guided Slips Harbeck
toward the answers. Easing the gangster's mind as he went along, Cardona turned everything his own
way.
Slips resorted to uncertainty, licking his lips as he went along. He admitted that he had opened
negotiations with a man who purported to be Larry Ricordo. He was not sure that it was Larry; for he
had conducted all transactions over the telephone.
Cunningly, Slips denied all connection with the affair at Alfred Sartain's, and the explosion at Wesley
Barnsworth's apartment. He suggested that Duster Brooks must have given his name to Larry Ricordo -
or whoever it was that pretended to be the big shot.
All that Slips claimed to know was that a package of cash had been delivered to him at Red Mike's as
advance payment for a job, with orders to follow telephoned instructions. He stated that he had intended
to avoid a visit to Gardner Joyce's office.
'I was going to scram,' he protested. 'Honest I was, Cardona. You can't blame me for picking up some
loose cash, can you? It was soft. I figured if it was Larry Ricordo who was giving me the dough, he
wouldn't come after me if I beat it out of town. I knew he was laying low.'
Slips Harbeck's plea was a shrewd one. He told his story convincingly, by using enough truth to support
his fabric of doubts and lies.
Joe Cardona saw the game and took advantage of it. The detective knew that it would be difficult to
convict Slips Harbeck of any crime, for the only actual testimony referred to the telephone call at Red
Mike's; and Gawky Tyson, the stool pigeon, had been the only listener.
But Cardona, by concentrating upon the story that Slips told, was establishing the most important point:
namely, that Larry Ricordo was behind the crimes that had been attempted. To prevent further criminal
activities— and Cardona feared murder — the arrest of Larry Ricordo would be a logical step.
If Slips was as important an underling as Cardona supposed, the capture of this lieutenant would
embarrass Larry Ricordo, and put the big shot at a disadvantage. It was best for Slips to be absent for a
while.
'We're going to hold you, Slips,' announced Cardona. 'We'll need you later on. I'm out to get Larry
Ricordo — and you're not going to be loose to queer it. See?'
Slips nodded. He submitted weakly to Cardona's decision.
The detective was somewhat surprised. He attributed the gangster's lack of spirit to a fear of Larry