'Did they leave it that way?'
'There wasn't much they could do. The report the other investigator sent in said Lee was doing a fairly serious job of bodyguarding. He had already got into a couple of scrapes over her and she seemed to like it.'
It was another thread being woven into place. The rope was getting longer and stronger.
Ray said, 'You still there?'
'I'm still here.'
'What did you call me for then?'
'The driver of the truck who killed Lee. Got that too?'
'Sure. Harvey Wallace. He lives upstairs over Pascale's saloon on Canal Street. You know where the place is.'
'I know,' I said.
'Might have something here on Nick Raymond.'
'What?'
'He retailed imported tobacco through a concern in Italy. He had his name changed from Raymondo to Raymond before the war. Made a few trips back and forth every year. One of his old customers I ran down said he didn't look like much, but he spent the winters in Miami and dropped a wad of cabbage at the tables there. He was quite a ladies' man too.'
'Okay, Ray. Thanks a lot.'
'Got a story yet?'
'Not yet. I'll tell you when.'
I hung up and turned the shrimp over in the pan. When they were done I ate, finished my coffee and got dressed.
Just as I was going out, the front-door buzzer went off and when I opened it the super was standing there with his face twisted up into one big worry and he said, 'You better come downstairs, Mr. Hammer.'
Whatever it was he didn't want to speak about in the hall and I didn't ask him. I followed him down, got into his apartment and he motioned with his thumb and said, 'In there.'
She was sitting on the couch with the super's wife wiping the tears away from her face, filthy dirty and her clothes torn and dust streaked.
I said, 'Lily!' and she looked up. Here eyes were red things that stared back at me like a rabbit cornered in its hole.
'You know her, Mr. Hammer?'
'Hell yes, I know her.' I sat on the couch beside her and felt her hair. It was greasy with dirt, its luster completely gone. 'What happened, kid?'
The eyes filled with tears again and her breath came in short, jerky sobs.
'Let her alone a little bit, Mr. Hammer. She'll be all right.' 'Where'd you find her?'
'In the cellar. She was holed up in one of the bins. I never would've seen her if I didn't see the milk bottles. First-floor tenants were squawking about somebody stealing their milk. I seen those two bottles and looked inside the bin and there she was. She said to call you.'
I took her hand and squeezed it in mine. 'You all right? You hurt or anything?'
She licked her lips, sobbed again and shook her head slowly.
The super's wife said, 'She's just scared. Supposing I get her cleaned up and into some fresh clothes. She had a bag with her.'
White outlined the red of Lily's eyes. She pulled back, her face tight. 'No... I... I'm all right. Let me alone, please let me alone!' Then there was something fierce about the way she looked at me and bit out, 'Mike... take me with you. Please. Take me with you!'
'She in trouble, Mr. Hammer?'
I looked at him steadily. 'Not the kind of trouble you know about.'
He saw what I meant, spoke rapidly to his wife in that language of his and her wise little eyes agreed.
'Help me get her upstairs.'
The super took her bag, hooked one arm under hers and she came up from the couch. We used the service elevator in the rear, made my floor without meeting anybody and got her inside the apartment.
He said, 'Anything I can do to help, just let me know.' 'Right. Clam up about this. Tell your wife the same.' 'Sure, Mr. Hammer.'
'One other thing. Get me a damn big barrel bolt and slap it on my door.'
'First thing tomorrow.' He closed the door and I locked it after him.
She sat there in the chair like a kid waiting to be slapped. Her face was drawn and the eyes in it were as big as saucers. I fixed her a drink, made her take it all and filled it up again.
'Feel better?'
'A... little.'
'Want to talk?'
Her teeth were a startling contrast to her skin when she bit her lip and nodded.
'From the beginning,' I said.
'They came back,' she said. Her voice was so low I could barely hear it. 'They tried the door and one of them did something with the lock. It... opened. I sat there and I couldn't even scream. I couldn't move. The... the chain on the door stopped them.' A shudder went through her whole body.
'They were arguing in whispers outside about the chain, then they closed the door and went away. One of them said they'd need a saw. I... couldn't stay here, Mike. I was terrified. I threw my clothes in the bag and ran out but when I got to the street I was afraid they might still be watching and I went down the cellar! Mike... I'm... I'm sorry.'
'That's all right, Lily. I know how it is. Did you see them?'
'No. No, Mike?'
The shudder racked her body again and she bit into her finger.
'When... that man found me... I thought he was... one of them.'
'You don't have to worry any more, Lily. I'm not going to leave you here alone again. Look, go in and clean up. Take a nice hot bath and fix your hair. Then get something in your stomach.'
'Mike... are you... going out?'
'For a little while. I'll have the super's wife stay with you until I get back. Would you mind that?'
'You'll hurry back?'
I nodded that I would and picked up the phone. The super's wife said she'd be more than glad to help out and would come right up.
From in back of me Lily said, 'I'm so dirty. Ask her to bring some rubbing alcohol, Mike.'
She said she'd do that too and hung up. Lily had finished her drink and lay with her head against the back of the chair watching me sleepily. The tautness had left her cheeks and color had come back to her mouth. She looked like a dog who had just been lost in the swamp then suddenly found his way home.
I started the water in the tub, filled it and lifted her out of the chair. She was light in my arms, completely relaxed, her breathing soft against my face. There was something too big in her eyes while she was so close to me and the strain of it showed in the corner of her mouth. She dug her fingers into my arms with a repressed hunger of a sort, sucked in her breath in a series of almost soundless staccato jerks and before I could kiss her she twisted her head and buried it against my shoulder.
The super's wife came in while she was still splashing around in the tub. She made clucking noises like a mother hen and wanted to go right to her, but the door was locked so she started scrounging some chow up in the kitchen. The bottle of alcohol was on the table and before I left I knocked on the door.
'You want a rub-down, Lily?'
The water stopped splashing.
'Glad to give you a hand if you want,' I said.
She laughed from inside and I felt better. I left the bottle by the door, told the mother hen I was leaving and got.
Seven thirty-two. The gray overcast brought a premature dusk to the city, a gloomy wet shroud that came down and poured itself inside your clothes. It was the kind of night that made the city withdraw into itself, leaving
