conscious of the rain any more, hardly conscious of the protest my body was setting up. I felt my legs starting to go when I reached the door and the super and his wife took a startled look at me and helped me inside.
Lily Carver came up out of the chair, holding back the sharp intake of her breath with the back of her hand. Her eyes went soft, reflected the hurt mine were showing, then she had my hand and helped me into the bedroom.
I flopped on the bed and closed my eyes. Hands loosened my collar and pulled at my shoes. I could hear the super telling his wife to stay out, and hear her frightened sobs. I could hear Lily and feel her hands on my forehead. For a second I glimpsed the white halo of her hair and saw the sensuous curves of her body in hazy detail hovering over me.
The super said, 'You want me to call a doctor, Mr. Hammer?' I shook my head.
'I'll call a cop. Maybe...
I shook my head again. 'I'll be okay.'
'You feel good enough to talk a minute?'
'What?' I could feel the sleep closing in as I said it.
'A woman was here. Friday, her name was. She left you a note in an envelope and said it was pretty important. She wanted you to see it as soon as you came in.'
'What was in it?'
'I didn't look. Should I open it?' 'Go ahead.'
The bed jounced as he got up. It left me rocking gently, a soothing motion of pure comfort and there was a heaviness under my closed eyes too great to fight. Then the bed jounced again as he sat down and I heard the tearing of paper.
'Here it is.' His voice paused. 'Not much in it though.'
'Read it,' I said.
'Sure. `Dear Mike... I found the list. Your friend has it. I found something much more important too and must see you at once. Call me. Please call me at once. Love Michael.' That's all there is to it, Mr. Hammer.'
'Thanks,' I said, 'thanks a lot.'
From the other room his wife set up a nervous twittering. His fingers touched me. 'Think it'll be all right if I go back?' Before I could nod Lily said, 'Go ahead. I'll take care of him.
Thank you so much for everything.'
'Well... if you need me, just call down.' 'I'll do that.'
I got my eyes open one last time. I saw the smooth beauty of her face unmarred by anything now. She was smiling, her hands doing things to my clothes. The strange softness was back in her eyes and she whispered, 'Darling, darling... '
The sleep came. There was a face in it. The face had a rich, wet mouth, full and soft. It kept coming closer, opening slowly. It was Michael and in my dream I grinned at her, fascinated by her lips.
Chapter Twelve
You hurt too much to sleep. You wake up and it hurts more so you try to go back to sleep. There's a physical ache, a gnawing your body tries vainly to beat down and might have if the pain in your mind wasn't even worse. Processions of thoughts hammer at you, gouge and scrape until the brain is a wild thing seeking some kind of release. But there isn't any release. There's fire all around you, the tongues of it licking closer, needling the skin. The brain screams for you to awaken, but if you do you know the other things . . the thoughts, will be more searing pain so you fight and fight until the mind conquers and you feel the awakening coming on.
I thought I heard voices and one was Velda's. She kept calling to me and I couldn't answer back. Somebody was hurting her and I mouthed silent curses while I fought invisible bonds that held me tied to the ground. She was screaming, her voice tortured, screaming for me and I couldn't help her. I strained and kicked and fought but the ropes held until I was breathless and I had to lie there and listen to her die.
I opened my eyes and looked into the darkness, knowing it was only a dream but going nuts because I knew it could be real. My breathing was harsh, laboring, drying my mouth into leathery tissue.
The covers were pulled up to my neck, but under them there was nothing. The skin over my bruised muscles felt cool and pliable, then I found the answer with the tips of my fingers as they slid along flesh that had been gently oiled with some aromatic unguent. From somewhere the faint clean odor of rubbing alcohol crossed my nostrils, disturbing because of its unusual pungent purity. It was the raw smell of fine chemistry, the sharp, natural smell you might expect, but don't find in fresh, virgin forests.
Slowly, waiting for the ache to begin, I pulled my arm free, laid it across the bed, felt the warmth of a body under the back of my hand, then jerked it away as she almost screamed and pulled out of reach to sit there bolt upright with eyes still dumb with sleep reflecting some emotion nobody in the world would be able to put his finger on.
'Easy, Lily... It's only me.'
She let her breath out with more of a gasp than a sigh, trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes. 'You... scared me, Mike. I'm sorry.' She smiled, sat on the edge of the bed and put her shoes on.
Her dreams must have been pretty rough too. She had taken care of me, lay there while I slept until her eyes closed too. She was a good kid who had been through the mill and was scared to death of a return trip. She wasn't going to get it from me.
I said, 'What time is it?'
Lily checked her watch. 'A little after nine. Can I get you something to eat?'
'What happened to the day?'
'You slept through. You groaned and talked... I didn't want to wake you up, Mike. Can I get you some coffee?'
'I can eat. I need something in my gut.'
'All right. I'll call you.' Her mouth creased in a smile, one corner of it pulling up with an odd motion. I let my eyes drift over her slowly. As they moved her hands tightened at her throat and the strangeness came back in her face. The smile disappeared into a tight grimace and she twisted around to go out the door.
Some of them are funny, I thought. Beautiful kids who would do anything one minute and scared stiff of doing it the next.
I heard her in the kitchen, got up, showered, managed to get the brush off my face and climbed into some clean clothes. I could hear things frying when I got on the phone and dialed Michael Friday's number.
The voice that answered was deep and guarded. It said, 'Mr. Evello's residence,' but the touch of Brooklyn in the tone was a plain as the badge it wore.
'Mike Hammer. I'm looking for Michael Friday, Carl's sister. She there?'
'I'm afraid...'
'Is Captain Chambers there?'
It caught the voice off base a second. 'Who'd you say this was?'
'Hammer. Mike Hammer.'
There was a muffled consultation, then: 'This is the police,
Hammer, what did you want?'
'I told you. I want Friday.' 'So do we. She isn't around.'
'Damn!' It exploded out of me. 'You staked out there?' 'That's right. We're covering the place. You know where the girl is?'
'All I know is that she wants to see me bad, feller. How can I reach Chambers?'
'Wait a minute.' The phone blanked out again and there was more talk behind a palm stretched over the mouthpiece. 'You gonna be where you are a while?'
'I'll be here.'
'Okay, the sergeant here says he'll try to get him for you. What's your number?'
'He knows it. Tell him to call me at home.'
'Yeah. You get anything on that Friday dame, you pass it this way.
'No leads?'
'No nothing. She disappeared. She came back here after she left headquarters the other day, stayed a couple
