party has horned in and helped themselves. Just as long as Cattley remains in that vault, trouble will stay still. As soon as he pokes up his head, the balloon will go up.”
“Don’t you run a risk of being made an accessory after the fact or something?” Alice asked, her brow wrinkled.
Duffy said, “I guess I’ve been in worse spots than accessory charges.”
Sam got up and began to pile the plates in the kitchen. Alice went out to help him. Duffy sat in the arm-chair and brooded. His body was one dull ache, but he wouldn’t let his mind dwell on it. There was a bitter angry feeling smoldering inside him. Furious with Morgan, revengeful against those three toughs, and determined to get those photos back, he thought of Annabel. Then he got up and went over to the telephone. He dialled a number, after consulting the book.
He recognized her voice at once.
“This is Duffy here,” he said.
“Have you got them?” her voice was eager.
“Listen, baby,” he said, speaking low and fast, “you don’t know half what happened last night.”
“What is it?”
“For one thing Morgan ain’t got those pictures. For another, he wants them mighty bad. When I got home last night, three birds were waiting for me and they beat me silly when I couldn’t give them the camera.”
She was silent for a moment. “But who has got it?” she said at last.
“I don’t know,” he had to admit it; “this is a line up against your Pa. Why the hell didn’t you tell me who you were?”
“Well, who am I?”
“You’re Edwin English’s daughter.”
“I prefer to say I am Annabel English.”
He laughed. He couldn’t help himself. “I’ve been looking up your record, baby, it ain’t so hot.”
“You think so?” She sounded very cool. “I thought you’d appreciate me.”
“I think you ought to go very slow for a bit,” he said, .”you just lie low, and don’t start anything. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to get out of town for a little while.”
“Oh no,” she was very definite, “I won’t do that.”
“Okay, but watch your step from now on.”
“When am I seeing you?”
He grinned, but he felt no mirth. “Sooner than you think,” he said quietly, and hung up.
CHAPTER VI
IT TOOK DUFFY TWO impatient days to shake himself loose. Sam and Alice, their nerves frayed, were at last forced to give way to his insistence.
In a new suit, his face still battered, his temper vile, Duffy walked into the street. Sam came along at his heels.
“I feel,” said Sam, “that you’re going to run into trouble so fast we ain’t going to have any time to stick you together again.”
Duffy was walking fast. “You don’t know nothing,” he said shortly; “I feel fine, and I ain’t going to find trouble.”
Sam swung along at his side. “What’s the hurry, for God’s sake? You got a date with someone?”
“No, but I got to get me some exercise. Come on, get going.”
“You ain’t said where you’re going,” Sam said.
“First I’m going back to my joint, then I’m going to find out something about Cattley.”
“Why Cattley, for the love of mike?”
“Just that; I don’t know. Maybe, I’ve got a hunch. Cattley’s at the bottom of this, and I want to find out quite a bit about him. I want to find out why he was rubbed out. When I find that out, I guess I’ll be pretty close to his killer. Okay, when I find his killer, I’ll find the camera.”
Sam stopped at the corner. “Well, I can’t run around with you all day. I’ve got a living to make. Now, soldier, you’re coming back to us tonight, ain’t you?”
“Listen, Sam, you’re swell, and Alice’s swell. You’re both swell, but from now on, you keep out of this. I’m going my own little way, without you two popping your heads into anything I might stir up.”
Sam groaned. “I love you like this; just a big selfish playboy. You have the fun and we’re just to sit round to put on the adhesive tape. Listen, mug, we’re both in this, get it?”
Duffy grinned. It still hurt him to grin, but he grinned. “I’ll be along,” he said, “I get it.”
Sam looked pleased. “Bounce ’em, brother, bounce ’em,” he said.
“They’ll take some bouncing,” Duffy said ruefully, as he watched McGuire’s long frame disappearing through the crowded traffic.
He walked down the street, conscious of quick furtive glances at his battered face. He felt suddenly angry, his eyebrows coming down, making his face even more unattractive.
When he reached his apartment he was glad to find the place had been cleaned up. He made a little grimace at the faint stains on the walls. He wandered through the rooms, looking at everything carefully. Then he returned to the sitting-room. He sat on the edge of the table and thought a little while.
Cattley must have an apartment somewhere. The telephone directory gave him the information. He dialled the number opposite Cattley’s name, but there was no answer.
Going down once more into the street, he flagged a taxi and gave an address on the East side. After he had gone a little way, he glanced out of the small rear window. A big Packard was rolling along behind him.
He thought, “Maybe I’m just jumpy,” but he watched the Packard closely. After he had been riding for several minutes he leant forward. “A bird’s sitting on our tail,” he said abruptly. “It makes me nervous.”
The taxi-driver was a big beefy Irishman. He turned his head and grinned. “Watch me shake ’em,” he said.
Duffy gave him five minutes, then said again. “You’ll have to do better than that.”
The driver pushed the cab until it began to rattle, but the Packard just sat behind them.
Duffy said, “He’s too big for you.”
“What you want me to do, boss?”
Duffy fumbled for some money. He gave the driver a couple of bucks. “Drop me at the first boozer you see,” he said; “don’t stop, just slow down. If they come after you you don’t know where you were taking me.”
“Like the movies, huh?”
“Sure, you got it. Like the movies.”
The driver suddenly crowded on his brakes and swung to the kerb. Duffy bundled out, slamming the door. He stood on the pavement, watching the cab drive on. The Packard slowed down, hesitated, then shot away at right angles, turning a corner, disappearing quickly. Duffy didn’t see who was in it. He flagged another cab and told the driver to drive on for a while. When he was sure that he hadn’t got the Packard on his tail, he gave the apartment address again.
Cattley’s apartment was big and showy. It was on the second floor of a large block. Duffy didn’t take the elevator up, he walked. On the front door, was a small metal plate bearing Cattley’s name. Duffy rang the bell. No one answered. He stood waiting. Then he rang the bell again. While he was standing there, he heard the elevator coming up. He stepped away from the door quickly and went up three stairs of the next flight. He was just out of sight from the elevator. He heard the grille slide back, and he looked round cautiously. A woman was standing in front of Cattley’s door. He couldn’t see who she was, but he watched her closely. There was something very familiar in her slim figure. She took a key from her handbag and opened the door. He came down the three stairs silently and walked into the room behind her.
“Hello, baby,” he said.
She stood quite still for a moment, then turned and faced him. Her face was a little drawn, and her eyes big.
