“Take it easy,” he said. “Park your truss until I can get around to you.”
Killeano snarled at him, wrung his hands.
Clairbold picked up the sheet of paper, blushed, shuffled his feet.
“I have a statement here,” he said, handing me the paper. “It completely clears you, Mr. Cain. This man admits that Bat Thompson killed Herrick, Giles and Brodey, acting on his orders. They knew about the forgery plant. Killeano also admits he is responsible for issuing forged currency. I think you’ll find it in order.”
Dazed, I read the statement. It was a beautifully worded confession. Silently I handed it to Hoskiss who read it, said, “For God’s sake!”
“I deny every word of it,” Killeano babbled. “He was going to shoot me!”
“How did you persuade him to write this?” I asked Clairbold.
He fingered his tie nervously.
“I really don’t understand it myself, Mr. Cain,” he said, puzzled. “I think perhaps he was
frightened my gun wasn’t safe.” He shook his head. “He could be right because it went off unexpectedly when that man rushed in.” He waved his hand at the body by the printing plant. “Killeano thought I might shoot him accidentally. He was quite mistaken, of course, but when I suggested he might care to make a statement he seemed most anxious to do so.”
I looked at Hoskiss, who burst out laughing.
“Look,” I said to Clairbold, “you don’t kid me. You’re not half as dumb as you act. Son, you have a great future before you.”
He blushed. “Well, Mr. Cain, it’s nice of you to say so. I’ve been trained to appear rather simple. The Ohio School of Detection has taught me that criminals underrate people who act dumb.”
I dug Hoskiss in the ribs. “You might get somewhere if you took that course,” I said. “Look what it’s done for this lad.” Then I nodded at Killeano. “Your prisoner, buddy, and it’s our job to get him out of here.”
“Forget it,” Speratza snarled from the door. “Stick up your hands or I’ll blast the lot of you.”
We turned.
Speratza was covering us from the door with a Thompson. His face was white, his eyes vicious.
I had laid my .38 on the desk as I read Killeano’s statement. I calculated the distance, decided it was too far.
Killeano made another rush, tried to grab the statement, but Hoskiss flung him off.
A gun exploded at my side. Speratza dropped the Thompson, swayed. A blue-red hole appeared in the centre of his forehead. He crashed to the floor.
“I don’t believe this gun is safe,” Clairbold muttered, staring at the smoking Colt, but there was a satisfied gleam in his eyes that told me he was kidding.
I fell into Hoskiss’s arms.
“For the love of Mike,” I babbled hysterically, “he learned to shoot like that through the mail.”
8
On the face of it, it looked as if the show was over. I left the tidying up to Hoskiss. I wish now I had done it myself because they let Bat Thompson slide through their fingers. They threw a drag-net around Paradise Palms, but when they hauled it in, everyone who mattered was in it except Bat.
It worried me at first, but after thinking it over I decided that Bat by himself wasn’t a danger. He hadn’t the brains to think up trouble, and he was as near moronic as made no difference. But I would have liked to have seen him behind bars. The Feds were pretty sure that he had got away. It spoilt their case, since he was the guy who had bumped off Herrick, Giles and Brodey.
Killeano got twenty-five years. Speratza and Flaggerty were dead. Juan Gomez had been killed by one of the Federal officers in the fight outside 46 Waterside.
Once I was sure that Bat wasn’t in town, I asked Tim to fetch Miss Wonderly from Key West.
We were now in Palm Beach Hotel, trying to decide our future.
I sat on the balcony and looked at the green ocean. Only this time I didn’t have any presentiment of trouble. She sat on the balustrade.
“All right,” I said, after I had heard her argument. “I’ll get a job. I’ll go respectable if that’s what you really want.”
Her eyes were full of questions.
“But I want you to be happy too,” she said. “If you don’t think you could settle down…”
“I can try, can’t I ?” I said. “The thing to do is for you and me to get married. Then I’ll have to settle down.”
And that’s how we fixed it.
Four days later we were married. Hetty, Tim, Jed Davis, Clairbold (the boy wonder), and Hoskiss turned up at the wedding. It was quite an affair.
We decided to spend our honeymoon at Paradise Palms because the others didn’t want us to go elsewhere. They were pretty good to us, but at the end of the week I decided, if I was going to get a job, I’d better start looking for one. We packed our bags and arranged air passage to New York.
On our last night at Paradise Palms we threw a party that the staff of the hotel still talk about. Hoskiss brought with him six of his hard-drinking G-men. He announced at the beginning of dinner that Clairbold had entered the Federal Service. Clairbold finished up under the table. I guess he was getting beyond his Ohio School of Detection course by now.
After our guests had gone, we went up to our bedroom. It was around two o’clock in the morning. We were undressing in the bedroom when the telephone rang.
I told Clair—she wasn’t Miss Wonderly any more—I’d answer it.
I went into the sitting-room, took off the receiver.
The line crackled, hummed. A woman’s voice said, “Chester Cain?”
I said it was, wondering where I had heard the voice before.
“This is Lois Spence,” the woman said.
“Hello,” I said, wondering what she wanted. I had forgotten about her.
There was a lot of noise on the line. It crackled, popped and buzzed.
“Listen, you heel,” she said, her voice indistinct, far away. “You tricked Juan, and it was through you he was killed. Don’t think you’re going to get away with it. I pay off old debts, so does Bat. Remember him? He’s right by my side. We’re coming after you, Cain. We’ll find you wherever you are. You and your floozie, and we’ll fix you both.”
The line went dead. I replaced the receiver, frowned. Spiders’ legs ran down my neck.
“Who was it?” Clair called.
“A wrong number,” I said, and went back to the bedroom.
Chapter Six
PAY OFF
1
A PACKARD sedan swished to a standstill before one of the air towers. I glanced through the office window to satisfy myself that Bones, the negro help, was on the job. He was there all right. I watched him fussing around the car, gave him full marks for his enthusiasm, returned to work.
