He said, trying to look shocked, “You didn’t ought to have girls in your place, Mason; it gives the building a bad name.”
I said, “You’re kiddin’ yourself. The place had a bad name long before I moved in. Besides, I don’t know what you’re talking about. What’s all this about dames?”
The waitress came up just then and took his order for tomato-juice and toast. When she had gone, he spread himself over the table. “I saw her when I was getting the paper,” he said. “She came out fast, just like she had been chased out.”
I thought: if I’d seen her, she’d come out faster than that.
“You’re nuts,” I said. “Soon as I saw you, I thought your liver had been shot to hell.”
A look of doubt crossed his face, then he came back again. “You can’t kid me,” he said, with an attempt to leer. “She was some baby… a real hot mamma.”
I finished my coffee and lit a cigarette. “Do you often get like this?” I said anxiously. “I bet you’ll even be able to describe her to me.”
“Sure I can,” he said. “She was tall, blonde, with a make-up that just knocked me. She wore black, and had a large black felt hat, and a gold something or other round her neck. She was moving fast, but I’d know her any time.”
I got to my feet, pushing the chair away with the back of my legs. I looked down at him in concern. “You gotta do something about this,” I said. “You go an’ see a croaker… you’ve been seeing things.”
I walked out of the restaurant, leaving him snorting. Once I was on the street I walked slowly, picking my way through the crowds milling to work.
So she was blonde, tall and dressed in black. A sweet job to look for a dame with that description. Still, she’d got my five grand, and I was going to find her or bust.
Maybe Ackie would know where she fitted in. I turned into a drug-store and rang the Press room, but he wasn’t there. They thought he was over at Hank’s pool-room having a game, but they weren’t sure.
I took a taxi down to Hank’s, but he wasn’t there either. They thought he’d show up, so I spent a little time practising shots on one of the tables.
I never managed to get the knack of the game, but it interested me, and whenever I got near a table I just had to push the balls around. I got so interested in-a cannon-shot that seemed to be going just right that I lost count of the time. After I had broken my combination up, I thought I’d better give Ackie a miss and get on to the street again. As I was moving, a long, thin dope, dressed like a mock member of the upper crust, wandered in and stood watching me.
He said suddenly, “What about a little game with a dollar or so on for interest?”
I’ve met these dopes before. They look so damn dumb, you think it’s a shame to take their dough, but once they’ve raised the ante to twenty-five bucks they make the ball do everything but eat a four-course lunch.
I put the cue on the table and shook my head. “I’m through,” I said. “You go an’ get some practice.”
He picked up the cue and began potting the red. I expected him to make a hell of a mess of it, but he just went ahead and gave one of the finest exhibitions of shooting I’d ever seen. He slammed the balls into the pockets from every angle, and I just dug them out and rolled them back to him. He got a spin working that made the ball float round the table, and then he finished up with a real snorter that sunk the three balls with one shot.
“I see you’ve been a beginner some time,” I said, thinking I was lucky not to have played this guy.
He leant over the table to dig out a ball, and his coat shifted up over his hip. I saw the handle of a gun sticking out of his hip-pocket. “Me? I’m punk,” he said. “I just like pushin’ the balls around.”
I took a close look at this guy. He still looked a dope, but when you examined him closely, his eyes gave him away. This guy was tough. He’d got a hanging lip that gave him the soft look, but his eyes were suspicious and hard.
He was quick to see my interest, and he leant against the table and began to clean his nails with a pocket- knife. “Ain’t seen you around before?” he said, his voice rising a little, making it a question.
I shook my head. “Just looked in for a pal,” I told him. I wondered who he was, so I thought a little harmless talk wouldn’t waste my time.
“I guess I’ve seen your face before,” he said, without looking up.
“Yeah? Maybe you have.”
“You wouldn’t be Mason, the news writer?” He overdid it. He knew who I was.
“Sure,” I said. “Maybe you’ve seen my photo somewhere.”
“Yeah.” He folded the knife and put it in his vest-pocket. “Yeah, maybe I have.” He gave me a long, hard look, then, tossing the cue on to the table, he walked out.
I watched him go thoughtfully. I couldn’t quite get the angle. I went over to the bar. Hank was polishing glasses. He was a big guy with red, curly hair and tremendous hands and arms.
“Who’s the dope?” I said, jerking my head towards the door.
Hank shrugged. “Search me,” he said. “What’ll you have?”
“Ain’t you seen him before?”
“I don’t remember.”
Just then Ackie came in. When he saw me he grinned.
“What the hell are you doin’ here?” he said, crowding up to the bar. “Two ryes and ginger,” he said to Hank.
“I wanted to see you,” I said, “so I looked in on the off-chance.”
Hank put the rye in front of us. He beamed at Ackie. “You all right, mister?” he asked.
Ackie leant forward and patted Hank’s arm. “Me? I feel fine, couldn’t be better.”
It looked like these two knew each other, so I tried again.
“That guy who was play in on the table over there… who was he?”
Hank stopped laughing. His little eyes shifted like quicksilver. “I tell you I don’t know him,” he said.
Ackie looked at me, then he looked at Hank. Ackie was a smart guy. He saw the set-up without being told. “Spill it, Hank… this guy’s a pal of mine,” he said.
“I tell you I don’t know.” Hank was getting angry. “I can’t waste all my time with you gents… I gotta get on with my work.” He walked to the far end of the bar and began polishing glasses down there.
Ackie looked after him thoughtfully and poured himself another rye. “What’s it all about?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe it’s nothing. I was pushing some balls around an’ some guy offers to play me. I turned him down, an’ while he was showin’ off I spotted a gun in his pocket. Then he asked if my name was Mason, took a hard gander at me and beat it. I was just wondering who he was. This bar bozo knows who he was, but won’t say.”
Ackie frowned. “What’s this fella like?”
“A tall, thin bird, with a hanging lip and cold, hard eyes. He looked a dope, but I guess he was tough all right.”
Ackie’s eyes narrowed. “.This guy know how to handle a cue?”
“Sure, he’s the hottest thing I’ve seen.”
“That’s Earl Katz,” Ackie said. “Well! Well!”
I shook my head. “That’s a new one on me.”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t know him. He’s a bad guy all right. One of Lu Spencer’s gunmen.”
I put my glass on the bar with a sharp little click. “Lu Spencer?” I said.
Ackie nodded. “Yeah… looks to me like they’re watchin’ you already.”
“What makes Hank get the jitters about a dope like that?” I asked.
“Katz a dope?” Ackie wagged his bullet head. “You’re crazy. That guy’s as deadly as a rattlesnake. Don’t go gettin’ ideas about him. Why, Hank and the rest of us are scared sick of him.”
I took another poke at the rye. “Well, I don’t mind telling you,” I said quietly, “that guy ain’t goin’ to make me nervous.”
Ackie shrugged. “You wait till you know him,” he said.
I glanced round the room, but the place was still empty except for Hank, who was keeping away from us. I lowered my voice. “I had a little adventure last night. A dame dropped in and pinched some dough off me.”
Ackie looked interested. “You mean she came in and took your roll or somethin’?”
“I was havin’ a shower and she got in, knocked off a nice slice of my rent and skipped without me seein’ her.
