The man who opened the door was a giant, towering above Dan Fancy a good three inches and outweighing him thirty pounds. He was blond and chubby-faced and had the slightest suggestion of a paunch, but most of his weight consisted of muscle as solid as Dan’s. His pink face, with its upturned nose, was that of a cherub, but his small bright eyes spoiled the effect. They were the eyes of a hawk, and they glittered coldly when his lips smiled.
Dan gave him a lopsided grin. “Never stopped growing, did you, Jim? Thought I’d have passed you by now.”
“You’re a long way from Pittsburgh, Dan,” Big Jim Calhoun said quietly. He glanced at Adele, jerked his head toward the open door and said, “Outside, honey.”
The girl made no move.
“Better do like the man says, Adele,” Dan told her huskily.
Her face pale, Adele rose and walked to the door. There she paused and gave Dan an appealing look.
Fancy chuckled amusedly. “He won’t eat me, Adele. Wait in the hall.”
When the door had closed behind her, Big Jim Calhoun walked over to the bed and smiled without humor at the seated man.
Dan rested his right ankle on his left knee and leaned back on his elbows.
“You didn’t used to be so careless, Dan,” Big Jim said softly. “I could be all over you before you moved.”
Without taking his eyes from the other man’s, Dan shook his head. “If you move an inch closer, my heel will break your kneecap.”
Momentarily the giant’s eyes clouded. Then he stepped back and walked around the bed.
Effortlessly Dan came to his feet and turned to keep his face toward Big Jim.
“What do you want, Dan?” the giant abruptly asked.
“I want to get a kid named Gene Robinson out of death row over at the state pen.”
Big Jim said impatiently, “He’s a convicted murderer. He had a fair trial.”
Dan said carefully, “I don’t give a hoot in Hades about your rackets down here, Jim. All I’m interested in is the kid.” He paused and examined the other’s cherubic face estimatingly. “I’ll give you a choice, Jim. Throw the real killer to the wolves so the kid can go free, and I’ll leave you alone.”
“What’s the other half of the choice?”
“Fight me and I’ll bust your organization wide open.”
Big Jim shrugged with apparent indifference. “That’s a big order for one man. Even a guy with your reputation.” His tone turned sardonic. “How many crooks have you killed now? Five or six? It’s been in the papers, but I lost count.”
“Let’s stick to the subject,” Dan suggested.
Big Jim’s smile widened without affecting the coldness of his eyes a single degree. “You don’t worry me a bit, Dan. The only reason I dropped in is for old time’s sake. To pass a friendly warning. Be out of town by six tonight.”
“Or?” Dan asked.
“Or you get the works. You can’t buck me, Dan. Not here, you can’t. I own this town, lock, stock and barrel. I can get away with anything. I could kill you right now, and the cover-up would be so complete, I’d never be touched.”
Dan’s lopsided grin grew in dimension. “Wrong, Jim. Passing over the certainty that you’d have a hole in your head before you got your gun out, you couldn’t afford to bump me off. You may be the big frog in your own little puddle, but you’re not big enough to cover the murder of a special investigator for the governor. You’re worried silly, or you wouldn’t be here. Get smart and make it easy for both of us by turning in Saunders’ real killer.”
Big Jim shook his head. “Sorry, Dan. No chance.” He studied the big man and said in a tentative voice, “Don’t suppose it would be worth-while to offer you money?”
“You got a million dollars?”
Big Jim’s grin was a trifle crooked. “Same price as always, eh? I remember when we were kids you used to say you wouldn’t be crooked for less than a million dollars. That’s why you’re still working for peanuts, and I own a city.”
“Only till today, Jim. Tomorrow you lose the city, but I’ll still have my peanuts. I’ve got a little paper signed by the governor, Jim. Tomorrow morning early I’ll be at the courthouse. I’m confiscating all city and county records.”
The giant chuckled. “You’ll run into a battery of lawyers and a squad of cops.”
“They’ll be dead lawyers and dead cops if they get in my way. My paper authorizes me to call on militia.”
Jim’s smile faded. “The governor wouldn’t go that far. You can’t invade an incorporated community with militia against the consent of the local authorities.”
“Read your state constitution. In the public interest the governor can order militia anywhere in the state where local authority has broken down or is incompetent. The governor seems to think yours is incompetent.”
“He wouldn’t dare!”
Dan laughed aloud. “He dared to sign the paper, Jim. And I’ll damn well dare to use it.”
“Let’s see the paper.”
Dan shook his head. “Phone the governor if you want verification. I like my hands free when we’re in the same room.”
Big Jim’s bright eyes became narrow. “Then I guess it’s war, Dan. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He rounded the bed and held out a hand the size of a pancake griddle. “No hard feelings, though, no matter how it comes out.”
“Of course not, Jim.”
Dan stuck a hand only slightly smaller into that of Big Jim. A slight smile touched the giant’s lips as he suddenly jerked Dan toward him and started a vicious left cross.
The blow never landed. Expecting the maneuver, Dan added his own impetus to Big Jim’s powerful pull, and smashed his left elbow into the other’s jaw. Big Jim reeled backward, recovered his balance and surged forward again.
At the same moment the door behind Dan opened. With a catlike shift, he sidestepped the giant’s rush and half turned to meet the new adversary. That was as far as he got when a sap caught him behind the ear.
He managed the rest of the turn with a great ringing in his ears. Through the wrong end of a telescope he saw thin-faced Lieutenant Hart in the room. Then the contorted face of Big Jim Calhoun appeared before him and a huge fist started toward his jaw.
His mind willed a left-hand parry, but his arm refused to obey the command.
Dan awakened with his head in a lap and with soft arms around his neck. He looked up blearily at Adele Hudson’s face just as a drop of warm salt water landed on his nose.
“What are you crying about?” he asked thickly. “I’m the one who got belted.”
Her arms tightened convulsively. “Oh, Dan! I thought you were dead.”
The big man disengaged her arms and rose to his feet. She too rose from her seated position on the floor.
“You’re a nice kid, Adele,” he said gently.
Her face flaming, she turned abruptly and walked to the window.
Gingerly he fingered the lump behind his ear, then prodded one finger along the base of his jaw. “What happened to my guest?”
With her back still to him, she said, “Big Jim? He and that lieutenant he owns left right after they knocked you out. Big Jim had a paper in his hand and seemed pleased about something.”
Quickly Dan’s hand darted to his inside coat pocket and came out empty. “Now he knows what a liar I am,” he said ruefully. “That paper was signed by the governor, but all it said was that I was authorized to reinvestigate the circumstances of George Saunders’ death, and requested the local police to cooperate.”
The girl turned to face him. “What are you going to do now?”
The big man ignored her question. He was thoughtfully regarding the baseboard near his bed, against which he had apparently fallen when slugged by Big Jim, for the bed was pushed to one side. Dropping to his hands and knees, he studied the small microphone curiously. Then, placing his lips close to it, he suddenly emitted an ear-splitting shriek.