“Couldn’t we skip a little misunderstanding?”
“No, George. And speaking of little misunderstandings, the salesman met with a small, unimportant fatal accident.”
“It was expected. There’s a new deal lined up.”
“I don’t think I like you any more, George. I don’t think I like you handing me over to Christy.”
“Kid, did he say that? He was lying to you. Believe me. I wouldn’t think of a thing like that.”
“I’ve got a present for you, George, but maybe I’ll give it to somebody else.”
“Now hold on!”
“Squirm, George. Squirm nice.”
“Diana, don’t play games with me.”
“How’s your new protégé?”
“Kid, look! Here’s an angle. Give me the present and keep the double fee for yourself. It’s a nice wad.”
She laughed. “You know what, George? I kept myself from thinking about what a foul stinking business this is — just on account of you. And now I wish you were dead, George. Do you hear me? So maybe nobody will get the present.”
“Hello!... Hello!... Diana!” He rattled the hook. “Diana!” There was a sharp click as the phone was hung up.
Patton lifted the cutting arm off the record, picked it tenderly from the spindle and kissed it. “I love you, I love you,” he said.
Ricardo had already picked up the direct line. He made his report.
“Yes sir. That’s what the Saybree girl said. I can’t help what Tomkinton reported. He must have missed the transfer. That’s right, sir. She’s got it. Well, if she hadn’t gone out, she has to be calling from the hotel, doesn’t she? So that’s where Christy is.” Ricardo listened for a long time, unconsciously nodding as though his superior were talking to him face to face. “Right away, sir,” he said and hung up.
“Something new?” Patton asked.
“Tomkinton sent Clavna over this morning, down there in Texas, to look at some guy that got it during the night. Turns out it was an old friend of ours. Shaymen. Traveling under the name of Brown. Now that other phone call makes sense. The call when the girl reported the dough had been lifted. Christy must have sent Shaymen on ahead. He lifted the dough and then Christy must have killed him, since the body looks like Christy’s handiwork.
“We got word from our friends south of the border that they cleaned up the whole mob down there, but couldn’t find any sign of the last shipment. They got it across somehow. They’re going to flash Tomkinton and Clavna to pick up the little tea party down there. I got to take the record over. A car’s on the way to grab Georgie.”
Patton grinned. “End of the road, Boy, I’m going to rent me a cellar apartment. I won’t feel at home living above ground.”
“After the pinch, Pat, and after we report, would you be morally or ethically opposed to an evening of fermented juices, women and some nostalgic cantos?”
“I’m your boy.”
Ricardo opened the door. “I just happen to know a nice cellar bar...”
He dodged out as Patton snapped his cigarette at him.
As the door closed, Patton heard the warning dial tone. He shrugged and slipped a record on the spindle, put the cutting arm back in place. Odds were against any last-minute information, but you couldn’t be sure.
“Yes?”
“Al? This is George. I got to make a quick trip. Think you can hold the fort?”
“Maybe nobody’s told you, George, but without any merchandise there won’t be any fort to hold.”
“That’s all set. And you’ve got too much mouth over the phone, Al. Now get me a plane reservation to Houston and... hold on a minute. Somebody at the door. Hey, get the door for me, Delicious. I’m on the phone. And look, Al, I want to be sure to get down there no later than...”
Patton grinned and whispered, “Son, you ain’t goin’ noplace nohow.”
There was a mumble of voices and then he heard George say, his voice pitched high, “But there’s some mistake!” There was a click on the line.
“George!” Al said sharply. “Hey, George! What happened? George!”
A heavy voice came faintly over the line. “You can hang up now, Al. George’ll be busy for a long, long time.”
There was the clatter of the phone dropping from Al’s hand, several hoarse grunts, a scuffling sound, a padded blow and a moan. The phone was quietly replaced on the cradle.
Patton grinned with delight. He made a quick movement and changed the equipment over so that he could use the hand mike to record. He cut it right into the same record following that last conversation.
“And thus, friends, we bring to a close this concluding episode of our exciting drama entitled ‘The Snow Birds’ or, ‘Georgie Porgie goes to Atlanta’. This thrilling series has come to you through the courtesy of the Narcotics Division. Run, do not walk, to your nearest recruiting station and some day soon maybe you, too, can live in a cellar.”
It was all right. If the office didn’t think it funny, they could erase it from the record. Only one thing left to do now. Grab Christy and the gal. The retailers were being picked up in droves by now. Too bad about the gal. Nice husky voice. A looker, too.
But that’s what happens to little girls who run with the wrong crowd. A couple of years of that starchy prison food and nobody’d bother to look twice at her on the street.
The phone rang and Patton quickly grabbed it.
“Yes, I’ll unhook and pack up the stuff. About an hour and a half. Yes, I got one more. Just George calling Al and asking him to get him a plane ticket. The pinch came right in the middle of the conversation. Thanks a lot. Good-by.”
He hung up and, whistling softly, began to unhook the apparatus.
Chapter Six
No Place to Run
Surprised, Lane Sanson looked at Diana. She held his hand with both of hers. “I can’t stay here! And I can’t tell you why now, but I can’t have the police take him. I have to go with you. Please.”
He looked at her. Christy had stopped struggling against the wire. He followed them with his eyes.
“I’ll pay you, Lane. I’ll pay you well.”
“That’s nice, but it isn’t important. If there’s something you have to run from, can’t you do your own running? I’m up to my neck in this, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like out. I’ve got a job to do. I’m scared of the job, afraid I can’t handle it.”
“Please,” she said.
“No, thanks. I’m afraid to even think of what it is that was hidden in my car. I want it out of there. And then I want to say good-by.”
Her face changed. “Okay. But you can do a little bit, can’t you?” He nodded. “Then wait here while I pack. I don’t want to be left alone with him. I’ll come down to your room while you pack. We’ll both check out. We can leave separately so nobody will think of us as being together. I can pack what I need into one bag and leave the other here. I’ll tell you the rest where he can’t hear us. It won’t be much for you to do.”
“I’ll go along with you that far, Diana.”
She took fresh clothes into the other room and changed quickly. She seemed to grow more nervous as she packed. She neither spoke to nor looked at Christy as they left the room. Lane told her his room number, went on ahead and unlocked the door, leaving it ajar. She came in behind him as he started to pack.