The streets were less congested. He took half the time in getting back to the Bronx. Leaving the car in the garage, he walked down the steps of the basement and rapped on the door.
Gilroy opened it. The negro showed his big white teeth. “You okay?” he asked.
Duffy nodded. He said, “Come and have a drink.”
Gilroy followed him down the passage into the little room. Duffy sat on the bed and pushed his hat to the back of his head. Gilroy fixed the drinks, came over and gave Duffy a glass. He stood waiting. His thin face sleepy, but interested.
Duffy looked him over thoughtfully from the bed, scratched the side of his face, making a little rasping noise. Then he, said, “Perhaps you might like to come in on this.”
Gilroy lifted his shoulders. “Maybe,” he said, “it's nothing to me now.”
“Gleason was knocked off tonight,” Duffy said, swirling the whisky in the glass. “I was there, so was Morgan's gang and Gleason's wife. She popped him and tried to pin it on me.”
Gilroy rolled up his eyes. “They're slapping it on you all right,” he said at last.
Duffy nodded. “Sure, they got a reason. I'm holding up a million-dollar racket.” He took the note-book out of his pocket and tossed it on the table. Gilroy picked it up curiously and examined it Duffy could see it meant nothing to him.
He explained.
Gilroy sat listening, his black eyes half closed. He pursed his lips together. He said, at last, “You've gotta be careful.”
Duffy said, “I know that.” He got to his feet and wandered round the small room. “If Olga were here, I'd pull out, but where the hell can I go now?”
Gilroy thumbed the book over. “You wouldn't get far,” he said.
Duffy shrugged. “I don't know,” he said. “I might.”
“You thinking of playing this further?”
Duffy stopped walking and stood very still. He looked hard at Gilroy. “That depends a lot on you.”
Gilroy said, “Where do I come in?”
“A while back, you offered me your outfit; I guess I can use it.”
Gilroy smoothed down his crinkly hair with his hand. “How?” he said. He was being very cautious.
Duffy leant forward and tapped the top of the table with his index finger. “I'd like to run Morgan out of town.”
Gilroy drew his breath in with a little hiss. “You're nuts,” he said. “You gotta have dough for a job like that.”
Duffy took from his pocket the thin sheaf of notes and put it on the table. Then from his side coat pocket he took the ten grand he had lifted off Gus, and laid it on top of the other money. Gilroy watched him fascinated.
“Thirty-five grand enough?” Duffy asked.
Gilroy eased his collar with a thin black finger. “It helps,” he said slowly. “Where the hell did that come from?”
Duffy scooped up the money and put it back in his pocket. “It fell in my lap,” he said. “What say? You on?”
Gilroy sat down, poured out more drinks and lit a cigarette. “Let's talk about it. What's your idea?”
Duffy came over and sat down too. “I don't know,” he said. “I just want to run this Morgan louse out, and his gang with him.”
Gilroy screwed up his eyes, then said, “Why?”
Duffy's mouth set. “He thinks I can't do it. He's told me so. Well, I'm going to show the palooka he's bucking the wrong horse.”
Gilroy nodded. “That's the way it goes, is it?”
Duffy said, “Yeah, that's it.”
“You won't get far with the cops after you.”
“I've got that on the line. First thing tomorrow I'm getting protection.”
“Protection? Where do you get that from?”
“English.” Duffy leant back in the chair and took a long pull at his glass. “I'm blowing the whole works to that guy, and then watch him cover me up.”
Gilroy said, “You've got something there.”
Duffy said, “Sure, I have. Once I get protection, I'm a big shot. I can handle Morgan with protection and an outfit like yours.”
Gilroy said, “There's me, there's Shep, and there's Schultz.”
“Okay. Suppose we all get together, after I've seen English.”
Gilroy nodded and stood up. “The boys get in around about one o'clock. If you can make it, we'll be here then.”
He wandered to the door. “It ain't going to be easy,” he said.
Duffy was watching him cross the room. “You ain't gone into it,” he said. “It's a cinch.”
Gilroy nodded and went out, pulling the door behind him.
Duffy got up and took off his coat. A knock came on the door and the thin man put his head round. “There's a jane asking for you,” he said.
Duffy said, “Sure, and I suppose you told her I was right inside?”
The thin man said, “I told her I'd never heard of you, but it won't shift her. She says, 'Tell him it's Alice', like that. So I come back, and here I am.”
“Well, for God's sake!” Duffy put on his coat. “Shoot her in quick.”
The thin man shrugged and went away. He came back with Alice at his heels. Duffy went over to her and took her hands. He said, “Why, honey...” then he stopped.
“Sam told me,” she said breathlessly. “I had to see you. What is all this, Bill? The papers say you killed that woman. It's all in headlines.”
Duffy patted her arm. “Swell of you to come,” he said, leading her over to the bed. “Sit down, baby Take the weight off your feet.”
“What are you going to do?” she said. “Sam won't tell me anything.”
Duffy grinned. “He's told you too much as it is,” he said. “Listen, I didn't kill Olga. It was a frame-up. Look baby, I've got dough.” He took the money from his pocket and tossed it in her lap.
She gave a little shiver and put her hands behind her. She just sat and stared at the money. “Take it away,” she said quickly.
Duffy stared at her. “Look,” he urged, “there's thirty-five grand there. Did you ever see so much dough all at once?”
She said again in a tone that was just off-pitch, “Take it away.”
He picked up the money, a sulky look in his eyes. “If that's the way you feel,” he said.
She put her hand on his arm. “Oh, Bill, you're heading for trouble. Can't you see? For your own sake, please, stop it.”
Duffy put the money carefully in his side pocket. “Now listen....” he began.
She interrupted him. “Money isn't everything. You know it isn't. Please, Bill, give yourself up. I know it'll be all right. We'll get someone to help you... get back to your job. Don't go on with this business.”
Duffy raised his hand. She took one look at the hard glint in his eyes, and she sat away from him and began to cry. Duffy said, “I'm going through with this. I've been a little shot for years. I've been 'Come here, you bastard', 'Do this, you heel', 'Get that, you punk' all my goddam life. I'm through with it now. I'm bucking an outfit that's supposed to be tough. Okay, I'm bucking 'em. I'm going to get an outfit twice as tough. Do you get that? Twice as tough! When I've got it, I'm going after Morgan and clear him off the street. I'm going to be the big shot around here from now on. How do you like that?”