She called me some fancy names. I doubt if a stevedore could have matched her in names. I put on some more pressure to stop her, and it certainly did. Then, holding the lock with one hand, I groped around until I had worked the sash off her wrap and then tried to bind her hands together.
She knew that once I’d got her hands tied she was sunk, and she just went crazy for a few seconds. I had all my work cut out to hold her. It was quite useless to try and rope her when she was struggling like that, so I waited until she stopped. As soon as I got going again, she started to fight. I was getting mighty tired of this, so I got off her back and relaxed my grip.
She twisted over and began to sit up. I was just waiting for her to do that. Just as her head came up, I swung back my left and slammed in a punch on her jaw. I didn’t bother to pull any weight, I just handed it out—and it certainly was a peach.
I saw her eyes suddenly go blank and she went limp. I stood over her, panting. She’d given me the toughest scrap I’d had for years. Grabbing the sash, I turned her over and bound her hands behind her. Then I stripped off what remained of her stockings and bound her ankles with them. Pulling back the sheet, I rolled her under the covers, first making sure that the knots would hold her.
Then I went into the bathroom and took a look at my face. I had to give a grin. I certainly looked as if I’d walked into a something this time. My nose was still bleeding a little, and I was getting what looked like q swell black eye. I ran the water and began to bathe my face. When I was through, I went back to the bedroom. She was still out.
I lit a cigarette and sat down. My knees were a bit shaky. It had certainly taken it out of me, and I was mighty glad to see her helpless. The waiter at the Hotcha Club had said she was tough, but he had underestimated. Tough? That’s a laugh. She’d scare the pants off Strangler Lewis.
I wasn’t going to take the room to pieces until I’d been able to talk to her first. Tied up, she might be made reasonable.. Anyway, that’s the way I liked to talk to dames like her.
After I had got through half the cigarette, she began to rise to the surface. I watched her with interest. Her eyes opened, blinked in the light, then shut. Her head moved uneasily on the pillow. The bed looked as if an earthquake had hit it, but I wasn’t going to waste my time tucking a baby like this in.
She suddenly snapped out of it, and tried to sit up. The look she gave me would have burnt a hole in a sheet of asbestos. I grinned at her. “Sorry to be so rough, sister,” I said, “but you certainly asked for it.”
She began to call me names again. Well, names don’t break bones, but after a minute of it I got mad. That dame had about the dirtiest mouth I’d ever run into. I got out of the chair and grabbed a pillow. I slapped the pillow down hard on her face and held it there. I gave her a few seconds, then took if away.
“Cut that stuff out,” I said grimly, “or you’ll get smothered.”
She lay there, her eyes stormy, and I could see by her wriggling she was doing her best to bust loose. I wasn’t worrying about that. I knew how to tie a knot, and if she did get her hands free I could always put her out again. I wasn’t having any more gentle stuff with this dame… she was poison.
I sat on the bed beside her.
“Now you an’ I are goin’ to have a little chat,” I said. “If you don’t cough up what I want to know, it’s goin’ to be too bad for you. I’ve played ball up to now, but a floozie like you deserves to get the dirty end of any deal, an’ I’m goin’ to see you get it.”
“Don’t start anything, Mason,” a voice said by the door.
I looked quickly over my shoulder.
Earl Katz was standing in the doorway. He was holding a blue-nose automatic in his hand, and the barrel was pointing right at me.
CHAPTER SIX
SURPRISED? I’LL SAY I was surprised! You could have knocked me down with a mangle. What the hell was Katz doing here? What connection had he with Vessi’s moll?
I wasn’t going to show him that he had pulled a quick one on me. I gave him a smile. “Still pushin’ them into pockets, Bud?” I said.
“An’ talkin’ about pool, did you hear the one about the guy who was laying the red—?”
“Skip it, Mason,” Katz said out of the side of his mouth. That’s another thing I love. These guys who’ve been to so many tough movies that they just have to talk out of the side of their mouths, because they think it’s the thing to do. “Get her untied.”
I shook my head. “You’re crazy,” I said. “You don’t know what you’re saying. If I took the rope off this dame she’d kill us both.”
The automatic jerked up. “Listen, wise guy,” Katz said, “you ain’t goin’ to get anywhere with this line. Untie that dame, an’ make it snappy.”
Ackie had said this guy was as dangerous as a rattlesnake. To look at him now, I thought Ackie might be right. He didn’t look the dope any more. There was a cold, vicious gleam in his eye, and I thought he’d love to have a crack at me. When a guy’s got a gun I don’t argue too long. Guns always did make me nervous, anyway.
“Turn over, Tootz,” I said.
I wasn’t looking forward to the time when she got her hands free. The look she gave me didn’t exactly reassure me that a love feast was on its way.
I got her hands free and stepped away from her. I reckoned that I’d sooner argue with Katz’s gun than take anything from her.
She sat up, rubbing her wrists. “Give me a wrap,” she snarled at Katz.
Without taking his eyes from me, he pulled another wrap off the hook on the door and tossed it to her. She struggled into it and got off the bed. She looked a hell of a wreck. Blood from my nose was all over her shoulders and she’d got a big bruise on her jaw. I had left my fingerprints all over her arms, and the punch I had got in on her shoulder was already turning red and green.
She walked into the bathroom and shut the door. I could hear the water running.
“Sit down,” Katz said, jerking the automatic again.
I sat on the bed. I said: “Suppose you put the gun away and take it easy. This is a private matter between Blondie and me… it don’t call for any outside interference.”
Katz said: “You talk too much. Keep your trap shut. I’ll do the talking an’ you just answer… get it?”
I shrugged.
“What are you doin’ here?” he asked.
I grinned. “That’s an easy one,” I said. “What the hell would any man be doin’ here?”
Katz pushed his hat at the back of his head and leant against the wall. He put a finger and thumb in his vest-pocket and took out a toothpick. He put the toothpick in his mouth and chewed it thoughtfully.
“If you don’t like to talk straight,’ he said, “it’s goin’ to be tough for you.”
I said: “Be your age, Katz. You can’t get that way with me. I could make this town so hot for you that you’d have to take a powder quick.”
Katz shifted the toothpick. “You’re all washed up,” he said. “You ain’t nothin’. Suppose you get wise an’ talk? What are you doin’ here?”
The bathroom door opened and Blondie came in. She’d done some good work and she was looking more herself. Her eyes still glinted dangerously and she stood in the doorway, watching us.
I shrugged. “I guess I’ll be on my way,” I said, getting to my feet.
Katz said: “Sit down.” There was a threat in his voice.
“We won’t get anywhere,” I said. “I’m goin’.”
Katz shifted a little, so that his back was against the door. “Don’t start anythin’,” he said. “I ain’t ready to plug you yet, but don’t rush me.”
I said: “You better get out of the way.” I was getting mad with this gunman. I guessed he’d think twice about letting the gun off. After all, we were on a main street, and guns can make a noise.