Heaven Ran Last

Chapter XIII

The next morning Harrigan called me and asked me to come down to the Criminal Courts building. When I got there I found him in an office on the second floor, talking with an assistant State’s Attorney, Morowitz.

Harrigan introduced us and then said, “This is just for the record, Johnny. We want to get your statement on what happened Sunday night.” He punched a buzzer on his desk and pretty soon a court reporter came in, carrying a notebook.

I sat down and lit a cigarette. Harrigan put his feet on the desk and looked at his hands. His face was tired and lined and he needed a shave, but his eyes still had that quick bright look. Morowitz sat down, too, and just looked at me without any expression at all on his face.

The office was hot and close. There were butts on the floor and there was a rip in the window shade that let a bar of dusty sunlight fall across the floor.

“Any time you’re ready,” Harrigan said.

The court reporter had his book open and a pencil ready, so I went through the story. I almost had it memorized by this time. I had the funny feeling I’d never talked about anything else in my life.

When I got through Harrigan looked over at Morowitz. “Got any questions?”

Morowitz shrugged. He was a short stocky guy with black hair and sharp eyes. “It all seems pretty clear.” He looked at me then and said, “When did you say you talked to Lesser, Ford?”

“About him going up to her place Sunday night? That was Friday afternoon.”

“About what time?”

“Pretty early, I guess. We were having lunch.”

“I see. And what time did you leave Olsen that night?”

“Around eight-twenty.”

“We’re sure of that,” Harrigan said. “He was in his hotel room at eight-thirty. I talked to the person who was with him at that time.”

The court reporter was still taking everything down and I had a feeling of relief. One thing had bothered me about getting rid of the blonde. That was because she was my cover-up on that time angle. But now it was in an official record, in Harrigan’s words. That would be just as good a witness as the blonde.

There weren’t any more questions for Morowitz and we talked about nothing in particular for a while. I asked them how the case against Frank was going and Harrigan shrugged his shoulders.

“He claims he didn’t do it. The State’s Attorney says he did. It’ll be up to a jury.”

“Have you got a decent case against him?” I said.

Morowitz said, “We’ve got a decent circumstantial case. We can establish the fact that he had been quarreling with his wife for a week before the murder. We can prove he knew his wife was seeing Lesser that night. And we can place him, by his own admission, in the apartment at eight-thirty, which was the time the neighbors heard the shots fired. It all adds up.”

I left after a little more talk. I had the feeling everything was all right on that angle. They had a good case and they were going to send him away.

That much was all right but I had other things on my mind. When I left the courts building and started downtown the blue Nash picked me up and followed me into the Loop. I stopped at a little dice joint on Jackson Boulevard and the blue Nash went past and I saw two men in the front seat. I knew by this time they were Banghart’s way of protecting his nine thousand dollars. My chances of taking any sudden trip out of Chicago were pretty slim.

I went into the dice joint and that’s where I learned the news had spread. A card game broke up when I came in and a couple of guys I knew pretty well said hello kind of nervously and then left in a hurry. The word was around town that I’d gone short on a big bet and a guy in that spot isn’t too healthy to have around.

I bought a pack of cigarettes and got out of there. I went back to my room and there weren’t any calls and there weren’t any bets and I knew that everyone was laying off me until I got myself back in the clear.

There wasn’t any use hanging around waiting for the phone to ring so I went out to a show and killed the afternoon. The picture was about a guy who gets shipwrecked on a little island where there aren’t any people except the natives. They were nice simple people and they brought him fruit and water and pretty soon he was all fixed up with the chief’s daughter. There was a lot of trouble later on because guys from the ship found the island and they got the idea of making slaves out of the natives. There was a lot of fighting but finally everything turned out all right.

When I came out the heat hit me hard so I ducked into an air-conditioned bar and had a couple of drinks. The picture had gotten my mind off everything for a while, but now it was all starting to come back. What I needed was an island like the guy in the picture, some place I could hole up and forget about everything.

There was the blonde. She had to go and I was afraid to try anything. There was Banghart. I had to get him off my back by Sunday night or I’d be through in town for good. His boys in the blue Nash wouldn’t be just watching me: they’d be looking for me.

I finished my drink and went back to my room and stretched out on the bed. I tried to push all thoughts out of my head but it wasn’t any good.

The phone rang after a while and it brought me up on one elbow, shaking with fear. I waited until it rang a third time and I picked it up and said, “Yes?”

It was Alice. I was excited and scared at the same time.

“Where are you?”

“It’s all right. I’m phoning from the drug store.”

Some of the tightness went out of me and my breath started coming evenly again. “I’m glad you called. What’s happening?”

“Nothing. I’ve been down at the station all day.” She sounded tired. “I keep wondering how long this is going to last.”

“What did the police want?”

“The whole story, over and over.”

“Keep giving it to them, baby. Over and over. And you’d better ask them to let you see Frank.”

“I don’t want to see him,” she said.

“Do what I tell you. You’ve told the cops you weren’t thick with Lesser. They might think it’s funny if you don’t want to see your husband.”

I knew what I was saying was right but I had the uncertain feeling that I was trying to pull too many strings at the same time.

“All right,” she said. And I suddenly understood that she felt the same way. “Can’t I see you some night?”

I wanted to see her, bad. I knew it was dangerous but I had to be with her soon or I’d go crazy. “I’ll fix things and call you,” I said. “Don’t call me anymore. We’re too close to what we want to take any chances.”

“All right, Johnny.”

She hung up and I turned my face into the pillow. I had a date with the blonde in about an hour and it had me scared. I hated to go out of the room. I wanted to be alone in the dark with enough to drink to make me forget everything.

But the date with the blonde was important. I had to keep her happy until I figured out how to shut her up for good.

I changed my shirt and went down to gan put his feet on the desk and looked at his hands. His face was tired and lined and he needed a shave, but his eyes still had that quick bright look. Morowitz sat down, too, and just looked at me without any expression at all on his face.

The office was hot and close. There were butts on the floor and there was a rip in the window shade that let a bar of dusty sunlight fall across the floor.

“Any time you’re ready,” Harrigan said.

The court reporter had his book open and a pencil ready, so I went through the story. I almost had it memorized by this time. I had the funny feeling I’d never talked about anything else in my life.

When I got through Harrigan looked over at Morowitz. “Got any questions?”

Morowitz shrugged. He was a short stocky guy with black hair and sharp eyes. “It all seems pretty clear.” He looked at me then and said, “When did you say you talked to Lesser, Ford?”

“About him going up to her place Sunday night? That was Friday afternoon.”

“About what time?”

“Pretty early, I guess. We were having lunch.”

“I see. And what time did you leave Olsen that night?”

“Around eight-twenty.”

“We’re sure of that,” Harrigan said. “He was in his hotel room at eight-thirty. I talked to the person who was with him at that time.”

The court reporter was still taking everything down and I had a feeling of relief. One thing had bothered me about getting rid of the blonde. That was because she was my cover-up on that time angle. But now it was in an official record, in Harrigan’s words. That would be just as good a witness as the blonde.

There weren’t any more questions for Morowitz and we talked about nothing in particular for a while. I asked them how the case against Frank was going and Harrigan shrugged his shoulders.

“He claims he didn’t do it. The State’s Attorney says he did. It’ll be up to a jury.”

“Have you got a decent case against him?” I said.

Morowitz said, “We’ve got a decent circumstantial case. We can establish the fact that he had been quarreling with his wife for a week before the murder. We can prove he knew his wife was seeing Lesser that night. And we can place him, by his own admission, in the apartment at eight-thirty, which was the time the neighbors heard the shots fired. It all adds up.”

I left after a little more talk. I had the feeling everything was all right on that angle. They had a good case and they were going to send him away.

That much was all right but I had other things on my mind. When I left the courts building and started downtown the blue Nash picked me up and followed me into the Loop. I stopped at a little dice joint on Jackson Boulevard and the blue Nash went past and I saw two men in the front seat. I knew by this time they were Banghart’s way of protecting his nine thousand dollars. My chances of taking any sudden trip out of Chicago were pretty slim.

I went into the dice joint and that’s where I learned the news had spread. A card game broke up when I came in and a couple of guys I knew pretty well said hello kind of nervously and then left in a hurry. The word was around town that I’d gone short on a big bet and a guy in that spot isn’t too healthy to have around.

I bought a pack of cigarettes and got out of there. I went back to my room and there weren’t any calls and there weren’t any bets and I knew that everyone was laying off me until I got myself back in the clear.

There wasn’t any use hanging around waiting for the phone to ring so I went out to a show and killed the afternoon. The picture was about a guy who gets shipwrecked on a little island where there aren’t any people except the natives. They were nice simple people and they brought him fruit and water and pretty soon he was all fixed up with the chief’s daughter. There was a lot of trouble later on because guys from the ship found the island and they got the idea of making slaves out of the natives. There was a lot of fighting but finally everything turned out all right.

When I came out the heat hit me hard so I ducked into an air-conditioned bar and had a couple of drinks. The picture had gotten my mind off everything for a while, but now it was all starting to come back. What I needed was an island like the guy in the picture, some place I could hole up and forget about everything.

There was the blonde. She had to go and I was afraid to try anything. There was Banghart. I had to get him off my back by Sunday night or I’d be through in town for good. His boys in the blue Nash wouldn’t be just watching me: they’d be looking for me.

I finished my drink and went back to my room and stretched out on the bed. I tried to push all thoughts out of my head but it wasn’t any good.

The phone rang after a while and it brought me up on one elbow, shaking with fear. I waited until it rang a third time and I picked it up and said, “Yes?”

It was Alice. I was excited and scared at the same time.

“Where are you?”

“It’s all right. I’m phoning from the drug store.”

Some of the tightness went out of me and my breath started coming evenly again. “I’m glad you called. What’s happening?”

“Nothing. I’ve been down at the station all day.” She sounded tired. “I keep wondering how long this is going to last.”

“What did the police want?”

“The whole story, over and over.”

“Keep giving it to them, baby. Over and over. And you’d better ask them to let you see Frank.”

“I don’t want to see him,” she said.

“Do what I tell you. You’ve told the cops you weren’t thick with Lesser. They might think it’s funny if you don’t want to see your husband.”

I knew what I was saying was right but I had the uncertain feeling that I was trying to pull too many strings at the same time.

“All right,” she said. And I suddenly understood that she felt the same way. “Can’t I see you some night?”

I wanted to see her, bad. I knew it was dangerous but I had to be with her soon or I’d go crazy. “I’ll fix things and call you,” I said. “Don’t call me anymore. We’re too close to what we want to take any chances.”

“All right, Johnny.”

She hung up and I turned my face into the pillow. I had a date with the blonde in about an hour and it had me scared. I hated to go out of the room. I wanted to be alone in the dark with enough to drink to make me forget everything.

But the date with the blonde was important. I had to keep her happy until I figured out how to shut her up for good.

I changed my shirt and went down to my car and drove out to her place. We went to a show because it was dark inside and then we went to a little joint out on the Northwest Side where we had french fried shrimp and beer. She kept smiling at me most of the evening and she seemed all right.

I saw the blue Nash a couple of times that night. They weren’t bothering to hide the fact they were on my trail. After I took the blonde home I wanted to call Alice, but the guys in that Nash were too much on my mind.

The next day was Friday. I had some things to do in the Loop and I wasn’t out half an hour before I found out I had a shadow. He was a little guy with thin red hair and glasses, wearing cheap clothes.

He sat at the counter with me while I was having coffee and tomato juice. He was right behind me when I left, and I spotted him two or three more times that morning. At noon I went into a restaurant and ordered a meal. He sat at a table about ten feet away and I heard him ask the waitress for a corned beef sandwich and a cup of coffee.

When I heard that much I got up and walked out. He got up and grabbed his hat and was right behind me when I hit the street. I knew for sure, then, that he was one of Banghart’s boys.

I went down the street about half way, then turned and started back, walking fast. He was looking into a sporting goods window when I came up alongside him.

I put a cigarette in my mouth and said, “Got a match?”

He looked at me with a little grin. “Sure, buddy.”

He struck the head of a big kitchen match with his thumbnail and held it to my cigarette. When I had a light he blew the match out and tossed it on the sidewalk.

“Why all the interest?” I said.

He was still grinning. He looked into the sporting goods window and pointed to a rack of shotguns. “You mean in them?” he said.

“Very unfunny,” I said. “You’ve been sticking to me like a mustard plaster this morning. What’s the idea?”

“Maybe I like the way you wear clothes,” he said.

“You’d better change your tastes,” I said.

He kept his grin and said, “Don’t shoot off your yap to me, punk. You know why I’m tailing you. And there’s not a goddam thing you can do about it.”

If I hadn’t been in so deep everywhere I’d probably have put a knee into his gut for that, but what he said was so true it made my teeth hurt.

“Don’t get too close,” I said. “People might think we were friends.”

“I wouldn’t want that.”

I walked away from him and he turned from the window and came after us, his hands stuck in his pockets and that little grin on his face.

When I went back to the hotel he took a seat in the lobby and watched me while I got on the elevator.

That was Friday. Saturday went by and so did Sunday. I went out with the blonde both nights, but Sunday night I got off the street early. That was the night Banghart was waiting for my call.

From nine o’clock Sunday night I stuck in my room with the door locked and the shades down. After about half a bottle it was easy to think I was the only guy alive in the world. The room was dark and quiet and the street noises seemed to be coming from some place a million miles away.

For a while it was easy to think everyone had forgotten about me. Harrigan down at the courts building, Alice in her apartment, the blonde out north cooking for her old man, and Banghart smiling at me from his cold face, were all just names of people who’d forgot I’d ever lived.

That was the booze. I laid in bed with my clothes on that night, taking a drink whenever I started to feel my thoughts getting sharp and crowding into my mind. But somewhere in the back of my head a voice was telling me that no matter how drunk I got, Monday morning was going to come.

I must have passed out because the next I knew the phone was ringing and the sound drove into my brain like a hot needle.

The room was still dark because the shades were down. My head felt like it was ready to tear open and I was shaking and cold.

I picked up the phone. It was Banghart. He was nice and quiet, like he was talking to some kid.

“I didn’t get your call last night, Johnny,” he said.

“I haven’t got the dough,” I said. “I told you I needed a couple of weeks.”

“I told you Sunday,” he said.

“I know you did, Banghart. But you’ve got to give me a chance. I’ll get the dough for you.”

“It’s not just the money,” he said. “People might get the idea I’m a soft touch if I let you take your time about this. Other people will be telling me that I gave you a break and they’ll naturally want the same thing. I might be laughed at for being a sucker. I don’t like being laughed at, Johnny.”

I felt something crawling in my throat. I knew what he was telling me. I wanted to tell him to go to hell, to scream all the dirty things I could at him and then throw the phone away. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t because I wanted to live.

“Banghart, please give me a break,” I said. “I’ll get your dough. Just give me a little more time.”

“How old are you, Johnny?” he said, and I heard him laugh softly.

“I’m twenty-nine.”

“It seems to me you’ve had plenty of time,” he said.

“Banghart, please—”

“I’ll give you a break. By my clock it’s nine-thirty. I’ll give you until noon. Fair enough?” I heard him laugh again.

He didn’t want his money now. He wanted to step on me like he’d step on a bug, so he could tell everybody how tough he was, but he wanted to let me run around a little just for kicks.

I could hear his soft little laugh as I put the phone back on the hook. The room was quiet and dark and hot. How long could I live up here?

I walked around the room for a while and then I started drinking. There wasn’t anything else to do. I was strung up so tight that my mind wouldn’t work.

I just knew I was in too deep for anybody to help me and the fear of what was going to happen was sending icy shocks through my whole body. My hands were shaking and my insides felt like they were being twisted and squeezed and torn.

After two drinks I got back in bed and pulled the covers over me trying to get warm. I was sweating in a little while but I was still cold.

Maybe it was the liquor, but while I was laying there my mind started working again. I’ve lived all my life by playing the angles and now my mind was starting to work automatically, trying to find some loophole, some way out of this mess.

There had to be a way out. I was too close to what I’d gambled for to lay down and quit.

Frank was out of the way and Alice was mine. With the blonde taken care of, everything would be set. Banghart was the only thing in the way.

I pushed the covers off and went in and got under the shower. I turned the cold water on and stood under it with my head bent down and let it drive into the back of my neck. I must have stayed there for fifteen minutes, but when I got out the fog was out of my head.

There was only one thing I could do and that was run. I had a car and a thousand bucks. That was an angle. I’d take Alice and clear the hell out. The coppers had nothing on us, and I knew places on the West Coast where they’d never find us anyway.

I dressed, then called the switchboard.

“Don’t let anyone up to see me,” I said. “Do you understand? Nobody.”

She said all right and I put the phone down and walked around the room for a while thinking about what I had to do. I couldn’t bother with the blonde. That was too risky and there wasn’t enough time. I knew she might get Harrigan after me when she started squawking, but I had to take that chance.

Banghart was the one that stood in my way. I had to get past him and it had to be done fast. There wasn’t any time to play Ground because when he started after me it would be quick and final.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and put a cigarette in my mouth. A lot of ideas and angles went through my head. Finally they clicked together and I almost grinned. Banghart might get himself a little surprise.

I picked up the phone and told the operator to get me the house dick, a guy named Morrison. He’d been a city copper for six years before he got bounced for taking too big a cut on the pay-off on his beat. He’d taken a plenty big cut from me ever since I’d been in the hotel and I knew I could ask him for a favor.

When I got him on the wire I said, “Morrison, this is Johnny Ford. Listen there’s a guy in the lobby that’s been on my tail for the last couple of days. I want to talk to him. Will you bring him up here for me?”

“I heard you’re in trouble, Johnny,” he said.

“So what? Will you get this guy for me?”

“All right. What’s he look like?”

“He’s a little guy with red hair. He’s wearing glasses. He’ll be sitting on one of the chairs where he can watch the elevator. Take his gun away from him and bring him up.”

I hung up and got my gun out of the dresser. I made sure it was loaded and the safety was on. I dropped it into my pocket and sat down to wait.

Morrison showed in about fifteen minutes with the little redhead. He shoved him into the room and said, “He’s clean, Johnny.”

Morrison stood there, a sloppy looking guy who drank too much beer, waiting for a handout. I gave him a fin and closed the door.

The redhead was standing in the middle of the room. He was watching me with a little grin and not looking at all nervous.

I said, “Sit down. Maybe we got something to talk about.”

“I don’t think so, buddy,” he said, but he took a seat and fished through the pocket of his suit for a cigarette.

I took the gun out of my pocket and went over and stood in front of him.

“What’s the interest in me?”

He blew smoke at me. “I don’t know anything. I was minding my own business in the lobby, punk.” He grinned at me and put the cigarette in his mouth and let it hang there.

I slapped him across the face with the barrel of the gun. The cigarette went flying out of his lips. He cursed and ducked down and then I jerked my knee into his face and straightened him back in the chair. He sank back away from me and he had a mad, scared looked on his face.

“Who put you on my tail?” I said.

I had to hit him some more. He was stubborn but after a while the mad look was gone from his face and he started to get soft.

He said, “Banghart.”

I knew that, but I had to start somewhere. “What’s the idea?”

“He just told me to keep an eye on you. I don’t know what the idea is.”

“You got to do better than that? What were you supposed to do if I took a powder.”

“Let him know, that’s all.”

“That what was going to happen?”

“Christ, I don’t know. He never tells me anything.”

“Let’s try it again. What’s going to happen if I try and blow town?”

“I don’t know.”

I had to work on him again and this time I worked hard. When he was blubbering and trying so hard to talk that he sounded half crazy, I stopped.

“Let’s have it all.”

“He’s going to get you. When I know where you’re going tonight, I’m supposed to let him know.”

“When did you last talk to him?”

“About an hour ago.”

My watch said one. He’d waited until twelve, right on the dot, and then he’d started to put his foot down on the bug. Well I still had a way out.

“How was he going to do it?”

“I don’t know. You gotta believe me. He just wanted me to tell him where you were going this afternoon or tonight.”

I sat down and lit a cigarette and tried to think. The little redhead just sat there, all the toughness gone, mopping at the blood on his face with a handkerchief.

“Want a drink?” I said.

He didn’t believe I meant it, but he bobbed his head. I made two drinks and gave him one. I sat down and sipped at mine and kept thinking.

The thing came to me in one piece. Like the first idea about getting rid of Frank. It was just there, all neat and perfect. I turned it around a few times and it looked okay from every angle.

This would take care of everything. The blonde and Banghart and the heat that was on me. It would leave me and Alice in the clear to get out, and get out fast.

I said to the redhead, “What’s your name?”

“Kiley,” he said.

“Okay, Kiley, you’re going to call Banghart. You’re going to tell him just what I tell you.”

He started to whimper. “You’re going to get me killed. He’ll kill me if I do that.”

I stood up and went over in front of him again. “I won’t kill you,” I said. “But you’ll wish I did.”

He thought that over and I guess he knew I wasn’t just talking. When he nodded, I said, “Here’s what you tell him. Tell him you saw me come downstairs about twelve-thirty and that I went to the TWA ticket office and bought a one-way ticket to New York for tonight. Tell him you heard me say I wouldn’t need the limousine service out to the airport because I was driving. Got that much?”

He looked at me and nodded slowly.

“Okay. Then tell him the flight is for eleven o’clock and that I told the desk clerk to have my car ready by ten. Get that straight. The car is to be ready at ten. Also, tell him I was packing a gun and that I looked nervous.”

I shoved him over to the phone and sat down beside him on the bed and put the gun against his back. When I gave him the phone, I said, “Keep it away from your ear while you’re talking. I want to hear, too. And you only get one strike in this league. Remember that.”

He called a number and when a voice answered he said, “This is Kiley. I want to talk to Banghart.”

There was a wait and he licked his lips and shot a look down at the gun.

“It’s here,” I said.

After a moment, he spoke into the phone. “Banghart? Kiley. He’s ready to blow. He just got a ticket for the eleven o’clock flight to New York. He’s going to drive out to the airport. What? I heard him tell the desk clerk to have his car ready at ten o’clock. Nervous as a cat. He’s heeled.”

I leaned closer when Banghart talked. I heard him say, “Okay, Kiley. Ten o’clock and he’s driving. Is that it?”

“Yeah.”

“The lobby.”

“All right. Keep your eye on him and let me know if there are any changes. We’ll take care of the rest.”

I heard his soft little laugh as I took the phone away from the redhead and put it back where it belonged.

He was staring down at his hands. “He’ll kill me when he finds out.”

I felt like grinning. “Everybody’s got problems,” I said.

I called Morrison then and told him to come up and get the guy. When he showed I told him I wanted the redhead put away where he couldn’t see anybody or get to a phone for at least twenty-four hours.

Morrison took him by the shoulder and started for the door. “I’ll have him booked at Central for carrying a gun. I’ll tell the boys to keep him quiet until tomorrow night.”

He went out with the redhead and I knew he’d keep his word! I could depend on him. He was a crook and you can generally depend on crooks. They act the way you expect them to, but with an honest guy there’s no telling what he’ll do.

Morrison would keep the redhead from calling Banghart back and telling him what had happened. That meant I was set for the rub out tonight when I started for the airport. The way to the airport from the Loop is out Archer avenue, and there are lots of nice dark stretches along that road.

I was depending on that and a few other things. One of those things was that Banghart knew I was nervous and that I was carrying a gun. That would make his boys careful. They’d do a quick job and they wouldn’t get too close to my car, because they’d be afraid I might start shooting.

That was important.

I called the blonde then, and when she got on the phone, I said. “This is Johnny, honey. How’re things?”

She sounded glad to hear from me. “I wasn’t expecting you to call, Johnny. I just washed my hair and I was sitting by the window letting it dry. I look terrible.”

“I don’t believe it,” I said. “Look, honey, here’s why I called. A friend of mine is coming in tonight at the airport. I’m tied up in a deal and I was wondering if you’d take my car and drive out there and pick him up.”

“Gosh, I don’t have a driver’s license, Johnny.”

“Don’t worry about that. If any cop stops you tell ’em you’re Johnny Ford’s girl. Will you do, it honey?”

“Well, sure, Johnny. If you say it’s all right about the license.”

“That’s fine. Supposing you come down here around eight. We’ll have dinner here in my room. When you get back from the airport we’ll go out and see the sights.”

“All right, Johnny. I’ll be down at eight.”

“Swell, honey.”

I hung up and fixed myself a drink. I started figuring out the angles. I tried to keep myself from thinking about what would happen to the blonde.

But I couldn’t think about anything else. When she pulled out of the garage at ten o’clock, Banghart’s boys would follow her out Archer avenue. When she hit a dark spot in the road they’d pull up beside her and she’d be out of the way for good.

That would put plenty of heat on Banghart. He could rub me out and nobody would care much, but a young girl that wasn’t in the rackets would cause one hell of a mess. The cops would give him something to worry about besides stepping on bugs.

When he had time to look for me I’d be gone. Alice would be with me and we could laugh at him and the cops and everybody else. Nobody had anything on us, but I wouldn’t take any chances, and when I got to the Coast I’d know how to stay out of sight.

There was one chance of a hitch. That was if Banghart’s men recognized the blonde in my car. They might, because she had fuzzy blonde hair and if they spotted that through the rear window they’d know I’d pulled a switch. They’d turn around and come back to the hotel for me if that happened.

I had to figure a way around that. An idea came to me and I went over and rummaged through the drawers of the dresser. I found it all right, a checked cap I used to wear out at the track. That might be it, but it wasn’t sure-fire, and I realized then that her shining blonde hair might be the thing that could wreck this whole deal.