Part 2 (1/2)
The car roared on into the darkness.
3.
A mile outside La Cygne, Old Sam said, ”We want gas.”
”Why the h.e.l.l didn't you fill up before we set out?” Riley demanded violently.
”How was I to know we were going to Johnny's?” Old Sam whined.
Bailey turned his flashlight on Miss Blandish. She was still unconscious.
”She'll be okay,” he said. ”There's a gas station just ahead.”
At the next bend in the road they saw the lights of the gas station. Old Sam pulled up by the pumps. A boy came out of the office, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He started to fill the tank. Riley leaned forward, screening Miss Blandish from him. He needn't have bothered. The boy was half silly with sleep. He didn't once look into the car.
Suddenly the lights of a car appeared around the bend in the road. A big black Buick pulled up close to the Lincoln. The arrival of this car startled the three men. Bailey dropped his hand on his gun.
There were two men in the Buick. The pa.s.senger got out. He was a tall, heavily built man with a black snap brim hat pulled low over his eyes. He looked with sharp interest at the Lincoln. He spotted Bailey's quick movement and he came over.
”You nervous or something?” he asked in a hard, aggressive voice as he stared intently at Bailey.
It was dark and none of the men could see each other distinctly.
Riley said, ”Beat it, fella, nothing's biting n.o.body.”
The big man peered in his direction.
”That sounds like Frankie,” he said and laughed. ”For a moment I thought it was some big shot shooting his mouth off.”
The three men in the Lincoln stiffened. They looked across at the Buick. The driver had turned on the dash light so they could see him. He was covering them with a shotgun.
”Is that you, Eddie?” Riley said, his mouth turning dry.
”Yeah,” the tall man said. ”Flynn's nursing the cannon so don't start anything you can't finish.”
”We're not starting anything,” Riley said hurriedly. He cursed their luck to have run into one of the Grisson gang. ”I didn't recognize you.”
Eddie shook a cigarette from his pack and struck a match. Riley hurriedly moved his body to screen Miss Blandish but Eddie saw her.
”Some babe,” he said, lighting his cigarette.
”We've got to get going,” Riley said hurriedly. ”See you sometime. Get going, Sam.”
Eddie rested his hand on the car door.
”Who is she, Riley?”
”She isn't anyone you know. She's a friend of mine.”
”Is that a fact? She seems unnaturally quiet.”
”She's drunk,” Riley snarled, sweat running down his face.
”You don't say!” Eddie pretended to be shocked. ”I bet I can guess who made her drunk. Let's have a closer look at her.”
Riley hesitated. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Flynn get out of the Buick; the shot gun pointed directly at him. Reluctantly, Riley leaned back. Eddie took out a powerful flashlight and shone the beam onto the unconscious girl.
”Very nice,” he said appreciatively. ”You ought to be ashamed, Riley, making a nice girl like that tight. Does her ma know where she is?” He stepped back, blowing tobacco smoke into Riley's face. ”Where are you taking her?”
”Home,” Riley said. ”Let's skip the comedy, Eddie. We've got to get moving.”
”Sure,” Eddie said, stepping further back. ”I wouldn't be in her shoes to wake up and find myself with a car load of monkeys like you three. Beat it.”
Old Sam let in the clutch and the Lincoln shot out into the highway. It went off down the road with ever-increasing speed.
Eddie watched them go. He took off his hat and scratched his head. Flynn put the shotgun back into the car and came over. He was a little man with a thin pointed face that made him look like a ferocious rat.
”What do you make of that?” Eddie asked, puzzled. ”Something's in the wind.”
Flynn shrugged his shoulders.
”We should care.”
”You mean you should care,” Eddie said, ”but then you haven't my brains. What were those cheap mugs doing with a babe like that? Who is she?”
Flynn lit a cigarette. He wasn't interested. They had driven up from Pittsburgh and he was tired. He wanted to go to bed.
Eddie went on, ”She's been socked in the jaw. Don't tell me a small timer like Riley has s.n.a.t.c.hed her. I can't believe he'd have the nerve. I'm going to have a word with Ma.”
”Oh, for Christ's sake!” Flynn grumbled. ”I want some sleep tonight even if you don't.”
Eddie ignored him. He went over to the boy who had been staring, his eyes round with fright.
”Where's your telephone?”
The boy led him into the office.
”Okay, buddy, go rest your ears outside,” Eddie said as he sat on the desk. When the boy had gone, he dialed a number and waited. After a delay Doc's voice boomed over the line.
”I'm talking from the filling station outside La Cygne.” Eddie said, speaking fast and keeping his voice low. ”Riley and his mob have just pulled out. They had a girl with them: high cla.s.s stuff and I mean just that. She's way out of their cla.s.s. Riley said she was drunk, but she looked as if she'd been socked on the jaw. It's my guess Riley's s.n.a.t.c.hed her. Tell Ma, will you?”
Doc said, ”Hold on.” After a long delay, he came back on the line. ”Ma wants to know what she looks like and how she was dressed.”
”She's a redhead,” Eddie said. ”She was more than pretty: better looking than most movie stars. I've never seen a better looking girl. She had one of those long, thin, aristocratic noses and a high forehead. She was wearing a white evening dress and a black wrap, and they cost plenty.”