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That
did it. Beezie whistled. Milton's mouth closed and opened again. Moon
looked at Molly without concentrating on her shape. Even Tilly seemed
a trifle awed.

“
Twenty-three
grand, wasn't it?”

Rufus
said admiringly. “Sure, a man and a woman. Masked. Got clean
away. I read it in the paper.”

Tilly
sought to regain her stolen thunder. “They're hot. We can't
have them here.”

“
There's
no heat on us,” Molly said.

“
We
worked it neatly, as neatly as Pops would have. Nobody saw us but two
people, and our heads and faces were covered. The dough is stashed;
we don't intend to touch it for at least a year. Pops always took his
time about circulating money, even when it wasn't hot. We came on to
New York and saw Ray Teacher, who was an old friend of Bert's. We
didn't tell Ray much except that Bert was looking for a job. Ray said
there might be something for us in Tilly's place. It sounded like a
good place to hole up in for a while. Then Ray got killed. We came
here anyway, but we didn't dare talk to anybody we weren't sure of.
There's five grand reward posted on the Nashville job. Pops was sold
out for less.”

“
Why
the spying?” Tilly said rather weakly.

It
was time I asserted myself as part of the family. I’d had some
little experience as a salesman myself. “Clara told you. We
could trust George Moon —he’s too much of a big shot to
go after a reward — but why should we trust a lot of people we
didn’t know? Moon wasn’t here. I couldn’t feel
comfortable unless I knew what the setup here was, so I went to
Badmont to ask some harmless questions. Wouldn’t any of you
have done the same thing in our spot?”

“
Why,”
Tilly demanded, jabbing a fat finger at Molly, “did you pull a
rod on us?”

“
Did
I. pull a gun? I seem to remember that Rufus did first.” She
dipped her little automatic and spread her smile around the room.
“How did I know what was going on down here? Pops taught me to
be careful — always.” The sale was completed. Molly had
given us identity, established us as one of them. Tilly clicked her
ring against her teeth and waddled to a chair.

“
Is
that on the level, that you know cars?” Moon asked me.

“
All
there is to know.”

Moon
nodded and sauntered over to Molly. “You and Bert are safe
here, sweetheart,” he told her. “I can use a good
mechanic.” And his eyes said that he could use her too, and her
responding smile was not reluctant. I wondered what a husband was
supposed to do about it.

“
Need
that rod any more?” Rufus said genially.

The
gun was still leveled at his chest.

“
I
don’t know,” I said. “Do I?”

Instantly
the room was still. They all stared at me.

Molly,
said sharply: “Honey, George Moon’s word is good.”

A
sane man would have used that gun to get out of the house and keep
going. But Molly was calling the turns. She had handled it fine so
far, but I hoped to God she knew what she was doing from here on. And
that what she wanted was what I wanted.

I
reversed Rufus’ gun and returned it to him butt first, “Thanks
for the loan,” I said.

He
grinned and stuck the gun into his hip pocket. I pulled out
cigarettes and passed the pack around. We were one big happy family
of crooks. None of them could guess how alone I felt.

“
How
about some supper, Tilly?”

Moon
said. “I’m starved.”

So
was I, considering that I hadn’t had a solid bite all day, but
I didn’t look forward to Tilly’s cooking, not after
sampling her coffee.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

We
ate at the big round table in the privacy of the sitting room; Milton
waited on us, lugging in the food from the lunchroom where Tilly
dished it out. We had canned tomato juice, and canned vegetable soup,
and pot roast which fell apart on the fork, and boiled potatoes which
were only slightly underdone. I had eaten worse meals in the army,
but not often.

Molly
sat between George Moon and me. For all the attention she paid me, I
might actually have been her husband. It wasn’t entirely her
fault; Moon’s voice and eyes monopolized her. That gave me
reason to sulk and stay out of the table talk, which was on dangerous
ground — for me. They were discussing the exploits of Lou
Darby. Molly handled-her end more than adequately. She could have
written a book about him and all the minor crooks who had moved in
his orbit.

When
the meat course had been served, Tilly came in from the lunchroom to
join us at the table. She poured juice and soup down her throat and
then glared across her pot roast at Moon. “Are you trying to
drive us crazy, George? Did you get it or did you-come here without
it?”

Moon
crossed his knife and fork on his plate and sat back. “Breen is
gone.”

“
You
mean he took a powder with the bag?” Rufus said.

“
The
cops are sure Larry Goodby snatched him. You know Larry. He’ll
work on Breen till he finds out where Breen planted the bag.”

“
That
Larry,” Milton snickered. Like Tilly, he was now sitting at the
table. “I’d hate to be in Breen’s shoes.”

Moon’s
features twisted to one side. He leaned forward, swept his eyes
slowly past Molly and let them rest for a moment on me. He nodded to
himself, having decided that there was nothing about this he did not
want us, the newcomers, to hear. “A dick who was trailing Breen
saw Larry slug him. Then while the dumb dick was chasing Larry or
calling an ambulance or something, Breen drove off with a dame. A
couple of witnesses said Breen was practically out on his feet. They
say he didn’t seem to know what was happening when the dame
shoved him into her car.

Molly’s
profile was static. She speared a piece of potato with her fork,
brought it mechanically up to her mouth, chewed it as if it were gum.

“
What
dame?” Tilly said.

“
Nobody
got a good look at her. The cops figure she was working with Larry.
That sounds reasonable.”

Tilly
snorted. “You’re losing your grip, George. That sounds
like a gag to me. Breen wanted to shake you off. He’s hiding
somewhere with the bag right now, laughing up his sleeve at you.”

Here
I was, the man they were talking about, and they didn’t know
it. I could have laughed up my sleeve if I had had any laughter in
me.

“
I’m
sure Larry’s got him,” Moon said bleakly, one word at a
time trickling from his lips. “It’s a fact that Larry
slugged him and a dame was waiting to drive him away. And why would
Breen blow with the bag? He couldn’t use it. I looked into
Breen’s record and he’s what he says he is, just an auto
salesman with a wife and kid. He figured he’d be smart and hold
me up for a stiff price.” He spoke a trifle faster, defending
himself. “I was handling it right. I showed his daughter a good
time for a couple of hours and then told him next time she wouldn’t
come back. That scared him, but not enough. He went to the cops. Next
time I took his girl, he would’ve stayed away from the cops. He
would’ve broken his neck to hand me the bag and get his
daughter back.”

“
Only
Larry was a step ahead of you,” Rufus growled. “What do
we do now?”

“
If
Larry gets the bag, he’ll have to come out in the open sooner
or later. And then — “ Moon snapped his fist shut over
air. Slowly he let the fist sink, opened it, closed the long fingers
over a water glass.

I
said: “What’s in this bag you’re talking about?”

Eyes
shifted to me. Only Tilly’s were definitely hostile. Her ring
finger jabbed toward me. “George, he was pumping Milton about
the bag.”

“
Just
asking him,” I said, “the way I’m ’asking
now. I keep hearing mysterious talk about a bag. Naturally I want to
know what it’s about.”

Tilly’s
finger did not waver. “I bet he’s one of Jasper Vital’s
Florida boys. So what if his wife is Clara Darby? They came here for
the bag.”

Molly
was silent. This one she was leaving to me, an easy one.

“
I
thought you said somebody named Breen had the bag and that Larry had
Breen,” I said. “If we were working with Larry, we’d
be with him, helping him get the bag from Breen. And if Clara and I
had come here for any reason but the one we told you, wouldn’t
we have had a neat-story all ready for you? And if we knew anything
about the bag, wouldn’t we know what was in it without asking?”

Rufus
Lamb said: “What’s the matter with you, Tilly? I know all
the Florida boys. They drove up here all winter.”

The
finger withdrew, Tilly clicked her ring against her teeth, a grudging
admission of defeat.

“
What
about the bag?” I persisted.

Moon
finished chewing the food in his mouth. Then he drawled: “What
makes you so anxious, Bert?”

“
If
I’m going to work for you, I want to be all the way in.”

“
You’ll
be when the time comes.” He leaned forward, looked lazily at me
past Molly. “Don’t be curious about anything but what
you’re told.”

I
didn’t say anything. The others watched me, stacking me up
against their boss. He couldn’t trust me completely because he
intended to take something from me, or at least borrow it. I glanced
sideways. Moon had abandoned me. His shoulder was against Molly’s
and he was whispering into her hair. She gave him a glowing
open-mouthed smile. She wasn’t making it easy for me to play
the role of her husband.

Molly
left the table as soon as she finished-her meat dish. I remained for
the coffee, but gave it up after a few sips. I went upstairs and
pushed open the door to our room. Molly stood in front of the dresser
in brassiere and shorts. I said, “Sorry,” and beat a
quick retreat out to the hall. Somebody was coming up the stairs. I
waited until Beezie’s head appeared and then reentered the
room. She was getting into her blue silk robe with the white polka
dots.

“
I
can’t be seen or heard knocking at the door,” I said.
“We’re supposed to be married. Remember?”

“
You’re
the one who jumped out, I didn’t mind.” She was facing
the dresser mirror and brushing her honey-colored hair. “Well,
we did it,” she said cheerfully

“
You
did it. Thanks for saving my life.”

“
That
was only incidental. I saved mine too, you know.”

“
Where
were you when Milton came up for you? You weren’t here or in
the bathroom.”

“
Searching
rooms,” she replied blithely. “There was a possibility I
might come across something. Luckily I popped out of Tilly’s
room just before Milton saw me. It would have been hard explaining
that. Then I had to use my gun downstairs until I was sure my story
convinced them.”

“
Did
you find anything in -the rooms?”

“
No.
I hardly expected to.”

I
sat on the bed and watched her apply flame-red lipstick. After a
little-while I said: “Are you Clara Darby?”

She
laughed noiselessly into the mirror. “Was I that good, honey?”

“
Yes.”

She
leaned back against the dresser and regarded me with amusement. “I’m
Molly Crane, daughter of the eminently respectable Dr. Freeman Crane
of Baltimore.”

“
How
do you know so much about Lou Darby?”

“
The
advantage of a writing career. Last year I did a magazine article on
Lou Darby, one of America’s most notorious bank robbers.”

“
Suppose
Rufus Lamb knew the real Clara Darby?”

“
When
Darby was killed, Clara and her mother moved to a small Ohio town.
They’re still there. Clara is married to a bus driver; he
doesn’t suspect who his wife’s father was. Nobody does. I
found them, but when I learned the situation, how they’d cut
themselves off from the past, I naturally gave my word to keep their
secret.”

“
Who’s
Bert Hemsley?”

“
You
are. I never heard of another.” Her teeth showed very white
between the flame lips, “Me, Clara Darby! Did you really
believe that?”

“
I
don’t know what to believe about you. One hour you’re
scared sick and the next you’re facing a bunch of professional
gunmen as competent and cool as the devil.”

“
I’m
a girl of moods,” she said lightly. She picked up an eyebrow
pencil and did a job on herself.

This
was like a scene at home, with me sitting on the bed and watching
Esther make up. It was twenty-four hours since I’d vanished.
What was Esther doing now? Still waiting for the telephone to ring or
for a knock on the door?

“
There’s
nothing to keep us here any longer,” I said. “We know the
bag isn’t here.”

“
Where
will you go?”

“
Home
where I belong.”

“
You
heard what Moon said. He had planned to kidnap your daughter again.”

I
stood up. “Listen. Those are stolen cars down there.”