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“
Adam,
this evening you wanted to go home,” she said. “You can’t
yet, it’s too dangerous, but get out of this place. I haven’t
the story I want, but I’ll go with you if that will make you
go.”

I
said: “A little while ago I saw Crooked Nose in the car lot.”

“
What
was he doing?”

“
Spying,
like us. There’s something here and he knows it. Probably the
bag.”

“
You
know that Moon hasn’t got it.” “But somebody else
here might. If Vital and Larry doublecrossed Moon, why not some of
the others? Crooked Nose knows it. That’s why he’s here.”

“
So
you’re staying?”

“
I
can't go home and there's no sense going anywhere else. I've got to
finish it here.” I turned from the window. “Crooked Nose
might still be down there. Let me have your gun.”

“
And
do what with it?”

“
If
I find Crooked Nose, I might have to protect myself. Or use it to
make him tell me what he's after.”

She
fumbled at the cord of her robe. “I need it more than you do.”

“
I'll
return it.”

“
Please
don't keep asking me.”

I
laughed between my teeth. “Moon is sure Breen has the bag. He
ought to know, so I have it. I came here to find out how important
what's in the bag is to them so I can know how high a price I can get
for it. That's the way your mind works, doesn't it?”

She
didn't answer. I strode past her to the door.

“
Adam,”
she said.

I
stopped. “Yes?”

“
George
Moon wanted to kiss me, but I didn't let him.”

“
Didn't
you?” I said without interest. I continued out of the room.

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

The
moon slanted down over the car lot like a reading lamp. It revealed
Milton seated against the back of the house on a wooden box. His pipe
was in his mouth and his rifle across his knees. I eased back to the
road, walked as far as the state line, stepped into brush. I had
taken the flashlight from Molly’s coupe, but I didn’t
snap it on. That was for extreme emergencies.

Brush
provided cover as far as the lower left corner of the car lot. Cars
were between Milton and me. If I couldn’t see him, he couldn’t
see me.

Only
one window on that side of the house showed light. The two windows of
our room were dark. I wondered if Molly had undressed and got into
bed so quickly, or had left the room, or was standing there in
darkness watching the lot. I moved on.

It
had occurred to me that Crooked Nose had seen me come that first time
and had ducked into one of the cars. That was what I would have done.
He might still be there, waiting until all the windows darkened. I
walked up one row and before I came in sight of Milton cut between
two cars to the next row. I was looking for the smallest of lights,
listening for any sound which could be-made by a man. All I heard was
a man cough in the house.

Twice
I was fooled by something in the back seats of cars — once by a
white rag which might have been a man crouching on the floorboard,
once by a peculiarly shifting shadow caused by moonlight. But when I
did find him there was no doubt that it was a man.

Blandly
he was sitting upright on the back seat of a sedan. He was watching
the house through the left window, and I had approached from his
right. He didn’t know I was there until I had torn the door
open and stabbed my flashlight beam at him.

“
I’ve
got you covered!” I whispered harshly.

What
covered him was my fountain pen held behind the light. Possibly it
would look like the barrel of a small gun to him, but what gave me
confidence was the fact that his hands were empty. He hadn’t
expected anybody to come along peering into each car.

For
a long moment he did not stir. His shoulders were broad enough to
belong to Crooked Nose, but the back of his head was wrong. For one
thing, he needed a haircut badly. I didn’t have time to think
about it. His right hand crawled from the seat to his knee.

“
Don’t
try it,” I whispered.

The
hand flattened on the seat. His face turned to me. The nose was broad
and mashed instead of twisted. I was staring into the ugly face of
Larry Goodby.

He
left the car quickly, crouching to get through the door, and at the
same time his head was high. Probably he couldn’t see my face
behind the light, but he wasn’t looking at my face. His eyes
were on the fountain pen. Stepping out of the car, he grinned
hideously. As he straightened up, his right hand crossed to his left
shoulder.

I
dropped my fountain pen and drove my fist into his jaw. He tottered
against the fender and something loose on the car rattled. He
groaned. There was too much sound.

“
Listen,
Breen!” he said, pushing himself away from the car.

I
sank my left into his midriff and raised the right to his jaw. He hit
the ground.

This
was the second time since Monday that I had knocked him out cold
without great effort. The truth was that the tough guy had a glass
jaw. I had to do it this time because he had a gun, but it was a
terrible mistake. I wanted him revived and away from here in a hurry.

My
attempt to rouse him produced only a groan. I had done too effective
a job. And Milton was coming. In the silent night he had heard the
small sounds of the fight. I bent lower over Larry and pulled out of
his shoulder-holster a smaller automatic than the one I had taken
from him Monday night. As I straightened up, light sprayed me. Milton
held his rifle under his left armpit and his finger was ready for
business on the trigger.

“
Bert!”
he panted. “Why the hell.—” His light knifed past
my shoulder and impaled the brutal face. “Holy cats, Larry
Goodby! What happened to him?”

“
I
found him hiding in this car and knocked him out.”

Milton
snickered. ‘‘Boy, will the boss like this!”

I
stood up. “You’d better tell him. I’ll watch this
mug while you go to the house.”

“
Socked
him with the gat, eh?”

“
With
my fist. This is his gun.”

“
Took
his gat away from him,” he said in awe. “I seen them
sweet socks you gave Rufus, I heard tell Lou Darby’s boys was
tough babies.” His tongue clucked. ‘'What d’you
know, Larry Goodby! Boy, the boss’ll like this.”

Larry
moaned. An arm lifted feebly and sank back to the ground. Any moment
now he would open his eyes, and I couldn’t have Milton or
anybody else here when it happened. I said testily: “If Moon
will like it so much, why don’t you go for him?”

“
Sure,
Bert, but I don’t have to go.” He stuck two fingers into
his lipless mouth and emitted a high-pitched whistle. He repeated it
twice. An answering whistle came from the house. “That’ll
bring ’em.”

We
waited. Lights went on all over the house. My thumb pushed the safety
catch on Larry’s automatic. Milton’s eyes were off me; I
could get the drop on him and take his rifle and flee. But where
would that leave Molly? Milton’s shouts would warn them of my
coming before I could get to the house for her.

There
was an alternative. I could shoot Milton with Larry’s automatic
and Larry with Milton’s rifle, and it would appear that they
had killed each other in a gun fight. That was a solution for a man
who could kill in cold blood. It was none for me. I did nothing.

Rufus
Lamb and Beezie came down between the cars. Rufus wore pants and a
windbreaker and sneakers and apparently nothing else. Beezie had
thrown a topcoat over maroon pajamas. Each carried a gun and a
flashlight.

They
looked admiringly at me when Milton told them what had happened. I
was worthy of my master, Lou Darby.

I
had proved myself. But it wouldn’t last long. One of Larry’s
hands fluttered. He would come out of it very soon.

“
Should
we carry him to the house or wait till he can walk?” Beezie
asked.

“
Not
the house.” Rufus frowned at a truck rumbling by on the
highway. “We don’t want him where maybe somebody’ll
hear something. Beezie, you get the boss. Bert, you grab his legs”

Milton
cut a path for us with his flashlight. As we carried Larry, I watched
the lolling head; the closed eyes. Once the eyelids twitched, but did
not open. When they did, he would look at me and say my name.

We
carried Larry halfway up the hill behind the barn. Rufus and I had
put up our guns, and now, he took out his and I took out mine. I
didn’t know what use my gun would be with two of them against
me. I wasn’t good enough for that. I wasn’t even pretty
good.

Beezie
returned with Tilly, moving slowly to keep his pace down to her
labored, waddling ascent. She wore a cloth coat over a white
nightgown which came to her ankles. When she reached us, she wheezed
like a broken engine and gave me an approving nod. I had at last sold
myself to her. That was just dandy.

George
Moon and Molly rounded the barn. I felt myself break up inside. If
she had remained in the house, I would have found an excuse to go
there and flee with her. Her coming wrecked even that chance. I had
done a perfect job. I had handed over to them the one man who could
expose me, and through me Molly.

Moon
was fully dressed. Molly had got into her blue pajamas with white
polka-dots after I had left the room, and now she wore that matching
robe over them, and slippers. Clinging to Moon’s arm she
stepped carefully over the rougher spots on the hillside. Her face
was just a white patch behind a light, even after she and Moon had
joined the circle of flashlights converging down on Larry. She
dropped Moon’s arm.

“
Nice
work, Bert,” Moon drawled. “How’d you happen to be
out here?”

“
I
saw a prowler from my window.”

“
And
you came down? And you didn’t tell Milton?”

Larry
groaned loudly. The others swung .their eyes to him, but not Moon. He
was looking at me, grinning.

“
The
fact is I was taking a walk,” I said.

“
You
said you saw him from the window.”

“
That
was earlier. I lost him. Milton will tell you.” I glanced at
Molly. Her profile could have been cut but of white paper. “I
was sore because Clara had gone out with you tonight. I took it out
in walking.”

Moon’s
grin tightened. “Nice work, pal,” he said, his voice so
slow that I couldn’t read anything into it. “I wanted
that rat.” He prodded Larry’s ribs with his toes.

I
stepped beside Molly and touched her arm. Her head turned. In
moonlight she was very beautiful. Her lips parted, trembled, and
closed without sound. She shivered. She must have been chilly in just
those sheer silk things, but that wasn’t why she shivered.

“
Get
up, rat!” Rufus said.

Larry’s
eyes were open. He lay flat on his back, his eyeballs crawling in
their sockets. I stepped away from Molly, away from the others, but
there were no shadows to hide me. And he knew that I was there. He
had said, “Listen, Breen,” before I had knocked him out.

“
Damn
you, get up!” Rufus grabbed his shoulder and yanked at him.
Larry rose limply, without resistence, and teetered.

“
Where’s
Breen?” Moon said.

There
were three guns against me. Milton’s rifle was fixed on Larry’s
chest; it would be cumbersome at close range.

Beezie
was so fascinated by the proceedings that he seemed to have forgotten
the revolver in his hand. I would throw the first shot at Rufus who
was the most competent and dangerous. But I wouldn’t survive.
The best I could hope for was that Molly would escape in the
confusion.

“
You
tell me where he is,” Larry said.

He
meant Adam Breen — me! He knew that I was there, but he wasn’t
saying. Not yet, anyway. Maybe he was saving it to bargain with.

Without
hurry, without heat, Moon slapped him. Larry staggered. He would have
fallen if Rufus hadn't grabbed his arm and held him upright.

“
Where’s
Breen?” Moon said again.

Larry
wet his lips. “I didn’t snatch him like the coppers say.”

“
Who
is the woman who drove him off last night?”

“
How
the hell should I know?”

“
Why
did you come here?”

Larry’s
tongue flicked out and in. He didn’t reply. Moon slapped him
again.

Tilly
said: “George, why would Larry come here if he’d snatched
Breen?”

She
had stepped to Moon’s side. The shifting fringes of the
flashlights sent flickering patches of lights and shadows, over the
too-tall man and the too-short woman. It made them unreal and
ridiculous. He had to bend his neck to look at her. “Then
where’s Breen?” he said. “Where’s the bag?”

“
I
told you at dinner,” Tilly’s voice lashed up at him. “But
no, you knew everything. The great George Moon! Never even carries a
gun. He says he can hire a gun as long as he supplies the brains. But
where are the brains? That’s what I ask, where are they?”