“And you told her about what had happened in the apartment?”
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
"She seemed quite disturbed. She said she’d notify the police, but it would have to wait until tomorrow, because she had an important appointment to keep.”
“And how did you happen to come down here to the switchyard?”
“I didn’t want to go back to the apartment alone. Muriel said she had arranged for a pass and that I could come with her. She didn’t seem particularly anxious to have me, though.”
“Then you and Muriel came down here without first going back to the apartment?”
“That’s right.”
“Hadn’t it occurred to you to call the police as soon as you got out of the apartment?”
“Of course.”
“Why didn’t you do it?”
“Because — well, Muriel’s rather secretive about her affairs and somehow I had an idea she wouldn’t like it. You see, she’s had a divorce and — well, you know how those things are. I thought perhaps it might be something that was connected with the divorce, or an attempt on the part of her ex-husband to get evidence so he could get out of paying alimony, or something of that sort.”
“Did Muriel tell you who she was meeting?”
“Yes, a man named Greester, but he never showed up.”
“And what did he want?”
“Apparently it was something about her husband. Greester wasn’t there, and Muriel didn’t tell much. We started to walk down the tracks, and then the next thing I knew that car was almost on us. I think I screamed. I remember a man’s arm around me, pulling me off the tracks; then I saw you and this other man jump off the car and start toward us. Then three men started toward you — there was that awful fight I tried to help and — well, they grabbed me and tied me up.”
“And Muriel?”
“Muriel got away.”
“Anyone try to stop her?”
“I think one of the men did. He made a grab for her, but she jerked herself loose.”
“It may have been an act?” I asked.
“It might have been an act,” she said wearily.
I said, “All right, sister. Now I’m going to tell you something. Muriel is an enemy agent, and in case you want to know what was in that purse it was a great big wad of currency totaling seven thousand five hundred dollars. And that’s why I was so cagey about delivering it.”
Lorraine sat perfectly still on top of the boxcar, looking at me, her eyes wide and startled. After a while she said, “I can’t believe it.”
I didn’t argue about it. I peered over the side of the car that was against the warehouse. “I think,” I said, “we can manage to squeeze through here. We’ll walk back down the length of the train, keeping behind these cars; and we’d better start. I’m going first.”
It was dark as a pocket in the narrow space between the cars and the warehouse. There was just room to squeeze along, and I knew that if the train jerked into motion we’d be caught and rolled along between the moving cars and the warehouse until we dropped down under the wheels; but it was our only way out.
Halfway down the string of cars I crawled under and looked back at the track. I could see little spots of light that stabbed the darkness, then they were snuffed out, only to glow again. They were still hunting for us.
“See anything?” Lorraine asked as I crawled back to the dark side of the cars.
“No,” I said. There was no use scaring the kid to death.
We worked our way down to the end of the cars. There was a stretch of open track, curved rails running up to an iron bumper. Back of that was a concrete wall.
We were trapped.
I felt my way along the wall, hoping I might find a door. That was when Lorraine saw the flashlights.
“Look,” she whispered. “Lights! I think they’re coming this way.”
I simply pulled her in behind the protection of that steel and concrete bumper.
We huddled there for what seemed five or ten minutes. The lights were coming closer. We could see shadows on the concrete wall.
The lights were swinging around now in wider arcs, making bright splotches on the concrete wall, intensifying the shadows. Then, when they must have been within twenty yards of us, they quit.
I got to my hands and knees, held my head low down, and peeked out. The track was a vague, distinct ribbon vanishing into a wall of darkness. I looked for several seconds and couldn’t see anything. I decided to chance it.
We turned off the tracks when we came to the end of the warehouse, walked across the yards, and found a gate that was locked from the inside. We unlocked it and went out without seeing a soul.
“You have a key?” I asked Lorraine when we reached the Redderstone Apartments.
She opened her purse, fumbled around for a moment, and handed me a key.
I hesitated before putting it in the lock. “Someone on your floor have a dog?” I asked.
“Yes. I don’t know which apartment it is. A cute little woolly dog.”
“I heard him barking.”
“Yes, he barks once in a while.”
“Which end of the corridor from your apartment? Toward the front of the house or the back?”
“The back.”
I fitted the key to the lock, held the door open, and Lorraine and I went in. The dimly lit foyer was silent as a tomb.
Halfway to the elevator I paused. “Look, Lorraine, you wait here. If you hear any commotion upstairs, get out just as fast as you can. Go to the nearest telephone and call police headquarters. If you don’t hear anything, wait for me to come back and pick you up.”
The door was locked with a night latch. I carefully inserted the key that Lorraine had given me and silently slipped back the latch. Then I eased the door open, ready to leap forward and go into action if necessary.
Gabby was sitting in the overstuffed chair, his feet propped up on a straight-backed chair, smoking a cigarette. He was all alone in the room.
“How,” I asked, “did you get here?”
He turned and grinned. I saw, then, that his left eye was all puffed up. His lip had been cut, and when he grinned it opened up the cut and a few drops of blood started trickling down his chin. I closed the door behind me. “How’d you make out?”
“Okay,” Gabby said. “Did the Military find you?”
“No one found me. I rode a train out of the yards. What about the Military?”
Gabby said, “I sewed that place up. Nobody gets in or out, and they’re going through it with a fine-tooth comb.”
“Where,” I asked, “did you get all that authority?”
“I didn’t, I haven’t, I ain’t,” Gabby said. “But in case I forgot to tell you I’m sort of working under a colonel here, and we’re checking up on certain things that happened to freight shipments. At first we didn’t think it could have happened in the freight yards, because the records were all straight, but now we’re changing our minds mighty fast. I came here to start tracing this stuff from the time it hit the terminal yards until it was delivered.”
“Yes,” I said, “you neglected to tell me.”
Gabby grinned again. “I was afraid I had. Where’s the girl spy?”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you.”
“Cripes!” Gabby said, frowning. “I thought you’d be able to keep her lined up.”
“You mean you didn’t see her?”
“No. What happened to her?”
“Just that she took to her heels is all I know.”
Gabby straightened up. “Say, who do you think I’m talking about?”
“Muriel.”
“Muriel nothing!” Gabby snorted. “Muriel’s little roommate, Lorraine Dawson, is the one I mean.”
“You’re all wrong, but we won’t argue that now. Where is Muriel?”