Ackie drove round to the back entrance and got out. “You stay here,” he said. “I want to see if the coast’s clear.”
I looked at Katz and dug him in the ribs with the gun. “You’re soon going to have a nice long rest,” I said, “an’ I hope you’ll have plenty to think about.”
Without looking at me, he said, “You won’t last long now, Mason. If you think you can buck this racket you’re nuts. You’re the nearest thing to a corpse I’ve ever put my eyes on.”
When he’d got that little lot off his chest, he laughed. Oh yes, this guy had got his nerve back, once he knew we weren’t going to knock him off. I didn’t like the sound of his laugh either.
Ackie came out and jerked his head. “I’m glad I went in,” he said, keeping his voice down. “Lazard was in there. The smartest mouthpiece in town. If he’d spotted this guy coming in, he’d have sprung him so fast he’d’ve made you dizzy.”
I looked at Katz uneasily. A lot depended on keeping this guy out of mischief.
“Where’s this Lazard now?” I asked.
“He’s just comin’ out. We’ll wait until he’s scrammed, then we’ll go on in.”
While Ackie was saying this, I saw a figure come out through the rear exit. A short, fat figure with a large gallon hat on his head. Katz saw him the same time as I did and he let out a hell of a squawk.
I spun round and hit him as hard as I could in his face. I guess Katz was expecting it because he ducked down and my fist crashed against the bony structure of his forehead. It felt like I had hit a brick wall and a white-hot pain shot up my arm. The force of the punch stunned Katz and he sank limply against the cushions of the car.
Ackie said softly, “He’s comin’ over.”
Lazard had heard the squawk and he stood listening; then he moved cautiously towards us. Ackie took a step or two from the car to intercept him.
“What’s goin’ on here?” Lazard asked. He’d got the real oily voice of a kike.
Ackie stood squarely in his way. “Nothin’ that’d interest you,” he said shortly. “Suppose you drift, brother. I don’t like guys askin’ questions.”
Lazard peered at him. “Why, Ackie,” he said, “what the hell are you doin’ here?”
“Scram, brother,” Ackie said patiently. “You’re in the way.”
This guy Lazard was smart all right. He said with a little grit in his voice: “If you’re holdin’ someone against their will, I guess it is something to interest me.”
Katz was coming out of his trance. I said very softly to him’ “One yap from you, an’ I’m goin’ to wrap this gun around your mug.’,
In the meantime Lazard was trying to edge round Ackie. They looked like they were going into a slow motion of an African dance. Ackie got mad suddenly. “If you don’t scram,” he said suddenly, “I’m going to do things to you.”
The threat in his voice brought Lazard up short. He took two steps back quickly. “I guess you’re drunk,” he said. “You be careful, you can get into a lot of grief being that way.”
He stood hesitating for a moment, then he turned and walked away.
We stood and watched him go in silence, then I relaxed a little. I wiped off my hands on the sides of my coat. “I don’t like that, Mo,” I said.
Ackie cursed a little. “We gotta watch that guy. I’ll go in and fix the sergeant. You wait here.”
He didn’t take long and he came back again with a hard grin on his face. “It’s okay,” he said. “Bring him in.”
We got Katz out of the car and ran him over to the station house. Not until I’d got him inside did I feel at all easy; even then, I wondered if it would be better to take him to the other station house on Riverside.
The desk sergeant came out of an adjoining room and nodded at me. He was a big, red-faced Mick, with a cold, hard eye.
Ackie said, “Get this bird under cover…. Lazard may come back.”
The sergeant looked at Katz. “I’ve always wanted to get my hands on you,” he said. “Bring him in here.” He kicked open another door and led the way down a long passage.
Katz suddenly bent double, swung round, and made a dash for the street door. I was expecting it, but I didn’t expect him to move so quickly. He nearly got away. He got to the door and, just as he was passing through, I collared him round the knees. We went down together with a crash.
The sergeant was close behind me and together we dragged Katz back into the station house. Katz fought like a madman and yelled at the top of his voice.
I managed to step clear for a second and I hit him on the point of his jaw. He went slack. The sergeant dragged him down the passage, down some stone steps, into a large bare room.
Ackie came in a minute or two after, looking worried. “Lazard saw all that,” he said. “I spotted him across the road.”
The sergeant was furious. He took hold of Katz and shook him this way and that. Then he dumped him like a sack of coal on the floor.
Ackie said to him, “Lazard’ll get him out, Pat, if you give him the slightest chance.”
The sergeant shook his head. “This guy’ll stay right here until this time to-morrow,” he said. “No one comes down here. I’ve got the key and the rat can bawl till he busts… no one’ll hear him…
Katz said from the floor: “You’d better cut this stuff out You’ll catch something you won’t like if you don’t turn me loose.”
I thought the sergeant would explode. His red face went black with congested blood and his great hands knotted into fists the size of footballs. He reached out and jerked Katz off the floor. His right fist whistled up from his knees and hit Katz on the side of his jaw. At the same time as he hit him he released his grip. Katz hurtled across the room and thudded against the wall. He slid down and lay on his side.
I said, “I guess we’ll leave you to play with him. We’ll be along to-morrow night to charge him.”
The sergeant didn’t even hear me, he was moving slowly towards Katz, his fists held a little forward and a deep growling sound coming way down in his chest.
Ackie and I stepped outside the room, shutting the door on a sudden terrified howl that sprang from Katz’s throat.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ACKIE SAID: “That starts it, Nick. We gotta go ahead now.”
“You think Lazard’ll try an’ spring him?”
“I guess he’ll see Spencer. A guy like that always jumps into anything with both feet.”
I went over to the car. “Listen, Mo, we gotta break this business up fast, before they get him out. You go to the Federal Bureau an’ tell ’em everything. Get the sergeant to turn Katz over to the Bureau tonight. Once they’ve got him, Lazard won’t get to the first base.”
Ackie pushed his hat to the back of his head. “What are you goin’ to do?”
“I’m lookin’ for Mardi,” said grimly.
“Yeah—but where? You just can’t run around in circles. You gotta have some system.”
“I ain’t had time to get round to Sarah Spencer with you yet,” I said. “I’m makin’ a guess, but I’ll swear I’m right. She’s got Mardi hidden up.”
I told Ackie the tale as far as I knew it myself. What Mardi had told me, and how we had fitted Sarah into the set-up, and why I thought she had kidnapped Mardi. “She’s gettin’ desperate,” I concluded. “I’m bettin’ she’s bankin’ on me startin’ a lot of trouble as soon as Mardi disappeared. She’s right, but she ain’t goin’ to sit on the fence any more. I’m goin’ to push her off, and let her have some trouble for herself.”
Ackie listened with his jaw slack. When I had finished, he shook his head. “No—it don’t fit,” he said. “Sarah Spencer ain’t got it in her to pull a job like that. I’ve seen her, you ain’t. She’s just a dizzy blonde, with the brain of a cow an’ the morals of an alley-cat. ’Sides, she’s crazy about Spencer—I can’t believe that tale.”