"Later," he said. "Later, you're going to tell me lots of things, Petroni. Right now you're going to shut up. When I tell you, you're going to get up and walk around. AU right. Up. Walk."
I rose sullenly. There was a sound in the hall outside, the rapping sound of high heels. A man's voice spoke out there.
"Don't be afraid, miss. He can't see you."
"Who's afraid?" It was the voice of the girl who'd asked me for a match; it seemed like a long time ago. I drew a long breath. It had been too much to hope that they'd get drunk and hit a culvert at ninety miles an hour before the police could find them and bring them here. Anyway, one dead woman was enough for one night. The clear, high voice spoke again. "Well, he does look sort of familiar, but I can't really see-"
The doorknob rattled. The man's voice said quickly, "No, miss, you're not supposed to go in!"
Then she was in. She looked just as small as I remembered her, in a light, summery, full-skirted dress, predominantly blue, and tiny, white, high-heeled shoes. Her short, blonde hair, dry now, was a silvery cap on her small head. She looked child-sized in front of the big policeman who followed her in-without looking the least bit like a child, if you know what I mean.
She came forward. The policeman reached for her clumsily, but Crowell waved him back. The little girl looked up at me. Her eyes were as blue as Jean's had been, I noticed. It didn't seem like a happy omen. She stared at me for quite a long time. I didn't know why she bothered to go through the motions. There was no doubt in my mind that she'd recognized me as easily as I'd recognized her.
Crowell spoke. "Well, Miss Michaelis? Is this the man who lit your cigarette at the swimming pool?"
She gave me a final look and turned away. "Oh, no," she said. "No, I've never seen this man before in my life."
That was far from being the end of it, of course. They had Mrs. Rosten in and she said yes. The little girl said no. Mr. Rosten said maybe, maybe not. A plump collegiate type with a crew cut was dragged in and addressed variously as Billy and Mr. Orcutt, depending upon who was speaking. He was no help. He hadn't seen anything but water, he said-damn cold, green, chlorinated water.
I didn't get to listen to all of this at close range. They moved me into another room so they could discuss me more freely, but I guess the forces of law and order were shaken by the unexpected turn of events. A door got left open, and I heard most of it, and filed it for reference. It was too early to try to figure out why a perfectly strange young lady-with a very interesting last name-should get up and lie for me, plausibly and stubbornly. At the moment, I was more interested in learning whether or not her efforts in my behalf would be successful. They were.
When I came outside at last, having been told that I could leave but that I'd better keep myself available, there was a cold wind blowing from the direction of the Bay. At least it seemed cold to me, after the time I'd spent in Cuba. My car was parked in front of the building, along with an empty police car and a white Thunderbird convertible with the top up. There were people in the Thunderbird. The engine was turning over quietly.
Under other circumstances, seeing a car waiting like that, ready to go, I might have looked for a murderous blast from an automatic weapon and a tire-ripping getaway, but this seemed hardly the time and place for such goings-on. Anyway, the only man with a current reason to wish me dead, as far as I was aware, was waiting in Washington to cut me into small, squirming strips with his tongue. Mac doesn't like having his operations fouled up and his people killed.
I got the keys out of the Falcon's ignition and opened the trunk and threw my suitcase in. Coming back around the car, I almost stepped on the little blonde, who'd come over from the Thunderbird.
"So your name is Petroni," she said, looking up at me. "Jim Petroni."
"There's no law against it," I said.
She laughed softly. "Those policemen certainly wished there was, didn't they?" She continued to speak in the same light tone of voice. "Teddy Michaelis," she said. "The Tidewater Motel. Room seventeen. You know where it is."
"I know the motel," I said. "I can find the room."
"Don't be long.' she said.
The college type behind the wheel tapped the horn impatiently. She stared at me for a moment longer, as if fixing my face in her memory to brighten the long, dark, lonely winter nights to come. At least that was the most flattering explanation of her scrutiny; I don't claim it was the right one. Then she ran lightly to the convertible and slid across the seat, reaching back to slam the big door shut. The window was down. 1 heard her voice clearly.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting; I wanted to be absolutely sure. But you're wrong, Mrs. Rosten; he isn't the one, I'd swear it. And I saw him lots closer than you did."
I heard Mrs. Rosten say from the rear seat, "I still think-"
That was no surprise. She'd keep right on thinking it, too. But her word didn't carry the weight of that of the girl who'd actually spoken to the murderer, which was just as well for me.
I watched them drive away. Then I got into the Falcon and drove in the other direction. It would have been poor technique to appear to be following; and I needed some information and advice before I accepted the little lady's invitation, anyway. Things were looking up. At least I had something with which to draw Mac's attention from my many and serious shortcomings.
It took me a while to get my bearings on the country roads on which I found myself, and a little longer to decide I was being followed. I didn't think it was the police. They'd have managed it less obviously. This was a one-man tailing job, and the guy was damn well not going to lose me whether I spotted him or not.
I sighed, and led him out on a sandy back road, and stopped to see if he wanted to talk. He didn't want to talk. He drove past without slacking speed, as if I was nothing to him but an obstruction by the roadside. I got out and opened up the hood of the Ford. The compact six-cylinder engine looked as if it would have been easy to fix, had there been anything wrong with it. I went back to the trunk and opened that, and fussed around in there for a while. I might have been looking for tools. The guy out in the dark could make up his own story.
He was out there, all right. He wasn't just interested m learning where I was going. He'd parked up ahead and circled back on foot, stalking me. I took a chance on a gun and let him come in. He made the last ten yards in a rush. I pressed the button of the instrument with which I had provided myself, ducked as I turned, and put out my arm.
It worked very nicely. He ran right onto the long, thin blade of the switch-blade knife, held low. The club he was swinging passed over my head. I pulled out the knife and stepped back and clear of the car, ready to thrust again. A blade hasn't got the shocking power of a bullet. I might still have a fight on my hands.
I needn't have worried. He was through for the night. He dropped the club and put both hands to his stomach and looked down fearfully, as if expecting a horrible display of gushing blood and torn entrails. There was, of course, nothing of the sort. I'd done a clean, tidy job. After making sure of this, he looked up reproachfully. The light from the sky caught his face. I'd never met him before, although we'd come close earlier in the evening; but I'd seen his picture and read his official description in Washington. It just wasn't my night for being right. On top of my other goofs, I'd miscalculated badly when I figured there was only one man around who'd like me to drop dead because of the way I'd loused up the night's work. I'd forgotten Alan, our tender-hearted, lovesick young man in Maryland.
SEVEN
HE WAS A good-looking kid, if you like them with dark, wavy hair and soulful expressions. Well, agents are needed in all shapes and sizes, and I suppose Mac had use for a pretty boy when he took this one on.