The smile on Elrick’s features took on a decided subtlety.
“No, I really didn’t expect it at all,” he said.
He walked out and stepped into a green-and-white bandit-chaser. He slammed into first and he was doing forty around a corner and fifty down a narrow street and fifty-five around another corner. He switched on the siren and a horse became frightened and a peddler started to curse as tomatoes went splashing over the side of his wagon. Only then did Elrick slow down.
Elrick finally parked the coupe and stepped out. He walked along a line of four-story tenements and then he looked up at an address. The front door was open and Elrick walked into a dark hallway and went up two flights of steps. An old woman came out of a room and looked at him hatefully.
“Whatchoo want?”
“I’m looking for a Miss Gladys Melvin.”
“She not live here. She move.”
“When?”
“I no know.”
Elrick pushed the cap back on his head and returned the old woman’s bitter gaze with a scowl.
“Show me that girl’s room or I’ll lock you up.”
The old woman cringed. She moved down to the far end of the hall. It was dark down there. The wallpaper was a mess. The door was splintered and the floor sagged.
“In there,” she said. She made a face at Elrick as if she was getting ready to spit. In spite of himself the big cop winced. He waited until she had gone, then opened the door.
He walked into a small room even dirtier and more sorrowful than the hallway. It was small and the single window hadn’t been washed for a year. There was a chair and a dresser and a bed. And on the bed was a girl in her late twenties. She had yellow hair. She wore a dress that at one time had been something to see. Now it was a rag. She was resting face down and there was an alcoholic rhythm to her respiration. On the floor was an empty gin bottle.
He closed the door and walked to the bed. For a few moments he looked down at the girl, shaking his head slowly. He was remembering when she had been a kid in pigtails, running gaily home from school.
There was a pitcher of water on the dresser. He grabbed it, dipped fingers into the pitcher and gently turned the girl’s head. His fingers flicked water.
Her eyes opened. They were pale blue. They blinked and then they narrowed. Gladys sat up, looked at the dark blue uniform and mechanically she was on the defensive.
“What do you want?”
“I’m Officer Elrick. Sure, Gladys. Sure, you remember me.”
“I don’t know from nothin’.” She was no longer in an alcoholic fog. This was a cop.
“What am I supposed to do — sing a song?”
“You used to be able to do that pretty well. You had a good voice. Used to sing in a night club, didn’t you? Sure. Jimmie Renzelli’s place.”
Gladys’ features grew white. Her lower lip shivered slightly.
“Yeah, I used to sing there,” she said.
“About two years ago, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure, I remember. That was a nice place Renzelli had. A real nice place.”
“Yeah.”
“I went there a lot of nights when I was off duty. You know why? I liked to hear you sing. I used to say to myself, ‘That girl will be in the bright lights some day. She’s gonna go a long way’.”
“Yeah. I went a long way, all right.” Gladys got up, trying to stand straight and it didn’t work. She had to lean against a bedpost. “All right, copper. What’s the wire?”
“No wire, Gladys. I just happened to be in the neighborhood and I thought I’d come up to talk over old times.”
Gladys registered mock sweetness. “Now ain’t that just lovely!” Suddenly the mock sweetness changed into nothing but bitterness.
“Look, copper. I don’t know what brings you up here, so I’m askin’ you again. What’s the wire?”
“Gladys, you got this all wrong,” Elrick said. “I’ve known you since you were a little girl. I’ve watched you grow up. When you used to sing down at Renzelli’s—” He paused and leaned toward her slightly and watched the whiteness increase itself, watched the lower lip shivering.
“Yeah, you said that already. Let’s move along.”
“Well, I was interested in you, Gladys. Just like I’m always interested in the young people around this neighborhood. So I decided to pay you a visit.” He looked around the room. “The place sure has changed.”
“Yeah.” Gladys was watching him suspiciously.
“I was thinking about your boy friend,” Elrick said. “What was his name? Oh, yeah — Vince Mazzione. Whatever became of him?”
“He’s still around.”
“And Lou?”
“I see him once in a while.”
Elrick looked down at a torn carpet, then he lifted his head slowly.
“What about Jimmie Renzelli?”
Gladys stepped back. Again she was white. Again her lower lip shivered. She bit at it. She reached back, her thin fingers tightly gripping the bedpost. She was trying to prevent the shivering from spreading through her body but it wouldn’t work. She was vibrating as if she was connected with 110 volts.
“All right. What about him?”
Elrick’s voice was soft. “Seen him lately?”
“No.”
“Are you sure about that, Gladys?”
Something happened to the yellow-haired girl. Something terrible. Her pale blue eyes were suffused by a crazy light, and for a moment it seemed as if she was going to dig fingernails into Elrick’s face.
“You dirty sneak,” she screamed. “You’ll get nothing out of me. Crawling in here like a slimy worm, thinking that you could get me to say something. Well, you won’t!”
“I have all the information I want,” Elrick said.
He started to open the door. Then he came back and grabbed Gladys’ shoulders. He shook her. “But I can always use more. You asked me for the wire and now I’ll give it to you. Renzelli’s dead. You know that. You know who killed him. So do I. Now you’re going to tell me where I can find—”
Despite the alcohol she was carrying, Gladys had strength. Using every ounce of it, she threw a fist at Elrick’s right eye. It missed the eye and it hit the cop on the forehead. It gave Elrick pain, and it made him release the girl. She kicked him in the left shin, and then she kicked him in the right shin, and he made a grab for her. She dodged him. She snatched at the pitcher and swung it at his head.
He ducked and made another grab for her. She jumped up on the bed and screamed and kicked again. One of the kicks caught him on the side of the lip. He cursed. Blood was running from his mouth and he was losing his temper. Again he reached for her.
Gladys still had hold of the pitcher. She raised it over her head, brought it down hard. It made a dull sound as it connected with Elrick’s skull. He fell back, tripped and went up against the window sill and Gladys threw the pitcher at him as he lunged at her. The pitcher hit Elrick full in the face. It loosened up a few of his front teeth and now he was out to do damage.
But he tripped again as he neared the bed. He went down on his knees and, before he could straighten, Gladys’ fist swung around in a flat arc and landed on the side of his jaw. He twisted over and fell on his back. Gladys jumped off the bed and picked up the empty gin bottle and hit him over the head. He tried to get up, tried to bring an arm up to protect his head.
Gladys was too fast. Again she banged him with the gin bottle. Elrick fell flat on the floor. His eyes were closed. He was unconscious...
Somebody was saying:
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I couldn’t help it. I lost my head.”
“I always told you not to get excited.”
“Don’t bawl me out, Vince. Please don’t bawl me out.”