Delavan turned and smiled at me a little. He put his gun on his lap and took out a cigarette and lighted it, settled back in the chair.
Maude sipped her drink, glanced swiftly at all of us, went on: “The next thing she knew they were all in the house and the ape was kicking the life out of Fritz and she was screaming her head off. A man she didn’t know — that was Raymond — appeared in the doorway suddenly and George shot him. Then she fainted, and when she came to they were halfway to Palm Springs. George and the ape brought her to my house and left.”
Someone knocked at the door and Delavan got up and opened it. The men he’d sent for were there and he told them to wait and closed the door and went back and sat down.
“We drove into town early and called George and he came out to the house.” Maude was speaking swiftly now, staring dully at Axiotes. “He gave us a long song and dance about not meaning to kill Fritz — that he was so drunk he didn’t know what he was doing, that sort of thing. Barbara fell for it — she’s crazy about him, anyway, and he worked on her sympathy and told her how much he loved her and how jealous he’d been of Fritz... But I didn’t fall for it, and before he left we had a session by ourselves, downstairs. He got mad and spit out the whole thing...”
Axiotes leaned forward slowly and put his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Maude since she’d been talking.
She watched him dully. “He’d come out here to buy out Fritz and Finn and McLennon and a few more gamblers with big clienteles — or run them out, or get control of their business in any way he could. He didn’t say who he was acting for but intimated that it was someone big in the East. Fritz wouldn’t sell and when George met Barbara he made a big play for her thinking he’d be able to reach Fritz that way. When he found out Fritz and Barbara hadn’t been getting along for a long time he changed his plans and it worked out” — she gestured vaguely with her hands — “this way.”
She glanced swiftly at Delavan, then turned again to Axiotes.
“He told me the police were working on the theory that Raymond was the key to the whole business and that that was a great break for us. Us! — he talked about us all the time as if we were just as guilty as he! And he said if I didn’t play ball with him he’d see that Barbara was stuck as the instigator of the whole thing...”
Maude laughed a little hysterically. “He’s a great convincer. He laid it on thick and I was scared. I told him Mrs Bergliot had hinted to me that she’d recognized Barbara’s voice and he said he’d take care of her with some money. I told him she wasn’t the kind of woman you could take care of that way and he wanted to know all about her and I said she was mixed up with some spiritualist cult on Larchmont. He took down the address and said he’d see what he could do about it...”
Delavan said: “We picked up Cora Haviland, the leader of that outfit this evening. Axiotes gave her two thousand dollars to go into a trance and tell Bergliot the voice she’d heard was Myra Reid’s.”
Maude smiled faintly, went on: “Then he said you” — she nodded at me — “were the only other person he was worried about; that he thought you knew more than you were telling and he was having you followed. I guess when you went to see Amante he thought he’d better get rid of you quickly and they tried it when you were driving home. Barbara was asleep when George left and when she woke up I gave her a lot of Luminol and she slept through the afternoon and night. When she woke up Sunday morning I told her what George had said and she was scared to death, too. I wanted to tell you about it but she vetoed that. I think that in her heart she’s still in love with George...”
Her eyes moved to Axiotes and the two of them stared silently, expressionlessly at each other for a moment. Then she turned back to me, went on swiftly, almost breathlessly:
“He called Sunday morning and said he was coming out, we were expecting him when you came in the afternoon; that’s the reason Barbara worked the gag about you shielding Myra Reid so hard — she was afraid George would come while you were there. He called later and said he couldn’t make it and she started drinking and she’s been at it ever since; I sobered her up enough to get to the funeral, but she started again as soon as it was over and insisted on coming here. And here we are.”
Maude finished her drink and put the glass down on the floor. “I guess that’s about all...”
It was entirely quiet for a few moments. All of us were looking at Maude. Then the giant groaned and rolled over on his stomach and I heard something behind me and turned around. Barbara was standing in the bedroom doorway. She held a nickled revolver loosely in her right hand.
She said, “No — that isn’t all,” thickly.
She swayed suddenly and put her free hand up to steady herself and then her other hand tightened on the revolver and it roared five times with the tick-tock regularity of clockwork. I whirled and saw Axiotes half rise out of the chair and his body jerk as the last two slugs went into it; then he sank slowly back and his surprised face went loose and soft and his head sank forward to his chest.
Delavan was standing with his gun focused on Barbara but as I watched he lowered it, and maybe I imagined it but I thought he smiled a very little. Maude sat staring dumbly at Barbara, and the other man — the t.b. — had jumped up and backed against the wall.
Someone pounded on the door.
Barbara went down suddenly; the revolver dropped from her hand and her knees gave way and she slumped down in the doorway, sobbing.
The giant groaned again and rolled over and sat up groggily.
Delavan crossed to the door and opened it, said: “Come in, boys.”
The doctor tightened the last stitch and snipped off the ends of the gut.
Delavan said: “Hollberg’s been under Axiotes’ thumb for a month; he was afraid to do anything without an okay. Axiotes made him call you tonight and ask you over to the bungalow. Hollberg thought he was putting the finger on you but Axiotes figured he’d kill two birds with one automatic rifle.”
The doctor finished and helped me put my coat on and Delavan and I went out to his car. We drove out Sunset a little ways and then I said:
“The only thing that doesn’t fit in is the business on Crescent Heights Boulevard when they tried to get me. How could Axiotes be so sure I smelled a rat that early in the game? I’d already been to see Amante and it seems to me Axiotes would figure I’d already spilled whatever I knew and could be counted out.”
Delavan didn’t answer. In a few minutes we pulled up in front of my place and I got out and asked him to come up for a drink.
He grinned at me silently for a moment and then he asked: “Have you ever taken a good look at my car?”
I shook my head and stepped back a couple steps and looked at it. It was a dark blue Buick roadster with a cream-colored top and cream-colored tire covers.
Delavan was watching me and suddenly he threw his head back and laughed until I thought he was going to bust a lung. He finally quieted down enough to sputter:
“I was sure you knew a lot more than you gave out when you and Amante and I had lunch; one of my men picked me up afterwards and we followed you.”
I leaned against the door of the car and said: “Oh.” There wasn’t anything else to say.
Delavan had calmed down to a broad smile.
“We hadn’t gone more than five or six blocks before we knew we weren’t alone,” he went on — “there was another car following you and pretty soon they spotted us and ducked up a side street. They disappeared while I was deciding which one to follow and, anyway, they had us pegged so we kept on after you. I was sure you had some kind of an inside but I was afraid you’d lay down on it, and it suddenly occurred to me that if I threw a scare into you or made you mad you wouldn’t lay down — you’d give us some action...”