Ken relaxed back in his chair.
“I can’t say how glad I am…”
Again Parker gave him the odd, searching stare.
“When they had gone, I told Maisie the truth,” he said slowly. “She’s taken it pretty hard.”
“You didn’t tell her about the girl? That you and she…?”
“I had to. She knew I had lied to the sergeant. I couldn’t look her in the face and lie to her. She asked -me bluntly if I had been fooling around with Fay. I had to admit it.”
Ken realized that if Ann had put the same question to him, he would have been unable to lie to her.
“I’m sorry…”
“Yes.” Parker ran his hand over his face. “She’s taken it pretty hard. Of course her mother heard all about it. She made things damned difficult. This could break up my home.”
“I can’t say how sorry I am.”
“Well, I brought it on myself. It’s damned funny, but I felt so safe with Fay. I thought I could get away with it. What a fool I’ve been!” He looked up suddenly and stared hard at Ken. “But that’s enough about me. I’m not going to talk any more about my troubles. There’s something else I want to say. The sergeant gave me a description of the man they want. They think he killed Fay. I’ve been thinking about what he said.” He leaned forward and went on, “Are you quite sure, Holland, that you didn’t go to Fay’s apartment last night?”
Ken’s heart skipped a beat, then raced. He felt himself change colour. He made a desperate attempt to meet Parker’s eyes, but he couldn’t do it. To hide his fear, he reached for a cigarette; lit it, then said, his voice hoarse and shaky, “I don’t know what you’re driving at, Max. I’ve told you before: I spent the evening here.”
Parker continued to stare at him.
“I think you’re lying,” he said. “Did you go to her apartment?”
“I tell you I didn’t!” Ken cried, starting to his feet.
“Good God!” Parker said, his face turning pale. “When he gave me the description it occurred to me it fitted you. I wondered if you had done it, but I couldn’t believe you had. Now I know you did it!”
Ken felt so frightened he could scarcely breathe.
“They said they were looking for a tall, dark, good-looking man around thirty,” Parker went on, his voice shrill. “He wore a grey suit and a grey hat. They said he owned a shabby green Lincoln.” He got unsteadily to his feet. “Goddamn it! It must be you! You’ve got guilt written all over your face!”
The two men stared at each other, both shaking. Ken frightened; Parker horrified.
“I didn’t do it!” Ken blurted out. “You’ve got to believe me, Max. I swear I didn’t do it!”
“I don’t want to hear anything about it!” Parker said violently. “I don’t know what you’ve been up to, but whatever it is, you’ve got to keep me out of it. Do you understand ? I know I gave you her telephone number, but for God’s sake, don’t tell the police that. You’ve already ruined my home. If it gets out I gave you her phone number, I’ll lose my job as well. I’ll be smeared over every newspaper in the country. You’ve got to keep me out of it!”
“I tell you I didn’t do it!” Ken caught hold of Parker’s arm. “You’ve got to believe me!”
Parker shook him off and backed away.
“It doesn’t matter a damn if I believe you or not. That’s for the police to decide. Sooner or later they’ll catch up with you. They have your description. They’ll find you before long, and when they do, you’ve got to keep quiet about me. Do you understand?”
“Oh, shut up about yourself!” Ken said, suddenly furious. “All you think about is yourself. What about me?”
“This is your mess, not mine!” Parker exclaimed.
“Is it? You are responsible. It was you who kept insinuating I should have a night out. All right, I was a damned fool to listen to your dirty suggestions, and a bigger fool to act on them. But if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t…” Ken stopped, realizing what he was saying; then, seeing Parker’s horrified expression, he couldn’t contain himself any longer. “Yes, I admit it! I was with her last night! I was in her apartment, but I didn’t kill her! She went into her bedroom and left me in the sitting-room…” “Stop it!” Parker shouted, his face twitching. “You don’t know what you are saying. I won’t listen. You’re trying to make me an accessory by telling me this. I won’t listen I Keep me out of it! That’s all I’m asking. This is your affair. It’s nothing to do with me. All I ask you is not to tell them I gave you her telephone number!”
Ken stared at Parker’s white, twitching face, and he suddenly gained courage from Parker’s fear.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll keep you out of it. But don’t forget you are morally responsible. It was entirely due to you I went to her place. It is you who got me into this mess. Don’t forget it. Now get out!”
Parker needed no encouragement. He hurried into the hall, opened the front door and went down the path at a shambling trot.
Moving to the window, Ken watched him go.
Well, at least he’ll keep his mouth shut, he thought. He’s even more frightened than I am.
But the pressure was on now. He thought with sinking heart of the shape of his future. There was Sweeting to watch out for. There was the blonde to be avoided, and now, every day, he would have to work side by side with Parker who knew he had been with Fay and who believed he had killed her. Sooner or later Ann would be back; then a new nightmare would begin for him.
He stared blindly out of the window, his fears pressing in on him. There seemed no way out, and his new-found courage deserted him.
He did something he hadn’t done since he was a child. He went into his bedroom, and, kneeling down by the bed, he tried to pray.
III
Lieutenant Harry Adams walked down the dark alley that led to the entrance of the Blue Rose nightclub, his thin shoulders hunched against the rain.
He rang the bell and when the judas window slid back, he said, “I want Sam.”
Joe, the doorman, stared at him, hesitated, then opened the door.
“I’ll get him, Lieutenant,” he said.
Adams lit a cigarette and looked around the ornate lobby. The hat-check girl started towards him, suddenly recognized who he was and stopped abruptly as if she had seen a snake in her path. She went quickly into the Ladies’ room.
Adams was used to this kind of reception. It mildly amused him.
A red-head in a low-cut evening dress, wearing emerald green diamondshaped frame glasses, came out of the Ladies’ room, looked at him, began a professional smile which slipped off her heavily made-up lips as she caught Adams’ frozen stare.
She moved hurriedly down the stairs to the restaurant, brushing past Sam Darcy as he came up.
“Evening, Lieutenant,” Darcy said, his eyes wary. “We don’t often see you here. Anything I can do, or are you here for a little relaxation?”
“I’m on duty, Sam,” Adams said, looking the big negro over. He scarcely came up to the diamond in Darcy’s shirtfront, but the negro’s vastness didn’t appear to impress him. “I want to talk to you. Let’s go somewhere private.”
“Okay,” Darcy said reluctantly. “Come into my office.”
He led the way down the passage and through a door into a big, luxuriously furnished room with a desk by the curtained windows.