spent months trailing the girl and now we've found her. What does it take to get you to realize that matters have taken a turn for the better?"
"Two hundred thousand bucks would help," Sid said.
"If she doesn't tell us, by God, we'll backtrack her through five states. We killed four men for that two hundred grand and it's ours."
Moose snatched the sheet away from the cowering girl. Then he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her out of the chair.
The last I saw of her, they were dragging her from the room.
Four
I heard Sheila cry out and then her voice choked off. They had her in the kitchen. I didn't know what they were doing to her, but I could imagine.
I had to find something to cut my bonds. I remembered the broken lamp that had fallen to the floor when I wrestled one of the killers against the bedside table. By rolling over, I could see under the bed to the other side. The shattered lamp still lay there. I rolled to the bed and under it. When I rolled out the other side, I was within reach of the lamp.
One piece of the lamp's base looked sharp enough to cut the sheets binding my hands. I got up on my rear and squirmed around and felt for the jagged hunk of glass. Since I couldn't see what I was doing, I'd probably slice up my hands, too, but that couldn't be helped.
I was sitting there sawing away when one of the men came back.
"Look at you," he said. It was Sid, the one Moose had sent after the car. "You stupid jerk. It would take you an hour to get loose that way."
I heard Sheila cry out again, pain and terror in her voice. I clenched my teeth and worked at my bonds with the piece of glass clutched in my bleeding fingers. As long as the man in the doorway didn't stop me, I'd keep trying to get free.
"The girl's telling you the truth. There's no sense in torturing her," I said.
"You don't understand Moose. He enjoys this kind of stuff. Even if he believed her, he'd probably do the same thing."
"He must have got himself a lot of kicks down in Florida, when you shot up Abruze's cottage."
"Yeah, the four of them were lying there dead and Moose grabbed the shotgun away from me and gave them another blast. Laughing all the time. He's one crazy bastard, that Moose." Sid said this in the tone of voice most people would use if they said a friend was the life of the party.
I sliced the flesh of a knuckle and winced. "Why did you give the money to the girl in the first place?"
"We had to stash it. We couldn't show up rich overnight, could we? For six months after those killings, any strange dollar that fell in the underworld was going to be reported to the men who run the Mob. You know that."
I had almost forgotten the lie I'd told Moose, that I was a professional hit man sent to take care of Sheila Brant. I said, "I was just carrying out a contract. I'm not in the Mafia."
"We broke two of the Mob's laws. We heisted some of their dough and we knocked off an honored
capo.
They've been looking for us harder than the cops have. For the girl, too. We thought we had the girl and the money stashed in a safe place, but she disappeared."
The conversation was giving me precious time and I tried to prolong it. "I'd like to know how you happened to find the girl. I thought I had the inside track there."
Sid walked over to me. Matter-of-factly he kicked me in the ribs. "Enough of the stalling. You aren't going to get loose, pal." He produced a revolver and fitted a silencer on it "Moose always gives me the jobs he isn't interested in. He gets the girl and I get you."
I realized that he had come to the room to kill me. Believing that I worked for the Mafia, they weren't going to leave me alive to tell my bosses what I'd learned. I squirmed across the floor toward the man with the gun, determined to go out resisting. He only backed away, scorning my futile efforts to reach him. I saw the barrel of the revolver rise and point at me like a cold and deadly eye. Falling on my side, I rolled toward the gunman, trying to knock
"Two hundred thousand bucks would help," Sid said.
"If she doesn't tell us, by God, we'll backtrack her through five states. We killed four men for that two hundred grand and it's ours."
Moose snatched the sheet away from the cowering girl. Then he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her out of the chair.
The last I saw of her, they were dragging her from the room.
Four
I heard Sheila cry out and then her voice choked off. They had her in the kitchen. I didn't know what they were doing to her, but I could imagine.
I had to find something to cut my bonds. I remembered the broken lamp that had fallen to the floor when I wrestled one of the killers against the bedside table. By rolling over, I could see under the bed to the other side. The shattered lamp still lay there. I rolled to the bed and under it. When I rolled out the other side, I was within reach of the lamp.
One piece of the lamp's base looked sharp enough to cut the sheets binding my hands. I got up on my rear and squirmed around and felt for the jagged hunk of glass. Since I couldn't see what I was doing, I'd probably slice up my hands, too, but that couldn't be helped.
I was sitting there sawing away when one of the men came back.
"Look at you," he said. It was Sid, the one Moose had sent after the car. "You stupid jerk. It would take you an hour to get loose that way."
I heard Sheila cry out again, pain and terror in her voice. I clenched my teeth and worked at my bonds with the piece of glass clutched in my bleeding fingers. As long as the man in the doorway didn't stop me, I'd keep trying to get free.
"The girl's telling you the truth. There's no sense in torturing her," I said.
"You don't understand Moose. He enjoys this kind of stuff. Even if he believed her, he'd probably do the same thing."
"He must have got himself a lot of kicks down in Florida, when you shot up Abruze's cottage."
"Yeah, the four of them were lying there dead and Moose grabbed the shotgun away from me and gave them another blast. Laughing all the time. He's one crazy bastard, that Moose." Sid said this in the tone of voice most people would use if they said a friend was the life of the party.
I sliced the flesh of a knuckle and winced. "Why did you give the money to the girl in the first place?"
"We had to stash it. We couldn't show up rich overnight, could we? For six months after those killings, any strange dollar that fell in the underworld was going to be reported to the men who run the Mob. You know that."
I had almost forgotten the lie I'd told Moose, that I was a professional hit man sent to take care of Sheila Brant. I said, "I was just carrying out a contract. I'm not in the Mafia."
"We broke two of the Mob's laws. We heisted some of their dough and we knocked off an honored
capo.
They've been looking for us harder than the cops have. For the girl, too. We thought we had the girl and the money stashed in a safe place, but she disappeared."
The conversation was giving me precious time and I tried to prolong it. "I'd like to know how you happened to find the girl. I thought I had the inside track there."
Sid walked over to me. Matter-of-factly he kicked me in the ribs. "Enough of the stalling. You aren't going to get loose, pal." He produced a revolver and fitted a silencer on it "Moose always gives me the jobs he isn't interested in. He gets the girl and I get you."
I realized that he had come to the room to kill me. Believing that I worked for the Mafia, they weren't going to leave me alive to tell my bosses what I'd learned. I squirmed across the floor toward the man with the gun, determined to go out resisting. He only backed away, scorning my futile efforts to reach him. I saw the barrel of the revolver rise and point at me like a cold and deadly eye. Falling on my side, I rolled toward the gunman, trying to knock
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