Figure it Out For Yourself

The elevator took me up to the fourth floor. I walked along the corridor to apartment 4B15. In the apartment opposite someone was playing the radio. Somewhere down the passage a woman laughed shrilly. I pressed my ear to the door panel of 4B15, but heard nothing. I rapped, listened, waited, but nothing happened. I looked to right and left. No one was watching me. Silently I slipped the pass-key into the lock, turned it gently and pushed open the door.

The man in the fawn suit was sitting in an armchair facing me. He held a .45 in his lap, the barrel pointing at my chest. He gave me a thin, cold smile.

'Come in,' he said. 'I thought it might be you.'

The moment I heard that deep baritone voice I knew who he was, and couldn't understand why I hadn't known it before.

'Hello, Dedrick,' I said, stepped inside the room and closed the door.

II

'Don't make any sudden moves, Malloy,' the man in the fawn suit said and lifted the gun. 'No one on this floor would bother about the sound of a gun, and I'm in the mood to make a mess of you. Sit down.' He waved his other hand to an armchair, facing his on the other side of the fireplace.

He couldn't have missed me at that range, and I had an idea he wasn't bluffing so I sat down.

'You're quite a puncher,' he went on, and his hand touched the back of his neck tenderly. I'll have a stiff neck for weeks, damn you!' His hard, black eyes roamed over my face. 'Bit of luck, you walking in like this. We'd made up our mind to get rid of you as soon as we could. You're getting a nuisance.'

'Oh, I don't know,' I said. 'The trouble is I'm full of theories and have no proof. Does Serena know you're here?'

He shook his head and grinned

'No; she hasn't an idea. Make yourself at home. There're cigarettes by your elbow. We have a little time to kill before anything can happen. Barratt'll want to talk to you. Don't try anything funny unless you're tired of life, will you?'

I lit a cigarette while he watched me, his finger curled round the trigger of the .45, its barrel continuing to point at my face.

'Be careful with that gun,' I said. It looks very dangerous from this end.'

He laughed.

'You don't have to worry. It'll only go off if you don't behave yourself.' He stubbed out the cigarette he was smoking, reached for another and lit it I sat still while he did so. The expression in the hard black eyes told me he would shoot if he had to.

'If I'd known you were going to be so damned interfering, I wouldn't have called you in the first place,' he went on. 'I thought it was smart at the time. I acted that little scene well on the phone, didn't I? And the untouched whisky, and the burning cigarette were nice touches, too.'

'Yeah, very pretty,' I said. 'But did you have to shoot Souki?'

'Oh, yes.' He frowned, as if he didn't like being reminded of Souki. 'He asked for trouble, and he got it'

'And was it you who framed Perelli?' I asked.

'That was Barrett's effort. It has a way of settling debts. Perelli had it coming to him, anyway. It was a bright idea. At one time the heat was getting top fierce, but now they have Perelli in a cell, everything is fine and dandy.'

'Don't be too sure. The police are looking for you for the Gracie Lehmann killing.'

'You don't have to worry about me,' he said lightly. 'You worry about yourself.'

The door into the apartment opened and Barratt came in. For a second or so he stood rooted, staring at me, then he moved into the room, closing the door, his thin, handsome face lighting up.

'How did he get in here?' he asked.

'He had a key,' the man in the fawn suit said, and got to his feet. 'Better check to see if he's wearing a rod.'

'Get up!' Barratt said to me.

I stood up.

He came to me from behind and ran his hands over me. He found the .38, jerked it out of the

shoulder holster. Then he found the box of reefers.

He stood away while he opened the box, then gave me a sneering little smile.

'Very smart. Where were you going to plant them?'

'Oh, somewhere,' I said. 'You can't expect to hold the monopoly of planting evidence.'

He tossed the box on the table, came over to prod me with my gun. 'How did you get in?'

'Took the pass-key. It hangs by the switchboard downstairs. Didn't you know?'

He went through my pockets again, found the pass-key and tossed that on to the table.

He looked at Dedrick.

'He's lying, of course. Maxie must have given it to him. Well, all right; it's about time I fixed

Maxie.' He took out a silver cigarette case, selected a cigarette, stuck it on his lower lip. As he lit it, his eyes browsed over my face. 'I owe you something, Malloy. You'll find I'm good at paying off old scores.'

'Can't imagine you'd be good at anything, but I'll take your word for it,' I said.

'What are we going to do with him?' Dedrick asked.

Barratt moved to the mirror over the fireplace and admired himself.

The mine, of course,' he said. There's no better place for him. He'll take a nice long time to die.'

Dedrick grimaced.