Hit and Run

'Yes,' I said. 'What are you doing here, for the love of Mike?'

'It was me who called the cops,' he said, then stopped short as he caught sight of Aitken's body. His face turned a greenish grey and he stepped hurriedly back. 'Sweet grief! Is he dead?'

'Okay, you two,' West said. 'You get out of here.' He tapped me on my shoulder as I got unsteadily to my feet. 'Go and sit on the porch until I have time to talk to you. You can take it easy. I heard what he said and that puts you in the clear. Go outside and wait for me.'

'Did he kill her?' I asked.

'Yeah,' West said. 'He must have been crazy. Is that right, he operates a wheel at the Little Tavern?'

I put my hand to my coat lapel. The camera was still in place. I freed it and dropped it into his hand. 'There's a picture of the wheel in there. The Inquirer gave the camera to me.'

'Looks like I've got a busy afternoon ahead of me. Go out on the porch and wait for me,' and he crossed over to the telephone.

A policeman shoved Joe and me out on to the verandah. We sat down while the policeman leaned against the door post and watched us with bored eyes.

'I saw those two thugs bring you out of the backway of the club,' Joe said. 'I'd followed you, sure you would walk into trouble. I trailed them down here, but they looked too tough for me to tackle on my own so I called the cops.'

'Thanks, Joe,' I said and lay back in the basket chair. I felt pretty bad.

Minutes crawled by, then Joe said suddenly: 'Looks as if we'll be out of a job.'

'We may not be. Someone's got to run the International. This could be our big chance, Joe,' I said, staring out at the sand and the sea.

'Yeah, I hadn't thought of that.' He moved uneasily. 'He must have been crazy. I always thought there was something wrong about him.'

'You heard what he said?'

'I was right outside the verandah door all the time. I was scared to hell he might see me. If that big dick hadn't been with me, I don't know what I should have done.'

'I felt that way myself,' I said.

After that we didn't say anything. We sat there, waiting for maybe an hour, then Lieutenant West came out on to the verandah.

'They got Claude and your two pals,' he said, his face split with a wide grin, 'and they have four wagon-loads of the blue blood of this city all going down to the lock-up. This will certainly make headlines tomorrow.' He sat down and stared at me. 'Okay, let's have it from the beginning. There are some points I didn't get. Then you'll have to come down to headquarters and we'll put it in writing. Go ahead and talk.'

So I went ahead and talked.

THE END