I'll Get You For This

  "You bet he is, the monkey-faced punk," Clancy said, scowling. "He's got a swell office with air-conditioning on the top floor so he can keep an eye on hard-working stooges like me." He kicked sand, shaking his head. "I don't know what's come over this jail. A dame died yesterday, and damn me if another ain't gone cuckoo this morning. Dived off the deep end as I came on duty. Brother, she gave me a turn. You'll hear her screaming and laughing when you get inside. It gives me the heebies to listen to her."

  "They'll take her away, won't they?" I said curiously.

  "Yeah, in a day or so, but she's in the cell next to the Wonderly dame, and Flaggerty reckons it'll soften the poor little judy to have someone like that peering through the bars at her."

  I gripped the wheel tightly, and I felt my face turn white, but Clancy didn't notice.

  "They didn't oughta keep a dame like that in the jail," he went on. "She's making the other prisoners restless. She's dangerous too. She was in for sticking a knife into her old man. I'm keeping clear of A floor."

  "Let us through, Clancy," Maxison said, glancing at me. "We have a job to do at ten."

  "Sure," he said. "These boys are okay," he said to the other cops. "Let 'em through."

  As I drove the hearse slowly past the barricade, Clancy bawled after me, "If you see that punk Cain, tell him we're expecting him, and not to disappoint us."

  "I'll tell him to pick his box first," I called back, "and pick it from us."

  They laughed like a bunch of hyenas.

  "How are you making out?" I asked Maxison.

  He was wiping his face with a handkerchief, and he looked hot and uncomfortable.

"I'm all right," he said shortly.

  "Did you hear what that cop said?" I asked, through tight lips. "About that crazy dame being next to my girl? Did you hear it? Did you think what it means?"

  "Yes," he said sullenly.

  "Oh no, you didn't," I snarled at him. "But put Laura in my girl's shoes and then ask yourself how you'd like it."

  I saw his face stiffen; he didn't say anything.

  The drab stone building of the jail reared above us. Sunlight baked the granite walls. It was a lost, forlorn place, and it chilled me to look at it.

  I stopped before the two large oak and iron gates. On the right of the gates was a small lodge. Two cops came out carrying automatic rifles.

  "Hello, Maxison," one of them said. "We've been expecting you."

  "Can we go in, Franklin?" Maxison said. "These new regulations are confusing me."

  "It's all hooey," Franklin said, scowling. "Sure, you can go in I'll open the gate for you."

  As he moved to the gates he caught sight of me. He turned back.

  "Who's this guy?" he demanded. He had a flat squashed face, and eyes like a Chinaman.

  Maxison explained I was his new assistant, and where O'Neil, the other assistant, had got to.

  Franklin scratched his head. "Well, I dunno," he said. "I got instructions to let in only those people I know by sight. I've never seen this guy before. I guess I'd better call the sergeant."

  "Skip it," one of the other cops said. "The sergeant's at breakfast. You don't want to make him mad for the rest of the day."

  "Will you hurry?" Maxison asked, trying to stop his teeth from chattering. "I have a job to do. I'm late already."

  Franklin stared at me with a worried frown. I leaned out of the car window, jerked my head at him. He came closer.

"Can't you rustle up a crap game?" I asked, keeping my

voice low. "The old man can do the work. I got money to lose."

  He grinned suddenly, the frown went away. "To hell with that for an idea," he said. "Here, get out of the buggy."

  I pulled the .38 from my waist-band as I pretended to fumble at the door. I shoved the gun to Maxison, who sat on it, his face turning a faint green.

  I dropped on to the hot sandy road.

  "Better make sure you're not heeled," Franklin said, but he was grinning all the time. "Then you can go in."

  He ran his hands over my body. If he had told me to undo my overcoat I'd have been sunk, because he'd have seen the guard's uniform. But he didn't.

  "Okay, hop in, and beat it," he said, stepping back.

  I got into the hearse and slammed the door. My left hand reached under Maxison and retrieved the .38. I slipped it into my pocket. I felt a lot better with that gun within reach.

  We drove through the gate into a courtyard. I saw the dogs then. They were massive brutes that strained at their chains when they saw us, snarling and showing their teeth. None of them barked. Their silent snarling made them look like wolves. I was glad to get past them.

  We stopped outside a steel grill. Four or five guards paced up and down on the other side of the grill. Each carried a rifle. One of them opened up for us.

  "Okay, Maxison," he said. "Go ahead. The doc's just finished."

  I released the clutch and drove past the guard. I didn't look at him.

  We were in.

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