"Get your Sunday morning paper!" "Paper!" "Get your Sunday morning paper!" "Get your Sunday morning paper here!" "Paper!" "Morning paper!" "Get your Sunday morning paper here!" "Well, goodbye, Father." "It's wonderful having you back." "Sure is good to be back, let me tell you." "May be a little tame for you after where you've been." "I can stand it if the parish can." "Well, good night, Father." "Good night." "Father..." "Over here, sir." "Yes?" "Father, I've got to talk to you." "I'm a stranger here and I've got to tell somebody about this thing while I can in case anything happens to me." "Happens to you?" "Why?" "If you'll just listen, sir." "Sorry it has to be here in the church" "You're not a Catholic, my boy?" "No, but you're Father Logan, right?" "The Jumping Padre, always the first one out of the plane?" "You don't know me, but I've heard about you." "I'm a paratrooper, too, an ex-paratrooper." "All the more reason for me to listen." "If you'll just hear me out, sir." "I haven't much time." "What's the trouble, my boy?" "I'll not only hear you out," "I'll help you out." "No, you can't, not in this." "You see, right now the cops are after me." "Not that I've done anything wrong, Father, but there's a couple of pretty tough customers, and they'd like to get their mitts on me, probably grab me as soon as I show in the streets again." "If I can't work this out," "I want somebody to know what happened, for the sake of a friend of mine, to clear his name." "What is his name?" "Uh, Johnny." "He's a pal of mine." "He was a paratrooper, too." "You see, it's like this, sir." "A few days ago, they flew Johnny and me home from France in a stripped-down bomber." "Neither one of us had any idea why the Army had suddenly ripped us out of a Paris hospital." "We'd been under fancy treatment, me for my shoulder and Johnny for his punctured lung." "Only high-priority cargo rides a bomb-rack all by itself, Father, but why we rated it, nobody could, or maybe would, tell us." "When we climbed out at La Guardia Field, we find a welcoming committee with a lieutenant colonel from Public Relations, instead of from the Medical Corps." "He was in a large sweat because we were two hours late due to headwinds over the Atlantic and Boland Field, Washington, D.C." "was fogged in, but he hoped maybe they'd hold the Limited more than 10 minutes." "All the way to the Penn Station," "I tried to feel out the good desk colonel, but he'd only grin." "They'd actually held the Limited for us." "Somebody sure enough wanted us in Washington, but now!" "By the time we were rolling into Philly," "I was feeling okay." "Houses with roofs on them, women with nylons, kids that eat." "Can't believe it." "Say, when you get on again as a professor at some college, and I'm back running my cabs in St. Louis, send me up a problem in algebra once in a while, will you?" "Blond or brunette?" "Redhead in a slopp y joe sweater." "I think you're a great guy, too, Rip, if that's what this conversation's about." "Even in the U.S.A., this world." "Maybe I'll be dropping up to St. Louis now and then for a drink." "Careful you don't swallow that pin." "You've got to know nothing good ever really ends." "You're dreaming about that blond again." "I was remembering how low her voice is, how bad her grammar was at first." "And how you taught her English." "Yeah." "And my life much simpler." "I was just thinking about that girl we saw in the bar." "The one in blue?" "You don't even know her." "What difference does that make?" "Besides, she looked sad." "Well, I'm the comforting type." "Johnny, why don't you get rid of the grief you got for that blond, whoever she is?" "Every mile we go, you sweat worse with the same pain." "Didn't I tell you all females are the same with their faces washed?" "Hey, brother, we're dynamite!" "Huh?" "Transportation Priority 1-A." "That's how the big boy, the President himself travels." "Where did you get that?" "Straight out of Silver-Leaf." "You'll have us both up before a general court, pulling stuff like that!" "At ease, sergeant." "Put them back, Rip." "What's wrong with a little reconnaissance?" ""Confidential."" "This ought to tell us something." "Give me those!" "Okay, colonel." "Just a minute, Sergeant Drake, isn't that my blouse?" "Yeah, how come, sergeant?" "And where did you get those papers?" "What goes on here?" "Come on, speak up, sergeant." "They fell down, the papers." "Your blouse dropped, sir." "The captain said to hang it up in there." "What's the matter with your mouth?" "What's that?" "Top personal secret." "Never lets go of it." "6'2" and even, he swallows it, his senior society pin." "I was having a peek at your papers, and the sergeant rescued them." "You mean to say, captain, you calmly went through my papers?" "Now, look, sir, the war's over." "We want to know where we're going and why." "We don't like secrets." "Thank you, sergeant." "I should have known better than try to hold back anything from men who've operated the way you have back of the enemy lines." "I wanted to give General Steele the pleasure of seeing your faces when you heard it." "Steele, Cold Steele?" "Your recommendation was his doing." "For Johnny to get the Congressional?" "The Congressional?" "There were certain errors of omission in your report of the incident." "Those guys in Washington refused to okay it?" "Those guys decided to award the Congressional Medal of Honor to Sergeant Drake, and the Distinguished Service Cross to the officer who was with him." "Now, how's that, bud?" "The Congressional with a baby blue ribbon." "Won't you look pretty standing up there with the head man?" "Maybe he'll even let you sit on his piano." "With the newsreels grinding." "In Technicolor." "What's the gripe, Professor?" "There isn't any more." "You shouldn't have done it, Rip!" "Sometimes, chum, you go soft-headed." "I'd like to see any blond do that to me." "She's got you crazy." "What's the gimmick?" "Basic grammar." "I'll bet she talks beautifully by now." "You kind of look like the first time you jumped." "Come on, look, kid, if it's trouble..." "Yeah, we had some, didn't we?" "Yeah." "Not like this, though." "Ah, quit living inside there." "If you can't tell me" "I can tell you." "I just don't want any medal." "Is that all you don't want?" "Captain Murdock?" "On the hoof, son." "The camera boys would like a couple shots of you and Sergeant Drake." "Could you come out on the platform?" "You only stop here for five minutes." "The city of brotherly love?" "That's what New Yorkers call it." "They don't live here." "I'm all for love, son." "Come on, hero... and that's an order." "Washington hasn't released a story yet." "Can you tell me what gives?" "Sergeant Drake's the story, I'm not." "You see Johnny here" "Johnny?" "Johnny?" "Sergeant Drake!" "Johnny!" "I didn't like that salute." "There was something final about it." "I got it, all right, why Johnny had taken a powder." "He'd faked a birth certificate to enlist." "John Joseph Preston, eh?" "The Yale pin said so." "All I needed was a telephone." "Oh, sorry, gorgeous." "I didn't see what you looked like." "I'd let you have it, only it's long distance." "Yale University." "Hello, Yale?" "Give me your top man there, whatever you call him." "What college?" "Yale, of course." "Okay, so it's a university." "How would I know?" "I just run a fleet of taxi cabs." "Yeah, one of my men found some kind of a pin with the name of a Yale man on it, class of 1940." "I want his address so I can return it to him." "Thanks, lovely." "With all due respect, general, if you won't authorize me to go after him," "I'm afraid I'll have to go anyway." "Uh, yes, sir." "Yes." "I have a pretty good idea of where he is, but we don't want Intelligence messing around in this." "Uh, I regret to say, sir, yes." "That's right, sir." "I refuse." "The last address Yale had for John Joseph Preston, class of 1940, was a town I'd never heard of." "Welcome to Gulf City, Mr. Murdock." "Murdock..." "Oh, yes." "There's a room already reserved for you." "Must be another Murdock." "Nobody knew I was coming." "Warren Murdock." "That was the name, sir, and from St. Louis." "I don't get it, but I'll take it." "It's our best suite, sir." "The gentleman who telephoned insisted." "Oh?" "Then it's for me, all right." "Front, boy." "Geronimo, the paratroopers' jump call." "It was Johnny, all right." "After what we'd been through, we could read each other's minds." "He knew I'd want to help and trail him." "He'd seen me sneak a look at the back of his senior society pin." ""Will call later," Johnny's phone message said." "That was 10 hours ago." "How long is "later"?" "What to do in a hot wind smelling of night-blooming jasmine except wait and sweat, and prime the body to sweat some more?" "A phone directory might help." "I'd never heard of Johnny speak of any relatives, but I was ready to try anything, even a third cousin." ""Prendergast, Prescott, Prestwood."" "Stalled again, like a jeep on synthetic gas." "48 hours since he'd called and still no word." "I'd pitched the Cardinals into the Pennant with my old high school curve, and was setting the Red Sox down four to three in the World Series, and suddenly," "Johnny's service record came to me like a photograph on my eyelids." "He'd enlisted October 11, 1943." "Whatever jam he'd got himself into must have been just before that, and it might have made the local newspapers." "There it was, Father, all over page one." "September 3rd, '43-- only five weeks before Johnny enlisted under the name of Drake." "The rest was what you'd expect, Father." "Nationwide search for a fugitive." "A grand jury murder indictment." "Search for Johnny goes limp, the story dribbling off until it fell out of the paper." "The newspaper file would give me a lot of answers, but there were still three things I had to find out." "How could Johnny possibly be a murderer?" "Why did he come back here where he was even hotter than the weather?" "And why?" "Why not another word from him since that first call?" "Listen, honey child." "Haven't you all got any local radio news programs in this fair city of yours?" "All I get's commercials and a lot of that apple pan dowdy." "Not until 12:00?" "Well, thank you kindly, ma'am." "I thought I'd turned the juice off, Father, you know, the way you do sometimes, but I'd only flipped the button and put it on the police call band." "Car42 reporting in." "Car 42 reporting in." "Broken safety railing on Tarpon Springs Turnpike was due to auto smash." "There's a burned sedan in the ravine." "Body in it, charred beyond identification." "Been there two days." "Send morgue wagon." "Car 42 reporting." "Got it?" "Okay, 42." "Got it." "Two days ago." "That'd be the night Johnny was to call me." "Maybe he" "I was getting desperate, down to wild chances, but it might be a lead." "There was one place in town where I could find out for sure." "Evening." "I was wondering if I could look in your icebox." "Looking for somebody special?" "Missing Persons thought I ought to take a squint at your stock." "Who's missing?" "What's the name?" "What's it to you?" "Homicide Squad." "Lieutenant Kincaid." "I thought maybe you was a morgue buff." "Buff?" "A fan, a nut like those guys that chase fires." "I didn't know Homicide men hung out in the morgue." "Just where do you come from, mister?" "Out of town." "Frisco." "How did you know?" "The accent." "I can spot any accent." "What's the name?" "Wilson, Charlie Wilson." "I met him on the train." "He kept babbling about suicide, but I thought I talked him out of it." "We were to have dinner last night, but he didn't show, and no word since." "Yeah?" "I meant your name." "I gave all that to Missing Persons." "Okay, mister." "Okay." "I'll handle this, Willie." "Thanks, Willie." "Fished this one out of the Gulf." "Pass." "Hit and run." "No, he's too old." "What did this Wilson look like?" "Medium." "Medium what?" "Medium young, medium height, medium weight." "Very illuminating." "You can call him medium, what's left of him." "Barracuda got the rest." "That's the lot." "All the rest empty?" "Yeah." "You're not doing much business, are you, for the one cool spot in town." "Fact is, one just came in, but he don't fit your boy." "How would you know?" "You said suicide." "I was guessing." "Yeah?" "Well, this one came out of a car smash." "You don't want to see him." "I might as well blanket the field." "His own mother wouldn't know him." "He's as crisp as bacon." "I can stand it if you can." "Okay." "He was like a lump of charcoal." "Johnny's build." "It might be Johnny." "It might not." "No hardware on him?" "Wilson had a wristwatch." "Not even small change." "He'd been cleaned as though somebody didn't want him identified." "The only thing my boys picked up was a hunk of melted gold, like a tooth." "Only it's too big for a tooth and it's got some black stuff on it." "Black enamel and gold." "Johnny's senior society pin." "So Johnny had taken his last jump." "What's it look like to you?" "Gold bullet?" "Are you kidding?" "The newspaper boys will go for that." "Thank you." "Once the electric fan in Kincaid's head started churning, he'd check with Missing Persons and find out I'd never been there, but I wasn't worrying about that." "I was thinking," ""Now I won't have to say goodbye to Johnny."" "I remembered him in Berlin." "The crazy song he always sang." "I used to say, "You drive me nuts with it."" "Yeah." "Why, I used to say to him" "Well, let's just say I remembered Johnny, laughing, tough, and lonesome." "Let's just say that." "But I knew all at once I had a job." "They don't give out the Congressional Medal to dead guys wanted for murder, but he was gonna get it, even if he got it on his grave." "I was going after whoever tried to gyp him out of it." "Why should anybody kill Johnny?" "Because he knew too much?" "Because he hadn't shot Chandler and maybe knew who did?" "There was a photograph in the Gulf City Statesman." "Louis Ord, a waiter at the Sanctuary Club." "He was a witness at the Chandler inquest, a reluctant one, the papers said." "Maybe he wouldn't help any, but you've got to start somewhere, and he'd be fine." "Mr. Louis Ord would be fine, just dandy." "I felt like a fight, Father." "I felt like a fight." "How many, sir?" "You alone, friend?" "I have a small table." "The bar is good enough, thanks." "It looked like feeding time at the zoo." "All you needed was money to start with and bicarbonate of soda to finish with." "What'll it be, sir?" "Rye and water." "Plain water?" "Yeah." "Here you are, sir." "Well, come here, sweetheart." "Yes, sir?" "Didn't you used to be a waiter here?" "Well, yes, sir." "Louis Ord, 45, single?" "I seem to know your face, sir, but the name..." "Remember a guy named Johnny?" "Well, in this business, you meet lots of Johnnies, sir." "You were a witness against this one once." "He acted like a mine had gone off under his feet." "I hadn't seen a guy look that scared since jump training." "Who are you?" "The name is Murdock." "Captain Murdock?" "Yeah, how did you know that?" "Johnny's told me about you, captain." "Yeah, well, skip the "captain."" "You know where Johnny is now?" "He's been holed up at my place." "That is, he was until two days ago." "I ain't seen him since." "I'm worried." "Who else has he seen since he's been here?" "No one, that is, except her." "You mean the Chandler doll?" "What's she like?" "Oh, she's tops, and not only with him." "When did he last see her?" "Oh, I don't know that, but two nights ago, just before he left my place, he gave me a letter for you, in case you showed up." "Well, what are you waiting for?" "Give it to me." "Come on." "Where is it?" "Here." "Come on, hand it over." "Go on and give it to him, Louis." "Not here." "Tomorrow morning at your hotel." "I have that table for you now, friend." "I said I didn't want a table." "Oh, sorry, sir." "My mistake." "There was something about that big lug." "I didn't like." "Maybe his calling me "friend."" "Hello, Louis." "Good evening, Mrs. Chandler." "A Ramos gin fizz?" "Nobody can make them the way you can." "Thank you... very much." "Cinderella, with a husky voice." "Where have we met?" "In another guy's dreams." "You still sing that song?" "Who are you?" "Rip Murdock." "Where is Johnny, do you know?" "You haven't said whether you still sing the song he liked." "You remember it, don't you?" "Yes." "Excuse me, Mrs. Chandler." "The boss said to ask you as a special favor, will you sing that song you made the big hit with when you were in the show here?" "I couldn't, not possibly." "As a favor to him, he said." "Yeah, I'd like to hear it." "All right, but just that one." "I'll take that table now, friend, for two." "I hated every part of her, but I couldn't figure her out yet." "I wanted to see her the way Johnny had." "I wanted to hear that song of hers with Johnny's ears." "Maybe she was all right, and maybe Christmas comes in July, but I didn't believe it." "So you've seen Johnny since he got back?" "Yes, but where is he now?" "Do you know?" "I've been frantic for two days." "He was frantic for three years." "Was he?" "In spite of the fact you testified against him." "If you know Johnny, then you must know he understands." "I had to testify." "When did you see him last?" "Day before yesterday." "He was to call and let me know if he'd made arrangements to go to Mexico, or South America, so I could join him, but he never called." "I've been sitting, staring at my telephone." "I've been out of my mind." "Finally, I had to get out and go someplace, just to keep from going crazy." "I just saw him." "Tonight?" "About 10:00." "Where?" "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special treat for you tonight." "As a great favor, the little lady who, not so long ago, was our star attraction, and who is a guest here tonight, has agreed to give us once again the song she made the sensation of the South." "Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Coral Chandler." "# Either it's love or it isn't #" "# You can't compromise #" "# Either it's real or it isn't #" "# There's no otherwise #" "# Don't want your arms #" "# Don't want your lips #" "# If your heart is mine to the core #" "# Take them away #" "# Come back the day" "# You've learned what a heart is for #" "# Either you're true or you aren't #" "# There's no in-between #" "# If you've been lied to by someone #" "# You'll know what I mean #" "# It took much too many romances #" "# To teach this fool to be wise #" "# Either it's love or it isn't #" "# There's no compromise #" "I see what Johnny meant." "You and Johnny... you were together all the time, weren't you?" "We fought together, two-man team." "And spent your leaves together." "London, Paris, Rome." "Me with a gal always, him without one." "Just a picture of you in his eyes." "Where is he now?" "Won't you tell me, where did you see him?" "Let's dance." "Please, I want to know." "I wanted her in my arms when I told her." "My right hand on her spine would feel the shock, if there was any." "She'd tested pure so far, but so did another girl I knew once, right up to the dollar point, and it wasn't four million, either." "Still wear the same perfume, right?" "Tell me where you saw him." ""She wears jasmine," he said." "Please." "He used to call you Dusty." "It was sort of a love name you had between the two of you, right?" "Tell me where you saw him." "On a slab in the morgue, burned to a crisp." "I think we'd better sit down." "Her whole body had gone soft when I slugged her with it, but I kept thinking, she has to know something." "Take a couple of deep drags." "Thanks." "I won't do that again." "Tell me what happened." "Please, tell me everything." "You're not feeling ill," "Mrs. Chandler?" "No." "No, I feel fine, thanks." "It isn't often we have the aesthetic pleasure of seeing Mrs. Chandler dance." "It's a pity you stopped." "Mr. Murdock, this is Mr. Martinelli, who owns all this." "Mr. Murdock's an old friend of mine." "Any friend of Mrs. Chandler's is most welcome here." "I'm afraid I don't sing." "Perhaps you'd like to try a little roulette." "It's probably not wise to tell you, but the house is having a streak of bad luck tonight." "Mrs. Chandler doesn't feel like gambling." "Oh, I'm all right, really I am." "I'd like to." "You too, sir?" "I'll just watch." "Roulette wheels have a way of running over me." "I was walking into something, Father." "We were going to gamble, hot or cold, win or lose." "He hadn't asked her to, he'd told her she had to." "It was an order, but why?" "I didn't like the feeling I had about her." "The way I wanted to put my hand on her arm." "The way I kept smelling that jasmine in her hair." "The way I kept hearing that song she'd sung." "Yeah, I was walking into something all right." "Oh, Krause..." "Have fresh drinks brought upstairs for Mrs. Chandler and Mr. Murdock, and some of those pâté de foie gras sandwiches Pierre makes." "Real pâté from Paris." "Prewar." "Right away, sir." "Number 11, black." "Two stacks, please." "Make your bets, ladies and gentlemen." "Make your bets." "Your bets." "No more bets." "No more." "That way, you'll get rid of it fast." "It's a system I use." "Ever try throwing it out the window?" "Number 13, black." "5 and 13." "Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen." "Place your bets." "Place your bets." "No more bets." "No more bets." "No more." "11 then 7." "What next?" "I repeat." "First one then the other." "It won't work, Dusty." "You got the right numbers in the wrong game." "Number 4, black." "Nothing on 4." "She lost fast and heavy." "Maybe it was her way of easing off the pain of Johnny, but I suspected there was more to it." "I decided to find out." "How much is Mrs. Chandler on the rim for?" "16,000." "Let's see what I can do with the same numbers." "Did you ride in on the killing?" "Her horse stumbled." "Give me the 7-11 dice." "Mr. Murdock, they're all 7-11 dice." "It depends only on the player's talent." "Not the luck?" "I was only returning your compliment." "You shoot honestly, we give you honest dice." "Open up the table." "You won't mind if I watch?" "Not at all, if you think you can take it." "What's the house limit?" "For Mrs. Chandler, no limit." "We shoot 2000." "Seven." "Seven the winner." "The 4000 rides." "Ad infinitum, if you wish." "11 the winner." "7-11, your system, Dusty." "Once more, and we're even." "Perhaps you'd better stop with what we have." "No, we'll get even." "The house will change the dice." "That's your privilege, friend." "That squares you with the house." "I trust you don't think there's anything wrong with the dice." "I never think when I gamble," "Martinelli." "I just feel, and I feel snake eyes." "Krause, give Mr. Murdock back the dice he had before." "Now, sir," "I'd be delighted to have you roll for any part, or all of the 16,000." "Let's say all of it." "Four." "A difficult point, Mr. Murdock." "What man has done, Murdock can do." "Please, Rip, I'm 16,000 ahead." "Bother you?" "No, a solid winning by a player now and then is the best advertising for any casino." "Can't we have a nightcap?" "It's your money." "We'll have it in my office." "If it's all the same to you, friend," "I'd like that particular pair for a souvenir." "Much obliged." "With all that folding money on you," "I'd better see you home." "Snake eyes again." "Well, I'm afraid Krause is a fool." "Evidently, my cutting him in on the profits was a mistake." "He's becoming greedy." "I'll keep these to remind me never to stretch my luck." "A judicious principle." "I gather, Mr. Murdock, that you've been around, as the saying is." "Oh, East St. Louis is around enough." "Ah, St. Louis." "In what business were you, may I ask?" "I owned a fleet of taxicabs, but they got sunk at Pearl Harbor." "Oh, then undoubtedly you know Al Baretto?" "How come you know Al?" "Were you ever in St. Louis?" "Many times, although my headquarters were in Detroit." "I thought." "Al's Detroit friends were all mobsters." "Where's Mike?" "Why, he mixed them, sir, but he got busy, so I brought them up." "Ramos gin fizz, madam." "Thank you." "Our very best, sir." "Mr. Martinelli's private stock." "Louis!" "Coming, sir." "I got it, all right." "Something in the drink." "Also my private stock." "That's all." "To the beauties of St. Louis." "You disapprove of the toast, sir?" "I'm trying to think of a better one." "I was trying, all right." "If I didn't drink this," "Detroit might fall in on Louis for tipping me off, and if I did..." "But I kept remembering," "Louis had been Johnny's friend here, maybe his only friend." "I needed Louis alive." "We await your pleasure." "Geronimo." "A lovely word, with the added charm for me of being meaningless." "A St. Louis expression?" "No, just one I picked up." "Your expressions have the Baretto flavor, almost medieval." "Baroque." ""Mobster," for instance, as applied to me, is more colourful than accurate." "I've always had a preference for legitimate enterprises." "With a little gambling racket on the side." "Oh, scarcely a racket," "Mr. Murdock." "More for my own amusement than for profit, as you have some reason to know." "Gambling is technically illegal, to be sure, but the whole city is aware of it and approves." "My house encourages tourists, pays large taxes..." "Coming out of it was like after being tapped on the button." "Everything foggy, fur in my throat, an anchor on my head, and ringing in my ears." "Huh?" "Rip, this is Coral, Dusty." "What happened?" "I don't know." "Don't you know?" "I just woke up in my garage." "That's a great place to wake up." "Mr. Martinelli is a fine..." "Remind me to put him to sleep sometime." "My head's splitting." "Hey..." "Take a look in your bag, and see if you've still got your money." "Just a minute." "Murder." "What'd you say?" "I said murder." "I just sat up." "The money's all here, Rip." "It is?" "Then I can't understand why he slugged us both." "What's your phone number, Dusty?" "Surf 3181." "I'll call you back." "I've got company." "It was Louis." "His neck was broken, Father." "Little by little, my brain began to unscramble." "Louis, Johnny's letter." "That was the joker." "Then Martinelli was tied in to Johnny's death." "He'd found out about Johnny's letter, and figured he'd put the finger on him, so he'd silenced Louis, too, and Louis' body was to block me out of the play with a murder rap." "I had to get rid of Louis some way and fast before the cops got around to following up." "Martinelli's next play, an anonymous tip to pay me a call." "It's locked." "Should I kick it in?" "It may have been a phony tip." "I don't know where it came from." "It's you, the smart guy from Frisco." "You're better than I thought you were." "How did you ever locate me?" "Mind if we take a little look around?" "Mind?" "Why should I mind?" "What's a little sleep?" "Would you mind telling me what you're looking for?" "Maybe we're looking for that guy you looked for at the morgue," "Charlie Wilson." "What do you know about that burned corpse?" "As much as you do, nothing." "You heard that squad car reporting in about the car smash." "That's why the high-class rental job with a police call-band." "You knew that guy had been taken for a ride." "You guys murder me." "That's the only radio the shop had for rent." "I bet." "If you'd stop playing smart, I might be able to help you." "Where did you get the head, at the Sanctuary Club?" "If you're looking for Easter bunnies, you're a day early." "You had a row with Louis Ord." "Who's he?" "What were you threatening him about?" "Why don't you ask him?" "Don't think I won't." "Lieutenant, you don't object to my going back to bed, do you?" "I got a habit of sleeping late mornings, very often right up to 6:00." "How long you known Coral Chandler?" "Sometimes I think all my life." "Mighty nice thing you did, getting her even." "I always get even, lieutenant." "Snap the light off when you go out." "I'll leave the door unlocked." "You can walk in any time." "Come on, Casey." "If I have the boy pick up my laundry this morning, when can I expect it back?" "Wednesday, huh?" "When does the laundry pick it up?" "What time this afternoon?" "Oh, fine." "Well, send the boy up at 8:00, and while you're on the wire, get me Surf 3181." "Yeah, thanks." "Hello, Dusty." "Yeah." "Yeah, my company's gone." "I'm alone, I think." "Tell me, what did the world look like to you when you first opened your eyes?" "Uh-huh." "Head like a balloon, huh?" "With what?" "Oh, yeah." "What kind of a taste do you have?" "Sour molasses?" "Maybe it was DDT." "I don't know, I never drank any before." "How's your stomach feel?" "What do you mean, am I checking up on you?" "Of course I am." "I forgot to tell you," "I don't trust anybody, especially women." "Well, look, Dusty, I got a job for us." "What time is the top rush hour for lunch in this hotel?" "It is?" "Well, all right, then park your car in the garage at 1:00 and meet me in the lobby." "You got it?" "All right, see you then." "Honey, how soon can you get me Operator 19, St. Louis?" "That's my girl." "Hi, Al." "Yeah, this is Rip." "Oh, sure, I'm great." "Did you get my phone message this morning?" "Uh-huh." "No, not yet." "Not for a while." "I've got unfinished business down here first." "Somebody who used to be your Detroit competition." "Calls himself Martinelli." "Yeah, in spades." "Hey, did you dig me up the name of a good man down here?" "McGee, 25 Palmetto Street." "Okay, pal." "You're a pal." "I'll be seeing you." "Yeah, when I got aces back to back." "So long." "Lieutenant Kincaid?" "Call for Lieutenant Kincaid." "Calling Lieutenant" "Okay, boy, okay." "Lieutenant Kincaid?" "Who wants me?" "Headquarters, sir." "On the phone." "Hello, lieutenant?" "Chief wants to talk to you." "Will you hold the wire?" "Well, at last." "You said 1:00." "Where were you?" "Where are you going?" "The dining room's over there." "Hello?" "Hello?" "What's the matter with you, Rip?" "Can't you say a word?" "Sure." "Hello." "Might be easier to drive if I knew where we were going." "Oh, anyplace out of town where we can eat." "Not to speak of why." "You're an inquisitive little gal, aren't you?" "There's a place at Flamingo Beach, but that's too far out." "I have to be back at 3:00." "Well, stand him up." "You're with me until after dark, and then some." "It isn't a man, it's my hairdresser." "Oh, that makes it rugged." "Oh, please, Rip." "My hair's a mess after last night." "Then why don't you let it down?" "I can't understand why Martinelli put that stuff in our drinks." "Does he think you're working for that St. Louis gangster?" "Well, if he knows Al Baretto, he knows I'm not one of the mob, just a guy who owned a fleet of taxicabs and sat in on a stud game once in a while." "I don't see why" "The trouble with women is they ask too many questions." "They should spend all that time just being beautiful," "And let the men do the worrying." "Women ought to come capsule-size, about four inches high." "When a man goes out in the evening, he just puts her in his pocket and takes her along with him, and that way, he knows exactly where she is." "He gets to his favorite restaurant, he puts her on the table, and lets her run around among the coffee cops while he swaps a few lies with his pals without danger of interruption." "When it comes that time in the evening when he wants her full-sized and beautiful, he just waves his hand and there she is." "That's the most conceited statement." "But if she starts to interrupt, he shrinks her back and puts her away." "I understand." "What you're saying is women are made to be loved." "Is that what I'm saying?" "It's a confession... that a woman may drive you crazy, but you wouldn't trust her." "And because you couldn't put her in your pocket, you'd get mixed up." "I don't understand what does it." "What did it for Johnny?" "The trouble is it happened to Johnny but it didn't happen to me, at least not as intensely." "That's what he was afraid of." "I was going with him because he was the nicest person I'd ever met, and because I'm lonely." "You're right about women being made for love, but what happens when it never comes the way you want it?" "Like music that never reaches a pitch?" "What do you do, go on singing songs and drinking Ramos gin fizzes?" "Yeah..." "I can see why Johnny loved you." "And why he couldn't reach you." "I loved him, Rip." "It's just..." "There's some people you feel you can talk to." "They come along, they sit beside you in your car." "Only, the funny thing is, it's never happened before." "That's crazy to say." "You're the one that's mixed up." "But I'm not mixed up." "Get back in my pocket." "Do me a favor, park it for a while." "I'd like to be alone with the lady." "Careful, I'm the marrying type." "When you worked for Martinelli did he take stuff home, briefcase, papers, or did he leave them locked up in his office?" "I don't know, except he kept my contract in his office." "Why?" "Last night, Louis the bar man had a letter for me that Johnny gave him." "A letter?" "What did it say?" "I don't know." "Martinelli got it." "How do you know?" "When your phone call woke me up," "Louis was in my room, lying on the other bed... with a broken neck." "Oh, Rip." "Yeah." "I'm a guy that likes to get his mail." "Martinelli would have destroyed it by now." "No, he'd want to read it first." "Johnny would have written it in code." "My guess is, he's still trying to figure it out." "I'm going after it." "Not back there?" "Yeah." "I just had my friend, Baretto, on the phone." "He gave me the name of a safe expert." "He was so good, the law took a little slice out of his life." "He's retired." "Lives in this town." "What good is" "I don't think Johnny killed your husband." "Why?" "I knew him like my own birthmark." "Rip... there's something I didn't tell the coroner because Johnny wouldn't let me." "I was right there when it happened." "Johnny was afraid they'd blame me, tie us both up." "Ex-nightclub singer and young college professor murder her husband." "But that wasn't the way it was." "What way was it?" "Stuart had always been crazy jealous." "That night, he was drunk, too." "He started hitting me and jabbing a gun into me." "He was mad enough to kill me, and I was terrified." "Suddenly, Johnny came into the room." "He'd followed us home from the club." "He took the gun from Stuart, or was trying to, but it seemed to go off right in my ear." "I passed out, and when I came to..." "Johnny was kissing me." "That was the last time I saw him until he came back, two days ago." "I remember he said goodbye." "I think he was crying." "You don't believe me, do you?" "Yeah." "Yeah, sure, I believe you... but I still want that letter." "Let's get out of this lobster trap." "We need salt air." "They say salt's antiseptic." "Rip, what's the matter?" "Is something the matter?" "Yesterday, you called me Dusty." "Johnny used to call you that." "Yes." "What would you like to call me?" "I'll have to think about that." "Yes, think of that." "I want you to." "We'd better get back to town." "I couldn't stand there looking at her." "I had to keep moving." "Her story about Johnny sounded real." "I'd buy it, "on approval," as the dolls say." "Only maybe I was buying a lot more than that, and didn't know it." "McGee, 25 Palmetto Street." "It was a nice little house." "He'd probably paid $4,000 or $5,000 for it, before houses went up." "From all I hear, it would probably bring 15 Gs by now." "And here was this guy, McGee, all nicely reformed." "Chances are it's the first house he ever lived in." "When this is over, go see him, Father." "You two would get along." "But I had something else on my mind right then." "What'll it be?" "Phone company, checking calls." "Did you get one from St. Louis a little while ago?" "Hiya, Murdock?" "Okay, McGee." "Step right in." "Oh, McGee, this is..." "Mike." "Hiya, Mike." "I'm fine... now." "What a nice place you've got." "It's messed up right now." "Joe, that's my kid, he brought this junk back from Japan." "Joe took this off a Nip colonel." "Ain't it a pip?" "Almost cut your head off, didn't I?" "Joe says these are new." "Those are German." "That's what Joe said." "How'd you know?" "I'd turn them in to Army ordnance." "Start coughing too hard, there'll be nothing left but the gold in your teeth." "Holy smoke!" "That Joe, collecting stuff like that." "It used to be just guns." "What sort of trick you got in mind?" "A small wall type." "My family bible." "When you spot your job, holler." "There." "Am I right?" "That looks right." "That one?" "It's a pipe." "What's the layout?" "Martinelli's private office at the Sanctuary Club." "I was willing to turn a trick because you're Al's friend." "I'd cut it off to here for Al." "But I ain't souping Martinelli's safe." "I've built up a legitimate business, with a positive future." "Forget it, Murdock." "Wash it out of your mind." "No grease either." "It wouldn't do me any good with sand in my mouth." "If it's a pipe, couldn't you show him how to do it?" "How you like that?" "Murdock, you got something there." "I have a letter I want to get, and she wants me to get it." "Lady, there was a time I could have used you." "I'll show you how in five minutes flat." "Come on." "Where next?" "Where does Martinelli live?" "Crescent Beach." "Why?" "Suppose you drive around, show me the sights, and wind up there after dark." "The letter wouldn't be at Crescent Beach." "Maybe not." "While I'm at the club," "I want Martinelli at police headquarters." "I don't see the connection." "Nobody can... without opening the back of your car." "The trunk compartment." "Louis Ord's body's back there." "How long you been driving?" "I didn't see the signal." "It was my fault." "Let's see your driver's license." "I just told her something that startled her." "It must be here." "I know it is." "It better be, unless you want to come along to the station house." "It isn't here." "It just isn't here." "Keep your head, Mike." "I guess we're hooked." "She must have left it in some other bag." "That's the standard answer." "Can we stop by the mayor's office?" "We got a date with His Honor." "He's your pal, I suppose." "No, but he told me that if I got Mrs. Chandler there by 4:00, he'd marry us." "That's what I'd just told her when we went through that stop signal." "Is that a fact?" "And I hardly know him." "Okay." "Get along with you." "Hey, wait a minute!" "What did you say, lady?" "I said yes." "That was close." "That was a funny thing to say." "What was the matter with it?" "He fell for it." "Yes." "He found it easy to believe." "Martinelli's beach house fronted on the Gulf." "A big place he'd probably built with hot priorities and cold dice." "All right, get out, quick!" "Did they go for it?" "They said they'd send a police car." "What time have you got?" "5 to 9:00." "Hello?" "Hotel Southern?" "This is Mr. Murdock." "Give me the manager, will you, honey?" "Well, this was gonna be it." "If I got that letter, it was all I needed." "If everything rolls on rubber," "I'll be at your place by 11:00." "Can't I wait down the road?" "No." "This is Operation Solo." "I don't want you hurt." "By the way, where is Surf 3181?" "The penthouse at The Gables." "You won't take any fool chances, will you?" "Not any fooler than I'm taking now... doing that." "Be careful." "Sure." "It's funny how loud crickets sound and the way you feel." "Funny, too, how a kiss stays on." "The way you can still taste it." "Martinelli was still up there." "Maybe the phone call hadn't worked." "But it had." "All I had to do was wait." "He was right on schedule." "I was thinking, "Go ahead." "Beat it to your big beach home."" "This is the same gag you pulled on me." "It's even the same corpse." "Only thing missing is a sledgehammer highball and a pair of snake-eyes dice." "There was one joker." "What if he'd left a goon to watch his office?" "Here I was again, back to the scene of the TNT highball... with the pretty girl camouflaging the safe." "Martinelli left in a hurry." "He hadn't even turned the radio off." "Not that I don't like music, but I work better in silence." "I'm crazy about you, sweetheart, but move over." "She moved over, Father." "The safe was wide open." "Martinelli really had hauled freight in a hurry." "After my trouble to get Martinelli out, this would be dandy." "I kept thinking, "It had to be here somewhere"." "Up to now, everything had gone like grief." "He had the letter." "He'd been working on it." "But he hadn't gotten very far with his homework." "He was doing research on that letter but good." "The Leising Book of Codes." "Here was the real merchandise." "I recognized Johnny's writing." "Martinelli!" "Martinelli!" "Then, suddenly, I got a whiff of jasmine." "For a second, I thought it might have been" "It was like going out the jump door." "I was falling through space." "Count, sucker, and pull the ring." "1,000." "2,000." "Then lights." "The ground batteries had picked me up." "I tried to side-slip the chute, but I couldn't." "The lights got brighter, blinding me." "He's coming to." "Go ahead and make with the music, friend." "We love it." "What's the letter say, friend?" "Tell us about it, friend." "Quiet, Krause." "I haven't yet solved the code." "Repeat the message in the letter." "I hadn't read it yet." "I just started to when you sapped me." "You place me in an extremely distasteful position." "By nature, I'm a gentleman." "Truly gentle." "Brutality has always revolted me as a weapon of the witless." "Like your friend, Baretto." "Yes, and Krause here." "Although Krause's inclinations are more psychopathic than intelligent." "He suffered an injury to his brain once, and ever since then..." "If you make me leave you to his quiet whims," "I will never forgive you." "Go take a flying jump for yourself." "I'd formed a higher opinion of your ability to make decisions." "The rest is to dance time, friend." "You like music, friend?" "I like music." "I love music." "I like all kinds of music." "Maybe he'll talk to you now, I think." "Prop him up in the chair facing the wall." "I can't bear the sight of your handiwork." "And don't put that thing away, in case." "In case there's more music?" "There he is, all tuned up for you." "That's better." "You're a stubborn man, Mr. Murdock." "Your whole attitude," "I find thoroughly aggravating." "What time is it?" "That seems a little beside the point." "It happens to be 10:45, or thereabouts." "You're licked, Martinelli." "Quarter to 11, manager, Hotel Southern will phone me here." "Don't fall for that." "Shut up." "Yes, Mr. Murdock?" "Do go on." "I'm most interested." "He's just making with the mouth." "Wrong, as usual." "Yes?" "This is Mr. Martinelli." "No, Sanderson, Mr. Murdock is not here." "I haven't seen him tonight." "That's the right answer." "Now you're really taken care of." "In what manner, if I may ask?" "Sanderson's got a letter I wrote." "If I'm not back at the hotel by 11:15 to collect it myself, he's to call the police department and turn it over to them." "Are you going for that garbage?" "And just what does this fascinating letter contain," "Mr. Murdock?" "Evidence." "Evidence that a couple of cheap guns named Martinelli and Krause knocked off Johnny Preston on the Tarpon Springs Road." "Correct me if I'm wrong." "Take Mr. Murdock to the Hotel Southern." "Walk arm in arm with him, like the best of friends, with your hand on the gun in your pocket." "Go directly to the elevators, our bruised guest's hat well down over his face." "Mr. Murdock will call the manager and tell him to bring the letter up to his room." "Station Mr. Murdock in the bathroom with the door open." "He will call out to Sanderson to give you the letter." "Bring the letter back here, together with Mr. Murdock." "Is that clear?" "As glass." "Of course, there wasn't any letter." "I was kicking on the first down and praying for a break, which it didn't look like there was any coming up." "Hold it, you two!" "You, Murdock." "I've been chasing you for six blocks." "Hello, lieutenant." "What run over you?" "Shake hands with my friend, Krause." "Lieutenant Kincaid of the Homicide Squad." "Haven't I seen you around?" "Frisk him, copper." "He's got a gun." "The other guy, Murdock, follow him!" "But they didn't get me." "Not yet, anyway." "Then it's this man, Martinelli" "Yes, Martinelli." "But as I've been telling it to you," "I've been thinking." "I'm not so sure." "I remember there was a whiff of jasmine just before I was knocked out." "Maybe..." "Maybe it was her." "Suddenly, I got a feeling I know it was." "Jasmine." "You're in a bad way, my boy." "Let me get you something." "Thanks, anyway." "A bit of brandy, at least." "I think if I ask Father Donlin, he might find that he has some right there in the rectory." "For medicinal purposes, of course, you understand." "It won't take me a minute." "I'll get it for you." "Before I see Father Donlin, there's just one little thing I'd like to ask you." "Just how are we going to handle this?" "The two of us, I mean." "Of course, my boy, you want me in this with you, don't you?" "Don't you?" "By all that's holy, he don't." "Rip..." "Rip, what have they done to you?" "Come closer and you can see." "Come on, closer." "There, that's about right." "Get me a drink." "Rip..." "Tell me what happened, darling." "I heard of a girl once, kissed a guy and stabbed him in the back at the same time." "Rip..." "And I heard of another girl that kissed a guy and blackjacked him." "Had the smell of jasmine in her hair." "Jasmine." "In Martinelli's office, all around me, just before the lights went out." "Oh, Rip..." "And when I woke up, they turned the radio on and played music." "Mr. Krause likes music." "You like music, honey?" "Was the window open in Martinelli's office?" "Why don't you tell me the story about the guy with the dream." "Starts out with" "The smell of jasmine is very strong in Martinelli's office when the window is open." "Ends up with something about his friend." "Night-blooming jasmine grows all through these parts." "You think fast, don't you, sweetheart?" "I ought to hate you for thinking a thing like that." "But I can't." "You can say anything, do anything." "Oh, Rip, what does a girl have to do with you?" "Turn inside out to make you see?" "You know, you do awful good." "I came here to" "Put Christmas in your eyes and keep your voice low." "Tell me about paradise and all the things I'm missing." "I haven't had a good laugh since before Johnny was murdered." "I'm not the type that tears do anything to." "I'm the brass-knucks- in-the-teeth- to-dance-time type." "It's no use with you, is it?" "Maybe the trouble is, my name isn't Johnny and I never taught college anywhere, and I don't appreciate the finer things of life." "Like looking at a doll cry and taking the rap for a murder she committed." "Johnny didn't tell you that!" "Why shouldn't he?" "He told me everything else, right?" "You think I fell for that fancy tripe you gave me?" "Let's have a new story, baby." "I..." "I..." "You killed him, why lie?" "Because" "Ah." "You must believe me, Rip." "It was exactly like I told you." "Except for a few changes." "The struggle with the gun was the only difference." "It was in your hands, not Johnny's, when it went off." "Yes." "Yes, that's the way, Rip." "Your way, any way you want it." "I'm tired." "I can't go on anymore." "For three years now, nearly four," "I was being threatened by the police." "For months now, ever since I came into Stuart's money, hounded every day for more money." "I could stand Martinelli, but when you turn against me..." "How did he cut himself in on this?" "I had to talk to somebody when Johnny ran away." "I wanted to tell the police it wasn't murder, that I did it, but I was afraid of what they'd do to me, because I hadn't said so before." "So you picked the worst hoodlum in town." "He's always been nice to me." "He gave me a job when nobody else would, and he knows about courts, things like that." "He said they'd convict me, and offered to get rid of the gun, because the mark on the bullet would prove it was the one that killed Stuart." "Strike one." "Stay with it." "I felt safe when I'd given him the gun." "I never thought about the fingerprints, that mine were still on it." "High, fast, and on the inside." "Strike two." "You can't hurt me anymore, Rip." "I'm going to call the police." "Then your Johnny will be cleared." "You don't care what happens to me." "Well, neither do I." "Not anymore." "There's the telephone." "I'll miss you, Mike." "Larry?" "May I have police headquarters, please?" "The chief, I guess." "I'd better speak to the chief." "Hello?" "This is Mrs." "Yes, who is it?" "Hello?" "Who did you say you were?" "Hello?" "I had to make you prove it the hard way, to ever really know." "Rip..." "A few minutes ago," "I didn't dare do this." "Now I can, Mike." "I'm doing it so that you know I can." "I never thought it could happen." "I've been waiting so long for things to be like this." "Rip..." "I lived by the train tracks." "I was a carhop in Texas, a cigarette girl in a..." "Guys getting fresh." "And then I sang, and when Stuart Chandler came along," "I thought..." "But money wasn't the answer either." "The answer is..." "Well, every time I had a chance to find out what it is, somebody's pushed me, pulled the whole thing out from under me." "Oh, it's a blue, sick world, Rip." "I'm tired of it, and tired of being tired." "I want to go away." "With you." "I don't know if it makes sense, or if this makes sense." "I love you." "Does that make sense?" "I said a while ago, you do awfully good." "I'll always do awfully good, if you let me." "My bet's on you, kid." "I'm wrong about you this time, I'm dead." "You're not wrong about me, Rip." "I'll be your girl." "I'll be anything you want me to be." "We'll go anyplace in the world you want, begin to live." "Be the kind of people who live." "Rip..." "Mable, I'm going to call the doctor." "It just isn't natural, anyone sleeping like that for 36 hours." "When a woman frets about a man like you been doing, Miss Coral, she don't need a doctor." "She needs a preacher." "You got it bad." "Yes, I've got it bad." "I have a surprise for you." "He shaved and had breakfast." "Well, why didn't you tell me?" "Well, I went in to put more ice packs on him, and he wasn't there." "I had cold fingers up my back, Miss Coral, until I looked in the bathroom, and there he was, his face all over soap." "I just gave him the biggest breakfast a man ever had, so you can stop worrying." "Get that look out of your eyes." "Have I got that look in my eyes?" "If you have, keep it there." "Oh, Rip." "You're all right." "Thanks to the fancy bivouac, Mike," "I never had a better night's sleep." "Two nights and a day." "Now that's what I call real southern hospitality." "I've been packing, all the time you slept." "Huh?" "For our trip." "Oh, yes, that little trip to paradise." "I remember something about that, just before I" "Are there any stops we have to make on the way?" "Washington, D.C." "After that" "Do they have taxicabs where we're going?" "What kind of a question is that?" "Well, maybe we won't have to touch any of my money." "It's been nothing but trouble, and I thought..." "Taxicabs are your business, and I'd like to start out fresh, with you." "Mike, I may be a sucker for saying this, but from here on, it's a deal." "Anything you want, any way you want to go." "The two of us." "Darling, where are you going?" "While you're breaking camp, I've got to see an old pal." "Here?" "Who?" "A guy named McGee." "McGee?" "Why?" "Mable!" "I'm going, Miss Coral, I'm going!" "Take it easy, Mr. Rip." "Who are you?" "A friend of Murdock's." "Where in the world have you been?" "I was afraid you were never coming back." "What on earth kept" "What are you doing here?" "What's happened?" "Where's Rip?" "Don't get excited, Mike." "He's climbing up the back stairs." "I come up the elevator." "He figured the cops was following him." "If they picked him up carrying this..." "He'd get 1 to 10 in the big house for sure." "What is it?" "A persuader and a couple of things you might call coaxers." "Don't touch them now!" "Murdock says them things don't need much to start coaxing." "What does he want with anything like that?" "I'm sorry, Mike." "This is where I get off." "Pleased to have met you." "He's got it cozy here, I'll say that." "Real cozy." "Sure nobody tailed me here?" "Not a chance." "I had you spotted all the way." "Okay, thanks, chum." "Don't mention it, pal." "It perked up my whole day." "You almost set?" "Oh, Rip, at last." "That man scared me half to death." "Where are your bags?" "Mable put them in the car." "Good." "Where's McGee's junk?" "He wouldn't let me touch it." "What is it, Rip?" "What are you going to do?" "After a little call on Martinelli, we're hitting the highway to the next stop on the main line." "We'll catch the Midnight there." "Please, Rip, let's go away right now, drive to New Orleans and get a train there." "Martinelli won't ever know what happened to us." "I don't care about anything." "Except, I just want to be with you." "And leave your fingerprints behind us on that gun?" "Do it my way." "I'll never ask you anything again," "I promise." "Don't you push me, darling." "Chucking your fingerprints in the Gulf will be my last pitch, Mike." "Martinelli will never give up that gun, and this time, you might be killed." "That would be awful, wouldn't it?" "Darling..." "You know, my trouble is," "I never should have let you sing that song." "Is there any other reason why I shouldn't see Martinelli again?" "Please, Rip, don't start being suspicious again." "I told you." "Well, then I'll need your help." "I wouldn't ask for it if I could swing it alone, but I'll need you to open the back door to Martinelli's office." "Please, Rip." "How about it?" "All right." "What can I do?" "Well, you can start by crawling out of my pocket." "Getting full-sized." "Big girl." "Oh." "Hello." "Chief said here was a phone call on this" "Stretch, copper." "Nobody asked me, but I could call this kind of a dumb play, Murdock." "Nothing personal, lieutenant." "The chief just wants to talk to you." "I'm booked for tonight." "Open that closet door." "All right, that's far enough." "The cigar." "Here." "Cut off a hunk of that curtain cord." "Okay, lieutenant, drop them." "Behind your back." "Down on your belly." "Cradle, or what?" "Cradle will do." "Tie him up, Mike, and tight." "Wrists first, then the ankles and a few loops hooking them together." "Not that tight, Mike." "Even a Homicide man has blood in his veins." "More than I can say for you, Murdock." "I'm really a sweet guy, lieutenant." "Once I get clear of this beachhead," "I'll write you a letter about that body in the morgue." "Then they'll make you a captain." "Yeah, me and your friend," "Charlie Wilson." "Will that do?" "Yeah, okay." "Now get Mable." "What do you weigh, lieutenant?" "Do you got a watch?" "Yes, sir." "gAll right, sit down here until 12:30." "Then let him out and give him his gun back." "Don't worry, Mable." "No one will do anything to you." "I never worry since my first husband." "Come back and see us again." "Gulf City won't be the same without you two." "Here goes nothing, kid." "Geronimo." "Good evening, Mrs. Chandler." "Good evening, Joe." "You sure it can't wait?" "He's got an awful grouch on." "You don't think I enjoy coming here, do you?" "Okay, it's your funeral." "No, you can't handle this from Detroit." "I've got to know if Baretto is in with him." "Do as I say." "Shut that door." "Didn't he tell you" "I didn't wish to be disturbed?" "It's important." "Told her you were busy, boss." "She said it wouldn't hold." "Murdock's down at the bar." "He followed me out here." "Murdock!" "Why didn't you buzz me?" "I didn't see him, boss." "Well, go down and get him." "Bring him up here." "I'll go out this way." "I don't want to see him." "You have to jerk the bolt." "It sticks a little." "Unfortunately, I found it wiser" "Get them up!" "Beat it, Mike." "Keep the motor running and the headlights on." "Geronimo, Rip." "You've got the gun that killed Chandler." "I want it, and quick." "Who told you that?" "Not Coral?" "On the button." "She couldn't have told you about the gun unless you blackmailed it out of her." "She has the shrewdness of a primitive" "He ain't nowhere down" "Kick it shut and lock it." "Yeah, sure." "Move over." "Turn around." "Keep your right hand up and reach for your gun with your left, and slow." "One quick move and you'll waltz this time, friend." "Drop it on the floor." "Kick it over toward the window." "Now, turn around." "Come a little closer." "One more step." "There." "That's about right." "How's the tempo of the music, friend?" "Suit you?" "Here's a little melody for you!" "One of my favorite tunes." "Now, I'll take that gun." "Get over to the safe, or wherever you keep it." "The safe?" "My dear sir, I'm bewildered." "Coral knows it wasn't in my safe." "She went through everything in it after blackjacking you." "Start moving." "Simple logic should tell you." "If she hadn't taken Johnny's letter and if I still had it, would I have asked you to repeat it from memory instead of reading it myself?" "Never mind the cute talk." "Just get that gun." "Maybe I ought to tell you, she's my wife." "She was my wife when she married Chandler." "There never was a divorce." "You're a sharp boy on the angles, aren't you?" "Baretto warned me you could spin them off every cushion." "For a minute, I almost believed you." "Are you in love with her?" "That hadn't occurred to me." "Tell me, did she mention anything about "it was a blue world"?" "Did she tell you she was a carhop once in Texas?" "Well, she wasn't." "That was the story she gave old man Chandler." "She came from the slums of Detroit." "She was my girl in Detroit." "You don't want that gun, Mr. Murdock, unless you want to send our beautiful little Coral to the electric chair." "Maybe I'll wipe her fingerprints off and put yours on it, just to make sure you pay off for burning Johnny down." "The weakness of your position," "Mr. Murdock, is that if you shoot me... obviously you destroy the possibility of finding out where the gun is." "You worry about your position, I'll take care of mine." "My position is equally clear." "Since I was in it with her, that gun could send both Coral and me to the chair." "As a choice, and particularly under these circumstances," "I find a bullet relatively..." "As a good last gesture." "Just shoot straight and make it fast, will you?" "All mushy outside and hard at the core, eh?" "I counted on that, too." "These babies are out of Tojo, by Hitler." "Creeping Jelly, our Ordinance used to call them." "Because they crawl, and where they crawl they burn, not quick like the chair, but slow and to the bone." "Man, are you crazy?" "Either I get that Chandler gun or the slow broiler for you, even if we all cook." "You're insane." "Can't you see I'm telling the truth?" "Old Chandler was so anxious, he not only offered her marriage, he told her he had a bad heart, and in six months she'd come into all his money." "On the level, friend!" "Then, after the marriage," "I found out from the doctor that the old man might live to be 80." "That night, Johnny Preston had a quarrel with Chandler, and people heard it." "That was all I needed." "I followed the old man home and shot him with Coral's gun." "The Preston kid thought she did it, took the rap." "Listen to me." "If you don't believe this, how do you suppose I knew Johnny had come back to Gulf City?" "From her, obviously!" "But you knocked Johnny off." "I didn't mean him to get killed." "I only told Krause to shadow him." "But Krause is an idiot, as well as a coward." "Would I admit all this if I were lying?" "Maybe, maybe not." "It's a pretty story, but I still want that gun." "I haven't got it, I swear!" "How would you like yourself, medium-rare?" "His desk." "In the desk!" "Liar." "I'm telling you, I'm telling you." "She took it." "No, no, no, there." "The drawer." "If you're right, it's your hard luck." "Aah!" "Scratch one hoodlum." "Where in the desk?" "There." "Bottom drawer." "Unlock it!" "It's unlocked." "Button!" "Where?" "There." "Under there!" "Beat it." "We're going to headquarters." "Move over, baby." "Why'd you shoot him, Mike?" "In cold blood like that?" "I thought they'd killed you." "That was decent of you, but we'll pass that for the minute." "I don't think the cops will squawk about Martinelli, not when we prove he killed Johnny." "Prove?" "What do you mean?" "Oh, we've got to be all square with John Law, Mike." "We're going down to headquarters and lay it on the line, the whole story." "We're going to headquarters?" "You tried to kill me just now." "You expected me to be the first one out, and you knew that when I came out" "I'd know a lot more than when I went in." "You know, you're right about that." "You're going to fry, Dusty." "Oh, Rip..." "Rip, can't we put this behind us?" "Can't you forget?" "The trouble is, I can't forget that I might die tomorrow." "Suppose you got sore at me some morning for leaving the top off the toothpaste tube?" "Then there's Johnny." "When a guy's pal is killed, he ought to do something." "Don't you love me?" "That's the tough part of it, but it'll pass." "Those things do, in time." "And then there's one other thing" "I loved him more." "What'd you do with the gun?" "Right here in my pocket." "Give it to me." "It is a blue, sick world for you, isn't it?" "Yes, it's like I said-- somebody always pushes me." "Give me the gun." "If you shoot, baby, you'll smear us all over the highway." "Rip, Rip." "Where's Rip?" "He's coming." "He'll be right here." "Never mind how you spell it." "I'll get it from Krause himself when he comes to." "She wants you." "Any hope?" "She's lucky." "Yeah?" "Who?" "Captain?" "Murdock, you got a call in from Washington." "Yeah." "Since when was you a captain?" "You don't have to salute, lieutenant." "I'm out of uniform." "Hello?" "General Steele?" "Yes, sir." "Mission all cleaned up, sir." "Well, as soon as I can get a plane." "Oh, there's one thing, general." "The ceremony will have to be changed some." "Sergeant Drake's Medal of Honor will have to be awarded posthumously." "Yes, sir." "So am I, sir." "Goodbye, sir." "Hello, kid." "This is it for me, Rip, isn't it?" "I wouldn't kid you, Mike." "Let me hang on to you." "Your hand." "I'm so scared." "I wish you could put me in your pocket now." "Rip..." "Everything's slipping." "Inside I'm falling." "Like going out the jump door." "Hold your breath and just let go, Mike." "Don't fight it." "Remember all the guys who've done it before you." "You'll have plenty of company, Mike." "High-class company." "Geronimo, Mike."