THE HEAT
1
“Do they know where you live?” I asked Miss Wonderly, as I shot the Buick out of the hotel garage.
She shook her head.
“Sure?”
“Yes. I changed my apartment a day or so ago. No one knows yet.”
“We’ll go there and get you some clothes,” I said. “Where is it?”
She clutched my arm. “No. Let’s get out of town. I’m scared.”
“We’ve got the time,” I said. “And you don’t have to be scared. They won’t get us if we use our heads. Now where is the place?”
“It’s at the corner of Essex and Merrivale.”
I nodded. “I know. I passed it as I came in.”
I pushed the Buick along, and I kept my eye on the mirror.
No one was following us—yet.
“You and I have a lot to talk about,” I said, casually. “Thank you for being on my side.”
She shivered. “Will they catch us?”
“They couldn’t catch a train,” I said, but I wasn’t all that happy. I wondered if they’d taken the number of my car at the hotel, and how soon it would be before the attendant gave it to Flaggerty. I wondered where in hell we were going to hole up, or if it’d be better to get out of town. . I didn’t want to get too far away because I was determined to go after Killeano. I had to be near at hand if I was going to bust him, and I was going to bust him all right.
“Listen, honey,” I said, in my soothing voice, “I want you to use your head. Is there anywhere
in town or near at hand where we could stay and be reasonably safe?”
She twisted around. “We’re going to get out of here,” she said wildly. “You don’t know what they’d do to me if they caught me.”
I patted her hand and nearly pushed in some guy’s fender who had pulled out suddenly from behind a truck. We cursed each other amiably.
“Now take it easy,” I said. “No one’s going to catch you. But we’re bucking the police, and they’ll seal up all the highways leading out of town. We shan’t get far with their two-way radio sets working against us. We’ll have to hole up until the heat’s cooled off. Then we’ll slide out one night, and blow.”
“We’d better go now,” she said, clenching her fists.
“Well be all right, but you must think. We want a nice snug hideaway for three or four days. Now think, and keep on thinking.”
While I was talking we reached Essex and Merrivale. I whizzed the Buick down Essex Street and nailed her before a shabby looking apartment block.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing the cigar box, “let’s hustle.”
We ran up the wooden steps to the house, and she led me up the stairs into a big bedroom overlooking the front of the house. She packed her things as if the devil was pricking her with his fork. She was so efficient that I just stood back and gave her room. In three minutes flat she had a big grip crammed full of the pick of her cupboard and drawers.
“Swell,” I said, grabbing the grip. “Now watch my dust,”
As I reached the head of the stairs, I paused. She clutched at my arm, looking at me with round eyes.
“What is it?” she whispered.
I motioned her to be quiet and listened. The radio was giving a police message. They were telling Paradise Palms to watch out for us.
“How do you like being called a blonde killer?” I asked, smiling at her.
She pushed past me and scurried downstairs. At the foot of the stairs, she stopped. A thickset man in his shirt sleeves had come out of the front room. He stood gaping at her.
“Hey, you,” he said, stepping up to her. “Not so fast. They want you!”
Miss Wonderly gave a startled squeak, spun on her heel and tried to bolt up the stairs, but he reached out and grabbed her.
“They want me too,” I said, coming down slowly.
The man let go of Miss Wonderly as if she’d bitten him. He stepped back, his face going a dirty white.
“I don’t know anything about anything, mister,” he said in H low, hoarse voice.
I smiled at him. “You don’t look as if you do,” I said, and put Miss WonderIy’s bag down. “Where’s your telephone, bud ?”
He waved his hand to the room from which he had just come. I jerked my head and he went in. I followed him. Miss Wonderly pressed herself against the wall. She didn’t look as cute as she had when she’d pressed herself against my hotel wall, but then, she was dressed this time. It makes a difference.
The room was, big and untidy. There were shutters up at the windows to keep out the sun.
An old woman was holding the telephone receiver to her ear. When she saw me, she gave a gasp, and dropped the receiver. It fell with a little crash on the table. Then she sat down heavily in a rocking-chair and threw her apron over her face. I thought she looked pretty dumb sitting like that, but it seemed to give her some comfort.
I took hold of the telephone and jerked. The cord came away from the wall, and I tossed the instrument on the floor.
“Now you won’t be able to talk to anyone about anything,” I said, winking at the man. “That’ll be a nice change for you.”
He jerked and shook and sweated plenty. I seemed to scare him.
I left them huddled and silent, and collected Miss Wonderly. She seemed scared too. Hell! I
was scared myself.
We ran down the steps, and I slung her bag into the car. We bundled in, and I shot out of Essex Street like a cat off a hot stove.
“Have you thought of a place, honey?” I asked, as we bolted along Ocean Drive.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Well, concentrate or else we’ll be in a jam.”
She banged her clenched fists together and started to cry. She was scared all right.
I looked across the Bay. The opalescent waters of the Atlantic and the Gulf were changing hues as clouds moved overhead. Scattered green islands gleamed like emeralds on an azure field. On the distant horizon the Gulf Stream pencilled a line of indigo, with here and there above it a smudge of grey smoke from the funnels of a passing steamer.
“How about those islands?” I said, slowing up. “Know any of them?”
She sat up, and her tears dried like magic. “Of course, the very place,” she said. “Cudco Key. It lies to the left of the islands, and it’s small. I know a shack there. I found it when I was out there once.”
“Fine,” I said. “If we can get there, that’s where we’ll go.”
I didn’t know where we were, but as we were heading in the same direction as the islands, I didn’t worry. We passed Dayden Beach, and I looked at the moored raft. It seemed a long time since we sat on it together. We kept on, and after a while I saw a wharf ahead. That gave me an idea.
“We’ll trade this car for a boat,” I said.
“I’m glad you’re with me,” she said. It came from the bottom of her heart.
I patted her knee. It was a nice knee, and she didn’t take it away, so I left my hand on it.
We stopped by the wharf and got out. I made sure my gun was handy, and I kept a firm grip on my cigar box. That was one thing I wasn’t losing. We looked around. There were a number of U Drive pleasure boats moored along the wharf, but they weren’t fast enough for me. I
wanted something that’d shake a police boat if it came to shaking police boats.
I found what I was looking for after a while. She was a trim thirty-foot craft; mahogany and steel and glistening brass. She looked very fast.
“That’s her,” I said to Miss Wonderly.
While we were looking at the boat, a fat little man came out of a house on the water-front, and hustled down to the boat. He gave us a hard look, then stepped on board.
“Hey!” I said.
He looked up, and climbed off the boat again. His face was burned nearly black by the sun, and his hair was bleached yellow-He didn’t look a bad guy in a tough, hard way.
“Want me?” he said, eyeing us over, then he grinned. “By Golly!”
I hunched my shoulders and grinned back.
“Not you—your boat,” I said.
“Chester Cain, by Jeese!” he said. He took elaborate precautions to keep his hands still and not to make any move, but he wasn’t scared.
“Sure,” I said.
“That’s okay with me,” he said. “The radio hasn’t let up for the past half-hour. The whole town knows you’re on the mn.” He eyed Miss Wonderly. She apparently made a hit, because he pursed his mouth in a soundless whistle. “So you want my boat?”
“That’s the idea,” I said. “I’m in a hurry, but I’m not going to rob you. Take my Buick and a grand?”
His eyes opened.
“Do I get the boat back?” •
“Sure, if they don’t sink her.”
“Sink her? They’ll never see her.”
His optimism made me feel good.
“She that fast?”
“Fastest boat on the coast. Fate was kind to you, sending you to me.”
“I guess so. So you’ll trade?”
He grinned. “I don’t want to, but I’ll trade. I never did like that buzzard Herrick anyway.”
“Sure this is your boat?” I asked.
“You bet. Tim Duval’s the name. I use her for Tunny fishing and other things. When you’re out of this jam, you come on a trip with me. You’ll like it.” He winked. “I’ll be glad to have her back, but keep her as long as you like. She’s gassed up and ready to go. She’ll take you to Cuba if you’re figuring on going that far.”
Miss Wonderly came staggering back with the two suit-cases. She wasn’t scared to make herself useful. She looked kind of cute in her blue crepe—like she was in a fancy dress, and it showed off her figure. Duval had trouble keeping his eyes off her. I had trouble too.
We dumped the grips on board, and then she ducked down into the cockpit.
“Get into the cabin, sweetheart,” I called. “It’ll be safer there.” I didn’t want anyone to see her as I pulled out along the long wharf.
She went into the cabin and shut the door.
“Want me to come along?” Duval asked hopefully.
I shook my head. “No.”
He shrugged. “Okay,” he said. “I’d sooner travel alone— with her. Nice, eh?”
“Huh uh,” I said, and gave him the keys of the Buick.
“You won’t have any trouble with that boat. She’s sweet to handle;” he said, taking the keys. “I’ll look after the heep for you.”
“Yeah, look after her,” I said.
“Sure will.”
I went aboard and started the engines.
Duval cast off the lines.
“I think Flaggerty’s a buzzard too,” he said.
That told me he wasn’t going to sell us out as soon as we were out of sight.
“So do I,” I said.
I spun the wheel and edged the boat through the narrows to the cut that led to the outer bay.
The swell was long, fairly easy. After a while I rounded the breakwater and we were in the bay.
I looked back.
Duval was waving. I waved back. Then I gunned the engine and the boat leapt forward with a roar, throwing water and cream-white foam.