Henrietta don’t say a thing. She is as white as death an’ I can see her lips tremblin’. Maloney steps forward an’ takes her by the arm. Then he turns to me.
“Say, this is tough, Caution,” he says. “This ain’t so good. I thought. . . .”
“Impossible,” I tell him, “you ain’t got anythin’ to think with. But if you want to be the little hero you can go back to Palm Springs with Henrietta.”
“Thanks,” he says, “I’d like to do that.”
He goes out with Henrietta an’ the cops go after ’em. I turn around to Periera.
“I wanta talk to you an’ Fernandez,” I say, “so I reckon you’d better close this dump down an’ get these people outa here, an’ you two go back to your office where we can sorta talk things over.”
Periera an’ Fernandez an’ the other guys go outa the room. After a minute downstairs I c
