No Orchids for Miss Blandish (8 page)

Doc drained his glass, then refilled it.

"Better not let her hear you say so," he said and sat down.

Upstairs Ma Grisson was once more sitting on the bed, breathing hard through her thick nose. She watched Miss Blandish writhing on the bed, tears running down her face, her hands twisting the sheet.

"Now I think we can talk," Ma said.

She began to speak. What she said made the girl forget her pain. She stared at the old woman as if she couldn't believe she was hearing correctly. Suddenly she gasped, "No!" Ma went on talking. Miss Blandish sat up and recoiled to the head of the bed, saying "No!"

At last Ma lost patience.

"You can't get out of it, you little fool!" she snarled. "You're going to do what I tell you! If you don't, I'll beat you again."

"No... No... No!"

Ma got to her feet and picked up the length of rubber hose. Then she changed her mind.

"I'm spoiling your pretty skin," she said, "and that won't do. There are other ways. I'll get Doc to fix you. I should have thought of that before. Yeah, Doc'll know how to fix you."

She went out of the room leaving Miss Blandish, her head buried in the pillow, sobbing wildly:

Eddie stared down at Heinie's body, feeling sweat break out on his face. If the cops walked in now he would be in a hell of a jam, he was thinking. He looked quickly around the room. There had been no struggle. He guessed someone had knocked on the door and when Heinie had opened it, he had been shot. From the small wound in Heinie's head, Eddie surmised the gun used had been a .25--a woman's weapon.

He touched Heinie's hand. It was still warm. Heinie hadn't been dead longer than half an hour, if that.

Eddie looked into the passage. Flynn was still watching the stairs. Eddie left the room. As an afterthought he carefully wiped the door knob with his handkerchief. Then he crossed to room 243 and tried the door handle. The door was locked. He knocked. Flynn looked down the passage at him. Eddie rapped on the door again. There was no answer. He put his ear against the door panel. He heard the sound of the window being pushed open.

"Hey, you in there," he called softly. "Come on! Open up!"

Then the silence of the night was split by a woman's wild screams. From the sound, the woman in 243 was leaning out of the window, yelling her head off.

Eddie jumped back from the door.

"Come on, stupid!" Flynn shouted. "Let's get out of here!"

Eddie joined him at the head of the stairs and together the two men started down.

"Wait!" Flynn hissed and grabbed Eddie's arm. He looked down the well of the staircase into the hall. Eddie peered over Flynn's shoulder. Two cops, guns in hand, were standing in the hall. Suddenly, they moved to the stairs and started up them.

Eddie and Flynn spun around and darted up to the next landing. They could hear people shouting and doors opening.

"The roof!" Eddie panted.

They rushed up to the top landing. They could hear the cops pounding up after them. As they started down the long passage a door nearby opened and a scared-looking man poked his head out. Flynn hit him as he crowded past. The man fell down. From inside the room, a woman started to scream.

There was a door at the end of the passage which led out onto the roof. It was locked. Flynn fired two shots at the lock, then kicked the door open. The noise of the shots in the confined space deafened the two men. Gasping for breath, they stumbled out onto the flat roof and into the cool night air.

Running to the edge of the roof, they took a stiff drop onto the roof of the adjacent building, some fifteen feet below. The moon, hidden behind a cloud, made just enough light for them to see where they were going.

They paused for a moment, trying to decide which way they should go.

"We'd better split up," Eddie said. "You go left, I'll go right. Be seeing you."

Flynn moved off across the roof away from Eddie. There was a sudden shout and Flynn turned in time to see shadowy figures appearing on the upper roof. He fired. One of the figures dropped, and he darted into the darkness.

Screened by a row of chimney stacks, Eddie paused to look down into the street. People were coming out of the various apartment blocks and crowding the streets. A police car was pulling up. From it spilled four cops. They shoved their way through the crowd to the entrance of the hotel. In the distance came the sound of approaching sirens.

Eddie moved off. He lowered himself onto another roof. Crouching in the shadows, he looked back. The roof of the hotel was now alive with moving shadows. A gun banged away from him. One of the shadows slumped out of sight.

Eddie stood, hesitating. None of the cops seemed to be coming his way. They were chasing Flynn. Eddie grinned uneasily. It had been a smart idea to split up.

He moved across the roof to a skylight. His best bet, he told himself, was to get into the building and hide up until it was safe to leave.

Suddenly, without warning, a cop came from behind a chimney stack. The two men gaped at each other, for a moment paralyzed with shock and surprise, then the cop acted quickly. He jerked up his gun, but Eddie was a shade faster. He slammed a punch at the cop's head and brought his gun butt down on the cop's gun wrist. The cop reeled back, dropping his gun. Eddie could have shot him, but he knew the sound of the shooting would bring the other cops.

He jumped forward, took a stiff blow to the side of his face from the cop and clubbed the cop with his gun butt.

The cop was tough and full of fight. He was trying to pull his nightstick. He and Eddie grappled. For a long moment, the two men strained together, then Eddie punched the cop off. As he came forward again, Eddie sidestepped him and hit him a crushing blow with the gun butt on the side of his head. The cop dropped like a pole-axed bull.

Panting, Eddie looked anxiously around. He could hear distant shooting. He ran over to the skylight and jerked it open. The bolt holding it in place was flimsy and it snapped at his first heave. He looked into the darkness, then swung his legs into space and dropped. He took out his flashlight and sent the beam around the room. It was full of boxes, trunks and unwanted furniture. Moving to the door, he opened it cautiously and peered out into a dark passage. He listened, then moving forward, he reached the head of the stairs. He turned off his flashlight and made his way down to the lower landing.

Police sirens were now making a deafening noise. He could hear the sound of running footsteps. There was a great deal of distant shouting. He reached the landing and peered over the banisters. Far below, he saw three cops starting up the stairs towards him.

Sweat was running down his face now. This was getting much too hot for comfort, he was thinking.

He whipped around and noiselessly entered the first room near him. The light was on in the room. A woman was leaning far out of the window, looking down at the commotion going on in the street below. He could only see her pyjamaed back and legs, and even under this pressure, he found himself thinking she had a nice shape.

He closed the door and tiptoed across to the woman. He stood close to her, waiting. She must have sensed she was no longer alone for she suddenly straightened and whirled around.

Eddie pounced on her; one hand clamped over her mouth, the other gripped her wrists.

"Make a sound and I'll break your neck!" he said, holding her against him.

She stared up at him. She was only a kid: she couldn't have been more than eighteen. Her blue eyes opened very wide. She looked so scared he thought she was going to faint.

"Take it easy," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you if you don't make a noise."

She leaned heavily against him, closing her eyes. He could hear the sound of voices and tramping of feet coming along the passage.

He gave the girl a little shake.

"The cops are looking for me," he said. "You'll be all right if you don't make a noise and do what I tell you. Come on, get into bed."

He carried her over to the bed and slid her under the sheet.

"Don't make a sound," he warned as he took his hand from her mouth.

"I--I won't," she said breathlessly, staring up at him.

"Good girl."

He turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness. He lay down on the floor by the side of the bed away from the door.

"If they come in here and find me," he said, drawing his gun, "there's going to be shooting and you could get damaged. So don't start yelling."

"I won't," the girl said, more confidence in her voice now.

He could hear doors opening and people talking excitedly. It sounded as if the cops were going from room to room.

"It's up to you, baby," he said from the floor, "to stall them if they come in here." He slid his hand under the sheet and took her hand in his. He was surprised she squeezed his hand and he winked to himself in the darkness. "You don't have to be scared of me."

"I'm not scared," she said.

They waited. He could hear her fast breathing and his own heart beats.

Suddenly heavy footfalls sounded outside. The door opened cautiously. Eddie lifted his gun. The girl gripped his hand hard. The beam of a powerful flashlight swung around the room. The girl gave a little scream. "Who is it?" she quavered. The light fell on her.

"Police," a voice growled from behind the light. "You alone in here?"

"Yes... what is it?"

"A couple of gunmen loose," the cop said. "Nothing for you to worry about. You should lock your door, miss."

The door closed and the heavy footsteps receded.

Eddie drew in a deep breath. He let go of the girl's hand, got to his feet and went over to the door and turned the key in the lock. He came back to the bed and sat on the floor.

"Thanks, baby," he said. "You did a nice job. I'll stay here until it's quiet, then I'll beat it. Relax, you don't have to worry about me."

The girl didn't say anything. She stared curiously at him, just able to make him out in the dim light coming through the uncurtained window.

After some minutes, Eddie found the floor getting hard. He got up and sat on the end of the bed.

"I'm getting calluses," he said, grinning. "You get off to sleep if you want to."

"I don't want to sleep," the girl said. "You scared the life out of me, but I'm not so scared now."

"That's fine," Eddie said. "I scared the life out of myself too."

The sounds in the building had died down. Some of the police cars were moving off. He wondered if Flynn had got away. He guessed he had. Flynn knew how to take care of himself.

After a long pause, the girl said, "It was just like a movie. All that shooting... if you hadn't held my hand I would have screamed."

Eddie looked at her with growing interest.

"I'll hold it again any time you like."

She gave a nervous giggle.

"I don't feel like screaming now."

He got up and looked out of the window. The crowded street was now deserted. The last of the police cars were moving away.

"Well, I guess I can go. Looks like the show is over." He came over to the bed and smiled at the girl. "Thanks a lot, baby. You were swell."

She half sat up in the bed.

"Are you sure it's safe to go?"

"Yeah. I can't stay here all night."

She settled down in the bed.

"Can't you?" She spoke so softly he scarcely heard what she said, but he did hear. He suddenly grinned.

"Well, there's no law against it, is there? Do you want me to stay?"

"Now you're making me blush," the girl said and hid her face. "What a question to ask a lady."

Two days later, an advertisement offering kegs of white paint appeared in the
Tribune.

Ma Grisson tossed the newspaper to Doc.

"The money's ready," she said. "Now we've got to collect it. It'll be a soft job, Flynn and Woppy can handle it. You write to Blandish, Doc. Tell him to drive to the Maxwell filling station on Highway 71. He'll know where it is. He's to get to the Blue Hills golf course at one o'clock." She looked over at Flynn and Woppy who were listening. "That's where you boys will be waiting. He is to throw the suitcase out of the car window when he sees a light flashing. He's not to stop. Warn him he'll be watched from the moment he leaves his house. If he cooperates with the police or tries anything smart, the girl will suffer." To Flynn and Woppy, she went on, "You won't have any trouble. Blandish will be too scared something might happen to the girl. The road's straight for miles. If you're followed, drop the suitcase in the road so they can see it, and keep moving. They won't come after you because of the girl."

"Tomorrow night?" Flynn asked.

"That's it."

Flynn stuck a cigarette on his lower lip.

"Didn't you say the girl was to be knocked off, Ma?" he said, staring at Ma. "What are we keeping her for?"

Ma stiffened. Her little eyes turned hard.

"She'll go when we get the money."

"Why wait?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Ma snarled. "Shut your loose mouth!"

Flynn looked over at Doc who couldn't meet his direct stare. Doc got up, muttered something under his breath and left the room.

"What's happening to the girl, Ma?" Flynn asked. "I saw that old quack go into her room last night with a hypo."

Ma's face turned purple.

"Did you? If you've nothing better to do than to snoop around here, I'll have to find you something to do."

The tone of her voice alarmed Flynn.

"Okay, okay," he said hastily. "I was only shooting the breeze."

"Shoot it to someone who wants to listen," Ma snarled. "Get out of here!"

Flynn hurriedly left the room. After a moment's uneasy hesitation, Woppy followed him. The two men went upstairs and into Eddie's room.

Eddie was in bed, reading the Sunday comics.

"Hi, you misbegotten freaks!" he said cheerfully. "What's cooking?"

Flynn sat on the foot of the bed. Woppy straddled a chair, laying his fat arms along the back.

"We're collecting the dough tomorrow night," Woppy said. "The ad's in the
Tribune."