“Don’t make me have to answer that, McKay,” Brady said. “Because if I have to explain reasons to you, I’m going to do it in a way you won’t like. Now just get that goddam chip off your shoulder and give me some straight answers. You knew Doris, you and she were pretty pally, weren’t you?”

“What of it?”

“Why’d you put her away? Were you just so tired of everything else that this was the only thing you could get a kick out of?”

“I tell you you’re crazy, all of you,” McKay yelled, his voice going shrill with anger and cracking at the top. “But listen, both of you. You can’t bulldoze me with a lot of ridiculous suggestions. Maybe I don’t have a fresh shave, but I’m not one of your wineheads that you can railroad right into the gas chamber without the guy even knowing what’s happening to him. I know I didn’t lay a finger on that girl. And you don’t have a reason in the world for suspecting me.”

“You talk like you won’t need a lawyer. But you still don’t talk good enough,” Hendricks said grimly. “What’s more, we got plenty of grounds.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Like hell we are. You were identified in the lineup.”

“What?” McKay cried, startled.

Hendricks smiled. “Yeah, I thought that would make things shape up a little different for you.”

“You’re stringing me.”

Hendricks shrugged. “You were identified by a witness on the scene, and that’s God’s own truth, McKay. That was no deserted shack on the lot like you thought when you killed the Blair girl. There was a guy in that shack saw you croak the girl, friend. And in a few minutes there’ll be another witness here to tell us about you—the doctor whose car you stole to take Doris for that last joy ride.” Hendricks’ smile was triumphant. “Remember, McKay?”

Puzzled, McKay looked down at the floor. Hendricks put it down as a gesture of guilt and evasion.

“We got no time to waste with any wise guy stew bums, you get me, McKay?” he shouted. “Come clean quick, you understand?”

McKay shook his head slowly from side to side. Detective Harrison, standing just next to McKay, reached down and with a quick movement pulled the shirt front out of the top of the young man’s trousers, exposing his abdomen.

“Now, tell it,” Hendricks roared.