“McKay. Perhaps I should have said was.”

“What kind of celebrity—or is the fact that you know him enough to make him one?”

“It’s been known to happen. No, McKay had a big-name orchestra. Dance the hours away with Bob McKay, remember? Don’t tell me you stay home nights, Captain.”

“Not if I can get out, but I don’t dance when I go out. I like short cuts. Why haul a dame all around the floor first?” Hendricks grinned maliciously.

“The subtle approach, eh Captain?” Lowry asked amiably. “Swell story for me in McKay. How the mighty have fallen and all that, you know. Could I see him?”

“The hell you could.”

“Thanks. That’s what I thought. What have you got on him?”

“Murder,” Hendricks snapped. “Now go haunt a house or something, will you?”

“Murder,” Lowry said. “I understand that’s serious.”

“It used to be. There’s nothing to it anymore. They just put you to sleep now, you know. Like an operation. Don’t even feel it.”

“Very pleasant.”

“Too damn pleasant. Hanging, now, or the chair—there’s something else again.”

“Something you can get your teeth into, eh? Substantial capital punishment.”

Hendricks grinned. “Yeah, but the lethal chamber—like ether before they take your tonsils out.”

“Sissy stuff.”

“Right.”

Hendricks bent over the sheet on the desk again.

“I couldn’t see McKay, could I?” Lowry asked.

“I said no,” Hendricks said without looking up.

“Murder, you said. Do you mean somebody was killed in the brawl at Carrol’s last night?”

“You were there, huh?”

“Made a special point of it.”

“No, a real fancy job. Doris Blair.”

It was no surprise to Lowry. He had simply wanted to make certain.

“Did he confess?”

“Police business, Lowry. Now beat it, will you?”

“I was just going.” He started for the door, then turned and looked solemnly at the Captain. “Have you been getting much exercise lately, Captain?”

“No,” Hendricks replied without thinking. “What for?”

“I was just thinking,” Lowry said slowly. “If you decide you need any, don’t take it on McKay. I’ve heard tell of such things.”

Hendricks shot a withering glance at Lowry but the bland eyes that met his held a quiet threat in them that made the Captain uncomfortable.

“So long, Captain,” Lowry said pleasantly. Hendricks grunted.

9

9

Another day rolled by for McKay, marked only by the rhythmical questionings and beatings. He lay on the cot in a cell which was his alone now, his body a mass of bruised and tortured nerves, his brain afire with confusion and resentment.

The next day they had him in District Attorney Ford’s office and here the tactics were subtler, wider in range. Most questions met with obstinate resistance and eventually Ford wearied to the extent where he sprawled in his chair behind the desk and lit a cigarette.