Well, here goes.
I eased up to the first floor. Nobody came out of the second office to check on the noise made by my pounding heart, which surprised me. Then up to the second floor. It was dark here, but light from the first and third floors leaking up and down the stairs made things bright enough for me to see what I was doing. There were voices on the third floor and somebody laughed up there. I held my breath and moved quietly to Jimmy's cell.
I whispered, "Jimmy!" and he came alert and moved to the door.
"Am I glad to see you," he whispered back.
I held up the keys. "Do any of these fit?"
"Yes, the D key. The D key. It fits the four cells in this corner."
I fumbled through until I had the key tagged D. I opened the cell with as few clinking noises as possible. "Come on," I said. "We've got to get out of here in a hurry."
He slipped out and pushed the door shut behind him. We headed for the stairs and were almost there when I heard somebody coming up. Jimmy must have heard it, too, because he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. We flattened out as best we could.
Talk about walking right into it! The policeman looked over at us and said, "What are you doing up here, Robards? Hey, you're not...."
I stepped out and brought out one of the pistols. I said, "Easy now. If things go wrong for us, I have nothing to lose by shooting you. If you want to live, play it straight."