“He must be crazy. He came here expecting me to hide him. He says Johnny shot a policeman and is wounded. He says you planned to murder Johnny and he rescued him.”
“That’s a laugh,” O’Brien said. “Get police headquarters.” He waved to the telephone. “They’ll be glad to see him.”
“Wait!” Ken said. “You must listen to me.” He was looking at Gilda. “I heard this man…”
“Shut up!” O’Brien said, threatening him with the gun. “Open your mouth again and you’ll get shot!” To Gilda he went on, “Get Motley. He’ll handle this.”
As she moved over to the telephone, the front-door bell rang. She looked quickly at O’Brien, her hand hovering over the telephone.
“Are you expecting anyone?” he asked, as the bell rang again.
“No.”
“Here, take the gun and watch this guy. I’ll see who it is.”
He gave her the gun, walked into the hall and opened the front door.
Lieutenant Adams stood in the passage, his hands in his pockets. His face didn’t betray his surprise at seeing O’Brien, but he was surprised.