I came out, gathered up the unconscious girl in the blanket and heaved her over my shoulder.
‘Nice if she comes round in the car.’
‘She won’t,’ Perelli said with confidence. ‘When I sap them, they stay sapped.’
We got her into the elevator without anyone seeing us.
‘Do you usually carry a sandbag when you go to meet your girl friend?’ I asked as the elevator sank between floors, He grinned.
‘Never without one. I play cards for a living, and a cosh is the best way to settle postmortems. I get quite a few.’
‘Well, you certainly know how to use one.’
There’s nothing to it. The secret is to hit them hard. A tap only makes them mad.’
The elevator came to a silent stop and we marched out into the lobby.
The girl behind the desk started out of her chair and gaped at us. Her hand fluttered along the desk and one finger poked into the bell-push. The bouncer in the bowler hat materialized from behind his pillar like a jack-in-the-box. He look one look at me and the girl draped over my shoulder, made a growling noise deep down in his throat and started purposely towards me.