‘You’d better come with me. If I leave you here, one of them might fix you. They fixed Gracie Lehmann because she knew too much.’
‘I’m not scared. I can look after myself. Go and get the money.’
I decided I was wasting time trying to make her tell me more.
‘I’ll be back in half an hour.’
‘I’ll wait.’
I went out of the sordid room, down the path to the Buick.
IV
Paula looked up sharply from her paper-strewn desk as I burst into her office.
‘I want five hundred dollars right away,’ I said breathlessly.’ ‘Things are really popping. Grab a notebook and pencil, and let’s go. I’ll tell you about it on the way.’
There was no flustration. Paula always kept calm. She got to her feet, went over to the office safe, counted out twenty-five twenty-dollar bills, opened a drawer, took out her notebook, picked up her handbag and the little skullcap affair she calls her hat and was ready to go: all inside twelve seconds.