‘Is there a back way out of here?’
‘Through that door.Takes you into Orchid Boulevard.’
As I jerked open the door, the crowd lurched back. There came a tremendous crash of breaking glass as one of the plate-glass windows of the store gave up the unequal struggle.
I didn’t wait to see what the damage was. A passage at the back of the store brought me to a dark alley that led eventually to Orchid Boulevard.
Mifflin had a small house on Westwood Avenue. He lived with his wife, two children, a Boxer dog, two white cats and a bullfinch. Apart from his police duties, he was a highly domes- ticated man, and rumour had it he was even more scared of his wife than he was of Brandon.
I decided to go out there and wait for him. I was determined to see him tonight, come rain, come sunshine, so I drove out there and parked before his front door.
The time was twenty minutes past ten. I had no idea when he went off duty, but with the rumpus going on at Head quarters he was pretty certain to be late.
I settled down with a cigarette and prepared for a long wait. There was a light showing in one of the lower rooms of the house, and from time to time I saw a woman’s shadow on the blind. Around quarter to eleven the light went out, and then a light flashed up in one of the upper rooms. After a while that went out in its turn, and the house was dark.
I closed my eyes and tried not to think about Perelli. I didn’t want to get any false ideas until I knew more facts. Franco was probably right when he said Brandon would have more than the gun on Perelli. It was my bet someone had tipped the police: someone with an eye on the twenty-five grand; a temp- tation to anyone to manufacture a few lies if he could.
A car came grinding up the hill. A few seconds later head-lights came through the windshield to dazzle me, and a car came to a standstill.