We stood and watched him go in silence, then I relaxed a little. I wiped off my hands on the sides of my coat. “I don’t like that, Mo,” I said.
Ackie cursed a little. “We gotta watch that guy. I’ll go in and fix the sergeant. You wait here.”
He didn’t take long and he came back again with a hard grin on his face. “It’s okay,” he said. “Bring him in.”
We got Katz out of the car and ran him over to the station house. Not until I’d got him inside did I feel at all easy; even then, I wondered if it would be better to take him to the other station house on Riverside.
The desk sergeant came out of an adjoining room and nodded at me. He was a big, red-faced Mick, with a cold, hard eye.
Ackie said, “Get this bird under cover…. Lazard may come back.”
The sergeant looked at Katz. “I’ve always wanted to get my hands on you,” he said. “Bring him in here.” He kicked open another door and led the way down a long passage.
Katz suddenly bent double, swung round, and made a dash for the street door. I was expecting it, but I didn’t expect him to move so quickly. He nearly got away. He got to the door and, just as he was passing through, I collared him round the knees. We went down together with a crash.
The sergeant was close behind me and together we dragged Katz back into the station house. Katz fought like a madman and yelled at the top of his voice.
I managed to step clear for a second and I hit him on the point of his jaw. He went slack. The sergeant dragged him down the passage, down some stone steps, into a large bare room.