Ackie came in a minute or two after, looking worried. “Lazard saw all that,” he said. “I spotted him across the road.”
The sergeant was furious. He took hold of Katz and shook him this way and that. Then he dumped him like a sack of coal on the floor.
Ackie said to him, “Lazard’ll get him out, Pat, if you give him the slightest chance.”
The sergeant shook his head. “This guy’ll stay right here until this time to-morrow,” he said. “No one comes down here. I’ve got the key and the rat can bawl till he busts… no one’ll hear him…
Katz said from the floor: “You’d better cut this stuff out You’ll catch something you won’t like if you don’t turn me loose.”
I thought the sergeant would explode. His red face went black with congested blood and his great hands knotted into fists the size of footballs. He reached out and jerked Katz off the floor. His right fist whistled up from his knees and hit Katz on the side of his jaw. At the same time as he hit him he released his grip. Katz hurtled across the room and thudded against the wall. He slid down and lay on his side.
I said, “I guess we’ll leave you to play with him. We’ll be along to-morrow night to charge him.”
The sergeant didn’t even hear me, he was moving slowly towards Katz, his fists held a little forward and a deep growling sound coming way down in his chest.
Ackie and I stepped outside the room, shutting the door on a sudden terrified howl that sprang from Katz’s throat.