I got to my feet, pushing the chair away with the back of my legs. I looked down at him in concern. “You gotta do something about this,” I said. “You go an’ see a croaker… you’ve been seeing things.”
I walked out of the restaurant, leaving him snorting. Once I was on the street I walked slowly, picking my way through the crowds milling to work.
So she was blonde, tall and dressed in black. A sweet job to look for a dame with that description. Still, she’d got my five grand, and I was going to find her or bust.
Maybe Ackie would know where she fitted in. I turned into a drug-store and rang the Press room, but he wasn’t there. They thought he was over at Hank’s pool-room having a game, but they weren’t sure.
I took a taxi down to Hank’s, but he wasn’t there either. They thought he’d show up, so I spent a little time practising shots on one of the tables.
I never managed to get the knack of the game, but it interested me, and whenever I got near a table I just had to push the balls around. I got so interested in-a cannon-shot that seemed to be going just right that I lost count of the time. After I had broken my combination up, I thought I’d better give Ackie a miss and get on to the street again. As I was moving, a long, thin dope, dressed like a mock member of the upper crust, wandered in and stood watching me.
He said suddenly, “What about a little game with a dollar or so on for interest?”
I’ve met these dopes before. They look so damn dumb, you think it’s a shame to take their dough, but once they’ve raised the ante to twenty-five bucks they make the ball do everything but eat a four-course lunch.
I put the cue on the table and shook my head. “I’m through,” I said. “You go an’ get some practice.”
He picked up the cue and began potting the red. I expected him to make a hell of a mess of it, but he just went ahead and gave one of the finest exhibitions of shooting I’d ever seen. He slammed the balls into the pockets from every angle, and I just dug them out and rolled them back to him. He got a spin working that made the ball float round the table, and then he finished up with a real snorter that sunk the three balls with one shot.