“Don’t start anything, Mason,” a voice said by the door.
I looked quickly over my shoulder.
Earl Katz was standing in the doorway. He was holding a blue-nose automatic in his hand, and the barrel was pointing right at me.
CHAPTER SIX
SURPRISED? I’LL SAY I was surprised! You could have knocked me down with a mangle. What the hell was Katz doing here? What connection had he with Vessi’s moll?
I wasn’t going to show him that he had pulled a quick one on me. I gave him a smile. “Still pushin’ them into pockets, Bud?” I said.
“An’ talkin’ about pool, did you hear the one about the guy who was laying the red—?”
“Skip it, Mason,” Katz said out of the side of his mouth. That’s another thing I love. These guys who’ve been to so many tough movies that they just have to talk out of the side of their mouths, because they think it’s the thing to do. “Get her untied.”
I shook my head. “You’re crazy,” I said. “You don’t know what you’re saying. If I took the rope off this dame she’d kill us both.”
The automatic jerked up. “Listen, wise guy,” Katz said, “you ain’t goin’ to get anywhere with this line. Untie that dame, an’ make it snappy.”