Elrick looked down at a torn carpet, then he lifted his head slowly.
“What about Jimmie Renzelli?”
Gladys stepped back. Again she was white. Again her lower lip shivered. She bit at it. She reached back, her thin fingers tightly gripping the bedpost. She was trying to prevent the shivering from spreading through her body but it wouldn’t work. She was vibrating as if she was connected with 110 volts.
“All right. What about him?”
Elrick’s voice was soft. “Seen him lately?”
“No.”
“Are you sure about that, Gladys?”
Something happened to the yellow-haired girl. Something terrible. Her pale blue eyes were suffused by a crazy light, and for a moment it seemed as if she was going to dig fingernails into Elrick’s face.
“You dirty sneak,” she screamed. “You’ll get nothing out of me. Crawling in here like a slimy worm, thinking that you could get me to say something. Well, you won’t!”
“I have all the information I want,” Elrick said.