“Sit down, Vince,” the cop said. “Sit down on the bed and don’t get yourself all worked up. If you don’t know what’s taking place, it’s only fair that I should lendja a helping hand.”
Elrick waited while Vince sat down beside Gladys. He looked at the blond girl and the short, heavy-set man and they were quiet now and they were worried and somewhat meek.
“Now it’s nice and quiet here and we won’t be bothered by anyone,” the cop said. “We’ll just take our time and go through this and come to an agreement so that we’ll all be happy. Now ain’t that reasonable?”
“I could stand another shot of gin right now,” Gladys said.
“Shut up,” Vince said.
“Let’s go back two years ago,” Elrick began. “It was New Year’s Eve. Everybody was happy. Everybody was making noises. Tooting horns and wearing paper caps and—”
“Here we go again,” Gladys said. “Right down Memory Lane.”
“Shut up,” Vince said.
Elrick continued, “New Year’s Eve at Jimmie Renzelli’s place.” He paused. He saw that Gladys was shivering again. He saw that Vince was stiffening. He went on, “I was there that night. I was off duty. I was having a swell time. I was even a bit cockeyed. But not so much that I couldn’t remember afterward.”
“Remember what?” Vince said, and the meekness was gone and the query was flipped out harshly.