A voice called to him with quiet urgency. He looked up and saw Evelyn's face blur into focus close above his own. Her arm was about his shoulders and she was pulling him toward her.
"The kiss of death?" Fleetwood said flatly.
"Don't," she whispered. "Please don't. I didn't know he was like that...."
"Where is he?"
It was a moment before she spoke, as though she needed time to make up her mind. "He's getting the car," she said. "He'll be back in a moment to take you with him. You've got to get out of here. I want you to."
Fleetwood glanced down at the gun beside her on the floor. "You're going to save me at gunpoint, huh?" he asked.
"He made me take it." She picked it up and held it out to him. "Here, you can have it if you want." She pressed it into his hand.
"How'd you get into all this?" he asked, sitting up. "You make a lousy gun moll. I'll bet you can't even smoke a cigar."
Her smile was bitter. "I needed money," she said. "Gambling debts, that sort of thing. It wouldn't be a new story, not to you. All I had were my jewels, and I didn't really have those; Blanchard took them for security. I had to get them from him. At first I figured I could get them easily enough, if I gave Blanchard the right story. I had it all worked out, and Blanchard always had a yen for me. Anyway, I was going to have Mario sell them for me on the quiet, then I was going to pay Blanchard off and keep the rest for myself. I didn't want Blanchard to know I was all the way down to the bottom. Pride, I guess."
"But Mario was smarter than you." He said it flatly.