I fixed my tie and put on my coat. If I didn’t start something soon, it’d be too late. Once they got us down to headquarters, it was going to be just too bad for us. From the look of these thugs, Belsen would be a picnic to what they’d do to us.
“Come on, punk,” Hyams said, “and listen, if you start anything, we’ll shoot first and apologize after. We don’t want to kill you before we’ve had a chance of working on you, but we will, if you try anything smart.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said. “I’ve only read about the third degree. I’d like to experience it.”
“You will,” Solly said, looking at me out of the corners of his eyes.
We went into the sitting-room.
Flaggerty was pacing up and down. Miss Wonderly sat in a chair, and the stout woman stood behind her.
Flaggerty grinned at me. He looked nasty. There was a gap in his teeth and his lips were swollen.
“Five men in four months,” he said, standing in front of me. “A killer, huh? Well, we’ll show you what we do to killers. You’ve got two weeks before you come before a judge. That means two weeks of hell for you, Mr. Killer Cain.”
“Don’t be dramatic, you big-mouthed pixie,” I said.
The big Irish cop, who’d slapped me before, clouted me from behind with his club. I staggered forward and ran into a bang in the jaw from Flaggerty. They were two juicy wallops, and I went down on my hands and knees.