“I see,” replied the woman. “Bring him in here.”
She stepped into the room and motioned for the detectives to follow.
Nick now appeared to be very much intoxicated, and Chick helped him along. The woman pointed to a small room at the side.
“Take him in there,” she said, “then go and call Jim.”
Nick was thinking fast. His first impulse was to secure the woman against outcry and make for the front of the building.
As Nick mused, studying out the problem, another woman’s voice was heard in the room he had first entered. The door between the two rooms was open, and he heard the newcomer saying:
“This will end the business for the whole crowd. Idle police are out there with guns and night sticks. I guess the whole place will be pinched. They can’t get in here, however. Everything safe?”
There was no reply that Nick could hear, but the woman was evidently warned that a stranger was in the next room, for she began speaking in whispers. Nick began to snore loudly.
“Asleep,” whispered the woman.