[15]
Yamamura and Guido had come out first. Guido's legs seemed to go fluid; only the arm around his waist held him up.
"Jimmy," he bleated.
Kintyre's hand swung backward in an arc, shoving Corinna behind him. He said aloud—very loudly, "What the devil do you want?"
"Quiet, there," said the man called Jimmy. "This thing has a silencer on it." He waved the gun. "I want to see Lombardi."
"It isn't nothing, Jimmy," chattered Guido. "Before God, Jimmy, they're just friends of mine!"
"Yeh. You can tell us all about it. The rest of you stand back against the door. Come on, Guido. I got a car waiting."
Yamamura eased his burden to the ground. Guido huddled on hands and knees, retching. "He'll never make it," said the detective. "He's scared spitless."
"I just want to talk with him," said Jimmy. "I was supposed to see him here tonight, only they said he'd gone upstairs. I figured if it was just for a nap or something, he'd be down again to finish his act and I'd catch him later. Only if he wanted to skip out this way instead, it would be soon and he might not come back. I didn't want to miss him, so I figured I'd wait here a while."
It was not meant as an explanation. It was an indictment, nailed word by word on the man who tried to stand up.