Then Scarface Willy came out, with Patty. She was walking before him. Unless you were looking for it, you did not see the bulge of the automatic which he held in his pocket. But if you were looking for it, as Heck was, it seemed as big as a sixteen-inch naval gun.
The pretty female elevator operator smiled and said a few things and obviously expected Heck to flirt with her as the car went down. Heck maintained a white-faced silence.
"Say, Mr. Finch, is anything the matter? You don't look so good."
Scarface Willy grunted a barely audible warning. Patty let out a sigh. "Working too hard, I guess," Heck told the elevator operator.
"Well, you're white as a sheet. Why don't you go down to the beach and get yourself a good sunburn one of these days."
"Maybe I will," Heck said automatically as the elevator reached ground level. He got out. The others got out behind him.
"The street," Scarface Willy said.
They went outside. A snarl of traffic passed sluggishly in the street. Horns tooted. Someone, probably a taxi driver, yelled. I can get away right now, Heck thought. The street was crowded. He could slip away. Scarface Willy wouldn't dare shoot. But Scarface Willy didn't want him. Scarface Willy wanted Patty....
"Listen," Willy said. "The girl goes with me. You get it? She goes, and you get time to think. Say, twenty-four hours?"
"To think about what?"