Collection 1983 - The Hills Of Homicide (v5.0) Read Online Free PDF Page A

had to hand it to Karen Bitner. She kept right up with me and didn’t do any worrying about torn hose or what she might look like when it was over.
    This Caronna was no dope. Stopped flat-footed by the hedge around his place, I found myself respecting him even more. This was one hedge no man would go through, or climb over, either. For the hedge was of giant suguaro cactus, and between the suguaro trunks were clumps of ocotillo, making a barrier that not even a rattlesnake would attempt. Yet even as we reached it, we heard footsteps on the path from town, and then the jangle of a bell as the front gate opened.
    That would be the girl from the café. It also meant that no entry could be gained by the front gate. Avoiding it, I walked around to the rear. There was a gate there, too, but I had no desire to try it, being sure it would be wired like the front gate.
    Then we got a break. There was a window open in the garage. Crawling in, I lifted Karen in after me, and then we walked out the open door and moved like a couple of shadows to the wall of the house. I didn’t need to be told that both of us were right behind the eightball, if caught.
    Blacky Caronna wouldn’t appeal to the law if he caught us. Knowing the man, I was sure he would have his own way of dealing with the situation.
    UNTIL MIDNIGHT
    C ARONNA WAS SEATED in a huge armchair in a large living room hung with choice Navajo rugs. With his legs crossed, his great shoulders covering the back of the chair, he looked unbelievably huge. He was glaring up at the girl.
    Taking a chance, I tried lifting the window. Everything here seemed in excellent shape, so I hoped it would make no sound. I was lucky. Caronna’s voice came clearly. “Haven’t I told you not to come up here unless I send for you? That damn cowtown sheriff is too smart, Toni. You’ve got to stay away.”
    “But I had to come, Blacky. I had to! It was that detective, the one you hired. I saw him looking at my copy of
Billboard
.”
    “You had that where he could see it?” Caronna lunged to his feet, his face a mask of fury. “What kind of brains you got, anyway?” he snarled, thrusting his face at her. “Even that dope of a dick will get an idea if you throw it at him. Here we stand a chance to clean up a million bucks, and you pull a stunt like that! If he ever gets wise, we’re through!”
    “But they’ve nothing on you, Blacky,” she protested. “Nothing at all.”
    “Not yet, they ain’t, but if you think I’m letting anybody stand in my way on account of that sort of dough, you’re wrong, see? This stuff I’ve been pickin’ up is penny-ante stuff. A million bucks, an’ I’m set for life. What do you think I brought you up here for? To make a mess of the whole works?
    “The way it stands, nobody knows a thing but me. Loftus don’t know what the score is, an’ neither does this dick, an’ they ain’t got a chance of finding out unless you throw it in their faces. Let this thing quiet down, an’ that dough go where it’s gonna go, an’ we’re set.”
    “You’d better watch your step,” Toni protested. “You know what Leader said about him.”
    “Leader’s a pantywaist. All he can do is handle that pen, but he can do that, I’ll give him that much. I’ll handle this deal, an’ if that baby ever wants to play rough, I’ll give him a chance.”
    “You shouldn’t have hired that detective,” Toni said worriedly. “He bothers me.”
    “He don’t bother me any.” Caronna’s voice was flat. “Who would think the guy would pull this truth-and-honor stuff on me? It looked like a good play. It would cover me an’ at the same time cinch the job on that dame, which was the right way to have it. Then he won’t go for a payoff. It don’t make no difference, though. He’s dumb. He ain’t smart enough to find his way out of a one-way street.”
    There was a subdued snicker behind me, and I turned my head and put a hand over her mouth. It struck me afterward that