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.One of the former was Reardon.Unable to think of anything suitable to the occasion, Bransome said, "Hi!" Then it struckhim that nothing could have sounded more silly.He smirked with the uninjured side of hisface, the other side refusing to cooperate.Reardon refused to see the humor of it.He spoke sourly."You all right?""No-I feel like death warmed up.""Want hospital attention?""I'm not that bad.Only knocked around a bit.Give me time and I'll be okay.""You sure asked for what you got," Reardon opined."First you refuse us a chance ofgetting anywhere.Next you want it all to yourself.Look what it's bought you.""Would have bought me a damn sight more if you hadn't rushed in.""Lucky for you that we did." Reardon turned to the man in uniform, made a gesture at thesilent eight."That's the wagon by the sound of it.Take 'em away."By now blank-faced and impassive, the eight departed.Not even Kossy showed theslightest expression as he went out.He was massaging his throat and holding his mouthopen like a hungry carp, but for all the emotion he displayed he might have been caught inthe act of reciting his prayers.Reardon's sharp eyes examined the room before he spoke to the men in plain clothes."Right, boys, give this dump the treatment.Go through every other apartment as well.If anyamateur lawyer yaps about search warrants, book him on suspicion and bring him in.Makea thorough job of it and pull down the walls if you have to.Phone me at headquarters if andwhen you find anything that looks good." Then he signed to Bransome."You come with me,Sherlock."Bransome obediently followed, full of aches and pains and a little dizzy.Clambering intothe rear seat of the car, he grunted with agony as he bumped a bruise, and gently rubbedthe side of his face.His cheekbone burned and throbbed, and he had a fat eye, a thick earand a split lip.His stomach felt full of little green apples and his whole abdomen was sore.IfDorothy could see me now, he thought, there'd be hell to pay.Getting into the front seat, Reardon had a few words with the driver, and used the radiobefore they moved off.Three more prowl-cars were now lined up outside the graystonebuilding and a small crowd of curious spectators had gathered around, some in theirnight-clothes.The car sped along the street.Cocking an elbow over the back of his seat,Reardon twisted to one side to address his passenger."If I wanted to know the characteristics of alloy-creep at very high temperature, I'd comeand ask you.If you want to know who's looking through your bedroom keyhole, you'resupposed to come and ask me." Bransome said nothing."As a scientist I don't doubt that you're highly competent," Reardon went on."But as acrook you're a dumb bum.And as a detective you stink.""Thanks!" said Bransome, glumly."When you dived out of that train you might have killed yourself.A stupid thing to do.Andit served no useful purpose that I can see.Certainly it did not get us off your neck.""No?""No! From that moment we had you located within a theoretical progress-circle thatexpanded hour by hour.We knew that some segments were likelier than others because ofbetter transport facilities." He paused, hung on as the car swung around a sharp corner."Chief Pascoe had been asked to report without delay any odd datum remotely concerningBurleston.So when he called us long-distance and said that someone had been askingabout an unknown murder there and we found that the query came from a point on the mainroute back here-""You put two and two together, eh?""And made it four.It was highly unlikely that anyone else but you would call from thatparticular place at that particular time to chew the fat about mysterious bones said to havebeen dug up near Burleston.Didn't need second sight to tell us who Robert Lafarge was-hewas the same chump as Lucius Carter.We began to see daylight.In effect, you were tellingus by proxy what you had refused to confess face to face, namely, that you had-or believedyou had-a killing on your conscience."Bransome grimly nursed his bruises and offered no comment."It made everything add up," Reardon continued."Yet there was no such crime.Pascoevouched for that.What's more, he'd told you as much.It made your resultant moves obvious.Having got rid of a deadly burden on your mind, you'd be wildly delighted or coldly furious,according to the state of your liver.In either case you'd head back here.If delighted, you'dreturn to the bosom of your family and forget everything.If on the boil you'd come back to tryto take it out of somebody's pants.We couldn't do anything about it ourselves because weyou youdidn't know the identity of that somebody.But did-and could lead us to him.Wewatched incoming trains, buses and cars.It was easy to pick you up at the station andwander around with you.""I didn't see anyone following me." Bransome tenderly licked a lip that seemed as thickas a rubber tire and rapidly growing thicker."You weren't supposed to see.We don't make a sloppy job of it." Reardon bared histeeth at him."You didn't go home.You ran around thirsting for blood.That suited ustopnotch.You got a lead from that coffee-slinger in the snack bar, then from the skinny runt inthe barber shop, then from the oily boy at the garage.When finally you took root outside thatpoolroom we figured that you were all set to point to somebody for us-and you did!""Two of them skipped," said Bransome, seeking some small source of satisfaction."Icouldn't follow three ways at once.""We could and we did.They'll be grabbed after they've taken us wherever they'regoing."The cruiser pulled in alongside an office building with lights showing only on the secondfloor.Reardon got out, Bransome following.Entering the building, they disregarded theelevators and used the stairs, passed many clearly lit offices, and reached one marked onlyby a number on its door.The entire floor had the air of being active twenty-four hours perday, seven days a week.Taking a chair, Bransome gazed around, seeing with one eye and half-seeing with theother."This doesn't look like police headquarters.""Because it isn't.The police are called in as and when required.Espionage, sabotage,and other crimes against the constitution are our business, not theirs." Seating himselfbehind a desk, Reardon flipped an intercom switch."Send in Casasola."A man arrived within a minute.He was young, olive-skinned and had the brisk air of adoctor with little time to waste.Reardon nodded toward the battered-looking Bransome."This man has beendeservedly mauled.Patch him up and make him resemble a human being."Casasola smiled and led Bransome along a corridor to a first-aid room.There he set towork and painted the rainbow around Bransome's eye, sealed the split lip, and swabbed thethick ear and swollen cheek with an ice-cold liquid.He worked swiftly and in silence,obviously accustomed to repairing the beaten-up at any hour of the day or night.By the timehe'd finished and returned the patient to the office, Reardon was fidgeting in his chair."You still look like something the cat dragged in," he greeted.He waved toward a wallclock."It's the unearthly hour of two o'clock and still we're on the job.By the looks of it we'regoing to be horsing around all night.""Why? Has something else happened?""Yes.Those other two fugitives led us to a couple more addresses [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]