"Chilled? Dead?" It sounded bad; there hadn't been a real rumble in
months, not with a killing.
He shook his head. "Not dead. You're wanting to see, you go down Gomez's
cellar. Yeah, they're all stiff but they're breathing. I be along soon
as the old man comes back in the store."
He looked pretty sick. I left it at that and hurried down the block to
the tenement where the Gomez family lived, and then I found out why.
* * * * *
They were sprawled on the filthy floor of the cellar like winoes in an
alley. Fayo, who ran the gang; Jap; Baker; two others I didn't know as
well. They were breathing, as Walt had said, but you just couldn't wake
them up.
Hawk and his twin brother, Yogi, were there with them, looking scared. I
couldn't blame them. The kids looked perfectly all right, but it was
obvious that they weren't. I bent down and smelled, but there was no
trace of liquor or anything else on their breath.