THE MICE WILL PLAY
It was apparent next day that relations were strained between the two
men. Frost went about looking sullen and defiant and Devlin, when he
was not up in his room sleeping, sat in the kitchen drinking coffee
with ominous gravity.
Late afternoon came and Devlin appeared dressed to go out. He strode
about the kitchen several times, then walked to the door. Frost eyed
him curiously.
"Goin' out, Boss?" he asked.
Devlin looked back and nodded. "I'll be back early tonight." He glanced
at the boys. "You be ready to take a ride with Frost and me."
He slammed the door and Nickie paled, noticeably. Frost sat idly at the
table drumming his thick fingers upon the oilcloth cover. Skippy went
to the window and watched until Devlin backed the big car out. Then he
turned suddenly.
"Say, mister," he said to Frost, "me an' Nickie know what Devlin'll
take us on a ride for tonight."
If Frost was surprised he did not show it. He glanced up at Skippy. "So
you're a wise kid, hey?"
"Nope, we just kept our ears open last night an' heard plenty. Devlin
talked loud enough so we put two and two together. Anyhow we know Timmy
never went out West--we know he's dead. Tucker got picked up in Chicago
an' that put the bulls wise Devlin was in a new racket."
Frost was aghast. "How do you--you...."
Skippy put his cards on the table. "I know everthin' now, I do, an' I
knew plenty before I ever seen Devlin. We'll give you a break if you
let us get away tonight. If you don't Devlin'll go to Pittsburgh with
you an' grab that dough--a blind guy could see he figures you're givin'
him the double-x--an' besides I heard him say he'd get you. Anyhow I
know the cops'll grab him there an' if you're with him you'll be
grabbed, too. So chaw on that a bit."
Frost was plainly frightened. "He's been actin' so crazy lately he
might take me for a ride at that and if I get grabbed with him I'll get
the hot squat too."
Skippy used the best thrust he knew. "Sure, you will. The cops got that
notebook right now--anyway if they ain't, Carlton Conne's got it an'
that's as good as with the cops." He waited a moment until that shot
had found its mark and then he added: "I sent Carlton Conne a note an'
that notebook too the night Devlin took us to the doctor's house--I
told him how long it was from the time we had the accident an' all
about this house an' what the hermit told you. So if you know anything
about Carlton Conne you know he'll find this joint sooner or later an'
if Nickie an' me are dead, it'll be tough for you if you're found with
Devlin. Now I'll give you a break if you'll give us one. How 'bout it?"
Like many of his ilk, Frost thought only of his own safety and as he
had neither brains nor cunning, he did not stop to question nor
consider anything but himself.
"Sure, I'll give you kids a break--_sure_!" he was crying like the
yellow creature he was. "You think I wanta burn with Devlin when I
ain't done nothin' yet but help kids for him, hey? I met him in Chi and
he brought me here and propositioned me. But I ain't never tried the
trick on any kids and them Greeks if they didn't get drowned like they
did, I couldn't gone through with it--I know it. I got more feelin's
than Devlin, but I hadda stick and play up--get me? I come along in a
car that night I see him first and saw him ship that Tucker kid over
that cliff into the lake. I'd made a stick-up a few minutes before and
I was makin' my getaway without lights."
"An' you seen what he did?" Skippy asked eagerly.
"Sure. He didn't hear me and he didn't see me so I switched off under
some trees and it was a lonesome road that hardly anybody traveled
between midnight and morning. I see an old car stop and this guy gets
out. It's Devlin. Then you could have knocked me over when I sees him
give the little car a shove right over the cliff. So me bein' in a
little racket myself I puts on my lights and chugs up to him and he
waves me to stop. So he gives me a story that him and his son was
ridin' along and the car stalls. He gets out to crank it while his son
gets behind the wheel to fix the spark. Well, the brake mustn't been
on, he tells me, when all of a sudden he sees the car headed right over
the cliff to the lake. He just has time to jump out of the way, he
says."
"Such a warm-hearted guy he is!" Nickie said disgustedly.
"Yeah, he ain't got no heart," Frost said, with more composure. "But to
make it quick, I tell him I'm wise and what's his racket. So we get
real chummy and he tells me to drive on and when we do he says it's
insurance that he's working."
"_Insurance!_" Skippy repeated as if he must never forget the word.
"Yeah, he tells me it's a good payin' racket. He says he can get
orphans so they don't have no real near folks inquirin' after 'em. He
can get 'em insured and wait a month or so, then he can take 'em out in
a car, an old closed car he likes to get that don't cost him more'n a
few bucks--you know, the kind that's ready for the junk yard. If they
can swim he can dope 'em a little with some stuff he's got so by the
time they get where he wants, all he has to do is to get out and push
the car over to the water."
"So that's how he worked it, huh?" Skippy asked, feeling rather sick.
"Sure," Frost answered readily. "If they can't swim, he likes it
better. Then he uses that stallin' business to get out, leavin' off the
brake. He thought he had Tucker sure, but the kid comes to and gets out
in time so Devlin thinks he don't give him enough dope."
Nickie shuddered visibly. "So he reports it an accident?"
"Yeah, and with that funeral face Devlin gets away with it. When the
whole business is over he collects the insurance."
"Gee whiz!" Skippy murmured. "_It's awful!_"
"Yeah, don't think I liked it when he told me!" Frost said, on the
defensive. "But he told me I wouldn't have to do no part of that. He
said all I had to do was the details like he called it. So what could I
do when he had told me all that and asked me to come in on it with him?
He'd have put me on the spot for what I knew about him if I didn't.
Besides, he said it was goin' to be safe and that he'd worked it out
so's we couldn't get caught."
"Why didn't you stay in Pittsburgh?" Skippy asked suddenly. "You wanted
to, I betcha."
"Sure, I did. But he'da found me--if it was years he'd find me so I
thought I'd better come back."
"You can go back to Pittsburgh tonight if you help us get away. You can
start back now--the coupe's out in the barn, ain't it?"
"Yeah, but he might..." Frost began.
"Tell him you took us out for the air an' we beat it."
Nickie was aroused, jubilant at the new turn of events. "Yeah, an' say,
Frost, tell him you chased us down in the woods where the bog gets
tough, but that we give you the slip there, hah?"
"That's the stunt, Mister Frost. And tell him you'll hunt us on one
side while he hunts on the other. Then, when he's gone, you beat it
fast, 'cause we'll have the cops in here after him by that time. He
can't chase you to Pittsburgh when he's in jail, can he?"
Frost fell as Skippy afterward termed it, "hook, line and sinker."
"Sounds like it's fool-proof, kids," he said. "And the dicks don't know
about me, hey?"
"How would they?" Skippy assured him.
Frost got up. "I'll get my keys," he said, "and we'll beat it pronto.
I'll take you to the highway and make out I won't be glad to beat it."
Nickie looked at Skippy while they were waiting. "It ain't true you
sent that notebook, is it?" he asked incredulously.
Skippy grinned. "Gee, _you're_ not fool-proof, Nickie. How could I get
that book without Devlin seein' me that night, huh? Didn't I have a big
enough job on my hands gettin' that note into the old lady's
pocketbook? I hadda spread it on thick to frighten him right off an'
make him think the cops had that book--well, it ain't a lie exactly
'cause they'll have it some day an', boy, is that enough to send Devlin
where he can't be sent any more, huh?"
"An' how!" Nickie agreed. "Then it's still out there behind the barrel,
hah?"
"Sure, an' it's gonna stay there till the cops come an' get it. I'll
tell 'em where it is--nobody else would think to look for it there. We
can't let Frost see us takin' it now an' even if we could, I don't like
it on us in case anythin' goes wrong."
"Aw, what could go wrong now, hah?" Nickie said confidently. "Frost
takes us out to the road where we're safe, so we should worry."
Skippy felt somewhat less confident. He could not, try as he would, put
away from him the feeling that nothing was sure in the dark, forgotten
swampland of Devil's Bog. When they were once clear of it entirely, he
told himself, he would be able to laugh at the fears which he felt now.