Ed Lacy - Sin In Their Blood

I remember being strung up once more... dimly aware of the blows... and then I was in the tub, the water beating down on me. Saxton was sitting on the commode looking at his watch.

Suddenly he jumped up, went to the bathroom door.

Through the fog I heard it... a knock on the door. I tried to yell, to get loose. As though gazing at the world through a hazy film, I saw Saxton get his gun. I made one last effort to scream, but only muffled inhuman sounds came out.

As Saxton stepped out of the bathroom, there was a flash at the window and the gun spun out of his hand. He grabbed the hand with his left hand and both were bloody. Then I saw Max coming through the window, gun in hand. The Marines to the rescue!

Things happened fast, or maybe I blacked out again. I opened my eyes to see the bathroom full of cops and Mady was bending over me, her face a strange mask, and somebody had untied my hands. I seemed to float through the air—I was being carried—and then I was on a bed and they were piling blankets on me.

The room grew foggy and then somebody was fooling with my lips and Mady's anxious face came into focus. I couldn't hear the words but her lips were forming, “Drink some brandy.”

The brandy roared down my guts like a welcome fire. I whispered, “I thought... you... you'd be crocked...”

She said, “Aw, Matt, I can control that. I waited for a while... then called your friend... Max...”

At least I thought she said that. I also wondered if I was dead and this was all a dream. I motioned for her to bend closer and when I tried to talk she put her fingers on my mouth. I wrenched my head away, worked my lips, asked... “You... tell him.... about... letter?”

She shook her head.

I kissed her fingers and she gave me more brandy and I rested for a moment, told her, “Get Max.” The brandy was doing great.

She faded from view and the room was very bright, then it went black. In the darkness I could hear Max saying, “Matt? Matt?”

I opened my eyes, and after a while I made out Max's ugly face, only at the moment he looked like Mr. America to me. I said, “There's a VA doctor... Kent... lives in the building.... Get him.”

“Don't worry. Got an ambulance coming...”

“Get... him.”

Talking was a great tiring effort. I dimly heard Max bark an order at a cop and Mady came into view again, her face wet with tears, her big lips working. She put her hands under the blankets, rubbed my cold body. I could just about feel them. I let myself go into the pillow, seemed to drift out of the room like a boat slipping its mooring. I came to hearing Doc Kent saying, “Far as I can tell, he's all right. Lucky he's so strong. I've given him penicillin. Keep him covered and let him sleep. Mustn't be moved.”

I felt much stronger, talking was easier. I said, “Hello, Doc. He was trying to get the bugs working again. Did he?” I could even hear my own words.

“Forget about the bugs. You've had a terrific beating, maybe a slight concussion, and a thorough chill. Rest for a few days and then we'll know for sure. But I feel certain the worst you'll have is a few stitches in your hard head.”

“Still the same old pep-throwing Doc.”

Max asked, “Can I talk to him, Dr. Kent?”

“Not too long.”

Max come into view, leading Saxton, who had a bandage around his right hand. Max must have smacked him, his nose was swollen and a little bloody too. Max asked, “What's this all about, Matt?”

I gathered my strength, said—with the energy running out of me like air from a balloon—“He told me he killed Henry and Beatrice Wilson... to get control of the business. Tried to make me... me... hemorrhage and die... when he found out I knew the... the truth about him...”

“That's a dirty lie!” Saxton yelled. “He was trying to blackmail me! You'll find money in his pockets!”

I was busy collecting my strength again as I heard Max say, “Only found a hundred and eighty bucks on him, that's not blackmail dough. You're in a jam, Saxton, better come clean.”

“I'd advise you to take care in talking to me, I have influence in this city, Captain,” Saxton said.

I managed to get my right hand out of the covers, let it hang down the side of the bed. I had all the strength I could summon—for then. I heard Max say, “Don't threaten me, Saxton. I can send you up for trying to kill Matt.”

“He got sick, I was trying to revive him under the shower when he took sick, fell in the tub and...”

I said, “Saxton,” and let my voice fall as I mumbled to myself. Again, I said, “Saxton,” pretty loud.

He looked at Max and took a step nearer me. Asked, “What is it, Matt, you want to tell the truth, tell them I didn't do any harm to you—or anybody else?”

I motioned with my head, and for a moment I was afraid I didn't have enough strength left.

“You want to confess, Ranzino?” Saxton asked, and the nut sounded like he meant it. As he put his face down near mine, I turned on the bed, bringing my right fist up from the floor. It wasn't much of a punch, it only cut his eye a little, and about kayoed me.

He started to club me with his fists, when Max jumped in and knocked Saxton down with an overhand right that must have broken his jaw. As I drifted off into the darkness I kept thinking, poor Max, never learn to hold his left higher.

I guess I was out for a few minutes, for when I opened my eyes again, Saxton was standing, blood streaming from both ends of his mouth, saying something—it's tough to understand a guy with a broken jaw.

I said, as loud as I could, “I'll swear on any witness stand he told me he killed the Wilsons... when he thought I was dying!”

“Wilson was a nigger! I had the right to kill him!” Saxton suddenly screamed. I don't know how he managed to open his mouth, but his voice sounded inhuman.

“A nigger!” he screamed again.

Max looked shocked, glanced at Doc Kent, who nodded. I couldn't hear what else Saxton was screaming, didn't want to hear that horrible sound. I said, “You haven't the right to kill anybody.”

Maybe I didn't say it, for all I could hear was Max's hoarse voice bellowing, “Tell 'em to bring up a strait jacket—we got a madman here!”

Keeping my eyes open was an effort. I finally got them open as they led Saxton away. I tried to sit up but couldn't make it. Saxton turned and glared at me with an expression of solid hate. His jaw was already out of shape, blood was running all over his shirt. He gave me an awful look. I didn't mind. I winked at him. I wanted to laugh in his bloody face, but Doc Kent was suddenly bending over me, pushing my shoulders back into the bed. “That's enough. Lie down and keep quiet. Want me to give you something to make you sleep?”

I tried to shake my head. Sleeping wouldn't be the slightest trouble. It was keeping awake that was rugged.

Closing my eyes I started to drift off. As from another room I heard Mady say, “I'll cover his shoulders. Aren't they wonderful, Doc? Hasn't he got the biggest shoulders you ever saw?”

I knew Doc Kent must be staring at Mady, thinking she was a dizzy kid with her talk about big shoulders, but then what did a Doc Kent know about a real woman? He probably wanted his women to be like tame little lapdogs.... Mady would frighten him straight through the ceiling.

I fell into a wonderful lazy sleep to the sound of her loud voice. Even if she was a dizzy kid, it was damn good knowing she'd be there when I awoke.

The End