Chapter 6 Chapter 6: The Whisperer's Lair

The car drove to a dark street not far from the city center and stopped under a row of trees.We got out of the car and walked to the corner.A burly man in a gray coat with a gray hat pulled down to his brows walked towards us. "The Whisperers' lackeys are here," the big man told the chief. "He called Donoghue and said he was going to stay in the den. If you really have the ability to get him out, try it!" Noonan scratched his ears with a soft smile, and asked happily, "How many people are there with him?" "About fifty!" "Oh, come on! There can't be so many, it's so early in the morning."

"What the hell if you don't!" the big man growled, "They got in in the middle of the night." "Did you? It got wind of it. Maybe you shouldn't have let them in." "Maybe I shouldn't." The big man was annoyed. "But I did exactly what you said. You said let them in and out, but when the Whisperer showed up—" "Catch him." The director said. "Yes, that's right." The big man agreed, looking at me with evil eyes. More people joined our discussion.Everyone except the chief was in a bad mood.But the director seems to enjoy it, I don't understand why.

The Whisperer's Den is a three-story brick building that sits in the middle of the block, flanked by two-story buildings on either side.The ground floor is occupied by a cigar shop, which doubles as the entrance while concealing the casino upstairs.Inside--if the Big Man's word is to be believed--the fifty men summoned by the Whisperer were gathered, ready for a big fight.Noonan's men have surrounded the outside of the house, all over the streets and all over the roofs of nearby buildings. "Okay, guys," said the chief kindly, after making sure everyone could hear, "I don't think the Whisperer is such a troublemaker as we are, or he'd be shot out—if he had So many people's words. I dare say he didn't have... that many."

The big man said, "If you don't, you'll be damned!" "So, if he doesn't want to get in trouble," Noonan went on, "it might be useful to talk to him. Nick, go over there and see if you can talk him into a peaceful settlement." The big man said, "I'll go to hell." "Then call him," Noonan suggested. The big man growled in a low voice: "That's more plausible." Then he walked away. He looked content when he came back. "He said—" he reported, "Go to hell!" "Call the rest of the brothers over," Noonan said excitedly, "We'll rush in as soon as the sun breaks."

Big Nick and I were right by while the chief checked to make sure his men were in order.I don't like them - a bunch of poorly dressed, furtive-eyed guys with no enthusiasm for the job at hand. The sky was gray and white.The Chief, Nick, and I were standing in front of a plumber's house across the street, diagonally from the target. It was dark in the Whisperer's lair, nothing could be seen from the upstairs windows, and the cigar shop's windows and doors were drawn. "I really don't want to do this without giving Whisperer a chance," Noonan said. "He's not a bad boy, but it's no use trying to persuade him. He's never liked me very much."

He looks at me.I said nothing. "Don't you want to try it?" he asked. "Yes, I want to try." "You're not bad. I can't thank you enough for your willingness to do this. You just have to figure out how to get him to stop messing around and come out. You know what to say—for his own good or something." "Okay," I said, and walked across the street to the cigar shop, shaking my hands by my sides as hard as I could so they could see I wasn't taking anything. There was still some time before dawn, and the streets were gray.My feet hit the pavement loudly.

I stopped at the door and tapped the glass lightly with my knuckles.A drawn curtain inside the door turned the glass into a mirror, and from inside I saw two figures moving across the street. There is no sound.I tapped harder again, then slid my hand over the knob and turned it around. A warning sound came from the door: "Get out while you still have the chance." The voice is muffled, but not a whisper, so probably not a whisperer. "I want to talk to Thaler," I said. "Go and talk to the lard bag that sent you!" "I'm not Noonan's mouthpiece. Can Thaler hear me?"

There was a pause.Then came a deep voice: "Yes." "I'm from the Continental Detective Agency, and I was the one who reminded Dinah Brand that Noonan was planning to design you." I said, "I want to chat with you for five minutes. I have nothing to do with Noonan other than to inquire about his plans." .I am single-handed. If you ask, I can throw all my belongings in the street. Let me in." I am waiting.Success or failure depends on whether the girl tells him about my going to her.The wait seemed long. Said in a deep voice, "Come in as soon as the door opens, don't play tricks."

"Ready." The latch clicked, and I jumped into the room as the door swung open. Dozens of guns across the street emptied their magazines, glass from doors shattered, and windows rattled and splattered all around us. Someone tripped me.Fear gave me three heads and six eyes.I'm in a bad situation.Noonan gave me a strong dose of medicine. It is impossible for the group of people inside not to suspect that Noonan and I are on the same side. I slumped and twisted towards the door.The moment I hit the floor, the pistol was in my hand. Across the street, Big Nick stepped out of the porch and shot at us with guns in both hands.

I stabilized my gun hand on the floor.Nick's body was in sight and I fired.Nick stopped firing, folded his arms over his chest, and collapsed on a bump in the sidewalk. Two hands grabbed my ankles and pulled me back, scratching the floor and scarring my jaw.The door slams shut and someone jokes: "Aha, they don't like you." I sat up and yelled over the noise, "I'm not involved!" The gunfire faded away, then stopped.The hanging curtains of the doors and windows were dotted with gray bullet holes.A hoarse voice in the dark whispered, "Todd, you and 'Rib' stare here while the rest go upstairs."

We walked through a room at the back of the store, down a hallway, and up a carpeted flight of stairs to a room on the second floor.There was a green table, fenced in on all four sides, which was used for throwing dice.The room was small, no windows and brightly lit. Including me, there are five people in the room.Thaler sat down and lit a cigarette.He was a small, dark young man with the face of a pretty chorus member, unless you saw his thin, rigid lips.A skinny, blond boy, not more than twenty years old, dressed in tweed, sprawled out on a couch, blowing a cigarette at the ceiling.Another boy—also blond, just as young, but not quite as thin—was busy adjusting his bright red tie and straightening his yellow hair.A narrow-faced man in his thirties, with an almost negligibly short chin beneath a large, flabby mouth; he paced the room incessantly, looking bored, humming "Rose Cheeks." I sat on a chair two or three feet away from Thaler. "How long will Noonan go on?" he asked.There was no emotion in the hoarse whisper, only a hint of boredom. "He's coming for you," I said, "and I think he's going to see it through." The gambler gave a faint, contemptuous smile. "He should know what the chances of success are to pin this unfair claim on me." "He doesn't expect to prove anything in court," I said. "Isn't it?" "If you were killed for resisting arrest or trying to escape, he didn't have to prove anything." "The older he gets, the harder he gets." Thin lips curled into another smile, as if the fact that the fat chief wanted to kill him wasn't a big deal, "As long as he wants to get rid of me, he can always find a reason. He see What's wrong with you?" "He probably thinks I'm annoying." "What a pity. Dinah told me you're a nice fellow, except you're scotch like a Scot." "We had a nice chat. Can you tell me about the killing of Donna Wilson?" "His wife did it." "you saw it?" "I saw her the next second it happened - with the gun in her hand." "It doesn't do you or me any good to say that," I said. "I don't know how much embellishment there is. To tell you the truth, you can keep it in court, but you probably won't get a chance to act there. Noonan will kill you if he catches you. Don't mince words with me, I just want to get the job done." He threw the cigarette on the floor, put it out with his foot, and asked, "Are you in such a hurry?" "Tell me your story. I'm ready to make arrests—if I can get out." He lit another cigarette and asked, "Is it I who Mrs. Wilson said was calling her?" "Yes—after Nuo Nan's advice, she may believe it now." "Since you killed Big Nick," he said, "I'll trust you once. A man called me that night. I didn't know him, didn't know who he was. He said Wilson had five The thousand dollar check went to Dana's. Do I fucking care? But look, a guy I don't know called me and tipped me off, and that's the fun part. So I went over. Dan was in Barred me at the door and wouldn't let me in. It's okay, but it's still fucking weird that someone called me. "I went out into the street and stood under a house's porch. I saw Mrs. Wilson's broken car parked in the street, but I didn't know it was her car or that she was in it. ...Wilson came out quickly and walked down the street. I didn't see anyone shoot, I just heard gunshots. Then, a woman jumped out of the car and ran towards him. I knew she didn't shoot, and I should have walked away. But the whole thing was so interesting that when I saw that the woman was Wilson's wife, I ran over to figure out what was going on. Big mistake , see? I had to get out of here right now, in case something happened. So I dragged that woman away. That's the whole damn thing—literally." "Thanks," I said, "that's exactly what I'm here for. Now we have to do a trick and get out of here without getting killed." "There's no need to do any tricks," Thaler said affirmatively, "We can leave at any time." "I want to go now. If I were you, let's go together. You have given Noonan a false alarm, why take the risk? Slip out early and hide quietly until noon, and his plot will naturally come to an end .” Thaler reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a large roll of paper money.He pulled out a hundred or two, and a few fifty, twenty, and ten, and handed it to the short-jawed man, and said, "Jerry, go and buy us a way out. No more than usual." Jerry took the money, picked up a hat from the table, and walked out slowly.Half an hour later, he came back, returned some banknotes to Thaler, and said casually, "We'll wait for the announcement in the kitchen." We go downstairs to the kitchen.It was pitch black and more people joined us. Jerry opened the door and we walked down the three flights of stairs to the back yard.It was almost full daylight at this time, and there were ten people standing in the yard. "That's all?" I asked Thaler. He nodded. "Nick said there were fifty of you." "It takes fifty men to beat those bad cops?" he sneered. A uniformed policeman held the open back door and muttered nervously, "Come on, man, please." I'd love to hurry up, but the others just don't care about him. We walked down an alley, and a big man in brown beckoned us through another door, through a house, onto the next street, and climbed into a parked black car. One of the two blond boys drove the car, and he knew exactly what speed was. I said I wanted to get off near the Great Western Hotel.The driver looked at Whisperer, who nodded.Five minutes later, I was standing in front of my hotel. "See you later." The gambler said in a low voice, and the car slid away. The last thing I saw was the police license plate disappearing around the corner.