Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen

When Slender Man and Imabella rushed onto the sidewalk, a police car was roaring down Eighth Avenue at ten miles an hour, the red lights flashing in the night, making the car seem from hell, Escaped monsters and ghosts. The lanky man parked too far away with his own car, and he tried Gus's Cadillac, only to find it locked.Fortunately, there was a taxi parked in front of the Cadillac.The tall, thin man looked at the black nun in the back seat and recognized her as the police informant who used to beg for money in front of Bloomstein's.He slammed the door open, got into the car, and pulled Imabella in as well.

"It's an emergency," he yelled at the driver, "to the Knickerbocker Hospital, drive fast." Then he turned to the nun and explained to her, "My wife has taken some poison and I have to get her to the hospital right away. .” The bruises on the tall, thin man's face and neck were not so easy to see, but Goldie had already noticed the burns on the shoulders of his khaki duster jacket--caused by splashes of sulfuric acid. Goldie heard the gunshot just now. He speculated that it was "Gravedigger" Johns and "Coffin Bucket" Ed who fired the shots. Both of them were sharpshooters, so someone must have died.

Goldie only hoped that it wasn't Jackson who died, otherwise he would have to find his own way to get the box back.That would be tricky because Imabella didn't even know he was Jackson's brother.The most important task right now is not to arouse their suspicion. "You ought to trust God," Goldie whispered hoarsely, deliberately clumsily, "and don't get your mind in trouble." The tall, thin man gave Goldie a questioning look, and Goldie was a little worried that he might have overplayed himself.Fortunately, the tall and thin man just said in a low voice: "If I don't go to the hospital quickly, I will really be in trouble."

When Imabella ran out, she didn't even have time to put on her coat, and she was shivering with cold.Before the taxi was in second gear, a patrol car pulled up in front of it.The tall, thin man cursed a few words.Imabella put her arms around the tall, thin man's shoulders and pressed her face against his cheek to hide the acid burn. Two policemen jumped out of the police car. They walked slowly to the taxi and shone their flashlights on the passengers in the car.When the light hit the nun's face, they gave a polite salute. "See anyone running by here, Sister?" asked a policeman.

"No one," Goldie assured, turning to his companion. "Did you see anyone?" "I didn't see it either." The tall and thin man responded immediately, and gave Goldie a strange look again, and said, "Not even a ghost." Two more patrol cars stopped in the middle of the street, one in front of them and the other behind them.Four policemen walked along the sidewalk, and the policemen who were questioning waved their hands to signal that they should not approach.They hesitated for a moment, then turned back to their respective patrol cars, and took advantage of the night to drive to the parking lot next to the polo field.

"Where are you going?" the policeman asked Goldie. Goldie solemnly drew the cross on his chest and said piously: "Go to heaven, be loved by God, have mercy on our souls." The two policemen felt that the nun was performing a mysterious religious ceremony, and was at a loss for a while.Goldie noticed that the young black driver was looking around, so he immediately turned his head and stared straight ahead. He could feel the tall, thin man beside him trembling.He had to find a way to keep the police out, and to keep this tall, thin guy from telling the stupid lie about taking Imabella to the hospital, because anyone who had just glanced at Imabella would It was found that she was as healthy as a horse.

"Maybe they escaped from there." Before the policeman had time to repeat the question just now, Goldie hurried on, and then shook the golden cross hanging on his chest. The policemen stared at him suspiciously.Here in Harlem, they have seen many strange religious sects. According to the orders of their superiors, they respect the religions of colored people very much; however, the behavior of the nun in front of them is more like dealing with the devil. After a while of silence, a policeman asked seriously, "Which way?" "The sinner's road is hard," Goldie said.

The two policemen exchanged glances. "Let's get in the car," said a policeman. The second policeman looked at the lanky man and Imabella in the car with extra care. "Are they all your disciples, Sister?" he asked. Goldie popped the golden cross into his mouth and spat it out again. "'I took the booklet from the angel and ate it,'" he inexplicably quotes.He knew that the best way to fool the white cops in Harlem was to quote the Bible stupidly. The eyes of the two white policemen were wide open, and their flushed cheeks puffed up in order to suppress their laughter. They lifted their hats politely, and turned away quickly.That sentence completely stunned them, and did not arouse their suspicion at all.

"Do you think she's drunk?" a policeman asked loudly, and everyone in the car heard. Another white cop shrugged and said with a smile, "Maybe, maybe not." They got back in the patrol car, activated the U-shaped siren, turned around and sped off to the pier under the pier. People flocked to join in the fun, like ghosts in clothes, jumped out of the night.The taxi started again, and the driver carefully bypassed the patrol car. "Damn it, go away!..." the tall and thin man cursed angrily. The driver's head was still stiff, but the car was speeding down Eighth Avenue.Even from the back of his head, he could feel the driver's panic.

"Damn it, get away from me," the tall, thin man cursed, pushing Imabella aside. "It's so hot." "Don't talk to me like that," Imabella said, fumbling in her bag. "If you could give me a knife..." the lanky man said with a smile. But, Imabella interrupted him: "Shut up." She handed him a jar of cream, "Here, put some on your burn." He unscrewed the cap and applied a thick layer to the burn. "Hank wouldn't do that," Imabella said. "Shut up!..." The tall and thin man was irritated, "Don't you know that this old nun has always been an informant for the police?"

Goldie, aware of Imabella, was looking at him curiously, and he looked down at the golden cross, pretending to be engrossed in devout meditation. "Anyone is suspicious to you," Imabella said to the tall thin man. "How does he know what we're talking about?" "If you talk again, I'll cut his throat." "You like to fight and kill." "The misfortune is over at last," Goldie was praying. "It's a good thing he's in the car," the tall, thin man whispered.An ambulance roared down the street. No one spoke again until they arrived at the Knickerbocker. The tall and thin guy told the taxi to stop in front of the hospital gate instead of going around the emergency entrance ramp.He grabbed Imabella's arm and rushed up the stairs without paying for the car. Goldie told the driver to circle the block.When they circled back, Slender and Imabella had just gotten into a taxi ahead.Goldie ordered the driver to follow them."I don't want to get in trouble, ma'am," said the driver grumblingly. "'Twenty-four old men.'" Goldie quoted, predicting the number to the driver.He knew that most of the black people in Harlem firmly believed that the holy ones entered heaven, and whenever they wanted to know the number of people who could enter heaven. The driver believed it.He turned his head and smiled at the nun, showing his protruding teeth. "Yes, twenty-four old men. Which one of them do you think will get here first?" "Four of them lead the rest of the twenty," Goldie said. "yes." The chauffeur decided to slip five dollars into each of the twenty-fourth pages of the four big books in Harlem by noon, with as little hesitation as he had made sure his name was Beau Deedley. They followed Slender Man's and Imabella's taxi to the front of a small dark apartment building on Park Avenue.But when the taxi in front stopped, they had to continue driving because they were following too closely, so as not to show their feet. Goldie hunkered down in the backseat, out of sight from outsiders.He knew they hadn't caught him following him, because they hadn't tried to shake him off; but Goldie wasn't sure if the taxi would be recognized as it passed.This is an opportunity he must seize. By the time Goldie and the others circled the block again, the taxi had pulled away.Goldie looked at the door of the apartment, wondering if he should go in and check it out. Moments later, however, a light shone through a front window on the third floor, and the curtains were drawn.Goldie was satisfied.He asked the driver to take him to the tobacco store on 121st Street. Not seeing Jackson worried Goldie a little.He went into the store alone, went back to his room, lit the kerosene stove, and heated some stimulants with the alcohol lamp. He told Jackson to come back here if there was an accident.He still doesn't know whether Jackson is dead or alive, and it's still too early to go to the police station to ask. If something happened to "Grave Digger" Johns or "Coffin Bucket" Ed, the white police might suspect him and dig him out. As the narcotics kicked in, Goldie, in a vision before his eyes, saw everyone dead.He prodded himself again to calm his fear.