The Killer That Stalked New York Page #5

Even heels like Matt Krane.

Honest folk. shady folk

and intellectuals like Brainy Danny.

Sure, there were some who didn't

believe in the city's fight.

Now, nobody's gonna put no germs

into me or my family!

But the ball was rolling,

and whether you liked it or not.

unless you grabbed for the life insurance

that only cost a 10-minute wait in a line,

you were out of fashion. Not in style.

An aching arm told your neighbor

you had good sense.

The count went up.

One million vaccinated.

Two million.

But smallpox is never a local affair.

It concerns the world.

Washington, London, Paris,

all waited for the news our Mayor

was punching out on the home grounds.

Be safe, be sure, be vaccinated.

Sure, the T-men went for the big

scratch, too,

but vaccination to them

was only a short pause

from the main job of trying to nose

a cold trail into a hot one.

And while they worked.

the Health Department stuck

to its leg-tiring task

of checking Joe Dominic's milk route.

From dairy customers' doors

to uptown photo shops,

here were two agencies

seeking the same thing.

Yet fate continued its grim joke

and somehow kept the federal men

and the health detectives

from pooling their efforts.

- Yeah?

- I'm from the Board of Health, madam.

Look, mister, I just got vaccinated

in the basement.

You take milk from

the Ace Dairy Company, don't you?

- What about it?

- Well, is anyone in your family sick?

Why?

Because we're looking for someone

who has smallpox.

She gave her name as Sheila Bennet.

That's her, all right. Any other information?

- Referred by Willie's place.

- What's that?

It's a little club down in the Village.

518 Waverly.

- Mind if I borrow this?

- Compliments of the house.

Thanks.

Hey, what's up, Bub?

On your way, sonny.

Are you guys detectives? What's the pitch?

Willie ain't around. He's in the hospital.

- Which one?

- Willie Parker.

On account of him I had to get vaccinated.

He's got smallpox.

Hey, fellows,

I bet you they're government d*cks!

Hey, you guys got a siren?

Come in.

- Dr. Cooper?

- Yes.

My name is Johnson, U.S. Customs.

I'd like to talk with a patient of yours.

A man named Willie Dennis.

I'm sorry, Mr. Johnson, but he's

one of our smallpox cases in isolation.

No one can see him.

It won't take but a minute,

and it is important.

I'd like to cooperate, Mr. Johnson,

but he's a very sick man.

We've come a long way for this lead,

and it's our only link

with the jewel smuggler we're tracing.

Mr. Johnson,

even if I did make an exception,

it wouldn't do you any good.

He's been delirious for hours now.

As a matter of fact, there's a chance

he will never regain consciousness.

Well, in case it becomes possible to talk

with him, would you call me, Doctor?

- All right, sir.

- Any time at all, night or day.

We'd appreciate it.

We've been tracing

this jewel smuggler for a long time.

Right now, our own health detectives

are trying to trace a smuggler, too.

A smuggler who brought smallpox

into the country.

Yes, I know.

We're looking for the person

Joe Dominic delivered this stuff to.

You mean Sheila Bennet.

Well, they've been there ever since she left.

You say she was sick?

Yeah. Right from the first day

she ever got back.

Always lying there

and complaining about headaches

and hardly ever going out.

Mind if I use your phone?

Now, look, mister, this ain't gonna

make any trouble for me, is it?

Yeah, she left about two days

after the husband walked out on her,

and you know what,

she didn't pay her rent, either.

You're sure you wouldn't know

where she went?

No, sir. Boy, I'm sure glad I was vaccinated.

- Anything at all?

- Nothing so far.

Nothing in here.

- Do you have a picture of Miss Bennet?

- No, we wasn't social, ever.

- Well, what did she look like?

- Terrible.

No. Height, weight, color of hair.

What was she wearing the day she left?

Anything at all to distinguish her.

Well, she was blonde and about...

5'4" in height.

Wore a dark blue suit at the time she left.

No distinguishing marks.

Uses the name Sheila Bennet

and is married to Matt Krane, a musician.

Get that to all the newspapers.

- Not much to go on.

- It's something.

- Yes, sir?

- Get me the Police Commissioner.

Better get that description

to all the radio stations, too.

Right.

John, we've got a lead on what we think

may be the person we want.

It's a woman, last living at

810 West 49th Street, New York City.

Come on, Owney.

What was she doing in Cuba?

Smuggling diamonds into the States.

No quarantine restrictions between Cuba

and the continental United States.

She could have passed

through an area of contagion

and brought the disease into the country.

She did. She was carried

into the clinic after a fainting spell

the same night I sent Walda to the hospital.

I remember the symptoms now.

She had smallpox,

and I let her slip through my hands.

Where is she now?

That's what I hoped to find out

from Willie Dennis at the hospital,

but they wouldn't let me in to see him.

- Were you vaccinated?

- Yes.

- You'll see him now.

- Let's go!

Okay.

And that's the last time you saw her, eh?

Do you have any idea

where she might be now?

She made you sick, Willie.

Maybe her brother Sid knows.

He runs a flophouse called The Moon

on Third Avenue.

You stay here with the doc.

Keep your eyes open.

I'll see what I can find out from Sid.

I'm coming with you.

Hi, Sid.

Now, don't go bothering me, Tom.

Let me stay here till the cops go away.

- What cops?

- Come here. Look, look!

I can spot them a mile away.

They always pick me up

and throw me in the tank.

They see me in here,

they think I'm respectable.

- Get behind the desk.

- Who? Me?

Yeah, yeah. Tell them

I'm upstairs cleaning, you understand?

Only stall them before you let them in.

You do that and I'll give you a bed tonight.

Sheila!

Open up!

Open up, I tell you!

Just a minute!

But the police are here.

They'll follow you wherever you go.

Open up!

- It's stuck. The lock's stuck!

- Open up!

- Tell them the truth, Sheila.

- No.

- You can't go on running.

- I've got to.

Sure. You've got to look for revenge.

That's all you've had to do.

Just sit here planning murder.

What's happened to you, Sheila?

I'll find him. I've got to! Help me, Sid.

All right.

It's stuck!

Go down the fire escape

and through the cemetery.

- It'll get you out on another street.

- I didn't mean to make trouble.

Neither did Francie,

but you'll wind up the same way.

- Sid...

- Now, get out of here.

- The lock got stuck. It's a bad lock.

- Where's Sid?

Sid? He's cleaning up for the customers.

Take us to him.

Policemen, Sid, policemen!

- Are you in trouble again?

- I didn't do nothing.

It's Sheila we're looking for, Sid.

There was somebody here all right, Doc.

- Come on, you, start talking!

- I tell you, she wasn't here!

- You took long enough letting us in.

- I was cleaning.

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