The Killers Page #6

"was the victim yesterday

of a sensational robbery.

"Each step of the holdup had

obviously been carefully planned,

"and police officials are certain

the job was masterminded...

"by someone with firsthand knowledge

of the hat company's operations.

"Shortly before 8:00, four men,

"all wearing employee

identification badges,

"joined the incoming day shift

at the Prentiss factory.

"There was nothing unusual

about the interlopers...

"as they lined up with

the other employees,

"and the gatekeeper had

no reason for suspicion...

"as the four robbers

sauntered through the gate,

"ostensibly on their way to work.

"At the Prentiss factory,

the paymaster's office...

"is just across the yard

from the employees' gate.

"Apparently, the strangers

merely crossed the yard,

"loitered near the stairway that

leads to the cashier's office,

"and then entered the building,

taking their own sweet time in the move.

"A few seconds later, while the

paymaster and his assistants...

"were working on routine tasks in

connection with company business,

"the holdup men suddenly appeared.

"At the point of drawn guns,

"they performed the robbery

with detailed precision.

"Two of the bandits

proceeded to rifle...

"the company's safe

and paymaster's till...

"while the others bound and

gagged the Prentiss employees.

"They then left hastily,

"using the same door through which

they had previously entered.

"They took with them the company's

entire semi-monthly payroll...

"amounting to $254,912.

"Entering the yard again,

the bandits fell in behind a truck...

"that was just leaving the factory.

"With the gates open to permit

the truck to exit into the street,

"the holdup men dashed

into the clear...

"and made their way to three cars that

had been planted earlier for the escape.

"The gatekeeper, Henry Wilson,

of411 Spring Street,

"ran into the street,

firing a warning shot...

"and shouting for them to stop.

"When they ignored his command,

Wilson fired first at one car,

"and then at another that was

having trouble in the getaway.

"This latter car returned the

fire as it sped past Wilson,

"and the gatekeeper fell to the

ground with a bullet in his groin.

"He is now in the

Hackensack hospital,

"where doctors say he

will probably recover.

"The four bandits all had their faces

covered during the actual robbery,

"so no detailed

description is available.

"One of them, however, is described

by the paymaster as wearing...

"an unusual green handkerchief decorated

with golden harps over his face.

State and local police

are investigating."

"Unusual green handkerchief."

They sell those by the thousand

every St. Patrick's Day.

But this is the one that

was used in that holdup.

- How do you know that?

- Follow me.

Take an ex-pug named the Swede,

falls for a girl named Kitty Collins.

He takes a three-year rap for her.

When he gets out, he's brought

into a robbery setup...

through an old-time

thief named Charleston.

There's a girl present the

night of the big powwow.

Charleston wouldn't name names,

but my guess is that same Kitty Collins.

Go on.

The Prentiss Hat robbery

was July 20, 1940.

That same night, the Swede

and an unidentified woman...

check into a small

hotel in Atlantic City.

Two days later the

woman takes a powder,

and the Swede tries

to pile out a window.

A chambermaid saves his life,

and he's grateful enough

to leave her his insurance.

- Is that all?

- Just about.

Until six years later,

we find the Swede in Brentwood.

As far as anyone knows,

a filling-station attendant.

Except...

he's waiting for some killers

to come and get him.

Huh. Nice of him to hang on

to this, wasn't it? Without it,

I'd have gone on about my business and

the whole thing would have blown over.

- Forget it.

- What?

It's not worth your time.

But we insured Prentiss Hat. There's

a quarter of a million dollars...

of Atlantic Casualty money

that's never been recovered.

Riordan, you know the

insurance business.

The losses in any one year determine

the premium to be paid the following.

We pay out in 1940,

as we did with Prentiss Hat.

That's adjusted in our rates

for 1941. This is 1946.

Our job is to keep our

losses at a minimum...

so that the rates don't have to go up

in 1947. That's how we serve the public.

And you're not interested

in recovering this money?

Oh, sure I am, if you knew just where

to lay your hands on it, but you don't.

You have a hunch about one man

who may have been in the holdup.

He's dead. Aside from that,

you know nothing.

I didn't know that two days ago.

Kenyon speaking.

For you.

Riordan. Hello, Lubinsky.

How are you?

What? The devil you say.

Hold the wire a minute.

Am I still on this case or

have I quit Atlantic Casualty?

- Well, I...

- Which is it?

All right. I'll give you a week.

But if you don't turn up the dough,

the time comes off your vacation.

Okay, Lubinsky, I'll be

with you in an hour.

Two sailors found him lying in a

depot washroom in a pool of blood.

The shootin' couldn't have happened

more than a minute or two earlier.

- Who is he?

- Ever hear of Blinky Franklin?

That's who he is. Keeps ravin' on and

on about the Swede, Dum-dum Clark...

and our old friend Kitty Collins.

No use my telling you, though.

You can get it straight

from the horse's mouth.

- What are his chances?

- Nil.

- How long has he got?

- He's behind schedule now.

That's why I told you to hurry.

Hello, Doctor.

If that guy don't call by 10:30,

we better get started anyway.

Each one steal his own heap.

Still raining. It would be.

Bet ten. I'll stay.

I never was in a hat factory before.

You ain't in this one yet.

He's talking about the night

before the Prentiss Hat robbery.

Give me two cards. I'll take three.

If this rain keeps up, it'll be mud

up to the axles on them hick roads.

How many miles of dirt road

is it to the Halfway House?

I don't like anything

about capers in the rain.

Rain always gives me the creeps.

I hate rain. I hate rain.

One for the dealer.

Eleven miles to the Halfway House,

Blinky, your's and Dum-dum's route.

- I can't win a pot.

- Me either.

How about it, boys? Got all the

moves straight in your minds now?

We ought to. We've been

over it often enough.

- Why don't that guy call?

- Relax, Dum-dum.

Waitin' on word about

cars reminds me that...

a couple of birds I used to know

once stuck up a theater in L.A.

Everything goes swell...

until they go to get in their heap.

You know what? Somebody stolen it.

A traffic cop shoots

one of the birds dead...

up an alley in back of the theater.

The other bird surrenders

with all the money.

Some story. Know any more like it?

Yeah. There's another

bird I used to know...

Well, don't tell it! We don't want

to listen to your stories, see?

Go ahead, deal the cards.

I fell asleep.

- Let me cut before you deal, will ya?

- What's the matter with you?

- What do you mean, what's the matter?

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