CHAPTER XXVIII
THE MICE WILL PLAY
It was apparent next day that relations were strained between the twomen. Frost went about looking sullen and defiant and Devlin, when hewas not up in his room sleeping, sat in the kitchen drinking coffeewith ominous gravity.
Late afternoon came and Devlin appeared dressed to go out. He strodeabout the kitchen several times, then walked to the door. Frost eyedhim curiously.
"Goin' out, Boss?" he asked.
Devlin looked back and nodded. "I'll be back early tonight." He glancedat the boys. "You be ready to take a ride with Frost and me."
He slammed the door and Nickie paled, noticeably. Frost sat idly at thetable drumming his thick fingers upon the oilcloth cover. Skippy wentto the window and watched until Devlin backed the big car out. Then heturned suddenly.
"Say, mister," he said to Frost, "me an' Nickie know what Devlin'lltake us on a ride for tonight."
If Frost was surprised he did not show it. He glanced up at Skippy. "Soyou're a wise kid, hey?"
"Nope, we just kept our ears open last night an' heard plenty. Devlintalked loud enough so we put two and two together. Anyhow we know Timmynever went out West--we know he's dead. Tucker got picked up in Chicagoan' that put the bulls wise Devlin was in a new racket."
Frost was aghast. "How do you--you...."
Skippy put his cards on the table. "I know everthin' now, I do, an' Iknew plenty before I ever seen Devlin. We'll give you a break if youlet us get away tonight. If you don't Devlin'll go to Pittsburgh withyou an' grab that dough--a blind guy could see he figures you're givin'him the double-x--an' besides I heard him say he'd get you. Anyhow Iknow the cops'll grab him there an' if you're with him you'll begrabbed, too. So chaw on that a bit."
Frost was plainly frightened. "He's been actin' so crazy lately hemight take me for a ride at that and if I get grabbed with him I'll getthe hot squat too."
Skippy used the best thrust he knew. "Sure, you will. The cops got thatnotebook right now--anyway if they ain't, Carlton Conne's got it an'that's as good as with the cops." He waited a moment until that shothad found its mark and then he added: "I sent Carlton Conne a note an'that notebook too the night Devlin took us to the doctor's house--Itold him how long it was from the time we had the accident an' allabout this house an' what the hermit told you. So if you know anythingabout Carlton Conne you know he'll find this joint sooner or later an'if Nickie an' me are dead, it'll be tough for you if you're found withDevlin. Now I'll give you a break if you'll give us one. How 'bout it?"
Like many of his ilk, Frost thought only of his own safety and as hehad neither brains nor cunning, he did not stop to question norconsider anything but himself.
"Sure, I'll give you kids a break--_sure_!" he was crying like theyellow creature he was. "You think I wanta burn with Devlin when Iain't done nothin' yet but help kids for him, hey? I met him in Chi andhe brought me here and propositioned me. But I ain't never tried thetrick on any kids and them Greeks if they didn't get drowned like theydid, I couldn't gone through with it--I know it. I got more feelin'sthan Devlin, but I hadda stick and play up--get me? I come along in acar that night I see him first and saw him ship that Tucker kid overthat cliff into the lake. I'd made a stick-up a few minutes before andI was makin' my getaway without lights."
"An' you seen what he did?" Skippy asked eagerly.
"Sure. He didn't hear me and he didn't see me so I switched off undersome trees and it was a lonesome road that hardly anybody traveledbetween midnight and morning. I see an old car stop and this guy getsout. It's Devlin. Then you could have knocked me over when I sees himgive the little car a shove right over the cliff. So me bein' in alittle racket myself I puts on my lights and chugs up to him and hewaves me to stop. So he gives me a story that him and his son wasridin' along and the car stalls. He gets out to crank it while his songets behind the wheel to fix the spark. Well, the brake mustn't beenon, he tells me, when all of a sudden he sees the car headed right overthe cliff to the lake. He just has time to jump out of the way, hesays."
"Such a warm-hearted guy he is!" Nickie said disgustedly.
"Yeah, he ain't got no heart," Frost said, with more composure. "But tomake it quick, I tell him I'm wise and what's his racket. So we getreal chummy and he tells me to drive on and when we do he says it'sinsurance that he's working."
"_Insurance!_" Skippy repeated as if he must never forget the word.
"Yeah, he tells me it's a good payin' racket. He says he can getorphans so they don't have no real near folks inquirin' after 'em. Hecan get 'em insured and wait a month or so, then he can take 'em out ina car, an old closed car he likes to get that don't cost him more'n afew bucks--you know, the kind that's ready for the junk yard. If theycan swim he can dope 'em a little with some stuff he's got so by thetime they get where he wants, all he has to do is to get out and pushthe car over to the water."
"So that's how he worked it, huh?" Skippy asked, feeling rather sick.
"Sure," Frost answered readily. "If they can't swim, he likes itbetter. Then he uses that stallin' business to get out, leavin' off thebrake. He thought he had Tucker sure, but the kid comes to and gets outin time so Devlin thinks he don't give him enough dope."
Nickie shuddered visibly. "So he reports it an accident?"
"Yeah, and with that funeral face Devlin gets away with it. When thewhole business is over he collects the insurance."
"Gee whiz!" Skippy murmured. "_It's awful!_"
"Yeah, don't think I liked it when he told me!" Frost said, on thedefensive. "But he told me I wouldn't have to do no part of that. Hesaid all I had to do was the details like he called it. So what could Ido when he had told me all that and asked me to come in on it with him?He'd have put me on the spot for what I knew about him if I didn't.Besides, he said it was goin' to be safe and that he'd worked it outso's we couldn't get caught."
"Why didn't you stay in Pittsburgh?" Skippy asked suddenly. "You wantedto, I betcha."
"Sure, I did. But he'da found me--if it was years he'd find me so Ithought I'd better come back."
"You can go back to Pittsburgh tonight if you help us get away. You canstart back now--the coupe's out in the barn, ain't it?"
"Yeah, but he might..." Frost began.
"Tell him you took us out for the air an' we beat it."
Nickie was aroused, jubilant at the new turn of events. "Yeah, an' say,Frost, tell him you chased us down in the woods where the bog getstough, but that we give you the slip there, hah?"
"That's the stunt, Mister Frost. And tell him you'll hunt us on oneside while he hunts on the other. Then, when he's gone, you beat itfast, 'cause we'll have the cops in here after him by that time. Hecan't chase you to Pittsburgh when he's in jail, can he?"
Frost fell as Skippy afterward termed it, "hook, line and sinker.""Sounds like it's fool-proof, kids," he said. "And the dicks don't knowabout me, hey?"
"How would they?" Skippy assured him.
Frost got up. "I'll get my keys," he said, "and we'll beat it pronto.I'll take you to the highway and make out I won't be glad to beat it."
Nickie looked at Skippy while they were waiting. "It ain't true yousent that notebook, is it?" he asked incredulously.
Skippy grinned. "Gee, _you're_ not fool-proof, Nickie. How could I getthat book without Devlin seein' me that night, huh? Didn't I have a bigenough job on my hands gettin' that note into the old lady'spocketbook? I hadda spread it on thick to frighten him right off an'make him think the cops had that book--well, it ain't a lie exactly'cause they'll have it some day an', boy, is that enough to send Devlinwhere he can't be sent any more, huh?"
"An' how!" Nickie agreed. "Then it's still out there behind the barrel,hah?"
"Sure, an' it's gonna stay there till the cops come an' get it. I'lltell 'em where it is--nobody else would think to look for it there. Wecan't let Frost see us takin' it now an' even if we could, I don't likeit on us in case anythin' goe
s wrong."
"Aw, what could go wrong now, hah?" Nickie said confidently. "Frosttakes us out to the road where we're safe, so we should worry."
Skippy felt somewhat less confident. He could not, try as he would, putaway from him the feeling that nothing was sure in the dark, forgottenswampland of Devil's Bog. When they were once clear of it entirely, hetold himself, he would be able to laugh at the fears which he felt now.