Cold Dead City by Ram Tuli

Author:Ram Tuli [Tuli, Ram]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798669480219
Published: 2020-07-27T22:00:00+00:00

Through the Floor

Night came. Miranda waited outside. He had a flashlight to signal when he saw someone go in through the front door.

Durant patrolled the perimeter, watching for anything suspicious along the street and behind the building.

Lars’s and Mrs. O’Brien’s windows faced the street. At ten o’clock, Durant came up to report that Mrs. O’Brien had turned off her light. I waited thirty minutes and then crept down and used a pick to unlock her front door.

I hurried back upstairs.

“Now all we have to do is wait,” said Lars, turning off his lights.

An hour passed.

“Look,” I whispered. Miranda was shining his light at the window. It flashed twice.

“Two men coming in,” said Lars.

I moved to the front room and stood by the light switch.

The front doorknob jiggled.

Then there was a loud snap. A crowbar had been used to pry open the door. Hendricks and his pal weren’t sneaking in, they were barging in. They rushed towards Lars’s room.

There was a loud crash.

I snapped on the lights. Hendricks and the other man were hip-deep in the floor. Hendricks was wearing a head bandage. I didn’t recognize the other man but knew it wasn’t Rudy Bell.

Miranda appeared through the open front door. He kicked away a revolver that had fallen on the floor.

I picked up a revolver that fell near my feet.

“Well, well,” said Lars, emerging from his bedroom. “You again?”

Hendricks was hurt. You could see it in his face.

There was a loud commotion in the hallway. Being careful where I stepped, I went outside to see what was happening. Durant, in handcuffs, was being led down the hall by two policemen. Sherman and another man were with them. The man with Sherman was wearing a suit.

“Out of my way!” barked Sherman.

“Wait, Detective!” I said. “Reggie’s got them in a tight spot. If you go in there, they might not talk. Let Reggie ask the questions you can’t.”

“Mr. Harding,” said Durant. “Can you tell them that I’m with you.”

“He’s one of us,” I told Sherman.

The policeman holding Durant undid his handcuffs.

“Where’s Hendricks now?” asked Sherman.

“He’s trapped in the floor,” I said.

A bald man in a bathrobe appeared in the hallway.

“Hey!” he shouted. “Downstairs! Mrs. O’Brien is screaming!”

“Go tell her it’s okay,” I told one of the policemen. “Also, you should probably stay with her in case one or both of those guys falls through the floor.”

The policeman looked at the man in the suit standing next to Sherman.

That man nodded.

The policeman left with the bald man.

Sherman pushed me aside.

“Wait!” I yelled.

It was too late. Sherman entered Lars’s apartment and fell between rafters in the floor. He howled in pain.

Durant and I helped him up. I could hear Mrs. O’Brien screaming below.

Sherman’s pants were torn and his leg was bleeding. He was in a lot of pain.

“I told you to wait,” I said.

Sherman glared at me.

“Someone help me!” yelled Hendricks. “My leg is broken!”

The policeman and the man in the suit pulled Hendricks out of his hole. Hendricks yelped in pain. He could barely stand.

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