Others had stopped behind them; then two other street cars slid up and
blocked the way around.
Mary V was quite oblivious to all this. She was glaring at the one
link between herself and Johnny Jewel. She was bitterly regretting the
fact that she had no gun with which to scare Bland into telling the
truth, and she was wondering what other means of coercion would prove
effective. Bland knew where Johnny was, of course. He was lying, for
some reason--probably because he had the habit and couldn't stop.
Bland kept an eye on Mary V's right hand. He suspected a gun, and
when, in involuntary obedience to the frantic honkings behind her, she
let her hand drop to the gear lever, Bland turned to flee.
"Bland, you come back here!" Bland came. "What do you mean, trying to
avoid answering a perfectly civil question?"
"I did answer it," Bland protested in his whining tone. "I said I
didn't know--"
"That's no answer; that's nothing but a plain old lie. You do know
perfectly well where he is. You left Tucson with Johnny, and you left
Yuma with him. Bland Halliday, what have you done with him?"
Bland's eyes turned slightly glassy.
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