Show fa ate CT 10 N QUICK ua fea it CHANGE I 1 eo comer by FRANK L PARKE THERE TS HERE were three people on the sullivan square platform the old woman and the girl three south bound t trains r a I 1 n a had stopped and ard still the girl waited so waited too he would have waited all day as long as she was there but he had an idea it wouldn t be necessary korty was tough le leather ather skinned hardheaded hard headed you wouldn t have thought it to look at him but he had what amounted to an extra sense delicate little feelers of perception like invisible anten nae sprouting up from the round brick hard skull he could tell when something was coming perhaps that was what had made him a good cop and climbing from the ranks a good detective that and his ami able willingness to shoot it out on any and all occasions was a mighty good man with a gun he was conscious of the weight of it now sheathed beneath his coat something was coming sure me this hugh was coming any minute now bleeks knew it they knew that mchugh best had written to her but they hadrit t known what he had said now it was obvious he had arranged to meet her here on a certain el train at a certain time it was three 0 clock in the after noon and had been trailing the girl most of the day he lie was going to bring mchugh to in by him self dead as the saying goes or alive most likely dead or near it had a notion mchugh would use his gun before bed he d let anyone take him well that was fine with let mchugh s hand move and he would see a hand move but quicker and that would be about the last thing he would see take no chances with a sciller most of all a young one so stood there with his chewy screwy extra sense thrumming like a violin string listening to the rum ble b ae ot of the approaching train he had been pretending to be in difficulties with a gum vending machine on the platform now he gave it a couple of last jerks his eyes slanted and he saw the girl stop her nervous pacing and stare at the train corn ing in he saw that and att hk noticed too though absently the old wom woman an who was the third person on the platform she was feeding peanuts to the pigeons that always whirl and pout and parade around sullivan square she was a tiny little thing in drab black clothes and she was smiling at the pigeons milling at her feet feat strutting up for what she had to give them the train rattled in and stopped with hiss and shudder of air it didn dian t bother the pigeons they were used to the el the middle door of the first car opened and horty grinned and turned and took three quick steps toward the door of the car opposite him but the pigeons t used to and they were closer than he d thought at bis his sud den approach they leaped into the air with clattering wings a whirling cloud dodged and smacked d squarely into the old woman he weighed two hundred pounds she went down he hadn haan t hurt her but by the time he d gone through the automatic reaction of picking her up and seeing that she was all right the doors were closed and the tram train was on its way thank you the old woman said but wasn gasn t there to hear it he was taking the steps tour four at a time to get to the street for a cab gotta catch that train at the next stati station oril he bawled step on it V A I 1 6 1 N I 1 V aw dodged and smacked squarely into the woman the closed and the tram was on its the driver nodded okay boss he yanked the wheels and slapped her through low to high A light held them you wanna see the paper he asked like a good tip wise hack ster he fumbled for it in the bucket seat to pass it back to dickens with it corn trying to get a look at the train above step on this can will you then he referred to the pi geons in picturesque speech THE HE girl found a seat and the young man held a strap in front ot of her both faces were young alike too in that they were strained white and empty she moved to where there was more space and he fol lowed and dropped down beside her you rit t have come mart you lit t have taken the chance I 1 had to see you he said may be the last time they won wont t take me kit I 1 in better dead than in the pen again the pupils of her eyes seemed to swell as she peered at him did you do it mart the murder kit ayou you know you know I 1 ve been straight since I 1 got out I 1 ve been sticking to the job I 1 ve been getting good pay I 1 was in line for a raise when this but the police 1 it s a mistake I 1 swear it but I 1 can t prove it I 1 was living in this cheap joint saving money so you could come on soon someone tricked this rich guy in there and killed him I 1 knew they d look up my record and pin it on me lust just like they did so I 1 beat it first it s just luck just crummy luck I 1 ve been going straight kit I 1 even been going to church I 1 even told one of the curates all about us he said when you came on we could be married right in church I 1 mean he looked at her quickly did you tell anybody I 1 had to she said I 1 told ma me she would have known soon any way she wasn gasn t against you mart in m spite of getting mixed up in that trouble she said she felt you d be a good man if you ever got a chance oh mart what are we go ing to do I 1 U get to canada he said get there unless they they catch up with me they aren t taking me kit I 1 cant can t help it baby I 1 in not letting them take me I 1 got a gun here and oh no marti martl no no nol missed it at city square but he got it at friend street he knew they hadn haan t left the tram he would have seen them he caught it all right but not alone first pi geons muttered under Us his breath with a few other words and now these lugs he meant about school boys and girls they were talking laughing and pushing and was jammed with them into the car where alpar antly they all wanted to stay me hugh wasn gasn t much older than any of these thought grimly well too bad too bad product of environ ment they called it polite way of saying slums he could see mchugh and the girl up in the car ahead that wasn gasn t crowded plenty of space thought tt if mchugh went for it tough in front of the girl but what could you do shoved his way forward inch by inch he didn dian t need that extra sense now he could see what he was going after but still it was plucking at his nerves maybe it means you re going to get it this time maybe maybe dog gone it grunted out of my way will youl he was jammed be tween a kid and a fat man and the fat man was trying to read his paper and the front page was liter ally pushed into a s face he couldn coulden t help seeing it mchugh boy innocent mur derer confesses mchugh exon aerated flight attributed to panic the train pulled into bo boylston street while was still reading he shouldered past the fat man went out the door and walked down the platform he put his arm in an open window and tapped mchugh on the shoulder and said quickly you re okay we don t want you hey leave that gun alone now throw it away don t get scared so quick after this As the train jolted ahead he shouted from the platform buy a what did he mean kit gasped gee gee I 1 don t know gee I 1 I 1 say he said get a paper I 1 haven t any change you got any pe pennies anies no kit said she smiled the first time in a week it must have been you want to know why see ma knew I 1 was going to meet you she wanted to have one good look at you she said she promised shed the d act like she didn dian t know me so I 1 told her where she said ltd it d look better if she was doing something adf I 1 gave her my last few cents to buy peanut peanuts for the pigeons 11 |