Gangsters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
Angry with herself, she thrust her hand into the opening now and felt
hurriedly around. Yes, there it was! Her fingers touched what was
evidently a little knob or button. She pressed upon it. There was a
faint, answering click. She turned on the flashlight again. What
had before appeared to be nothing but one of the wide, pearl inlaid
partitions between two of the smaller drawers, was protruding invitingly
outward now by the matter of an inch or so. Rhoda Gray pulled it open.
It was very shallow, scarcely three-quarters of an inch in depth, but
it was quite long enough, and quite wide enough for its purpose!
Inside, there lay a little pile of banknotes, banknotes of very large
denomination--the one on top was a thousand-dollar bill.
She reached in and took out the money-and then from Rhoda Gray's lips
there came a little cry, the flashlight dropped from her hand and
smashed to the floor, and she was clinging desperately to the edge of
the escritoire for support. The shop was flooded with light. Over by
the side wall, one hand still on the electric-light switch, the other
holding a leveled revolver, stood a man.
And then the man spoke--with an oath--with curious amazement:
“My God--a woman!”
She did not speak, or stir. It seemed as though not fear, but horror
now, held her powerless to move her limbs. Her first swift brain-flash
had been that it was one of Gypsy Nan's accomplices here ahead of the
appointed time. That would have given her cause, all too much of cause,
for fear; but it was not one of Gypsy Nan's accomplices, and, far worse
than the fear of any physical attack upon her, was the sense of ruin and
disaster that the realization of a quite different and more desperate
situation brought her now. She knew the man. She had seen those square,
heavy, clamped jaws scores of times. Those sharp, restless black eyes
under over-hanging, shaggy eyebrows were familiar to the whole East
Side. It was Rorke--“Rough” Rorke, of headquarters.
He came toward her, and halfway across the room another exclamation
burst from his lips; but this time it held a jeer, and in the jeer a
sort of cynical and savage triumph.
“The White Moll!”
He was close beside her now, and now he snatched from her hand the
banknotes that, all unconsciously, she had still been clutching tightly.
“So this is what all the sweet charity's been about, eh?” he snapped.
“The White Moll, the Little Saint of the East Side, that lends a helping
hand to the crooks to get 'em back on the straight and narrow again! The
White Moll-hell! You crooked little devil!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account