He found her curled up on her left side on the tile floor of the bathroom. She had her arms wrapped over her head, her ears covered.
Salerno stepped closer and saw that there was blood coming from her neck.
One of my shots must have got her.
He shook his head.
What a waste. If only she’d done what she was supposed to…
He leaned over and put a round behind her right ear.
The crack echoed in the tiled room.
Her body quivered, then went limp.
Salerno went back into the main room.
He picked up the coat that Mary had tried to carry across the room, dug through its pockets, and found a pistol in the right one.
What the fuck? Another Walther, identical to the other.
He put the second pistol in the other outside pocket of his coat.
He dug in the coat some more but found no money.
“You lying sack of shit,” he said.
He went through Bayer’s pants pockets and found no money there, either.
He kicked the body.
Then he went to the second guy and picked through his pockets.
Bingo.
Salerno came out of the right pocket of the pants with a roll of cash. He pulled off the rubber band, flattened the bills, and counted the money. Five hundred and thirty-one dollars. He rolled it back up and wrapped the roll with the rubber band.
In the left pocket, he found a key to room 410.
Maybe there’s more where this came from…
Salerno went to the telephone, asked the operator to connect him to a number he provided, and after a moment said into the receiver, “I got the cash. But it got ugly. Need
to get rid of three—huh?—yeah, three. Had a surprise guest. Take care of it, okay?”
A moment later, he put the receiver back in its cradle.
When he did, he noticed the open Whitman’s Sampler box of chocolates next to the telephone.
He raised an eyebrow, then picked through the selection. He took out a chocolate-covered cherry and popped it in his mouth. He swallowed it after just two chews.
He licked his lips, looked again at the selection—then grabbed a fistful of the chocolates from the box, stuck them in his coat pocket, and went out the door.
[ FOUR ]
Algiers, Algeria
1625 12 March 1943