"So if he finds my corpse today, you'll be the first guy he'll want to see," I said. "So—" "He's lying, Mr. Harvey!" Benny said quickly. "He never went near any cop!" "Maybe you're right, kid," I said, smiling at him encouragingly, "but Earl can't afford to take the chance on you being wrong. You know what that means, Benny-boy?" "It means I'm going to take you apart piece by piece!" he whispered venomously. "It means that gun Earl's holding is one big bluff, kid," I corrected him. "He won't dare use it." "He won't need to," Benny said, and his right arm blurred into action, the stiffened fingers aimed at my solar plexus. I figured Benny had a one-track mind that lacked originality, but then maybe I wasn't being fair to him. I'd let him clobber me all over Harvey's office the last time, so why should he think it would be any different now? My hands clamped onto his wrist as I side-stepped the stiffened fingers and pulled him toward me—that pull coupled with his own momentum sent him stumbling off balance at a fast run.
