40

…Diogenes was going around carrying a lantern in the daytime…claimed he was looking for a honest man…they throwed his ass in jail…turned out he had stole the lantern…

Monroe D. Underwood

One of the hallway light bulbs had burned out and the hallway was quite dim.

The indicator showed the elevator to be on the main floor.

I pushed the button and waited.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a man come out of the stairway entrance.

When he saw me he stopped and ducked back in.

I lit a cigarette and whistled a chorus of Alte Kameraden.

I acted very unconcerned.

I took the elevator to the second floor.

I dashed to the stairway and tiptoed to the third floor.

There was no one on the landing.

I peeked around the corner.

I saw him crouching by the door of room 306.

He was doing something to the lock.

I came up behind him very quietly.

I hit him on the head with my three-cell flashlight.

He went down like a sack of wet sugar.

He was a big bastard.

I rolled him over.

A key fell out of his hand.

It was Grogan.

I shrugged.

I went back to the elevator and pushed the button.

He should have knocked.