by Lionel White
“I’m not suggesting you buy it back,” Gerald said. “I’m merely suggesting you give me the same split you would have had to give the others-your three boys-if they had been successful in getting the stuff to you. This way you get it, and it costs you no more than it would have anyway. As a matter of fact, you should be damned grateful I’m here to offer you the deal. If I hadn’t shown up just when I did, the police would have found the jewels when they found young Dunne’s body.”
Slaughter looked at him curiously.
“How did you get mixed up in it anyway?” he asked. “Was it the girl? Were you working with her and Vince all along?”
“Don’t be a fool,” Gerald said. “It was the way I’ve told you it was. I never saw the girl in my life before last night. Never saw her brother until he stuck me up and got into my car. But all of that doesn’t matter. I am trying to do business with you. Nobody else matters.”
“In that case, it can’t matter to you what happens to the girl,” Slaughter said. “You see, after you talked with her last night, we picked her up. We sort of felt she might have been double-crossing us, you know. She was Dunne’s sister. She could have been getting cute. But what the hell. As long as she’s out of the picture, doesn’t mean anything to you, we can forget about her.”
There was something about the man’s voice that sent a cold chill down Gerald’s spine. What he said made good sense. It was quite true. The girl was none of his business. She didn’t mean a thing to him.
Suddenly he visualized her pretty, heart-shaped face, her angry azure eyes and the determined line of her fine jaw.
“It happens I do care what happens to her,” he said suddenly, hardly realizing he was speaking the words. “It happens that she means a great deal to me. So much, in fact, that unless you let her go, at once and unharmed, you can just forget all about the Gorden-Frost jewels.”
“You think you are in any position to bargain?” Slaughter asked. “We know who you are now. Maybe the police would like to know.”
“Oh, certainly,” Gerald said, with a slight sneer. “They’d hold me for what? Receiving stolen goods? I’d be out about the time they were turning up the juice for you in Sing Sing.”
“All right, all right. We won’t argue about it,” Slaughter said. “Assuming you got the stuff, I’ll make you one and only one proposition. No bargaining and no second guessing. Take it or leave it. Thirty-five thousand in cash for the jewelry.”
“Thirty-five?”
“Right.”
“And the girl?”
Slaughter shook his head. “The girl will talk,” he said.
“Not if you haven’t hurt her,” Gerald said. “You said that you hadn’t…”
“She’s all right,” Slaughter said. “But she’s bound to spill…”
“Thirty-five thousand and you release the girl,” Gerald interrupted. “I deliver the stuff and guarantee she don’t talk. After all, I have plenty to lose too,” Gerald said. “I have as much interest as you have in keeping her quiet. But you’ll have to let her go. Otherwise-no deal. And-” Gerald hesitated and gave the other man a long look “-and I know now you’ve got the girl. Just in case something should happen to her.”
“If you can keep her quiet, you got a deal,” Slaughter said. “You’re getting a damned good price. That stuff is so hot it sizzles. A fence wouldn’t take it as a gift. The stuff will have to be held for months, maybe years.”
Gerald nodded. “I know,” he said. “All right, about the details.”
“We can go up to my apartment…”
Gerald smiled thinly.
“No,” he said. “Hardly. Not that I don’t trust you, of course. But I think it will be better if we meet on neutral grounds. Suppose we do it this way. Is the Dunne girl somewhere I can see her within the next half hour or so?”
“Maybe.” Slaughter looked at him quizzically.
“All right. Take me to her. Let me talk to her alone, for five minutes. When I finish she’ll agree to do as I ask. Then I’ll leave, without her. I’ll take a room in a midtown hotel. You give me a telephone number where you can be reached and I’ll call you at exactly seven-thirty this evening and let you know where I am located. Give you the hotel and the room number. I’ll have the stuff with me. You come up. Bring the girl with you and the thirty-five thousand. Just you and the girl. We’ll make the switch then.”
“And you mean you want to see the girl first, eh. Then leave?” Slaughter’s voice was heavy with doubt. “What’s to keep you from finding out where she is and then calling cops?”
“Good God, man,” Gerald said. “What’s wrong with you? There’s plenty to keep me from it. Among other things, the thirty-five thousand bucks. Why do you think I’m here in the first place. Because of the girl? Hell, I didn’t even know you had her. No, don’t get me wrong. My first interest is the money. It’s just that I don’t see any reason for the girl to get hurt. You have nothing to lose.”
“You didn’t want to come to my place at first,” Slaughter said. “How come, now you know the girl is there, you’ve changed…”
“I didn’t want to come with the jewels,” Gerald said. “I still don’t want to. That’s why I suggest the hotel deal. But alone-what the hell. You don’t want me-I’m no good unless I have the stuff. Right?”
Slaughter nodded slowly.
“Right,” he said at last. “O.K. Let’s get going. I’ll take you to where you can see her and talk to her. But let me give it to you straight. Get fancy and try anything cute, and you get killed. Very fast you get killed. And after you finish seeing the girl, you’ll have a guy with you for the first half hour after you leave. Long enough to give me a chance to move her. So don’t get any ideas…”
“I’ve told you,” Gerald said. “The only ideas I have concern thirty-five thousand dollars in hard cash.”
Five minutes later they were in the taxi heading across town.
CHAPTER SEVEN
She lay sprawled out on top of the sheet, her eyes filled with hatred as he leaned over and spoke to her.
“I’m taking the gag out of your mouth,” he said. “If you yell, or make any trouble, I’ll knock your teeth down your throat. Just stay right where you are and be quiet. Someone is coming in to see you for a few minutes.”
She fought back the sudden fear, trying to understand. He’d told her that if she didn’t talk he’d bring someone in; someone who would do horrible things to her. Someone who would make his own cruelties seem like caresses by comparison.
“You’re not going to be hurt,” he said. “This man is just going to talk to you.” He sensed her fears and spoke quickly. “But remember, no yelling.”
She sensed relief then; he must be telling the truth. He wouldn’t be taking the gag from her mouth if anyone were going to hurt her. She wondered what would happen next. Wondered what they would eventually do with her. She knew the kind of man he was. She could guess.
Slaughter removed the gag and reached down, lifting her slender body so that she leaned back against the headboard. He turned and left the room, closing the door behind himself. For several minutes she just sat there and then, as she heard the sound of the footsteps approaching, her eyes once more went to the door, wide with fright.
Gerald entered the room and closed the door firmly behind himself. He walked over to the bed and leaned down, sitting on the edge of it. He spoke quickly, before she had a chance to say a word and while the expression on her face was rapidly changing first from fear to utter amazement and then from amazement to bitter amusement.
“Please don’t say a word,” he said. “I’ve only got a couple of minutes before he’ll be back and you have got to listen to me.”
She stared at him, wide-eyed.
“I might have guessed,” she began, “might have guessed that you…”
“Don’t guess anything,” he said quickly. “You’d be wrong. Just listen. If you are interested in saving your life, just do nothing and listen to me.”
“Shut up and listen to me,” he said, taking her by the arms and shaking her. “It isn’t only your life-it can be mine too. But if you do just as I tell you, we’ll both get out of this. We’ll not only get out of it, but you’ll get what you want.”
“You don’t know what I want,” she said, fiercely, trying to pull away from him.
“I do know what you want,” he said. “I know very well what you want. But you simply have to have faith in me. I can’t explain, I can’t tell you why. I can’t tell you anything. I haven’t time. But you must do exactly as I tell you.”
Watching her as he quickly spoke, he was glad to see her expression gradually change from antagonism to curiosity.
“Some of what I told you last night is true,” he said. “But there was a lot I didn’t tell you. A lot I didn’t know myself. I didn’t know that they were going to pick you up. I didn’t know…”
“Are you trying to tell me you aren’t in with…”
“Do please shut up,” Gerald said. “Shut up and listen. Don’t ask questions. I haven’t time to answer them. I’ve only got another minute. Listen.”
He still held her by the arms and he could feel her suddenly relax.
“I’ve made a deal. They’re getting the jewels and they’re letting you go free. On the understanding that you keep your mouth shut. That you never breathe a word of what has happened.”
“And you,” she began.
“Later,” he said quickly. “Later, when you are out of here and free, I’ll tell you all about myself. Right now please just trust and believe me. Do exactly what I tell you to do and I’ll promise that it will work out the way you want it to. You must absolutely convince them that if they let you go you will keep your mouth shut. Later, late today, Slaughter will bring you to a certain place. He’ll take the jewels and you’ll be released.”
“But why…”
“Look,” he said, “dear God, just promise to do what I ask.”
For a long moment she looked into his face, this time almost without expression. She half nodded her head.
“And you,” she said. “Just what are you going to get out of it?”
For a moment he stared back into her eyes and then he quickly leaned forward on the bed and his lips barely brushed her forehead.
“Me?” he said. “Why I’m going to marry you and live happily ever after.”
He stood up, watching her seriously as her mouth fell open in surprise.
“That’s right,” he said. “And I want you to know that I realize you wouldn’t marry a thief or a crook.”
Staring at him, she suddenly realized that he was dead serious.
“Why,” she said, “why you don’t even know me! You must be a little crazy. We don’t…”
His finger went to his lips and he moved toward the door silently.
“I don’t even know myself,” he said. “But I’m not crazy. Not a bit. I’m completely and beautifully sane-probably for the first time in my life.”
He opened the door slightly and called out.
“O.K., Slaughter, we’re all through.”
* * *
He made the reservation over the telephone, using a public booth in the rear of a midtown tavern. He hit the right combination on his third try. The desk clerk at the Metropole had exactly what he wanted-two rooms, separated by a bath. He explained that he would be using the suite overnight, sharing it with a business acquaintance. Room 508 he reserved for himself, giving his correct name and address. Room 510 he reserved under the name of Fred Slaughter.
“Mr. Slaughter,” Gerald said, “will arrive sometime early this evening. However, I’ll stop by within an hour and will pay for both rooms at that time. I’d appreciate it if the maid can have them made up as I’d like an opportunity to arrange my samples.”
He wanted to leave the impression with the clerk that he was a salesman.
He took a cab from the tavern to Grand Central. He was vaguely worried by the possibility of being picked up. There was a chance that the police could have found out about his leaving the office and he guessed that the moment he was reported missing, the pickup order would go out.
He hurried into the station and found the checkroom where he had left the brief case and the zipper bag on Saturday. It only took a minute or so to retrive them.
The next stop was at a luggage shop in the arcade. Here he purchased a fairly large leather suitcase. He had the clerk remove the price tag and he opened the bag and put both of his other burdens in it.
A door or two away was a haberdashery and he went in and bought several shirts, some socks and underwear. One more stop and he had added a shaving and toilet kit to his luggage. And then he took a cab to the Metropole.
It was a rather small, very respectable semiresidential hotel in the Murray Hill section. The clerk greeted him with a smile when he identified himself. After Gerald had signed the register, he started to reach for his wallet.
“You can take care of it when you are ready to sign out,” the desk clerk said.
Gerald nodded and thanked him.
“I’ll go on up now,” he said, “but I’d like to leave Mr. Slaughter’s key for him to pick up himself when he comes in. I’ll probably be in and out of my room and I want to be sure…”
“Certainly. We’ll be looking for him.”
The bellhop doubled as elevator boy and he stopped the cage at the fifth floor. Gerald followed him down the carpeted hallway to room 508, and stood by as the boy put the bag on the floor while he opened the door. He entered the room and after dropping the bag, opened the closet door and then went to the window and made an unnecessary adjustment to the air-condition unit.
As Gerald was reaching in his pocket for a dollar bill, the boy opened the bathroom door.
“I understand you’ve reserved both rooms,” he said. “This door goes into the other part of the suite and you can lock either bathroom door from either side.”
Gerald thanked him and handed him the dollar. He shook his head when the boy asked if he wanted ice water.
“Nothing just yet,” he said. “Perhaps later. By the way, is there stationery and envelopes?”
“In the drawer over there,” the boy said, indicating a writing desk on which the telephone sat. “You want I should come up and get your mail in a while, maybe?”
“It won’t be necessary, but thanks,” Gerald said.
He waited until he was alone before he carefully inspected the suite. The rooms were exactly what he had wished for. The windows were closed on the air-conditioning units and they were covered by Venetian blinds and heavy drapes. Neither room was large, but they were adequate.
The bathroom was an old-fashioned and overlarge room. Doors led into each room and they could be locked from the inside to insure privacy. Going into 510, the room he had reserved for Slaughter, Gerald walked over to the radio and turned it on, fairly loud. Then he returned to his own room, carefully closing both bathroom doors.
He nodded his head in satisfaction. No sound from the radio penetrated.
“Perfect,” he said, half aloud. It would take the sound of a gunshot to penetrate the double walls.
He opened the suitcase and took out the brief case and the zipper bag and once more returned to Room 510. He opened the bottom bureau drawer and placed the bags in it. And then once more he returned to his own room. Sitting at the desk, he found the stationery.
For the next half hour he was busy composing the two letters. Finishing them, he addressed the envelopes and sealed them. Then he placed the letters in his inside breast pocket and left the room, turning the key in the lock.
Passing through the lobby, he ignored the postal drop. Once more he took a cab, this time directing the driver to the post office on Lexington Avenue, just north of Grand Central Station. He had the driver wait while he went inside and registered each letter before entrusting
it to the mails.
When he returned to the Metropole, he stopped by the newsstand in the lobby and bought the afternoon newspapers and a couple of magazines. He had a little time to kill.
This time, when he returned upstairs, he told the combination elevator boy and bellhop to bring him up a drink from the bar.
“Make it a double Scotch and soda,” he said. “In fact, make it two of them.”
He might just as well do the thing right. Might just as well relax while he had the opportunity. Another few hours would tell the story. In another few hours, all decisions would have been taken out of his hands. He would either be a wealthy man with the world at his feet, or he would be in jail. There was, also, a fair chance that he might be dead.
Thinking about it as he waited for the whiskey to arrive, he smiled a little wistfully. At least he would not be bored.
At six-thirty he checked his watch for the dozenth time and got up from the chair under the reading light and carefully folded the newspaper he had been reading. He slipped into his jacket and then went to the door and carefully checked to see that it was locked.
He looked around the room for a final time and then opened the door into the bathroom. He closed the door between the bathroom and Room 508, not locking it, before entering Room 510. This time he was careful to see that the door between the bath and Slaughter’s room was locked, putting the key in his pocket after twisting it.
He had an almost irresistible desire to open the dresser drawer and take out the brief case and have one last look at the jewels, but he resisted it. Time was pressing now and he had things to do.
Gerald rechecked his watch and then sighed and went to the door of Room 510. Everything was going to hinge on what took place within the next few minutes.
When he left the room this time, he pressed the catch so that the door between the room and the outside hallway remained unlocked.
Back in the lobby, Gerald was pleased to see that the day desk clerk had been replaced by the night man. He went over to the counter and took out the key to Room 508.
