After a while, she came back with coffee: strong and reviving. We drank, and I slowly became knitted together. After another cup, this time laced with brandy, my brain began to function. Looking at her, as she sat beside me, I realized she could be useful to me: now was, the moment to fish for information.
“Baby,” I said. “Tell me about Diaz. Why has he lost his glamour for you?”
“Things are going on at the Alameda I don’t like.”
“What things?”
“I found that Alphonso is more dangerous than a rattlesnake. He has me scared.”
“I know that, but what’s going on at the Alameda?”
“People who talk come to a sudden end.”
“Like old Pete.”
“And those two kids. I’m not talking. I don’t want to end up the way they did.”
“Who wants to? But something is going on there, huh?”
“He’s hiding people there. He’s given them the top floor.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know, and don’t want to know.” She set down her coffee cup. “Bart, I want out. I’ve had it up to here with this goddamn city. It’s time I moved on. I want to go to Frisco. There’s a guy there who does an act, and he wants me to join him, but he needs me to put up some money.”
“They always do, baby. Don’t get conned again.”
“He’s different. Will you stake me for ten thousand dollars, Bart?”
I gaped at her.
“I’ve got buzzing in my ears. For a moment, I imagined you said ten thousand dollars.”
She nodded.
“That’s what I said.”
“Ten thousand! Baby! That’s insane! I haven’t even two thousand.”
“Don’t lie!” Her face turned vicious. “I know Alphonso shut your mouth with fifty thousand. I was listening outside the door. I want ten of that or else...”
I suddenly realized I hadn’t any clothes on. The happy, sexy atmosphere had suddenly vanished. I slid off the bed and went into the bathroom. I shaved and showered, taking my time, my mind busy. When a woman, looking the way Gloria looked and said or else I knew I had to handle her very carefully.
When I returned to the bedroom, Gloria was dressed. She stood looking out of the window, her back turned to me, cigarette smoke making a spiral above her carroty hair.
I dressed, then went to the closet for my police special. The holster was hanging on the peg, but the gun was missing.
Bart, baby, I said to myself, you really have to handle this one with extreme care.
Gloria turned and lifted her right hand. The police special pointed at me.
“Looking for this, Bart?” Her voice was harsh and her eyes cold as ice.
“You wouldn’t want to shoot me, would you, honey?”
“I’ll shoot you in your goddamn leg if you don’t give me that money,” she said, and she looked vicious enough to do just that.
I moved carefully away and sat down.
“You squeezed fifty thousand out of Alphonso,” she went on, “now I’m going to squeeze ten thousand out of you.”
I drew in a long uneasy breath.
“Baby, I would give it to you if I had it. I’ve spent it.”
“Don’t give me that crap! No one spends that much money in five weeks!”
“You’re right. No one does, except me. I have a talent for spending money. I also have a talent for finding expensive dolls. All that beautiful loot went on a four week cruise. Where do you think I got this tan from? Working in a coal mine?”
She stared at me, and I saw her face start to fall to pieces.
“I want a getaway stake!” She lowered the gun. “You can’t have spent all that money!” A faint wail of misery crept into her voice. I relaxed a little. I was now over the danger line.
“I did. I can prove it. We’ll go to my bank, and they’ll tell you.”
“Oh, shut up!” She threw the gun on the bed and turned her back on me. I slid out of my chair, whipped up the gun and dropped it into my pocket. I began to breathe normally.
She spun around.
“What am I going to do? Freddie can’t have me unless I go into partnership with him. Can’t you find some money, Bart?”
“Rest your fanny, baby. Let’s see what we can do. Now start using your brains. Have you asked yourself why Diaz parted with fifty thousand without even a whimper.”
She sat down and stared at me.
“Why did he?”
“Because I opened such a can of worms he had to pay me to keep quiet.”
“What can of worms?”
“That’s something you don’t want to know about. It’s to do with this guy Diaz is hiding.”
“You mean the man and the woman?”
“A woman?”
“There’s a woman with him. I’ve heard them talking.”
I remembered the two beds in the tent on the pirates’ island, and the woman’s things I had seen. I had thought Nancy had used them when visiting Pofferi.
“Are you sure there’s a woman with him?”
“I’m sure. Who is he? What’s the fuss about?”
“Leave it. You want ten thousand to go to Frisco...right?”
“Are you deaf?” She thumped her fists on her knees. “I told you, didn’t I?”
“You could earn it, baby.”
She moved uneasily as she stared at me.
“You kidding?”
“You could earn it.”
“How?”
“I want to know what goes on at the Alameda. I want to know about this man and this woman Diaz is hiding. I want you to find out about them and tell me.”
She reared back.
“Do you imagine I’m that crazy?” Her voice was shrill. “I’m not finishing up like Pete and those two kids. No way!”
“Relax! All you have to do is to bug Diaz’s office. I’ve a gimmick which activates a tape recorder when someone starts talking. All you have to do is to plant the bug. No problem, baby. I’ll give you the bug and a recorder. Change the tape when it runs out. In one week from now, I’ll pay you ten thousand beautiful dollars in return for the tapes. How’s about it?”
I knew I was getting carried away. Unless Hamel came up with a million, I would never find ten thousand, but she wasn’t to know that. If the tapes came up with evidence that Diaz killed Pete and the two kids, I could squeeze him dry.
“Where will the ten thousand come from?” Gloria demanded. “You’ve just said you have no money.”
I gave her a confident smile.
“I haven’t right now, baby, but in a week, I will have. With some of the money I got from Diaz I bought a share of action with a friend of mine,” I lied. “It cost me five, but the return is a certain fifteen. Ten for you: five for me.”
I knew she had been conned most of her life by guys who could spin her a yarn. If I had even thought of spinning such a yarn to Bertha she would have crowned me with a beer bottle, but Gloria wasn’t in the same league as Bertha.
I watched her think. I could almost hear her think. There was a red light flashing in her tiny mind, warning her not to trust me, but the thought of getting her hands on ten thousand dollars turned the red light to green.
“How do I know you’ll give me the money?” she demanded.
“I swear it on my father’s tomb.”
She studied me suspiciously.
“How do I know your father is dead?”
“For Pete’s sake! Dial Heaven: they’ll tell you.”
She thought some more, but greed won over caution.
“Okay, I’ll do it, but if you don’t give me the money. I’ll cut off your family jewels.”
Washington Smith joined Jarvis and me for lunch. He had had a telephone call from Hamel, saying he would be returning that evening. It appeared the director of the film had been taken ill, so the meeting had been postponed for a week. Smith would be required to unpack for Hamel.