I said: “You seem happy. I take it you have been on a successful pursuit of some unlucky dollar.”
He shook his head. “No, Joey. I have been thinking of our personal relations.”
“Interesting. Now, I have an uncle over in Jersey who—”
“Idiot. I mean the relations which exist between us. We bicker too much, Joey.”
I became wary. “Do we?”
“Indeed. And mostly about money, which is deplorable.”
I said incredulously: “You’re not going to raise my salary?”
“No. But I want this bickering stopped. Hereafter we will not bet with each other any more. I think that is the trouble.”
“That’s better than okay with me. I always lose anyway.”
“Good. And in order that we get along better I also think that we should cancel all bets which are still in existence between us.”
I am not the brightest boy in all the world but I didn’t need a sledge hammer to pound the point of this conversation into my skull. I laughed out loud.
I said: “So you’re cooking for a smoke, is that it? So you want to call off the bet in order that you may have a cigarette? Oh, no, brother. This is one bet I’m going to win. Besides, what’s become of the steel Sackler will power you spoke to me of only a few days ago?” He scowled at me. I lit a cigarette and blew the smoke ostentatiously in his direction. His scowl became deeper.
“You are a money-grubbing little rat,” he said bitterly. “No honor, no decency, no generosity.”
I grinned and decided to rub it in. “Since you feel you are possessed of all those three traits, may I call your attention to the fact that you must return Freuh’s hundred dollar bill to his estate or to the coppers or whoever gets it. You certainly can’t lay claim to it. You failed to find that quotation in the requisite time. You must return that money.”
He looked at me sourly.
“Yes, sir,” I went on. “I know what’s in the back of your conniving brain. You think you can start smoking again and pay me off with that dough which belongs to Freuh. That let’s you out for nothing. Well, you’re always getting out for nothing. This time it’s going to cost you a hundred bucks. If you’re dying for a butt now, think how you’ll feel in a month.”
For one of the few times in my life I had him against the wall. The happy mien that he had worn a few moments back had disappeared entirely. There was a little panic in his voice as he said: “And what do you intend to do if I keep this money of Freuh’s?”
“Squeal.”
“To whom?”
“To Woolley, of course. He hates the idea of you making money almost as much as I do. All I have to do is tell him you’ve got a hundred you’re not entitled to and he’ll grab it. If Freuh has no kin, it’ll probably go in Dewey’s treasury.”
He closed his eyes as if my perfidy were more than he could bear. He said in a weak voice: “Go away, Joey. Go out of my sight. Traitor, betrayer, go away. I cannot stand your presence.”
Nothing at all loath, I grabbed my hat and went to the door. When I was on the threshold he spoke again.
“While you’re out call Capelli. Tell him to be here at one o’clock sharp. Then call Woolley. Tell him to arrive at exactly one fifteen and to bring Earnshaw with him. Tell them all I have important news for them.”
I nodded and went out. I stopped in the saloon downstairs and had a couple of quick ones. This was one time I was going to show no mercy. When Sackler took his first smoke — and I was sure he couldn’t hold out much longer — I was going to collect a hundred bucks. Moreover, I was going to see he returned the hundred of Freuh’s to which he wasn’t entitled.
I phoned Capelli, gave him Sackler’s message, then decided to go down and deliver Woolley’s message personally. That would give me the chance to inform him that Sackler was holding Freuh’s dough.
I grabbed a bus and went down to police headquarters.
Woolley greeted me glumly. Apparently he hadn’t made much headway in the matter of Arthur Freuh’s murder. He brightened up considerably when I gave him Sackler’s message.
“Has he really got something?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “He hasn’t confided in me. He has, however, got something to which he isn’t entitled.”
Woolley looked inquiring.
I took a deep breath and told him of Freuh’s concern with the quotation, of the fee which was to be held in escrow as it were, and of the fact of Sackler’s not earning it.
“Therefore,” I concluded righteously, “I believe that hundred dollars should go to Freuh’s heirs, not Sackler.”
Woolley’s eyes were gleaming. “You say it was a hundred dollar bill?”
He emphasized the last three words.
“It was a hundred dollar bill, all right.”
“But I thought Rex said he banked the money Freuh gave him?”
“He may have banked the thousand. But I know the hundred is in an envelope in his pocket right now.”
Woolley bent his head devoutly and murmured: “Praise be to Heaven.”
I stared at him in some surprise. Woolley was not a devout man.
“Why the piety?”
“At last,” said Woolley happily, “Mr. Rex Sackler is delivered into my hands. But don’t tell him. First I want to know what he’s got on this case. After I have learned that I shall pounce. The indignities of years shall be avenged. Joey, I love you. If you ever need a drink badly, come to me and I shall buy it for you. Now, go away and leave me alone while I gloat.”
I had not the faintest idea what he was talking about. I left his office and stopped off for another drink. I felt pretty good myself. Though Woolley’s attitude had baffled me somewhat I was certain that he wasn’t going to let Sackler keep that hundred bucks.
Chapter Four
A False Note
I had a leisurely lunch and killed time until almost one o’clock. Then I took the subway and went back to the office. I had barely removed my hat when Capelli walked in the door. Sackler greeted him effusively.
Capelli nodded, said anxiously: “Did you find out where Freuh lived?”
“Simplicity itself,” said Sackler.
“Good. Did you bring me his things?”
Sackler shook his head. “I saw no sense in packing up his personal effects. I only brought what you wanted.”
Capelli blinked. “How did you know what I wanted?”
Sackler looked smug and tapped the side of his head in a manner calculated to call attention to the great Sackler brain. Then he opened the desk drawer and withdrew the oblong package I had seen him bring in that morning.
Capelli snatched at it like a hawk at a chicken. He did not open it in the orthodox manner. Instead he tore away a fragment of the paper and peered inside. I peered, too. I made out that the article wrapped up seemed to be an oblong of metal. But I didn’t see enough of it to know what it was.
Capelli sighed happily and beamed at Sackler. “You’re a genius,” he said. “And you’ve earned two grand.”
He took a checkbook from his pocket and wrote rapidly. He handed the check to Sackler, who took it, caressed it, and stowed it away in his one-way wallet.
Capelli said: “Do you mind telling me how you did it?”
“Elementary,” said Sackler. “I just looked around the room until I found it.”
“That I can understand,” said Capelli. “But how did you find the address?”
“Oh, that,” said Sackler in his best deprecatory manner. “That was simple. Knowing what I did, Joey could have done it. As a matter of fact, Joey had the same information that I had. And I’m sure he knows how I did it. Joey.”