Rico smiled ingratiatingly.
‘Sure, sure,’ he said. ‘I didn’t mean to talk out of turn.’
‘I’m running short of dough,’ Baird said. ‘Anything around for me?’
‘Yes,’ Rico said, leaning forward. ‘Something big. You’ve arrived in time. Another three days, and it’d have been too late. This is a big job; worth ten grand to you.’
Baird lifted his head sharply.
‘Ten grand? You been drinking?’
Rico rubbed his hands together excitedly.
‘The guy who’s behind this is Preston Kile, the financier. He’s offering ten grand for a guy who’l do a job for him. I told him you were the only one I’d trust to handle it.’
‘What’s the job?’ Baird asked suspiciously.
‘I don’t know. Kile wants to see you first. He’s acting awful cagey. Says he wants to talk to you before he spills any details, but it’s okay, Baird. Kile’s a big-shot. He’s got a front that’l knock your eye out, and you want to see his girl. Used to be with the Follies. Everything about Kile is big. Getting in with him is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.’
Baird didn’t seem impressed.
‘You’re sure about the ten grand?’
‘Yeah. If you pull the job off it rates ten, if you fail he’l pay five. There’s nothing smal about Kile.
You wait until you meet him.’
Baird started to say something, but broke off as the door opened and a red-headed girl wandered in.
She was wearing a low-cut evening gown of lemon yellow, and her green eyes looked Baird over sharply.
Rico said, ‘What do you want, Zoe? I’m busy.’
‘That guy Dal as asked me if he could cash a cheque,’ Zoe said, coming over to the desk. She tossed a slip of paper on Rico’s blot er. ‘It’s only for thirty bucks. He wants to buy me champagne.’
Frowning, Rico picked up the cheque, scrutinised it, opened a drawer and dropped it in. He took out a cash-box and began to count five-dollar bills on to the blotter.
‘He’s get ing quite a regular customer,’ he said. ‘What’s he do with himself?’
Zoe rested an elegant hip on the desk and swung her leg, her eyes roaming over Baird.
‘I guess he’s got ideas about me,’ she said, smiled and winked at Baird, who stared at her stonily.
‘He’s spending a lot of dough here, so why should you worry?’
‘I didn’t say I was worrying,’ Rico said, and pushed the money over to her. ‘Next time you come in here, Zoe, please knock.’
Zoe lifted her eyebrows.
‘Why, sure, I didn’t think. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your boy friend?’
Baird made an impatient movement.
‘Run along, Zoe,’ Rico said, waving her away. ‘I’m busy.’
She slid off the desk with an indifferent shrug.
‘Well, I can console myself I’m not missing much,’ she said, making a little face at Baird. She crossed to the door with an elaborate sway of her hips, opened it and went out.
‘Who’s that?’ Baird asked, when the door had closed.
‘She’s okay. She’s one of my girls: Zoe Norton,’ Rico said. ‘Maybe I could fix it for you to see Kile tonight. Okay with you?’
Baird nodded.
Rico picked up the phone, dialled and waited.
‘Put me through to Mr Kile,’ he said, when a voice came on the line. He listened, frowning, then said,
‘I gotta get in touch with him. Know where he is?’ He scribbled down a telephone number and hung up.
‘He’s with his girl friend,’ he told Baird and grinned. ‘Hope I don’t interrupt anything important.’
Baird continued to stare at him stonily, and a little flustered under the hard look, Rico hurriedly dialled the new number.
‘This is Rico,’ he said, when Eve Gil is answered. ‘Could I speak to Mr Kile?’
‘Hold on a moment,’ she said, and he heard her cal ing Kile.
‘What is it?’ Kile snapped, coming on the line. ‘Who told you you could call me here?’
‘The guy we’ve been looking for has shown up,’ Rico said quickly. ‘I’ve got him here now.’
‘You have?’ The sharpness went out of Kile’s voice. ‘Can you bring him over right away, Rico?’
‘Sure. I told him you wanted to see him.’
‘Now look, he may not be the man I’m looking for. I can’t tell until I’ve seen him. Warn him there may be nothing in it for him. I’l only see him on that understanding.’
Rico laughed excitedly. He looked across at Baird and winked. Baird’s face remained dour, and his look was still stony.
‘You’l want him all right, Mr Kile, but I’l tel him.’
‘Be over as soon as you can,’ Kile said. ‘Apartment 200, Roxburgh House. You know where it is?’
‘Sure, Mr Kile, I know it’
Kile grunted and hung up.
‘He wants to see you right away. He’s at Miss Gil is’s place on Roxburgh Avenue. Maybe I’d better come with you.’
Baird got to his feet. He finished his whisky, mashed out his cigarette as he said, ‘Suit yourself.’
Rico took his black slouch hat from a hanging cupboard, slapped it on his head and jerked it so it rested at a jaunty angle over his right eye.
‘Let’s go,’ he said. ‘Be careful how you handle Kile. He likes respect.’
Baird sneered.
‘For ten grand he’l get it,’ he said, opened the door and walked out into the passage leading to the kitchens and rear exit.
Neither of them saw Zoe watching them through a half-open door at the far end of the passage. As soon as they were out of sight she signalled to Dallas, who reached for the telephone on her dressing-table and dialled Harmon Purvis’s number.
II
Kile sat in Eve’s morning-room: a feminine room he liked, and which, up to now, had been restful to his nerves to sit in. The big windows overlooked the river, and from where he sat he could see the lights of the shipping, and on the far bank the headlights of the stream of cars heading up town.
It was a hot, close night, and the windows were wide open. Kile was sweating a little. He cradled a highball in his hand; a smouldering cigar rested in a deep ash-tray on the arm of his chair.
Eve sat on the broad window seat, her back half turned to him while she stared down at the river. She looked pale, and the scarlet evening dress she wore seemed too gay for her mood.
Neither of them had spoken since Kile had told her Baird was on his way over. Both were preoccupied with their thoughts. Kile had an uneasy feeling that Baird was going to be the right man for this fantastic job. If he was then it would mean Kile would have to go ahead with the plan. Since his first enthusiasm had waned, he had begun to wonder if anyone in his right mind would have even contemplated such a plan, let alone waste time investigating the possibilities. He had to admit he hadn’t done much himself so far. Eve had done all the necessary work. It was extraordinary how she managed to obtain her information. Admittedly, she was in a position to know many people, but how she had got together all the minute details and information with which she had presented him, defeated him.
The plan couldn’t succeed, he told himself again and again, but Eve wouldn’t admit defeat.
‘What have we got to lose?’ she had asked patiently. ‘If this man says it won’t work, then we can drop the idea, but if he has the nerve to go through with it, and if he pulls it off, it’s a half a million in your pocket.’
That was the only argument that kept Kile in the running. A half a million! But if Baird turned the plan down, Kile would be relieved. Of course he would hate to let such a sum slip through his fingers, but the danger and the risks he would be involved in if Baird went ahead frightened him.