That was no way to put it. Trainor could have refused to have any part in the fantastic proposition, without it necessarily meaning that he retracted his opinions. But Fredericks always managed to put it in that false light. I’d seen it happen time and again. This time I happened to be the only witness, instead of the usual group, but it had the same effect as far as Trainor was concerned. If there’s one thing any man detests it’s seeming to back down.
“I’ll take you up on that,” he growled. “This is one time I’m going to show you up! It may take you down a little to lose a couple of grand, and it’s certainly worth it! You’ve bet on a sure thing again — but for once you’ve picked the wrong end of it!”
Fredericks was shuffling hundred-dollar bills out of the moire lining of his wallet, as though he was dealing cards. He put his empty Collins glass down on top of them. “This says I haven’t!”
Trainor said cuttingly, “I haven’t that much on me, I don’t usually walk around as though I expected to have to bail myself out of jail. I’ll make out a check, will that be all right? Endorse it to you, if — and when.”
I hadn’t thought they’d go this far. “Say, listen,” I protested, “you don’t want to win that money, Fredericks. If you do, it means a human life’s been taken. Isn’t that the test?”
“We can keep it from going quite that far,” he assured me. “Just so long as the intention to commit murder is unmistakably shown by one or the other of our two hypothetical men. We can interfere at the last minute to prevent it being carried out. But there must be no reasonable doubt, before we do so, that it’s already fairly under way, premeditated by one of the two. Is that satisfactory to you, Trainor?”
“Why shouldn’t it be? There’s absolutely no danger of things going that far — always providing these two have never seen one another before; have no long-standing grievance or bad blood between them. And to keep you from building up any grudge between them, that might fester, corrode and sicken their minds, which would invalidate my argument, I’m going to give you the shortest possible time: one week from tonight. This is Tuesday. Next Tuesday night, at this same time, you and I and Evans will meet here. If one of the two men whom I am about to select — with your approval — has in the meantime made an attempt to take the life of the second one, and there is no possible mistaking it as such, I’ll endorse this check over to you. If not, that two thousand dollars is mine. And I’m sorry, but any move you make, any contact you have with these two, by way of injecting what you call a ‘motive’ between them, must take place in the presence of Evans and myself, or the bet is off.”
“You’ll both be eyewitnesses to the mechanics of the thing,” Fredericks promised. “Nothing will be done behind your back. There won’t be any bad faith in this. We’re all gentlemen, I hope.”
I spoke up sourly. “I got my doubts. You’re both vultures in tuxedos, if you ask me! I keep feeling like I ate welsh rarebit before going to bed, and ought to wake up any minute. And you’re as bad as he is,” I added bluntly to Trainor. “I thought you had more sense. You’re both a pair of bloodthirsty fools. Before you’re through, you’re liable to get two poor devils that never did you any harm in some kind of serious trouble, with all your theories. Why don’t you both put your money away, skip the whole thing?”
They turned deaf ears to me. Trainor waved his check in the air to let it dry, then dropped it on top of the twenty hundred-dollar bills.
Fredericks was smiling, pleased with himself, like a cat that expected to lap up a lot of easy cream. “We’ll let Evans here hold the stakes.”
“I won’t have any part of such a dirty, underhanded bet!” I flared.
“All right, if you won’t, then I’ll call the barman.”
He started to raise his hand. I slapped it down just in time. “What you’re doing’s bad enough as it is so try to keep it to yourselves! Haven’t you got any sense of decency at all? He’ll talk his head off to everyone that comes in the place. Here, give me the money, I’ll hold it for you.” I glanced up at the wall. “Next Tuesday at exactly midnight, one or the other of you gets it.”
I put it away in my own wallet. Then I called the barman, myself. “Bring me a shot of straight whiskey, I’ve got a bad taste in my mouth. And something for these two gents. My suggestion is chloroform!”
We drank in silence. I had the impression Trainor was already feeling ashamed of himself; would have crawled out of it if there was any self-respecting way he could have. At that, his side of the contention was the least offensive of the two. Fredericks had a smug, wise-guy look on his face, that made you want to plant a fist right in the middle of it.
He rang down his glass. “Let’s get going. Pick your street corner,” he said tersely to Trainor.
The latter said, “The busier the corner, the higher the ratio of average men. And the busiest one I know, night or day, is the corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street.”
Fredericks said, “All right, let’s go there. And a very good choice too. But before we start,” he added, “I’ve got to have a single thousand-dollar bill.”
“Money, eh?” I remarked. “So that’s how you’re going to work it.”
“The root of all evil,” he smiled unpleasantly. “The sure-fire motive that never missed vet, since the world began.” He tried to pay for the drinks we’d had.
“Mr. Fredericks’ money’s no good as far as I’m concerned,” I let the barman know, without any of the joviality usually associated with that remark. “It’s the wrong color.” I meant it was bloody.
He took it with good grace. “Very well,” he said. “Then this’ll pay for three Collinses in advance. See that you have ’em ready and waiting for us when we come in next Tuesday at midnight. Let’s see how good your memory is, now.”
He hailed a cab at the door and the three of us got in. “I think I know where to get a grand-note,” he remarked. A stony silence answered him. I couldn’t tell whether Trainor’s conscience was bothering him or he had already developed cold feet because of risking more than he could afford — maybe even more than he actually had. One thing was sure, Fredericks was the kind would prosecute criminally if he won and that check bounced back stamped “Insufficient Funds.” It was no joking matter. I happened to know that Trainor was keeping company with a certain girl, intended to marry her in the fall. His whole future, you might say, was the dotted line of that check.
We stopped off first at a fashionable gambling place. Fredericks told us what it was, I wouldn’t have known otherwise. It looked like any other swank apartment building. Well, for that matter it was, all but one certain apartment, that paid heavily for protection. We waited for him in the cab, as we weren’t known in the place.
The minute he’d gone in, I said to Trainor: “You’re not kidding me any. Can you cover that check, in case you have to endorse it next Tuesday night?”
“I won’t have to endorse it next Tuesday night. I’m winning this little pot.”
“That doesn’t answer my question! Nothing’s sure, and this whole set-up depends on the human equation, the most doubtful quantity there is. Well — have you got a thousand dollars?”
“I can just about raise it if I have to,” he admitted glumly, “by hocking my shirt and borrowing on my salary.”