“Fifteen minutes,” rejoined Desmond promptly.
“Very good,” said Zelva.
Desmond hung up the phone and indulged in a satisfied grin. He fancied that this meeting with Rodriguez Zelva would bring unusual results.
Picking his hat from the rack, Desmond left the office. Visions of wealth danced before his eyes as he strode along. Desmond felt that he had done the unexpected.
The fact that he was willing to play the traitor meant nothing to Frank Desmond.
CHAPTER XXI
ZELVA DECIDES
“WHAT can you tell me about Alvarez Legira?”
It was Frank Desmond who asked the question. Seated by the window of Rodriguez Zelva’s apartment, Desmond faced the stocky South American as he spoke.
Zelva’s black eyes shone as he studied Desmond’s countenance. Zelva had shrewdly placed Desmond where he could note the expressions on the man’s face.
“Alvarez Legira?” Zelva shrugged his shoulders. “I know very little about the man. He calls himself the consul from Santander. That is all I know.”
“To-day’s newspapers,” remarked Desmond, calmly, “speaks of a monetary transaction between New York financiers and South American interests. Could that concern Legira?”
“I know nothing about such transactions,” said Zelva, coldly. “You say that you have seen the newspaper. I gave an interview to the press this morning. I told them what I have told you — that I know nothing.”
“Suppose,” said Desmond, speculatively, “that I told you such a transaction did exist and that it did concern Alvarez Legira. Would that interest you?”
“Perhaps,” replied Zelva, in a noncommittal tone. “All things that pertain to South America may be of interest to me.”
“Suppose,” continued Desmond, “that I told you that Alvarez Legira now possessed a considerable sum of money, paid to him here in New York — in other words, that the transaction had been completed?”
“That would be nothing to me.”
“Would you treat the matter in confidence, if I gave you details, so that you could advise me what to do?”
“I should be pleased to do so,” acknowledged Zelva, with a bow. “That, Mr. Desmond, is something that I am always willing to do — keep a confidence.”
“All right,” declared Desmond, abruptly. “I’m going to lay the cards flat on the table. I’m playing a hunch, Mr. Zelva — a hunch that you know more than you have said. Here’s the whole story.
“I have been in the pay of Alvarez Legira. Paid by him, you understand? Paid to help him pull a stunt that he is going to get away with unless I stop him.”
“Indeed!” exclaimed Zelva, in a tone of surprise.
“There’s plenty of money in it,” continued Desmond. “Plenty — for Legira. The eleven thousand he paid me for helping him must be chicken-feed or he wouldn’t have handed it over so quickly.
“Legira is phony. He’s getting away with plenty. Why should he? I don’t know how much there is in it — but I’m willing to get off with a third. That’s how big I think it is!”
ZELVA did not reply. His eyes were half closed. There was a peculiar expression on his face which encouraged Desmond to proceed.
“One third!” said the traitor, emphatically. “One third, for telling how the money can be had. I’m in a position to talk. I know two facts and I can state the first without giving away the second. The statement of the first will prove the value of the second.”
“Facts are interesting,” observed Zelva, quietly.
“Good!” declared Desmond. “Here’s one for you, then. Alvarez Legira paid me to find a man who would serve as his double. I found the man. He took Legira’s place more than three days ago. He has been posing as Legira since. He is posing as Legira now.
“Meanwhile, Alvarez Legira has been free — free to collect what he is after and to prepare for a perfect getaway. What do you think of that, Mr. Zelva?”
Zelva’s eyes were wide open. Even with his lids half closed, he had been watching Desmond closely. Now, he knew without doubt, that the traitor’s statement was a true one.
No man would have come here with such a fantastic story unless it were the truth. In Desmond, Zelva had first suspected an investigator from Legira. Now, he saw a traitor.
“You say that Legira—”
Zelva paused. His scheming mind detected a possible plot on the part of Legira to divert suspicion from the consular residence. But Desmond, eager because of Zelva’s response, was interrupting with further news.
“Legira has the money,” he announced. “I helped him to get it. I helped him take it away. I know where it is and what he is going to do with it. That brings me to the second important fact, Mr. Zelva. I can tell where Alvarez Legira is. I shall do it — for one third of what there is in it.”
“There are people,” said Zelva, “who might use such information. I think” — his tone was speculative — “that they would give you one third.”
“Think won’t do,” responded Desmond. “I want to be sure of it. I’d take your word for it—”
“I know that they would give you one third,” said Zelva, quietly.
Desmond studied his man. He felt that the time for pretense was ended.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll tell you everything. I’m doing it on the assumption that you are those people you talk about. I’ll spill the whole story and I’ll expect a chance to get clear of the country.”
“That should be easy,” replied Zelva. “Arrangements will be made for it.”
With this positive assurance that Zelva was concerned vitally with the budding plot, Desmond lost no time in giving the necessary information.
“NINE o’clock tonight,” he said. “The yacht Cordova is off Long Island. Legira has the money in a box, in an old house that I rented for him. He has a car. He and his servant, Francisco, are to meet a small boat from the Cordova. Going aboard — then off for parts unknown.
“Legira fears an attack at midnight — not on himself, but against Wallace, the impostor, and Lopez, the secretary, who are the blinds. I am to notify them to clear out or to call the police for protection. That is up to them.
“I think the police idea is just a bluff on Legira’s part. I figure he’s the man who killed Hendrix and he wanted me to think that he is not afraid of the police.”
“You say that you are to notify Lopez?”
Rodriguez Zelva was losing his pretense of evasive interest. He knew that Desmond was speaking straight. The traitor had lost all caution during his excited flow of information.
“Yes,” responded Desmond. “I am to notify him—”
“Do not do so,” said Zelva.
“All right,” answered Desmond.
“Do nothing,” added Zelva. “Give me your address. At your home or wherever you live. Go back to your office. Report whatever you hear from Legira. Stay at your quarters afterward. Continue to report. I shall do all. You will receive word from me. I am thinking — already—”
The evil smile that appeared upon Zelva’s puffy lips brought an enthusiastic grin from Frank Desmond. The traitor was sure that he had scored a bull’s-eye in his wild shot to thwart Legira.
“Give me data now,” continued Zelva. “Then go — very carefully.”
In response to Zelva’s careful questioning, Frank Desmond revealed all that he knew. Among the details that he gave was the important item concerning the location of the house on Long Island.
When the interview had finished, Rodriguez Zelva knew all. He understood fully that the avaricious nature of Desmond had inspired the man to seek this way of double-crossing Legira.