“How can I be sure you don’t double-cross me and tell Caldwell I was here?”
She grinned. “Yeah, I never thought of that.”
I grinned right back at her. “Well, don’t start thinking of it, either. Because if you do sing to him, you’re going to have an awful sore throat.”
“Huh?”
“Come here.” I led her to the window, pushed aside the gray strand of a curtain that had once been white. “See that man down there? The big one, standing next to the car?”
She looked at Jake and nodded to me. “I see him. What about it, who is he?”
“I’m not going to introduce you. I hope I never have to. But he’s the man who has orders to see you if you don’t play ball.”
“So that’s it, huh?”
“That’s it. Are you in?”
Eve England gulped the rest of her drink. She drank fast, like a bar tramp, and that’s what she was. If Jake didn’t kill her, some cop or bum surely would. I watched her mouth dispose of the drink and waited for her to form the words I knew would come.
“All right,” she said. “Count me in.” And then, “When do I get the five grand?”
“Caldwell will have it for you,” I told her.
And he did.
I saw him just two days later. He entered, exuding exultancy.
“By God, Roberts, you were right! I did it!” His knobby knuckle slammed against the desk.
“I knew you would. Did you say what I told you?”
“Bet your life. And it was just the way you predicted it would be. She turned on the tears, and then she tried to threaten me. But I remembered what you said, and it worked out.”
“Good for you.”
“You know something? I almost couldn’t go through with it. At one time she almost had me backing out. But I didn’t weaken.”
“Did you pay her off?”
“That’s the important thing. She left town today. I gave her the money in cash.”
“That isn’t the really important thing.”
“No?”
“The important thing is what you’ve proved to yourself. That you have the courage to start over, start fresh. That you are already beginning to become the kind of man you want to be.”
I stood up and looked down at him. “I’m anxious to get started on our regular sessions. How soon will you be through winding up your affairs?”
“Be about three weeks more. They took it pretty hard down at the office, you know. And if it wasn’t for your suggestions, I’d never have been able to sell the retirement notion to Marge. But I’ll be a free man in three weeks.”
“Except for your stock.”
“You can’t talk me out of that one, Roberts. There’s one setup where I’m the expert. Dumping fifteen percent of the company stock on the market right now would sink them. The Imperial outfit is just waiting to close in and reorganize. Besides, as it is, the stuff keeps bringing in dividends. It’s a sound investment. And I won’t have to watch it, just let it sit. I’m going to be a free man.”
“That’s right,” I said. “In three weeks you’ll be a free man.” I stood up. “Meanwhile, we might as well begin our sessions. Suppose I meet you at ten tomorrow, corner of Wilshire and Western?”
“All right,” he said. “You’re the doctor.”
We stood on the corner the next morning, bucking the breeze. “What’s the big idea of the briefcase?” Caldwell asked. “I don’t get it.”
“You will, soon enough. Just follow me and obey orders.”
“Right. Oh, what the devil—”
His hat blew off. I watched it swirl away over the car tops, then spiral into the street. It rolled on its brim.
He started to rush after it.
I grabbed his arm. “Wait a minute. Let it go.”
“Let it go? But that’s a twenty-dollar panama, I’m not going to—”
“Hold it. Your first lesson in living begins right now. Look, Ed. Never chase your hat in the street. You might be killed by a car. Besides, who wants to get sweated up and out of breath chasing a hat?”
“But—”
“Let the other fellow do it for you, Ed. Don’t you understand? There’s always somebody else who’s willing to chase your hat for you. Willing? He’s crazy to death to do it. It makes him a hero. And if you thank him for it, he’ll fall all over you.”
I turned and gestured.
“You see? That man without a coat, between those two sedans. He’s picking it up for you. Here he comes now. Just wait here.”
“This yours, mister?”
“Yes, it is. Thank you very much. I appreciate your kindness.”
“Oh, that’s all right. Glad to oblige.”
“Look at him blush,” I murmured, as we turned away. But Caldwell held back.
“Don’t you think I ought to give him something for—?”
“Certainly not. As it is, he’s happy. He’s done his good deed for the day. He feels superior. If you handed him a dollar now it would be like kicking him in the face. He’s on top of the world at the moment, and you have your hat back without any exertion. Just remember that principle in the future.”
Caldwell nodded. “I guess your theories aren’t as impractical as they sound.”
“Well, we’ll test another one right now. Follow me down this block.”
We walked quickly without speaking. At the corner I led him to my car. “Get in.”
“We going somewhere?”
“Not yet. First, you’ve got a job to do. Take this pencil and paper.”
“Yes.”
“Now, write down everything you can remember seeing during our walk down the block.”
“How’s that again?”
“It’s very simple. Just write down everything you saw as we walked over to the car here. People. Costumes. Faces. The names of stores. What was in the windows. Everything.”
“Why?”
“Don’t ask questions. I’m trying to find out something about your powers of observation and association.”
He grumbled and he sweated, but he wrote. And he was secretly flattered by the attention. This was something like it!
Here was somebody who really took an interest in what a man thought, what he could do, what made him tick. Nobody had ever cared about those things before—Marge didn’t, that slut Eve didn’t, the fellows at the office didn’t, even his friends. Why, in the old days his teachers, his father, his own mother hadn’t cared.
I watched him, knowing what he was thinking, knowing what he was doing, knowing what I was doing.
In a way, I almost felt sorry for the man. He looked so pathetic, so eager, as he sat there scribbling away like an anxious schoolboy. I was giving him something nobody else had ever bestowed upon him in his lifetime—something few men ever get or ever realize they want—personal interest. I suddenly knew that I could do what I had promised: remake him, remold him into a better, more integrated, healthy personality.
But why should I? Suddenly it all came back to me: a picture of Caldwell, dozens of men like Caldwell and what they had done to me in the past.
“Sorry, Mr. Caldwell is busy and cannot be disturbed... Afraid there’s nothing doing right now...If you’d care to leave your name...No, I haven’t time to discuss it with you...”
Yes, there were a lot of Caldwells, a lot of fat, well-fed Mr. Bigs around, ready and waiting to make the little fellows dance to their tune, ready to play God.
Well, I wasn’t having any more. From now on, I was Mr. Big and the Caldwells could dance for me.
“All right, that’s enough,” I snapped.
“But I’m not finished yet.”
“Sorry, another time.” I looked at my watch. “I’ve got a new assignment for you.”
And so we started.
I gave him assignments galore—went through the whole bag of tricks.