The Major was ready once more. He urged Kelp to watch, and Kelp said he would. And he did, praying the Major would make it this time, because he was apparently prepared to keep trying all night long if he had to, in order to do it in front of Kelp.
Clack. Clackety-clackety-clack. Ball number one dropped into a pocket, two and three followed, and number four hit the shoulder, teetered on the edge, spun slowly, reluctantly, and fell into the pocket.
The Major and Kelp heaved simultaneous sighs of relief, and the Major put down his cue stick with obvious pleasure to have it done and over with. "Now," he said, rubbing his hands together, "Dortmunder called last night and said he thought there was a way to do it. That was fast work, very fast. You have a list for me?"
"No list this time," Kelp said. "All we need is cash. Five thousand dollars."
The Major stared. "Five thou-" He swallowed and said, "For God's sake, why?"
"We have to hire a specialist," Kelp said. "We can't do this one like the other ones, we need a specialist. He gets a flat fee of five grand. Dortmunder says you can take it off our payments when we give you the emerald because he's an extra man you didn't count on."
The Major glanced at Prosker, then looked at Kelp again. "I wouldn't have that much cash right now," he said. "How soon do you need it?"
"The sooner we get the money," Kelp said, "the sooner the specialist goes to work."
"Who is this specialist?"
"He calls himself Miasmo the Great."
The Major was taken aback. "What on earth does he do?"
Kelp told him.
The Major and Prosker exchanged a quick startled glance, and the Major said, "You mean on Prosker here?"
"No," Kelp said, not noticing how the word made them both relax. "We don't trust Prosker, he might be able to fake it."
"That's good," Prosker said amiably. "Never be too trusting, that's what I say."
The Major gave him a dirty look.
"We'll go for one of the guards of the bank," Kelp said.
"You have a plan, then," the Major said.
"Dortmunder's worked out another dilly."
"I will have the money by two o'clock tomorrow afternoon," the Major said. "Will someone come by for it?"
"Probably me," Kelp said.
"Fine. And you need no other equipment?"
"No, just the five grand."
"Then," said the Major, moving toward the pool table, "let me show you something else I saw-"
"I'd love to see it, Major, I really would," Kelp said quickly, "but the fact of the matter is, I promised Dortmunder I'd come right back. We've got preparations to make, you know, things to get ready for."
The Major paused beside the table, clearly disappointed. "Perhaps when you come for the money tomorrow," he said.
"That's a good idea," Kelp said, making a mental note to send Murch for the money the next day. "Well, I'll be seeing you, Major. I know my way to the door."
"Until tomorrow," the Major said.
"My best to Greenwood and all the boys," Prosker said cheerfully, and Kelp left the room, closing the door behind him.
The Major turned angrily to Prosker, saying, "You are not amusing."
"They don't suspect a thing," Prosker said easily. "None of them."
"They will if you keep being playful."
"No, they won't. I know where to draw the line."
"Do you?" The Major lit a cigarette with nervous angry movements. "I don't like toying with those people," he said. "It could be dangerous. They could all be very very dangerous."
"That's why you like having me around," Prosker said. "You know I know how to deal with them."
The Major studied him cynically. "Is that why? I wondered why I wasn't keeping you stuffed away in the basement."
"I'm useful, Major," Prosker said.
"We'll see," the Major said. "We'll see."
4
In suit and tie, Dortmunder could look like a slightly seedy small businessman. As though he operated something like a laundromat in a poor neighborhood. It was a good enough appearance to carry him through his errand to the bank.
Today was Friday the thirteenth. A superstitious man might have waited until Monday for this part of the preparation, but Dortmunder was not a superstitious man. He accepted the fact that the Balabomo Emerald was a jinx in a jinxless world, and didn't allow the contradiction to lead him into irrational fears of numbers or dates or black cats or spilled salt or any of the other chimerical goads with which people plague themselves. All other inanimate objects were tame and neutral, only the Balabomo Emerald was possessed of an evil spirit.
Dortmunder walked into the bank a little after two, a relatively quiet period, and walked over to one of the uniformed guards, a slender white-haired man sucking his false teeth. "I want to see about renting a safe deposit box," Dortmunder said.
"You'll want to talk to an officer of the bank," the guard said and escorted Dortmunder over behind a rail.
The officer was a soft young man in a dandruff-flecked tan suit who told Dortmunder the box rental was eight dollars and forty cents a month, and when that didn't seem to stun Dortmunder the young man gave him a form to fill out, full of the usual questions - address, occupation, and so on - which Dortmunder answered with lies prepared for the occasion.
After the paperwork was done, the young man escorted Dortmunder downstairs to look at his box. At the foot of the stairs was a uniformed guard, and the young man explained to Dortmunder the signing-in procedure he would have to follow every time he visited his box. The first gate was then unlocked and they stepped through into a small room where Dortmunder was introduced to a second uniformed guard, who would take over from here. The young man shook Dortmunder's hand, welcomed him once again to C amp;I's happy family, and went back upstairs.
The new guard, who was named Albert, said, "Either George or I will always serve you, any time you want to get to your box."
"George?"
"He's the one on the sign-in desk today."
Dortmunder nodded.
Albert then unlocked the inner gate and they went through into a room that looked like a Lilliputian morgue, with rank upon rank of trays for the tiny dead bodies. Buttons of various colors were attached to many of the drawer fronts, each color probably having great significance to the bank.
Dortmunder's drawer was low and to the left. Albert used his own master key first, then asked to borrow the key Dortmunder had just received from the young man upstairs. Dortmunder gave it to him, he unlocked the drawer, and at once gave the key back to Dortmunder.
The safe deposit box was actually a drawer, about an inch high, four inches wide and eighteen inches deep. Albert slid it most of the way out, and said, "If you wish privacy, sir, I can carry it into one of the side rooms for you," motioning to the small chambers off the main morgue, each containing a table and a chair, in which the box holder could at his desire communicate alone with his box.
"No, thanks," Dortmunder said. "I don't need that this time. I just want to put this stuff in." And he took from his inside jacket pocket a bulky sealed white envelope containing seven unused Kleenex tissues. He carefully placed this in the middle of the drawer, and stood back while Albert shut it up again.
Albert let him out the first gate and George let him out the second, and Dortmunder went upstairs and outside, where it seemed strange somehow that it was still daylight. He checked his watch and hailed a cab, because he now had to get uptown and then come all the way back with Miasmo the Great before the bank's employees started going home for the day.
5
"New York is a lonely city, Linda," Greenwood said.
"Oh, it is," she said. "I know that, Alan." He had kept his first name, and his new last name also started with G, which was safe enough and very convenient.
Greenwood adjusted the pillow behind his head and clasped his arm tighter around the girl beside him. "When one meets a sympathetic soul in a city like this," he said, "one doesn't want to let go."