“I have. And it isn’t too difficult to understand how Jess went overboard for her. She’s an extremely good-looking girl.”
“Hard as nails.”
“She wouldn’t be that way with a man she was working. She’d be all soft and cuddly. She’s got the looks to go with it.”
“Jess was engaged to a fine young girl, Hertha Colston.”
“I’ve met her. She’s worth a dozen of Alice Cummings. But Hertha is the kind of girl men marry, Alice is the kind they become infatuated with. The kind they buy mink coats for.”
“Pah! I’m not complaining about the money he gave her, the things he bought her. But that he should give her his boyhood treasure, the goose bank; that he should confide in her... That’s what gets me. If I had it to do all over again...” He stopped and was silent for a moment “but I can’t do it over again. Jess is gone. There’s nothing left.”
In that moment, Johnny felt sorry for the multi-millionaire.
“I know what you mean, sir.”
Carmichael drew himself together. “Got to this woman, Fletcher. I’ve confidence in you; you’re much like I was at your age. Not many people will pull the wool over your eyes.”
“When they try, I wind up with the wool,” Johnny said.
Carmichael nodded approval. “Find out what she knows — get the bank from her. Buy it, if you have to.”
“For fifty thousand?”
Carmichael grimaced. “That’s nonsense. I’ve never been blackmailed in my life and I’m not going to start at this stage of the game. By the way, how are you coming along in your search for Lester Smithson?”
“Quite well, I think. I’ve stirred up some things and I think I’ll get results very shortly.”
“Good. I’m counting on you.”
Carmichael started for the door, but Johnny stopped him. “Do you want these coins, Mr. Carmichael?”
Carmichael hesitated, then shook his head. “No, it was the bank that Jess was interested in, not the coins. I bought him that bank. Keep the coins.”
He nodded again and went out.
20
Johnny looked down at the heap of dimes and pennies and quarters, then scooped them up in his hand. He spread them out on the bed, turned them all up, “heads” upwards. He examined them carefully, then turned them all over, so that the “tails” were up.
He sighed wearily. The coins gave him no message.
The phone rang, startling Johnny. He scooped it up.
“Yes?”
“Fletcher,” a harsh voice said, “you want that gorilla friend of yours in one piece?”
“Who is this?” Johnny asked sharply.
“We haven’t got time for that stuff. I asked you a question, do you want Cragg alive?”
“You haven’t got Cragg,” Johnny retorted.
“Oh, no? If he’s with you, put him on the phone.”
“All right,” said Johnny. “Suppose he isn’t here. What do you want from me?”
“I’ll call you back. I ain’t havin’ this call traced.”
The phone went dead. Johnny hung up and scowled at the phone. He scooped up the coins and looked around the room. He walked to the bathroom and saw the washing Sam had done the day before. On a sudden impulse he took down from the shower curtain rod one of the socks and poured the coins into it, shaking them down into the foot. He tied a knot into the top half of the sock, then taking down the other socks, threw the entire pile into a corner of the bathroom.
The phone rang out in the bedroom. He went back and picked it up.
“All right,” said the harsh voice, “listen careful. Leave your hotel and walk slowly down Forty-fifth to Seventh Avenue. A Lucky Clover taxicab will come along and—”
“Oh, go back to Peekskill,” snapped Johnny, slamming the receiver back on the hook.
The phone rang again instantly. Johnny jerked it off the hook. “Go to hell!” he snarled.
The voice of James Sutton exclaimed, “I say, Fletcher, that’s no way to talk to a man.”
“Oh, you!” growled Johnny. “Somebody else just called and I thought he was calling back.”
“I’d like to talk to you,” Sutton said. “I wonder if you could come over to my digs at the Barbizon-Waldorf.”
“Can’t right now. Busy.”
“I’ll make it worth your while.”
“I’ll try to make it in about an hour.”
“All right, but sooner than that if you can. This may be important. It’s something about Lester Smithson that I don’t think you got at the Harover Club.”
“Oh, you know I’ve been there?”
Sutton chuckled. “You scared the hell out of Whittlesey. An hour, then?”
Johnny agreed and hung up. He left the room and rode down to the lobby. The policemen were still there and Lieutenant Madigan sat in a far corner, reading a newspaper. Johnny looked around, saw Eddie Miller near the desk and walked up to him.
“Gosh, Mr. Fletcher,” Eddie said. “I tried to warn you, but Mr. Peabody spilled it.”
“I know, the louse.”
“Mr. Cragg phoned from Peekskill. He said he was in jail up there.”
“He isn’t any more. That’s why the cops are here. Sam broke out of jail and the Peekskill cops called the New York police.”
“Ouch!” said Eddie. “Then Mr. Cragg is really in trouble.”
“He is, and there isn’t a thing I can do for him right now. He’s somewhere between Peekskill and here and if he shows up they’ll grab him.”
“If I see him first, I’ll try to give him the high sign. If only Peabody... which reminds me, I know the reason he’s so sore. Some crook got into his room and swiped one of his suits, his best one, he claims.”
“Serves him right.”
“He thinks you stole it.”
“Me? Would I do a thing like that?”
Eddie hesitated before replying. “No, I don’t think so. But Peabody’s really burned. I know he went into your room with his passkey, but apparently he didn’t find the suit there. He thinks now that you sold it.”
“I didn’t sell his old suit,” Johnny said, slightly accenting the word sell, “but it’s an idea. If he doesn’t lay off me, I might just do something like that one of these days. I’ve got to go out now. If Sam does happen to come in while I’m gone and the cops grab him, try to get in a word to him. I’ll get him out if I have to bomb the New York police department. He can’t stand jails.”
“That’s what he said.”
Johnny nodded and stepped up to the desk. He laid a five-dollar bill and a single on the desk and said to the clerk, “Have you got a roll of dimes and two rolls of pennies?”
The clerk was somewhat surprised, but took the bills. “I think I can spare them.”
He opened the cash drawer and brought out three rolls of coins. Johnny tore off the paper wrappings and emptied the coins into his right-hand trousers pocket. Eddie Miller stood nearby, puzzled. Johnny grinned at him and left the hotel.
Across the street, a Lucky Clover taxicab was double-parked, facing Seventh Avenue. Johnny put his thumb to his nose and walked toward Sixth Avenue. A harsh voice yelled after him but Johnny continued on to Sixth Avenue.
A bus was waiting for the light and Johnny clambered aboard. A short time later he got off the bus, walked to Fifth Avenue and entered the Chateau Pelham.
The switchboard operator recognized him instantly. “Miss Cummings? I’ll see if she’s in.” She spoke into the phone, then nodded to Johnny.
“You may go up.”
Johnny headed for the elevator, then J.J. Kilkenny came into the lobby. He passed the switchboard operator and came up to Johnny just as the door of the automatic elevator opened.
“Have you been announced?” Johnny asked sarcastically.