‘What’s so interesting about them?’
‘Anything worth a million dollars must be interesting,’ Barney said firmly. It beats me how bits of paper with designs on them can get so valuable. It wasn’t until I got all the dope about these stamps that I realized what some people do with them.’ He leaned forward and poked a finger as thick and as big as a banana in my direction. ‘Did you know some people behind the Iron Curtain use stamps as their getaway stake? Did you know some people put their money in stamps to avoid income tax? Did you know some people use stamps as foreign currency?’
I said I had heard such stories and what had this to do with this man called Larrimore?
‘It’s a long story,’ Barney said. ‘I can give you all the dope on the same terms we had last time... that is if you want the dope.’
I played hard to get. Stamps, I said, didn’t interest me.
He finished his beer and rapped on the table. He didn’t have to alert Sam who was leaning on the bar watching every sip. He came around, dumped another beer, then went away, carrying the empty.
‘I can understand that,’ Barney said. ‘You’re not interested in stamps because you don’t know anything about them. This is a story you could turn into a book. I’ll tell you something: if I could write, I wouldn’t be giving it to you. I’d be writing it myself, but as I can’t write, I can do a deal. How’s about it?’
I said as I was on vacation with nothing better to do, I would listen.
His little eyes became probing. ‘The same terms as last time?’
‘Terms? What terms?’
He didn’t hesitate. He might not have remembered my name, but he certainly remembered what he had screwed out of me for his last story.
‘All the beer I want, some food and a few bucks to take care of my time.’
‘Okay,’ and I parted with twenty dollars. He put the bills into his hip pocket as he signalled to Sam.
‘You won’t be disappointed, mister. Are you hungry?’
I said I wasn’t hungry.
He shook his head, disapprovingly.
‘When you get the chance to eat, mister, you should eat. You never know when the next meal is coming.’
I said I would bear this in mind.
There was a pause, then Sam brought over a three-tier hamburger that oozed grease. He planted it before Barney who regarded it with a satisfied smirk. To me, it looked as appetizing as a drowned cat.
Barney began to munch while I waited. He took his time. After getting through the second tier of the hamburger and after finishing his beer, he sat back, rubbed his lips with his forearm and prepared to talk.
‘A lot of people got involved in this stamp thing,’ he said. ‘To put you in the picture, I’ll start with Joey Luck and his daughter, Cindy. Then I’ll tell you about Don Elliot.’ He paused to peer at me. ‘You remember Don Elliot?’
‘The movie star?’
Barney nodded.
‘That’s him. Did you ever see any of his movies?’
‘Not my style. Didn’t he take over Errol Flynn’s mantle — a strictly cut and thrust performer?’
‘You could say that, but he had his fans. He made six movies and they all made a pile of bread.’
‘I haven’t heard his name now for some years. What happened to him?’
‘All in good time, mister, I’ll get around to him later. I want you to get this story in its right perspective.’ Barney looked anxiously at Sam who was pouring another beer. ‘Step by step... one thing at the time. For you to understand this set up I’ve got to tell it my way.’
I said that was fine with me and would he get on with it?
‘I’ll start with Joey Luck and his daughter, Cindy, short for Lucinda, because they play a big part in the Larrimore stamp steal.’ He looked slyly at me. ‘I bet you never heard that this one million dollars’ worth of stamps were stolen?’
I said if I had heard it would have been no skin off my nose.
Barney frowned. He wanted to create drama and he wasn’t getting the right reaction so far from me.
‘I’ll get around to the steal in due time.’ He paused to attack the third tier of his hamburger which had become a revolting looking mess of congealed grease. After he had munched a while, he squared himself on the bench, rested his enormous hands on the table and leaned forward. I could see he was at last ready to shoot in earnest. ‘Joey Luck... now the only thing lucky about Joey was his name,’ he began. ‘He was a dip.’ He paused. ‘You know what a dip is, mister?’
I said a dip was a man who put his hands in people’s pockets and stole what he found there.
‘That’s exactly right. Joey was a small time dip. If he picked up a hundred dollars a week which he seldom did he thought he was Henry Ford. From way back, Joey always thought and acted small, but this made him smart because he acted so small the cops never got on to him. There’re plenty of dips who act big and land up behind the walls, but not Joey. He didn’t even have a record. Now, I want you to understand, Mr. Campbell, that Joey...’
I thought I had better get this straightened out once and for all so I interrupted him to remind him my name was Cameron.
‘That’s right... Cameron... yeah.’ He scratched the end of his nose, shifted on his seat and then went on, ‘As I was saying, Joey wasn’t a bad sort of guy. In fact you could say that he was a nice guy. I got along with him. When he had a bit of extra money which wasn’t often he would buy a friend a beer. I would like you to get a picture of Joey: tall, thin with a lot of greying hair. He had one of those nondescript faces you see every day on any busy sidewalk: a face you don’t remember, a face you don’t look at twice. He always wore a shabby grey suit and a battered straw hat. He was around fifty years of age. He married young and his wife died giving birth to a baby girl who he called Lucinda. From what I hear Joey never got along with his wife so her loss didn’t bother him. He was crazy about Cindy. He gave her a decent education and made no secret to her about what he was. Cindy adored him and as soon as she left school, she became his partner. He taught her all his tricks, and by the time she was eighteen she was as good a dip as he was which is saying something. During the summer months they worked in New York, but when winter came, they moved down here. There was plenty to work on here, but they kept their operations small, living decently, but with no ambition to get rich.’ He paused to stare at the beer in his glass, then went on, ‘I’ll give you a picture of Cindy. At the age of twenty, she was sensational. I’ve seen lots of girls of her age in my time, but none of them were a patch on Cindy. Like her old man, she was tall. She was blonde, with a traffic-stopping figure and a pair of legs that cause car accidents. Her looks bothered Joey. He knew sooner or later a man would turn up and he would lose her. This became a nightmare thing for Joey. He just couldn’t imagine life without her. Up to the age of twenty, Cindy showed no interest in boyfriends. She could have had her pick, but she didn’t play. Going around with Joey, dipping, keeping the home nice seemed to satisfy her. Joey prayed this would last, but he knew he was kidding himself.
‘To put you more in the picture, I’ll give you a brief idea of a routine day in their lives. They got up late and over coffee they discussed the menu of the day. They believed in eating well, but at the low expense of the various self-service stores in the district. Joey had dreamed up a smart idea of getting all the food and drink they required, not only for nothing but without risk. He had made a lightweight oval shaped basket with an open top which Cindy strapped to her tummy. Over this she wore a maternity dress. Leaning on her father’s arm, her make-up pale, she looked the part of a brave little woman about to have her first baby. Not only did they jump all queues, but they lulled all suspicion while Cindy stowed away in the basket the best cuts of meat and the necessary accessories to a good meal while Joey’s lean frame sheltered her activities from prying eyes. It was a nice little racket and provided them with good food for nothing. They then returned to their pad and while Cindy cooked lunch, Joey read aloud items from the newspaper which he considered of interest. After lunch they would separate. Cindy would work the stores while Joey worked the buses. They would meet again around five o’clock with enough money to eat out in the evening and put a little by for the rainy day. Then they would watch TV until bedtime and the following day would be a repeat of the previous day. Not what you could call an exciting way of life, but it suited them.’ Barney nodded to Sam who had just put down another beer. The time came for their move down here. They had rented a small bungalow on a five-year lease on Seaview Boulevard — nothing very special but they liked it, being people, as I have said, without ambition. They arrived, settled in and began the same routine as when they lived in New York.’ Barney paused to sip his beer. ‘But this trip to Paradise City was to be different. This was when Joey’s luck began to run out. The thing which he dreaded happened. Cindy fell in love.’ Barney ran his finger around his plate, then conveyed the grease-ladened finger to his mouth.