1973 - Have a Change of Scene (13 page)

He wasn’t to know it, but this was vital to my plan.

He didn’t hesitate.

‘Yes we’ll keep it strictly between ourselves.’ He looked trustingly at me. ‘You will help with the collar, Larry?’

He had a goddamn nerve, I thought. He knew, without me he couldn’t make the collar nor persuade Mrs. P. to part with her necklace at this outrageous price, yet he was planning to make himself an enormous profit, keeping Tom Luce out of it and only offering me a miserable two percent.

‘You know you can rely on me,’ I said.

During the flight in the air-taxi and while thinking how I could steal the necklace in safety, I kept having qualms about Sydney because if my plan worked, he had to be the loser, but now he was showing his greed, my qualms vanished.

If he had said to me, ‘Look, Larry, let’s split fifty-fifty. You do all the work and I’ll put up the capital,’

I wouldn’t have gone through with it, but as he was so goddamn greedy and selfish, only offering me two percent, I there and then made up my mind to go ahead with my plan. He now didn’t give a damn about twisting Mrs. P.’s arm, so why should I care about twisting his?

* * *

The scene I had with Mrs. P. is best forgotten. She didn’t actually call Sydney a thief, but she implied it. She wept and wrung her fat hands. She stormed around the big lounge, making herself look ridiculous.

She accused me of lying, reminding me that I had told her diamonds lived for ever and never lost their value. To this I reminded her the necklace would have to be broken up, and if she could wait for a year or so I would get at least a million and a half for the diamonds and platinum, but as she wanted the money at once this was the best Sydney could do.

Finally, she calmed down. After all, three-quarters of a million dollars when it isn’t your loss isn’t to be sneezed at. She hadn’t thought that if we tried to sell the necklace as it was, there would be publicity, and this finally brought her to heel.

She said she would accept the cheque I had ready which Sydney had given me, but she added she would never deal with Luce & Fremlin again.

I made the usual tactful remarks, but I couldn’t care less.

Then she came up with something so unexpected that for a long moment it threw me.

‘The least you can do is to give me the glass necklace,’ she said. ‘It’s the least you can do! If ever my husband wants to see the necklace I can show him the imitation. He won’t know the difference.’

She wasn’t to know, of course, but the glass necklace was the pivot on which my plan revolved.

Without it, my plan to make myself two million dollars just didn’t exist.

After Sydney had delivered the genuine necklace to Mrs. P., five years ago, he had asked me about the glass replica.

There was a mean streak in Sydney, and he hated wasting a dollar. I said it was in the safe and what about it? He asked if I couldn’t send it back to Chan and get a rebate on it? Would Chan give us a credit for it - a possible three thousand dollars? What did we want with a glass replica?

The necklace had been a creation of which I was proud. I had had some luck on the stock market at the time and was feeling wealthy. I said I would return the replica to Chan and ask him what he would offer, but I didn’t do that. I kept the necklace as a souvenir. When Sydney asked what had happened, I said Chan had paid me two thousand five hundred dollars for it, and I gave him my personal cheque.

Now, here was Mrs. P. asking for the replica.

After a moment, I said that it had been broken up and the stones used for other mock-ups.

She nearly blew her stack at hearing this and insisted that we should get another imitation made at once. I said I would, of course, arrange this for her, but she must realise this would take at least three months. She had to be content with that.

We went together in her Rolls to her bank, and she got the necklace from the safe deposit bank. It was in a plush leather box lined with black velvet. I hadn’t seen the necklace for some four years. Its beauty made me draw in a sharp breath. I handed her the cheque, and she handed me the necklace.

She nearly fell up the stairs from the vault to pay the cheque in. I left her talking to the manager and took a taxi back to my apartment.

I unlocked my wall safe and took out the glass necklace. I laid the replica and the genuine necklaces side by side on the table and studied them.

Sydney was strictly a designer. He was no diamond expert, and I was sure he wouldn’t know which was which. Chan had done a marvellous job, even Terry might be fooled until he examined the stones, then, of course, he would know, but Terry wasn’t having the chance of examining them. I had taken care of that hurdle.

I put the glass necklace into the leather case and the genuine necklace into the plastic case which I put in my safe.

Then I called Sydney at the shop. I told him everything was fine. He buzzed as usual like a bee trapped in a bottle, said for me to meet him at his penthouse in half an hour.

Sydney’s penthouse was magnificent. It overlooked the sea. It had a vast living room, tastefully decorated, four bedrooms, a swimming pool on the terrace, a fountain in the hall and all the gimmicks a rich queer knew how to use.

He was waiting for me as I arrived.

‘How did she take it?’ he wanted to know, leading me into the big room, eyeing the brown paper parcel I was carrying.

‘As you might expect. She didn’t exactly call you a thief, but that’s what she implied. She said she would never darken our doors again.’

Sydney sighed.

‘I thought the poor thing might react that way. Well, we must be brave about it. After all, she hasn’t spent anything with us for the past few years.’ He continued to stare at the parcel. ‘Is that it?’

This was the moment. I moved into a patch of sunlight, stripped off the brown paper and opened the case. The sunlight gave a sparkle to the glass, and Sydney gaped at the necklace.

‘It’s marvellous, Larry! It really is marvellous! Clever you! And now, I must get down to work.’ He took the case from me, looked again at the necklace, then closed the case. The first, most important test seemed to have succeeded.

‘I’ll get out some designs and then we’ll discuss them. I’ve got the weekend ahead of me.’

‘That reminds me, Sydney, I’ve left my car at Luceville. I’ll fly up there tomorrow and bring it back. Okay for me to take Monday off?’

‘Of course! I’ll have something we can work on by then.’ I watched him walk over to a Picasso, take it down and open the wall safe which the picture concealed. I knew this safe. It was highly complicated and sophisticated: not the kind of safe you can get into without getting a load of law in your lap. He put the case into the safe, shut the safe and rehung the picture. He beamed at me. ‘Keep Tuesday evening free, Larry. Come here. We’ll have a little supper together and then we can go over my designs. say at eight o’clock?’

‘Fine. Okay, Sydney, I’ll get back to the shop.’

On the way back, sitting in a taxi, I thought in less than twenty-four hours I would be seeing Rhea.

SIX

S
oon after 11.00, I pulled up outside the Morgans’ bungalow. The front door stood open, but otherwise there was no sign of life.

Leaving the car, I walked across the rough grass and paused to look into the sitting room.

Rhea was sitting at the table, a newspaper spread out before her. She looked up, her green eyes quizzing.

The sight of her brought back this tormenting lust I had for her. God! I thought, this is a woman! The most exciting, the most devilish, the most desirable woman in the world! She had on the same cheap cotton dress and the same cheap blue beads and she looked the symbol of decadent lust.

‘You?’ She leaned back in the chair. ‘What do you want, Cheapie?’

This insane rage I couldn’t control surged up in me. I took three quick steps forward and slapped her face, sending her jerking back.

‘Don’t call me that!’ I shouted at her, and braced myself, expecting her to jump to her feet and fly at me, but she didn’t. She sat still, her hands against her face, her eyes wide with surprise.

‘Nice work, buster,’ Fel said as he lounged into the room. ‘That’s the way to treat the bitch. I guessed we’d be seeing you before long. Make yourself at home.’

I ignored him, my eyes on Rhea.

‘You ever touch me again and you’ll be sorry,’ she said, but there was no conviction in her voice.

As my rage began to die down, I had a sudden idea that I had been handling her wrongly with my pleading and grovelling. I remembered how her brother had slapped her around. Maybe she respected a man who got tough with her.

‘You call me Cheapie again and you’ll get slapped again,’ I said, pushing by Fel, I sat down in the ruined armchair. ‘I’ve come to talk to you two. Maybe if you have enough guts, we three could steal some diamonds.’

Rhea stared at me as if she thought I was crazy, but Fel burst into a loud laugh.

‘You see? I told you he had spunk, you stupid cow,’ he said to Rhea, ‘and you wouldn’t believe me. I told you he was okay. I know. I can spot ‘em a mile off.’

‘Shut up!’ Rhea snapped at him, still staring at me. ‘Just what do you mean by that?’

‘Although I have some money,’ I said, ‘I haven’t enough - who has? You two want money, so why not team up with me and make some?’

Her eyes glittering, her face set, she leaned forward.

‘How?’

‘You took the trouble to find out who I am,’ I said, ‘so I have taken the trouble to find out who you are. I know you have been in two crappy little holdups and you drew four and four. Small-time stuff. If you and your brother can think big enough and have the nerve, there’s a half a million in it for you.’

Fel drew in his breath with a sharp, hissing sound, while Rhea stiffened, her hands turning into fists.

‘You mean that? Half a million?’ Fel asked, his voice a croak.

‘I’m not here to waste time. I mean it. Half a million to you two: half a million to me.’

‘You don’t con me,’ Rhea said harshly. ‘Just what’s behind this crap? You don’t imagine you can kid me with this baloney, do you? I wasn’t born yesterday! Half a million! Phooey!’

‘Aw, rest your goddamn mouth!’ Fel shouted at her. ‘It’s you who’s a bag of baloney! I tell you this guy’s okay! He’s dealing it off the top deck!’ He turned to me. ‘Tell me more, mister don’t bother with her. She’s always had a tiny mind. What’s this about half a million? Jesus! Could I use bread like that!’

‘It’s there for the taking,’ I said. ‘All you have to do is to walk in, pick it up and walk out again.’

‘You mean walk into that store of yours and clean it out?’ Fel said, puzzled.

‘Don’t talk like an idiot! If you tried that you’d be in jail so fast you wouldn’t know what had hit you. No this job is easy, safe and simple.’

‘And what do you do?’ Rhea broke in, her eyes suspicious and cold. ‘Stand on the sidelines while we do the work and if the job turns sour, you duck out of sight?’

‘Nothing can go wrong. It’s simple,’ I said. ‘I organise the job and sell the diamonds. Without me, there’s no money. But if you haven’t the guts to do it, say so now and I’ll find someone else to do it.’

‘Man! Hasn’t this guy changed since last he was here!’ There was a note of awe in Fel’s voice. ‘What’s got into you, mister?’

‘You two have got into me,’ I said. ‘You started me thinking.’ I looked at Rhea. ‘I’ve decided not to wait to become old, fat and stupid. I’ve decided to become rich now.’

Still her eyes were suspicious.

‘So what’s the job?’ she asked, frowning at me, but I knew I had caught heir interest. ‘Don’t talk in circles. What’s it all about?’

I had come prepared. I took from my wallet a photograph of Mrs. P.’s necklace and laid it on the table in front of her.

‘That’s what it’s all about: one million, eight hundred thousand dollars’ worth of diamonds.’

Fel came to lean over his sister’s shoulder. I watched them, and by the sudden greed on their faces I knew I had hooked them as I had hooked Sydney.

Then Rhea looked up at me.

‘We could go away for twenty years if this one turned sour.’

‘Hell!’ Fel exploded. ‘Can’t you stop griping? Must you always try to throw a goddamn spanner in the works? Why don’t you shut up?’

‘I’ve been in jail you haven’t,’ she said. ‘You talk like the moron you are.’

‘There won’t be any jail,’ I put in. ‘Let me explain.’

I then told them about Mrs. P.’s necklace, showed them the newspaper cuttings and the press photos of her wearing the necklace. I told them how she was in the hole for thousands because of her gambling and how she had to sell the necklace secretly. How my boss had bought it at a knockdown price and how he and I were going to make the diamonds into a collar and sell it at a big profit.

‘The mean sonofabitch is only offering me two percent of the take,’ I concluded, ‘so I’m going to take the necklace. In my position I can sell the stones safely for a million. I’ll split fifty-fifty with you two,’ and using Sydney’s pet phrase, I went on, ‘I can’t be fairer than that, can I?’

Rhea studied me.

‘You’re damned generous, aren’t you?’ Her cold suspicious eyes searched my face. ‘What’s the idea? You know we’d have done it for a tenth of that price. What’s the idea?’

I realised then that I had overplayed my hand. She was right, of course. If I had offered them fifty thousand, they would still have jumped at it, but it was too late now to back track. I had made a slip and now I had to lull her suspicions. Keeping my face expressionless, I met her steady stare with one as steady.

‘The way I see it,’ I said, ‘as you two do the dangerous part of the job and I pay you half, you won’t be dissatisfied and you’ll keep your mouths shut. The last thing I want is for you to try to blackmail me for more money when the job’s done. To take care of that and to safeguard myself, I’m splitting the take down the middle.’

‘This guy thinks ahead he uses his nut,’ Fel said excitedly. ‘You’re right, mister. With half a million you won’t ever hear from us again!’