"I'll tell you what," he said. "Lemme make a phone call. I want you to talk to somebody. Let's just get it straightened out for sure whether you are on the up and up. Not, you understand, that I care if you are a cop. You're the one who has been doing the talking. I've just been listening. I haven't said a damned thing. But just so we keep the books right, let's find out."
He stood up and Gerald also stood.
"There's a booth over at the side there. I'll get a number then open the door and you just talk to the party that answers. O.K.?"
"Anything you say," Gerald said. He followed Slaughter over to the booth and Slaughter told him to stand several feet away while he got his party. He concealed the phone with his body as he dialed behind the tightly closed door.
It took him several minutes to get Steinberg and then another minute or two to explain what he wanted. Finally he put a coin in the slot for the third time and then opened the door a crack and signaled Gerald.
"Talk to him," he said when Gerald approached. The two traded places.
The voice at the other end of the wire was very smooth.
"Mr. Hanna?"
"That's right."
"Who is the chairman of the board of Seaboard Insurance, Mr. Hanna?"
"Philip Gottlieb," Gerald answered at once.
"And what is the name of the receptionist who would be on duty now?"
"Miss Kitty Donnelly."
The man told Gerald to hold on a second and he could hear him speaking rapidly to someone in the room near him. Gerald knew that he would be checking the names on another telephone.
"All right, Mr. Hanna," he said, "tell me this. If I were to leave seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars to my wife and three kids, and I wanted to set it up so I wouldn't be paying a full inheritance tax, just how would I go about it?"
"Well, you could do it several ways," Gerald said. "Naturally you would be allowed to make a series of gifts over a period of years. Then if you wanted to establish a group of trust funds, the income to go.
He went on for several minutes, explaining the thing. Finally the voice at the other end of the wire interrupted him.
"All right, all right," he said. "Just one more thing. What would it cost me a month to amortize a forty-thousand dollar, twenty-year mortgage at 5 per cent if the mortgage were to carry a life insurance policy for an equal amount and the policy was on an A risk, aged fifty?"
"Roughly five hundred and fifty a month," Gerald said. "Give me a second and I'll give you the…"
"Never mind, never mind. Put the other party back on the wire."
Gerald beckoned to Slaughter.
"If that guy's a cop," Steinberg said, "he must be one of them quiz kids. No, he's in insurance all right. But what's it all about Fred? What the hell is going on?"
"I'll call you back later," Slaughter said. "Sit tight. I think we got our little problem all cleaned up and solved. Just sit tight."
Once more they returned to the couch where they had first met.
Seated, Slaughter turned and looked closely at his companion.
"All right," he said, "let's say for the sake of an argument that you're on the up and up. That you're telling me the truth. Let's say that you do have the stuff. I can believe it. I'll admit it now-the girl told me you had it. We got that much out of her."
"The girl told you?"
"The Dunne girl. We picked her up; had an idea she might know something and that there was a chance she was in on some kind of deal. We knew that someone had picked up Vince and taken the stuff off of him. We didn't know who, of course, but it had to be someone and we figured maybe she knew something."
Gerald stared at him, saying nothing.
"The thing is," Slaughter said, "I can't quite see why we should buy it back from you."
"I'm not suggesting you buy it back," Gerald said. "I'm merely suggesting you give me the same split you would have had to give the others-your three boys-if they had been successful in getting the stuff to you. This way you get it, and it costs you no more than it would have anyway. As a matter of fact, you should be damned grateful I'm here to offer you the deal. If I hadn't shown up just when I did, the police would have found the jewels when they found young Dunne's body."
Slaughter looked at him curiously.
"How did you get mixed up in it anyway?" he asked. "Was it the girl? Were you working with her and Vince all along?"
"Don't be a fool," Gerald said. "It was the way I've told you it was. I never saw the girl in my life before last night. Never saw her brother until he stuck me up and got into my car. But all of that doesn't matter. I am trying to do business with you. Nobody else matters."
"In that case, it can't matter to you what happens to the girl," Slaughter said. "You see, after you talked with her last night, we picked her up. We sort of felt she might have been double-crossing us, you know. She was Dunne's sister. She could have been getting cute. But what the hell. As long as she's out of the picture, doesn't mean anything to you, we can forget about her."
There was something about the man's voice that sent a cold chill down Gerald's spine. What he said made good sense. It was quite true. The girl was none of his business. She didn't mean a thing to him.
Suddenly he visualized her pretty, heart-shaped face, her angry azure eyes and the determined line of her fine jaw.
"It happens I do care what happens to her," he said suddenly, hardly realizing he was speaking the words. "It happens that she means a great deal to me. So much, in fact, that unless you let her go, at once and unharmed, you can just forget all about the Gorden-Frost jewels."
"You think you are in any position to bargain?" Slaughter asked. "We know who you are now. Maybe the police would like to know."
"Oh, certainly," Gerald said, with a slight sneer. "They'd hold me for what? Receiving stolen goods? I'd be out about the time they were turning up the juice for you in Sing Sing."
"All right, all right. We won't argue about it," Slaughter said. "Assuming you got the stuff, I'll make you one and only one proposition. No bargaining and no second guessing. Take it or leave it. Thirty-five thousand in cash for the jewelry."
"Thirty-five?"
"Right."
"And the girl?"
Slaughter shook his head. "The girl will talk," he said.
"Not if you haven't hurt her," Gerald said. "You said that you hadn't…"
"She's all right," Slaughter said. "But she's bound to spill…"
"Thirty-five thousand and you release the girl," Gerald interrupted. "I deliver the stuff and guarantee she don't talk. After all, I have plenty to lose too," Gerald said. "I have as much interest as you have in keeping her quiet. But you'll have to let her go. Otherwise-no deal. And-" Gerald hesitated and gave the other man a long look "-and I know now you've got the girl. Just in case something
should
happen to her."
"If you can keep her quiet, you got a deal," Slaughter said. "You're getting a damned good price. That stuff is so hot it sizzles. A fence wouldn't take it as a gift. The stuff will have to be held for months, maybe years."
Gerald nodded. "I know," he said. "All right, about the details."
"We can go up to my apartment…"
Gerald smiled thinly.
"No," he said. "Hardly. Not that I don't trust you, of course. But I think it will be better if we meet on neutral grounds. Suppose we do it this way. Is the Dunne girl somewhere I can see her within the next half hour or so?"
"Maybe." Slaughter looked at him quizzically.
"All right. Take me to her. Let me talk to her alone, for five minutes. When I finish she'll agree to do as I ask. Then I'll leave, without her. I'll take a room in a midtown hotel. You give me a telephone number where you can be reached and I'll call you at exactly seven-thirty this evening and let you know where I am located. Give you the hotel and the room number. I'll have the stuff with me. You come up. Bring the girl with you and the thirty-five thousand. Just you and the girl. We'll make the switch then."
"And you mean you want to see the girl first, eh. Then leave?" Slaughter's voice was heavy with doubt. "What's to keep you from finding out where she is and then calling cops?"
"Good God, man," Gerald said. "What's wrong with you? There's plenty to keep me from it. Among other things, the thirty-five thousand bucks. Why do you think I'm here in the first place. Because of the girl? Hell, I didn't even know you had her. No, don't get me wrong. My first interest is the money. It's just that I don't see any reason for the girl to get hurt. You have nothing to lose."
"You didn't want to come to my place at first," Slaughter said. "How come, now you know the girl is there, you've changed…"
"I didn't want to come with the jewels," Gerald said. "I still don't want to. That's why I suggest the hotel deal. But alone-what the hell. You don't want me-I'm no good unless I have the stuff. Right?"
Slaughter nodded slowly.
"Right," he said at last. "O.K. Let's get going. I'll take you to where you can see her and talk to her. But let me give it to you straight. Get fancy and try anything cute, and you get killed. Very fast you get killed. And after you finish seeing the girl, you'll have a guy with you for the first half hour after you leave. Long enough to give me a chance to move her. So don't get any ideas…"
"I've told you," Gerald said. "The only ideas I have concern thirty-five thousand dollars in hard cash."
Five minutes later they were in the taxi heading across town.
CHAPTER SEVEN
She lay sprawled out on top of the sheet, her eyes filled with hatred as he leaned over and spoke to her.
"I'm taking the gag out of your mouth," he said. "If you yell, or make any trouble, I'll knock your teeth down your throat. Just stay right where you are and be quiet. Someone is coming in to see you for a few minutes."
She fought back the sudden fear, trying to understand. He'd told her that if she didn't talk he'd bring someone in; someone who would do horrible things to her. Someone who would make his own cruelties seem like caresses by comparison.
"You're not going to be hurt," he said. "This man is just going to talk to you." He sensed her fears and spoke quickly. "But remember, no yelling."
She sensed relief then; he must be telling the truth. He wouldn't be taking the gag from her mouth if anyone were going to hurt her. She wondered what would happen next. Wondered what they would eventually do with her. She knew the kind of man he was. She could guess.
Slaughter removed the gag and reached down, lifting her slender body so that she leaned back against the headboard. He turned and left the room, closing the door behind himself. For several minutes she just sat there and then, as she heard the sound of the footsteps approaching, her eyes once more went to the door, wide with fright.
Gerald entered the room and closed the door firmly behind himself. He walked over to the bed and leaned down, sitting on the edge of it. He spoke quickly, before she had a chance to say a word and while the expression on her face was rapidly changing first from fear to utter amazement and then from amazement to bitter amusement.
"Please don't say a word," he said. "I've only got a couple of minutes before he'll be back and you have got to listen to me."
She stared at him, wide-eyed.
"I might have guessed," she began, "might have guessed that you…"
"Don't guess anything," he said quickly. "You'd be wrong. Just listen. If you are interested in saving your life, just do nothing and listen to me."
"I don't care what they do to me," she said, half hysterically. "Sooner or later the police…"
"Shut up and listen to me," he said, taking her by the arms and shaking her. "It isn't only your life-it can be mine too. But if you do just as I tell you, we'll both get out of this. We'll not only get out of it, but you'll get what you want."
"You don't know what I want," she said, fiercely, trying to pull away from him.
"I do know what you want," he said. "I know very well what you want. But you simply have to have faith in me. I can't explain, I can't tell you why. I can't tell you anything. I haven't time. But you must do exactly as I tell you."
Watching her as he quickly spoke, he was glad to see her expression gradually change from antagonism to curiosity.
"Some of what I told you last night is true," he said. "But there was a lot I didn't tell you. A lot I didn't know myself. I didn't know that they were going to pick you up. I didn't know…"
"Are you trying to tell me you aren't in with…"
"Do please shut up," Gerald said. "Shut up and listen. Don't ask questions. I haven't time to answer them. I've only got another minute. Listen."
He still held her by the arms and he could feel her suddenly relax.
"I've made a deal. They're getting the jewels and they're letting you go free. On the understanding that you keep your mouth shut. That you never breathe a word of what has happened."
"And you," she began.
"Later," he said quickly. "Later, when you are out of here and free, I'll tell you all about myself. Right now please just trust and believe me. Do exactly what I tell you to do and I'll promise that it will work out the way you want it to. You must absolutely convince them that if they let you go you will keep your mouth shut. Later, late today, Slaughter will bring you to a certain place. He'll take the jewels and you'll be released."