Strictly For Cash (17 page)

Reisner threw back his head and laughed. He seemed genuinely amused.

"Who's going to give me the heave?" he asked. "That's funny. When Paul walks in here and tells me to get out, I'll get out, and not before. If you and Ricca imagine you can push me around, you've got another think coming. You're both off your home ground, and you'll find out just how far off you are if you crowd me much more."

"Don't be a fool, Nick," Della said, her face white. "That's not the way to talk to me, and you know it!"

Reisner lifted his eyebrows mockingly.

"But it's you who're putting on the pressure. I'm merely obeying orders. Ricca can look at the books whenever he likes. If Paul wants you to stick your pretty nose into the business - and I doubt very much if he does -I want a written order from him. Sorry, Mrs. Wertham, but that's final!"

I thought she was going to hit him, but she didn't. She moved away from his desk, her fist clenched, her eyes dark explosions.

"We'll see about that," she said, then turning to me, went on, "Come on, Johnny, we'll have lunch."

She went out of the room without another look at Reisner. I got slowly to my feet.

Reisner put down the paper-knife and reached for a cigarette.

"Women are funny animals," he said as he lit up, "and she's no exception. Well, any time you want to get down to business, you'll find me right here."

"You're playing this wrong," I said. "I heard Paul tell her to check the books."

"Too bad I didn't," Reisner said, and smiled. "Too damned bad." He slipped his hand into his pocket and took out a gold cigarette-case. "By the way, Ricca, you left this lying around in your cabin. Your servant brought it to me." He laid the case on the desk and poked at it with a long finger while his eyes searched my face.

I stared at the case, then my heart turned over. It was Wertham's case; the case I had found in his suit and had been fool enough to keep instead of throwing away.

"Why, thanks," I said, and my voice was husky. "Careless of me."

I reached forward to pick it up, but his hand covered it.

"Is it yours?"

"What do you mean?"

"I was under the impression it belongs to Paul. It has his initials on it."

"What of it?"

"I'm curious to know why you have it. Did he give it to you?"

We stared at each other. I don't suppose I looked any more guilty than any sneak-thief caught in the act.

"He lent it to me. I liked the design. I was going to have it copied."

Even to me it sounded terrible.

Reisner's eyes bored into my face.

"You were ? I see. You'd better take more care of it." He lifted his hand and sat back. "Not like Paul to lend his things. He's always been funny about that."

"Not with me." I picked up the case, feeling a trickle of sweat run down the back of my ear. "Well, I guess I'll get along."

"Oh, Ricca . . ."

I turned at the door, wondering what was coming.

"Who did you leave in charge in Los Angeles?"

Who was it Della had said? For a moment I was rattled, then I remembered.

"Hollenheimer. Why?"

"Curiosity," he said. He picked up the paper-knife again and began punching more holes in the blotter. "I'm a very curious man, Ricca."

VII

"We'd better dust while we can," I said.

Della reached for a cigarette. She lit it and put the lighter down with exaggerated care. She was lying on the divan near the window. The sunblinds were drawn, and there was a subdued, restful light in the room. Out on the beach I could hear voices and laughter. There was quite a crowd lounging on the sands, but no one was bathing. It was too soon after lunch.

She had taken off her dresss and was wearing a blue silk wrap. There was a cold, brooding expression on her face, and she drew on the cigarette hungrily, blowing a long stream of tobacco smoke to the ceiling.

I stood in the middle of the room, my hands in my trouser pockets, my nerves jumpy, my eyes on her. Slowly she turned her head until she was looking at me.

"Scared, Johnny?" she asked, and her eyebrows lifted.

"It is not a matter of being scared," I said. "It's a matter of knowing when you're licked. We've played our best card, and he's trumped it. I don't know the first thing about checking his accounts, but that's neither here nor there. Even if I could read a balance sheet that still doesn't give us access to the reserve. I always thought this was a screwy idea. What made you think he would hand over his keys?"

She stared at her cigarette, flicked ash on the floor, and smiled secretively to herself.

"So you want to run away?"

"There's no alternative. Can't you see that? All he has to do is to put a call through to Hollenheimer and ask him for a description of Ricca: then up goes the balloon."

"There was always that risk. You don't think I hadn't taken that into consideration?"

I stared at her.

"Had you?"

"I thought it was more than likely he'd check with Hollenheimer. Nick's no fool."

I moved closer and stood at the foot of the divan. "What's the answer, then? What do you suggest we do when he finds out I'm not Ricca? He's probably found out by now."

"Let's not worry about that," she said. "There are more important things to think about."

"Not for me there aren't. Suppose Reisner gives Hame the story? Then it'll all come out, and we'll go to jail for what we did to Wertham."

"Poor Johnny," she said, and laughed. "How fussed you're getting. Can't you see Reisner will be as anxious as we are that no one should find out Paul's dead? When a kingdom loses its king, there's always a scramble to grab. Zoe, Itta, Hame and Ricca - especially Ricca - aren't going to stand aside and let Reisner take over, and he knows it. He'll be as anxious as we are that no one should know Paul is dead until he has got control of the casino. He won't tell Hame. He won't tell anyone. Now do you see why we haven't a lot to worry about?"

I sat on the foot of the divan. This was something I hadn't figured on.

"That guy's dangerous," I said. "Okay, suppose he keeps his mouth shut? What's he going to do about us?"

She lifted a long, slender leg and examined it critically.

"He'll probably put a bullet through our heads," she said calmly. "It would be the most sensible thing to do so far as he's concerned. He's good at arranging accidents. Does that scare you, Johnny?"

Did it? Maybe it did, but I wasn't going to admit it.

"That doesn't come into it."

"Are you sure? It would be easy. He could fix Hame. You'd be surprised what Hame does for money."

"But not murder. You don't kid me he'd cover up murder."

"I didn't say murder. I said an accident."

I got up and began to move restlessly about the room.

"What's on your mind, Della? All day you've been hinting at something. Let's have it."

"I haven't been hinting at anything. I've been showing you a kingdom you can inherit.

"No, I can't. What are you getting at?" Looking at the intent, set expression on her face I suddenly felt my mouth go dry.

"With me behind you, Johnny, you could run this place. Between us we could clean up a fortune. Do you really think I'm so cock-eyed as to imagine Reisner would let us walk off with the reserve?"

I was getting rattled now, and I came and stood over her.

"But that was the idea, wasn't it? That's why you brought me here!"

"That's what I told you," she said, and swung her legs off the divan and stood up. "I wanted you to see the set-up. It was a bait to bring you here. Well, you've seen it. Haven't you the itch to take it? And you can. You can take over right away - if you have the guts."

I lit a cigarette; My hands were unsteady: whether from excitement or fear I didn't know.

"So there's no half million ?"

"Of course there is. That goes with the casino, but we can't walk off with it. Take over the casino and you take over the reserve."

"And Reisner? What's he supposed to do? Welcome me with open arms? Dust off his desk chair for me? A moment ago you said he was going to put a bullet in me."

"I said if you had the guts, Johnny. Reisner must meet with an accident."

Well, it was out now. At the back of my mind I had known this was coming. The way she had talked all the morning pointed to it, but I had refused to believe it. Now the cards were on the table, face up.

I stubbed out my cigarette, not looking at her.

"Get rid of Reisner," she went on as calmly as if she were discussing the weather, "and the casino and Bay Street automatically fall into our laps. By the time Ricca tries to move in it'll be too late. Once we get our hands on the reserve and books, he'll have to make a deal with us. We'll keep Lincoln Beach. He can have Los Angeles, and Levinsky can have Paris. Then we're set for life." She moved closer. I could smell the perfume in her hair. Her hands slid up to my shoulders while she looked into my eyes. "What are you going to do about it, Johnny?" I knew right away what I was going to do about it. She had made one mistake, and she didn't know it. She was certain she had sunk her hook in too deep to come out, but she hadn't. All right, I was sold on the place. The idea of taking control of a set-up like this was something that got me by the throat, but not at that price.

"You talk about an accident," I said, "but it won't be an accident: it'll be murder."

She continued to look at me, her face as set and as cold as granite.

"It's your life or his, Johnny. As soon as he finds out you're not Ricca he's coming for you with a gun. You've got to get in first. That's not murder: it's self-defence."

I shook my head.

"Don't let's kid ourselves. It's murder."

She moved away from me and walked over to the window.

"This is what we tell Hame," she said, her back to me. "Reisner has been dipping into the reserve. We came down to check the books. He is caught, and he knows it. There's no out for him, so what does he do? He walks to the window of his office and keeps walking. They find him lying on the terrace with a broken neck."

"Do you think Hame would believe that? Reisner's not the suicide type."

"He would believe it. It would cost money, but he'd believe it. Use your head, Johnny. The casino is yours if you've got the nerve to take it. All you have to do is to give Reisner a push. That's not asking much, is it?"

"It's murder," I said. "And I'm not touching it. I don't care how much it pays off. It's murder."

She sat on the divan and held out her hand to me.

"Come and sit down," she said. "Don't look at me like that. You love me, don't you?"

I didn't move.

"We'll leave love out of it," I said. "Look, maybe I am only a third-rate fighter, but I hope I'm not a dope. You worked this out ten seconds after you found Wertham was dead, didn't you? You knew unless you could get rid of Reisner you were sunk. Someone had to kill him, and you picked on me. You thought all you had to do was to show me this place, give me a car and throw yourself in as a make-weight, and I'd take murder in my stride. Well, you're wrong. I can only hope you don't realize what it means to commit murder. It's a thing you live with for the rest of your life. Maybe you haven't thought of it like that. I hope you haven't. Even if we could fix Hame, we have still ourselves to live with, and every now and then the thought will drop into our minds we killed Reisner, and that thought will poison any happiness we can get out of this place. We'll never know if Hame will continue to keep his mouth shut. He'll have us on a spot for the rest of our days. He'll want more money and more power as he gets used to the idea. It won't be long before he'll want to run the casino himself. He might even do a deal with you. He might pin the murder on me and take my place. Oh, no, I'm not getting into a jam like that. I'm not all that crazy. Murder is out! I'm not doing it: not for you nor the casino nor for all the money in Lincoln Beach!"

She sat still, watching me while I talked, her face expressionless, her eyes hot and intent.

"You don't really believe that, Johnny," she said, and got up. "It's not true." She came over to me and put her hands on my arms, looking up at me. "I do love you. I didn't give myself to you for any other, reason except I love you. I couldn't refuse you last night. I knew it was dangerous. I knew we were taking a risk that could ruin my plans, but I couldn't refuse you." Her arms went round my neck. "Oh, darling, I'm crazy about you. I've never felt like this before about any man. You must believe me! I know you're right about Nick. But what are we to do ?" She was clinging to me now, her face pressed against mine. "If we don't get rid of him, he'll get rid of us. Can't you see that? We'll have nothing. We'll be lucky to get out of here with our lives. It's he or us, Johnny. You must see that!"

I started to say something, but her mouth covered mine, and I felt her breath against the back of my throat. We stood like that for a long moment of time; my heart was hammering, blood pounded in my head.

"Johnny . . ."

She pressed herself against me. Her eyes were closed. Only she and I mattered at this moment; the rest of it, Reisner, the casino, the money and murder were a bad dream after you had wakened up.

My fingers sank into the hard, firm flesh above her hips. She gave a soft little moan and her mouth opened against mine.

"All right, break it up," Reisner's soft voice said from the doorway. "There's a time and place for everything."

I felt her shudder and stiffen, and she tore herself away from me with a strangled scream.