The Scheme of Things. Lester Del Rey

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ have him ready in an hour.”

      “We’ll be there.”

      “Who’ll come?”

      “He’ll have a uniform on.”

      “Okay.”

      He broke the connection and went to the closet with the false wall behind which there were various types of containers. He selected a hat box with a French name on it and put a silly-looking hat into it. He took out the box and also a small animal carrier and took them into the living room. There, he stacked packets of money under the false bottoms of both containers and then put them back behind the wall in the closet. Both containers would be moved out shortly, so putting them back into their place of concealment may have seemed overcautious. But he believed in being overcautious. It would be stupid to have arranged things wisely and then get raided with the loot lying out in plain sight.

      The money that would stay with him went into the closet also and then the bell signaled and he went to the door to admit Fay.

      Maybe she did have it on Lorry; at least a little; nothing in the purely physical; nobody could beat Lorry there. But Fay had more spirit. A totally submissive woman could bore you at times, but Fay was different. She would always keep a man guessing. She didn’t do that with Big Frank of course because he didn’t appreciate the subtle aspect of things and all it would have gotten her would have been a bat in the mouth. But Fay handled herself pretty well when he wasn’t around.

      She knew clothes, too. At the moment, she wore a thing with a full skirt that added to her already perfect legs, and a leopard skin top that added something up there too.

      As he closed the door, she peered expectantly about. “Where is she? In bed?”

      “Cut it out. I told you I was alone.”

      ‘“When she’s here, darling, you’re still alone.”

      “I’ll get your package.”

      “Take it easy, dearest. Let’s not overlook the amenities. I’ve got a few minutes between cabs.”

      “Aren’t you due at the theater?”

      “If I don’t make it, they’ll hold the curtain.”

      They would too, even though Fay’s part consisted of a walk-on and four lines in the first act. This consideration attested to the fact that Big Frank’s money kept the show from closing. It was a dog.

      “Would you like a drink?”

      “I was wondering how soon you’d ask.”

      He made two scotches and brought one to Fay where she’d arranged herself on the lounge so that quite a little thigh was exposed. It did not move him. He had seen thighs before. He could take it or leave it alone.

      Sure of her power over men, Fay accepted the glass and studied him with faint mockery in her eyes. “You have a nice place here, but you could do a lot better—you really could.”

      “I’m doing fine.”

      “Has Lorry helped you any?”

      “She isn’t supposed to.”

      “That’s where you’re wrong, darling. You could have all that and additional advantages also. I’ve helped Frank a great deal.”

      “Maybe you’ll help him into jail some day.”

      Her eyes stopped being soft. They flared. “You’ve got a lot of a nerve, saying that.”

      “A man should run his own business.”

      “When he’s got a dumb broad on his hands, he has to,” Fay sneered. “I’ll bet you wouldn’t dare send Lorry across the street for a pack of cigarettes.”

      “Why are you always sniping at her? I’m satisfied. Why not leave it alone?”

      “Are you begging, darling?”

      “No, I’m just asking.”

      “Because I have your interests at heart.” She paused and when he didn’t answer, added, “I could make Frank take a bigger interest in you, too.”

      “You’re out of your skull. You know that if Frank got the idea you were even looking around, he’d separate you from your head.”

      She got up and crossed over and sat down on the arm of his chair. “But he wouldn’t have to know, sweetie. I’ve got Frankie right in my handbag.”

      “Like the black eye you were wearing for over a month last year?”

      Fay snarled like a beautiful cat, showing teeth just as white and sharp. “You’ve got a big mouth, buster. All I’d have to do would be to—”

      “I know—go home and tell him I made a pass. Then I’d have to start watching out for his boys.”

      “I was wondering if you had sense enough to realize that.”

      “Look, angel. I’m not quite as helpless as you think. And I’m not as scared of Big Frank as you’d like to believe. I just don’t want trouble for no reason. So why don’t you take your hat box and be on your way?”

      Fay pursed her beautiful lips—thus making them very kissable—and retreated gracefully. That was what it was about her—you could never tell whether you’d get a fistful of snails in your face or a warm purr. “Frank said for you to call him, darling,” she said. Their war was over for the moment. She finished her drink and took the hat box and threw him a kiss as she left.

      Alone, he again checked his watch. There would be time to call Big Frank.

      As he waited for the connection, he had a touch of uneasiness; not about Fay. She wasn’t ready to make any sort of move; about Big Frank himself. He had a bluff, crude, uneducated approach to things. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t clever. His record spoke for him; definitely the man to see; twenty-six arrests with only one conviction and that set aside.

      The phone buzzed twice at the private number before Big Frank’s voice came back.

      “Dion’s Flower Shop.”

      This was a manifestation of Big Frank’s broad sense of humor. Long ago, in the wild Chicago days, there had been a flower shop owned by a man whose first name had been Dion. One day two gunmen had walked in. One held the owner’s hand in a grip of good-fellowship while the other fanned him down with a bouquet of slugs from an automatic. Big Frank seemed to like the historical attachment in the name.

      “I said, Dion’s—”

      “The car was just picked up.”

      “Oh, it’s you. I know. It just got here.”

      “I was supposed to call.”

      “Oh, yeah. I got wind on something. An injustice. I thought about you.”

      “Why me?”

      “I’d СКАЧАТЬ