Strictly for Cash

“Charter a plane? It’ll cost a fortune.”

“Never mind the money. I’ve got all the money in the world. Will you come with me,

Ginny?”

“Tonight?” Her voice rose. “But I should have to pack and …”

“It’s tough, but if you can’t make it I’ll have to go alone …”

“Not another word, Johnny. I’ll make it I”

That’s the kind of girl she was.

“As soon as we arrive, we’ll be married, Ginny. Hold everything. I’m on my way!”

I slammed down the receiver and ran out.

The old guy was standing with his back to the petrol pump, his hands in the air and his

goatee trembling. I pulled up short and spun around, my heart skipping a beat.

Della was standing in the shadows, by the window, a gun in her hand, the awful little smile

flickering around her lips.

“Hello, Johnny” she said.

I knew if I made the slightest move she’d drill me. There was a look in her eyes that turned

me cold.

185

“Get in the car, Johnny; you and I are going for a ride.”

And I knew if I even hesitated she’d shoot. I walked over to the Buick and got in under the

driving-wheel. She opened the rear door and got in behind me.

“Miami, Johnny,” she said, “and snap it up!”

I trod on the starter, shifted into second and pulled away from the row of petrol pumps. The

old guy still stood as stiff as a statue, his hands in the air. She had scared the guts out of him.

We drove for about a mile in silence, then she said, “Where’s the money?”

I could see her in the driving mirror, the gun was pointing at the back of my head. Her face

in the moonlight was as white as a fresh fall of snow, and her eyes scared me.

“Where you’ll never find it,” I said.

“We’ll find it. Benno and Pepi are waiting for you in Miami. They’ll make you talk,

Johnny, and then they’ll kill you, and you’ll be glad to die.”

I kept driving. There wasn’t anything I could do about it yet, but I was working on it.

“So you thought you’d marry her,” she went on, the words spilling out of her mouth in a

vicious rush. “That’s a laugh! She’s in this, too. We’ll pick up Pepi and Benno, and then we’ll

all go down to the airport and pick her up. You’ll talk fast enough when you see those two

working on her. I’ll make her suffer! Don’t think she’ll escape. She’s in this as much as you!”

That settled it. Only she had heard my conversation over the phone. Only she knew I had

arranged to meet Ginny at the airport. It was as simple as that. Ginny wasn’t going to fall into

Pepi’s hands. I had still the last word. The road was straight: on either side were mangrove

thickets. It was as simple as that.

“Well, so long, Ginny,” I thought. “This is the way out. This is the only way out,” and I got

a picture of her in my mind with her copper-coloured hair and her big, serious eyes and her

lovely mouth as I pulled down hard on the wheel.

As I swung the car off the road, I shoved the accelerator to the boards. I felt the car leap

forward. I didn’t look where we were heading. My eyes were fixed on the driving rnirror. I

could see Della’s face.

“Go ahead and shoot me,” I thought. “If this is my end, it’s your end too. You’re not going

to get your dirty claws on Ginny.”

186

I saw the fear and horror in her face. I heard her thin, wailing scream. I saw the gun drop

out of her hand as she threw up her arm to shield her face.

Then we hit a tree, bounced off it, shot into the undergrowth and smashed into another tree.

I held on to the steering-wheel for dear life. Della had disappeared. I felt the car turning over.

“This is it,” I thought, and I wasn’t scared. I was thinking of Ginny as the car turned over, and

I was still thinking of her when something crashed down on my head.

187

PART FIVE

CURTAINS

I

“COME on! Snap out of it!” a voice bawled in my ear, and a hand caught hold of

my coat front and hauled me upright. “Wake up, louse!”

I got my eyes open with an effort, and stared into the fat, blue-chinned face of Benno.

Instinctively, I tried to throw a punch at him, but my arm didn’t respond.

Snarling, he slammed me across the mouth with the back of his hand, and I flopped back on

the bed, scarcely conscious.

Dimly I heard a fat voice say, “Don’t hit him like that, you fool! I want him to talk!”

“He’ll talk!” Benno said viciously, and hauled me upright again. “Come on! Take notice or

I’ll yank your goddamn ears off!”

I opened my eyes again and looked around. I was lying bound hand and foot, on my bed in

the bedroom of my apartment on Franklin Boulevard. Benno was sitting on the bed, and

Ricca stood at the foot of the bed.

For a long moment I was confused and bewildered, then I remembered Ginny. Was she still

in the apartment? Had I imagined she had been there? I remembered her coming to the door

and the terror on her face.

“What have you done with her?” I croaked.

Ricca smiled.

“She’s in the other room. You played your hand pretty badly. I wanted her as well as you,

and you led me right to her.”

I strained at the cord that bound my hands, but it didn’t give.

“Better bring her in here,” Ricca said to Benno. “It’s time we started.”

Benno patted my face with a hand that smelt of lavender water.

“You and me are going to have fun before long,” he said.

188

He went into the other room.

Ricca continued to smile and puff breath at me. His snake’s eyes were vicious.

Benno came back, dragging Ginny with him. She was gagged, and her wrists were tied

behind her. There was a rip in her skirt, and she had pushed a knee through one stocking. She

looked as if she had had a bad time. She stared wildly at me, horror in her eyes.

“Ginny!” I cried, struggling upright. “What have they done to you?”

“We haven’t done much to her yet,” Ricca said, “but we will unless you are ready to talk.”

“Turn her loose and I’ll talk,” I said wildly. Just to see her in the hands of a rat like Benno

drove me frantic. “But she’s got to go free! She isn’t in this. She’s got to go free.”

Ricca pulled up a chair and lowered his bulk on to it.

“You had your chance when I made my first offer,” he said. “It’s out of my hands now.

Petelli’s claiming you. All I want is the money, then I turn you over to him.” He pulled at his

thick lower lip. “Unfortunately she’ll have to be turned over to him, too.”

“That won’t get you anywhere,” I said. “Either she goes free or the money stays where it is,

and it’s where you’ll never get your claws on it.”

“Don’t be too sure about that. I have an idea I can persuade you to talk.”

“You heard what I said! Let her free or you don’t get the money!” ‘

Ricca lifted his fat shoulders.

“It’s out of my hands. She knows too much. Benno’s going to knock you off. She’ll have to

go, too.”

I turned ice-cold. I had only to look at him to see he wasn’t bluffing.

“She’ll give you her word not to talk,” I said. “I don’t give a damn what happens to me, but

you’ve got to let her go!”

“I happen to hold all the cards in this deal,” Ricca said.

“Ask yourself which would be better for her: a bullet through the head or to be worked over

until you decide to talk. You’ll see Benno at work. Better save her from that. What do you

say – a quick bullet or Benno?”

189

Benno put his hand on the front of Ginny’s frock and ripped it down to her waist.

I was licked and I knew it. Ginny would be better off dead than tortured by Benno.

Without looking at her, I said, “Yes. Don’t let him touch her. I’ll talk.”

Ricca rubbed his hands.

“I thought somehow you would. Where’s the money?”

“The Miami Safe Deposit.”

I could see by the momentary blank expression in his eyes he hadn’t expected this.

“I see. Very sensible of you.”

Then suddenly I remembered the .22 I had left in the suitcase. I felt a hot surge of triumph

run through me. With that gun I could fix him and turn the tables on Benno.

“You will write them a letter …” he began, but stopped as I shook my head.

“Do you imagine I’m all that of a dope? I and no one else can get the money. I left

instructions I was the only one to enter the strong room.”

Ricca stared down at his feet. Then he glanced up and waved his hand at Benno.

“Take her away,” he said. “Why doesn’t Pepi come?”

“He doesn’t know we’re here,” Benno said. “How many more times do I have to tell you ?”

“Try to find him. We want him.”

“Forget him! He might be anywhere. Can’t you swing this yourself?”

“Take her away.”

Benno shoved Ginny out of the room. As he reached the door he put his knee in her back

and shot her forward. I heard her fall on the floor.

“If ever I get my hands on you …” I said, straining at the rope that held my wrists.

Ricca smiled.

“It’s your own fault. How can you expect an animal like Benno to treat a girl decently ?”

190

He grimaced as he looked through the open door. “You and I will go and collect the money,”

he went on. “After that, Benno takes charge, but I promise you I will see he makes it quick. I

owe you something. I am grateful to you for getting rid of Della. Now, of course, I take over

the casino myself.”

I stared fixedly at him.

“And when we get to the safe deposit, don’t make trouble,” he went on. “The money

belongs to the casino, and I can prove it. Hame will play along with me. There’s nothing you

can do about it.”

“I know when I’m licked,” I said, thinking of the .22 in the suitcase.

He went into the other room and I heard him talking to Benno. While I had a moment to

myself I tried desperately to free my hands. I might just as well have tried to tip over the

Woolworth building.

Ricca came into the room again.

“If I am not back within the hour he will take her away from here. I needn’t tell you what

he will do to her. So no tricks.”

He cut my ankles free.

“Stand up and turn round.”

Benno came to the door, a snub-nosed automatic in his hand. He kept me covered while

Ricca freed my hands.

“Okay,” Ricca said, pulling a gun from his hip pocket. “Let’s go.”

I went first and he followed. We walked down the four flights of stairs. Drawn up outside

the front door was a dark-blue Packard.

“You drive, Johnny. I’ll sit at the back. And snap into it. I don’t imagine Benno will keep

his hands off her for long. She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

My sick fear for her turned to cold, vicious rage against him. I didn’t say anything but

drove fast until I reached Roosevelt Boulevard. Here the traffic was heavy, and it took me

some minutes to weave the car to a standstill outside the Safe Deposit building.

A guard came over.

191

“I deposited a suitcase here this morning. I want to pick it up.”

“You know the way, sir? Mr. Evesham will look after you.”

I said I knew the way, and went up the steps with Ricca at my heels.

The princely Mr. Evesham looked surprised when he saw me, but he remembered his

manners and stood up and bowed.

“My partner’s arrived unexpectedly,” I said, waving to Ricca. “I’ll want the suitcase for a

couple of days.”

“Certainly, sir. Shall I come up with you?”

“That’s okay. I know my way.”

“I’ll have the receipt for you to sign when you come down.”

“Thanks,” I said, and walked over to the elevator.

Ricca stood beside me, smiling, as the elevator took us to the fifth floor.

“They arrange things well here,” he said. “Might be an idea to have something like this at

the casino.”

I didn’t say anything. When the elevator stopped, I walked down the corridor with him just

behind me.

The guard came out of the guard house.

“Let me have the key to room 46,” I said.

He studied me, then went away. After a moment or so he returned and handed me the key.

“Third door on the right, sir.”

I continued down the corridor and stopped outside room 46.

“Without your co-operation,” Ricca said, “it would have been impossible to get the money.

What a sensible young man you are.”

I unlocked the door and pushed it open.

“Quite luxurious,” Ricca said, looking in. He made no move to enter. “I think I’ll wait here.

192

Bring the money to me.”

But I wanted him inside with the door shut.

“The door has to be closed before the safe will open,” I said, entering the room. “Wait

outside if you like.”

He looked up and down the empty corridor, then pulled out his gun.

“In that case I’ll come in with you. I don’t trust you out of my sight, but don’t make any

false moves.”

I had no qualms about killing him. Ginny’s life and mine were worth a lot more to me than

his. I knew the sound of a ‘22 wouldn’t be heard outside the steel-lined room.

I stood beside the safe and began to spell out the combination. I was calm and my hands

were steady. I kept thinking of Ginny along with Benno. I knew I mustn’t make the slightest

slip.

The safe door swung open.

“Better keep back,” I said. “There’s a gadget somewhere that photographs when the safe is

opened.”

“They seem to have thought of everything,” Ricca said. I could tell by his voice he wasn’t

suspicious. “Is the money there?”

“What do you think?” I hauled out the suitcase and dumped it on the table. There wasn’t

room for him to come around and stand by my side. He faced me. I snapped back the locks

and threw open the case. The open lid was towards him. He couldn’t see what was inside the

case. I tossed a bundle of bills on the table as he began to move forward. He paused and

looked at them, an oily smile spreading over his face. That gave me the opportunity to pick

up the .22 lying in the case.

I aimed through the lid of the case at his belly. A little gun like a -22 hasn’t much stopping

power, but I knew a slug in his gut would paralyse him. I waited until he began to move forward again, then looking right at him, I squeezed the trigger.

The gun went off with a noise like the breaking of a dry stick. Ricca reared back, his face

contorted with agony, his hands clutching at his fat paunch. Then he folded forward as if he

had a hinge in his back. His gun dropped out of his hand, and he fell across the table, his face

hanging over the upraised lid of the suitcase.

193

I gave the top of his head a hard shove, and he slid off the table on to the floor.

I was breathing heavily, and I began to shake as I watched him squirm about on the floor,

his hands pressed to his belly, blood oozing out between his fingers.

I picked up his gun. Holding it by the barrel I bent over him. We stared at each other. There

was a film forming over his eyes, but by the way his mouth twisted into a snarl I knew he

could still see me. I hit him very hard in the centre of his forehead. The heavy butt of the gun

crashed down, breaking the akin and driving a little hollow into the broad expanse of bone.

He stopped squirming and stiffened out. For perhaps a second or so I stood over him, then

sure I had taken care of him I straightened up and stepped away from him.

I wiped the sweat from my face, dropped his gun by his side and shoved the .22 into my hip

pocket. I shut the suitcase and snapped down the locks. Then without looking at him, I

stepped to the door and opened it. The corridor was still empty. I locked the door, dropped

the key into my pocket and walked quickly to the guard room.

The guard appeared.

“I’m checking out,” I said. “My partner’s going through some papers. He may be some

time. Don’t disturb him, will you?”

“That’s all right, sir.”

“He has the key. He’ll give it to you when he leaves. What time do you shut?”

“Six-thirty, sir.”

I looked at my wrist-watch. It was now a quarter to four. I had nearly three hours in which

to get clear.

“He’ll be through by then.”

I rode down in the elevator. Mr. Evesham was waiting for me.

“My partner’s working up there. I’ve fixed it with the guard.”

“Quite all right, sir.”

“I’m taking the case. Do you want me to sign anything?”

He gave me a couple of forms. I signed where he indicated.

194

“I’ll be back in a couple of days.”

“You are very welcome, sir,” he returned with a stately bow.

A guard opened the door of Ricca’s car as I came down the steps. I slung the suitcase in the

back and got in under the steering-wheel.

“Thanks,” I said as he closed the door.

I drove fast to Franklin Boulevard.

II

I parked the car outside the back entrance of 3945 in a narrow alley that ran parallel with

Franklin Boulevard. I put the suitcase in the boot of the car, then pushed open the garden gate

and entered a wilderness of trees, shrubs and overgrown flowerbeds. I made my way from

tree to tree until I was within sight of the back of the house.

Against the wall, built between two steel shafts, was an outside dumb-waiter, which

tradesmen used to haul up the groceries to the various apartments. I planned to haul myself up

to my apartment in it, and take Benno by surprise.

The chances were he was still in the front room with Ginny. If he was, and I could get into

the apartment without him knowing, I was sure I could take him. There could be no shooting

in that house unless I wanted a hoard of policemen swarming around me, and I didn’t.

As I stood looking up at the windows, a big white cat came out of the shrubbery and rubbed

itself against my leg. It belonged to the janitor, and used to come up to my apartment when

Ginny and I were there, and Ginny would feed it.

I had too much on my mind to bother with it, and I gave it a little nudge with my foot, but it

didn’t take the hint. When I began to dodge from shrub to shrub, working my way to the

dumb-waiter, it followed me.

I squeezed myself into the box. It was a tight fit, and I wondered if the rope would be

strong enough to take my weight.

The cat jumped on to my lap, and rubbed its face against mine. I was about to push it off

when an idea struck me. It might be useful in the apartment to create a diversion, and I

decided to take it up with me.

I caught hold of the rope and began to haul. The box moved creakily upward. In spite of the

195

system of pulleys I had a lot of weight on my arms, and my progress was slow.

I was panting by the time I reached the third floor, and I stopped to get some breath back.

The cat kept bumping its face into mine. It didn’t seem at all perturbed that we were hanging

in space. After a minute or so I began to haul again. Inch by inch the box crawled upwards

until finally it came to the wooden trap leading to my kitchen. I jammed on the brake and

thankfully let go of the rope.

I sat with my legs dangling while I massaged my aching arms. As soon as my heart had

stopped jumping like a freshly landed fish, I turned my attention to the trap. I pressed gently,

and it swung open, I looked into an empty kitchen. The cat jumped from my lap on to the

floor and started twining itself around the table leg looking up at me hopefully.

I took off my shoes, then slid soundlessly to the floor, crept over to the door and opened it

half an inch. For some seconds I heard nothing. Then I heard Benno humming to himself.

He was in the front room.

I closed the door again, then I picked up the cat and holding it under my arm, I opened the

china cupboard and took out a couple of plates. I pitched them into the air. The crash they

made when they hit on the floor was enough to raise the dead.

Still holding the cat I stepped back and flattened myself against the wall by the door. I

waited. Nothing happened. All I could hear was my quick, light breathing and the faint

purring of the cat.

Minutes ticked by, and I began to wonder if Benno was Coming. Then suddenly I noticed

the door was opening.

I bent down and gently put the cat on the floor. I gave it a little shove sending it away from

me. Then I straightened up, every muscle in my body tense.

The door continued to open inch by inch. The cat stood still, staring at the door. Suddenly it

growled, and its tail bushed out.

The door swung wide open.

“Goddamn it!” I heard Benno mutter. “A cat!”

I held my breath, praying he would come in, but he didn’t. He remained just outside the

door. I could hear his breath whistling down his nose.

196

The cat backed away.

“How did you get in here?” Benno demanded. “Here, come here.”

But the cat didn’t seem to like the look of him. It spat at him, continuing to back away.

Benno wandered into the kitchen. He had a gun in his right hand. He came in slowly,

snapping his fingers at the cat.

“Here, pooch, come here,” he said.

He was within three feet of me before some instinct warned him of his danger. He swung

around as I struck at him. That quick, unexpected movement spoilt my aim, and instead of

landing on his jaw, my fist caught the top of his shoulder. The force of the punch sent him

flying. He crashed against the wall, made a frantic effort to regain his balance, and at the

same time aim his gun at me.

I flung myself at him, my right hand clamping down on his gun hand. I crushed his fingers

against the gun butt and pinned him against the wall.

His fat, vicious face was only inches away from mine. He tried to grab my throat, but I

slammed over a punch that caught him on the side of his head, stunning him.

I tore the gun out of his hand and threw it away, then my fingers sank into the fat flesh of

his neck, my thumbs digging into his windpipe. As I exerted pressure, his face turned blue

and his eyes started out of his head. I held him against the wall and throttled him.

Only the whites of his eyes were showing when I stepped away from him and let him slide

limply to the floor. My hands ached, and my heart thumped as I bent over him. I put a finger

on his eye: it didn’t flicker. I touched the artery in his neck: no pulse answered me.

I straightened up, flexing my aching fingers and then with an unsteady hand I lit a cigarette.

Reisner, Della, Ricca and now Benno, I thought, I could feel no pity for any of them. If I

hadn’t killed them, they would have killed me.

The cat came over and sniffed delicately at Benno’s dead face. It put out a paw and patted

his nose. I took two or three hurried drags at the cigarette, then dropped it and put my heel in

it. Time was running out. There was still much to do.

I put on my shoes, shoved Benno’s gun in my hip pocket and went along the passage into

the sitting-room.

Ginny lay in the armchair. Her hands were tied behind her, and she was still gagged. Her

197

head lolled forward and she seemed to be in a faint.

I ran to her, slashed through the cord that bound her wrists and gently eased the gag out of

her mouth.

“Ginny, darling!”

She moaned softly.

“Ginny, it’s me. Come on, darling, we’ve got to get out of here!”

Her head dropped back and her eyelids lifted. Recognition slowly came into her eyes and

she touched my face.

“Where have you been, Johnny?” she said huskily. “I waited and waited. I moved in here,

hoping you’d come back. It’s been so long.”

“I’ll tell you about it later. Come on, kid, we’ve got to get out of here. We’ve got to get out

of town. I have a car outside.”

“Where are we going?” She sat up, her land going to her torn dress.

“We can decide that as we go. We’ve got to hurry.”

She shivered.

“Where is that awful little man? Who is he?”

I pulled her to her feet. Her knees buckled and she would have fallen if I hadn’t supported

her.

“Don’t worry about anything. I’ve taken care of him. Let’s get out of here.”

“No!” She tried to push away from me, but I held her. “I’m not going with you until I know

what all this means. Why do we have to leave? Send for the police, Johnny. Get the police

here. Why should we run away?”

“You don’t understand, Ginny,” I said, trying to control my impatience. Every second we

wasted now made our getaway more difficult. “We can’t go to the police. The police captain

is in this too. We must get out of here!”

Sudden fear jumped into her eyes.

198

“What is all this talk of money about?” she asked breathlessly. “What money, Johnny?”

I knew at once it would be fatal to tell her about the money. Later, perhaps, but certainly

not now. She might not understand that it was mine by right: she might even think I had

stolen it.

“He’s mistaking me for someone else,” I said. “Now come on, Ginny. I’ll tell you about it

in the car.”

“He kept asking me about the money,” Ginny said wildly. “He said you had stolen it from

the casino.”

“He’s lying. Now, come on, darling. He may be back any moment. He’s dangerous. We

must get out of here!”

“Johnny, did you steal it?”

“Of course I didn’t.”

“Word of honour?”

“Yes, word of honour. It’s all a mistake. Come on, Ginny, let’s go”

“You’ll have to help me. I can’t walk far.”

I drew in a quick gasp of relief.

“You’re not going to walk at all. I’m going to carry you,” I said, and took her in my arms.

She put her arm round my neck.

“I’ve been so frightened, Johnny. I’ve missed you so.”

“It’s all going to be all right,” I said. “In a week, darling, you’ll have forgotten this ever

happened.”

I went to the front door and opened it.

Captain of Police Hame stood just outside. He had a .45 in his hand and he rode me back

into the room, his blue eyes like chips of ice.

199

III

I set Ginny down in the armchair and raised my hands as Hame moved into the room,

closing the door with his foot.

“Looks as if I’ve caught up with you at last,” he said. The .45 centred on my chest. Ricca

lived long enough to tell me you killed him. You’re getting as dangerous as a mad dog,

Farrar.”

I heard Ginny catch her breath in a horrified gasp.

“Now look …” I began, but Hame stopped me.

“I got proof you killed Reisner and the Wertham woman, and now Ricca,” he went on.

“That’s one murder too many. Back up against that wall!”

I knew what he was going to do. I could read it in his eyes. He couldn’t afford to let me

stand trial. I knew too much about him. The easiest out for him was to put a slug into me

while resisting arrest.

My eyes went to Ginny. She was staring at me: her face was white and horrified.

Hame followed my glance.

“And you too,” he said to her. “You’re in this. Back up against the wall with him!”

She would have to go, too. He wouldn’t want a witness to my killing.

“Wait, Hame!” I said. “We can do a deal.”

“Back up against that wall!” he snarled at me. “I’m not making any deals with you. I don’t

have to!”

“You don’t have to, but you will,” I said, speaking fast, knowing any second he might

shoot. “I’ve got half the casino’s reserve: a quarter of a million dollars!”

That held him, as I knew it would hold him. His eyes flickered.

“You don’t bluff me, Farrar,” he said in a grating voice, “and you don’t talk yourself out of

this,” but there wasn’t any conviction in his voice.

“Turn us both loose and I’ll split it with you. A hundred and twenty-five grand in cash!”

“Where is it?”

200

“Where you won’t get your hooks into it without my say so,” I said. “This is cash, Hame.

Money that can’t be traced. All I want is three hours to get clear, Is it a deal?”

“I wouldn’t make a deal with you unless I saw the money,” he said.

“You can see it, but I want your word you’ll turn us loose with a three-hour start when you

get the money.”

A thin, sneering smile came to his sun-burned face.

“I take the lot, Farrar. You haven’t a thing to bargain with. I’ll take the lot and you can

have an hour’s start.”

“No! I’ll give you two hundred grand. I’ve got to have something. I’ve got to have a

getaway stake, and I want three hours.”

“The lot or I’ll put a slug into both of you and take a chance of finding the money.” He was

grinning now. “Please yourself. I told you you have nothing to bargain with, and you

haven’t.”

I had intended to play with him. I was ready and willing to buy Ginny’s and my freedom

for half the money, but he wasn’t taking the lot. I’d worked too hard for that money to part

with all of it. There was only one way out of this. I had to catch him off his guard and kill

him.

“Give me five grand,” I said, making out I was frantic. “I’ve got to have a getaway stake.”

“Maybe,” he said, still grinning. “Where is it?”

I realized he’d shoot me the moment he got the money. Once again I was being jostled into

murder.

“I’d be a fool to tell you, wouldn’t I? As soon as you know what’s to stop you shooting

me?”

He tried to keep a straight face.

“My word.”

“What’s the use of that to me?”

He grinned then.

201

“Well, suggest something.”

I nodded to Ginny.

“She can get it and bring it here.”

“Suppose she doesn’t come back?”

“She will. She loves me. Do you think she wants me to get shot?”

All the time I was talking, Ginny had sat motionless, staring at me. Now when I turned to

her, she flinched away.

“Go on,” I said to her. “Get the money and hurry.” I reached forward and offered her the

key of my car. “The car’s around the back. It won’t take you long.”

She crouched in the chair, and the look she gave me sent a chill up my spine.

“Ginny! Please do what I say. This is the only way out for you. Get the money, and it’ll be

all right.” I tried to make her understand I was offering her escape.

“No,” she said. “I’m not having anything to do with it. You did steal that money, didn’t

you?”

“It belonged to me, Ginny,” I said desperately. “I can’t explain now…”

“Of course he stole it,” Hame cut in. “It’s money belonging to the casino.”

“Oh, Johnny, how could you?” she said, wringing her hands. “How could you get me into a

thing like this? You’ve bed to me all along. When you didn’t come to Miami as you

promised, I phoned the insurance people you talked about and they said you’d never worked

for them. Ever since we first met you’ve lied to me.” She pounded on the arm of the chair

with her fist. “I’m not going to be dragged into this! And don’t talk to me of love!”

I was sweating now.

“You’ve got to get that money! Don’t you understand he’ll shoot both of us if you don’t

go? Take this key and get out!”

“Oh no,” Hame said. “Not if that’s the way she feels about you. She stays here. We’ll start

from the beginning again.”

Around the half-open kitchen door I saw the white cat come in.

202

“Then let me go,” I said my muscles tightening. “She means everything to me. I’ll come

back. You can trust me to come back.”

“No woman’s worth a quarter of a million. We’ll all go.”

The cat brushed against his trouser leg. He hadn’t seen it come in, and feeling something

against his leg startled him. He looked down with an oath.

I was waiting for that moment. I sprang at him, my right hand grabbing at his gun arm, my

left at his throat.

The gun went off with a crash that rattled the windows. Hame staggered back, then went

down with me on top of him. I fastened on to his wrist and smashed his gun hand down on

the floor. The gun went off again, but it fell from his hand.

For a minute or so we fought like a couple of animals. He was as strong as a bull, and knew

every dirty trick in the box. We rolled to and fro, upsetting the furniture, while we punched,

kneed and butted each other. It was like getting tangled up with a buzz-saw, trying to hold

him.

He got his hands on my throat and began to squeeze. He had a grip like a monkey-wrench,

and the air was cut off from my lungs. I clubbed him on the bridge of his nose and flattened

it, crashing the back of his head on the floor. For a second or so he was dazed and the

strength went out of his hands. I tore his fingers from my throat, twisted clear, crawled up on

hands and knees. He was up on his feet a shade after I had straightened up. His face was a

snarling mask of blood which poured from his broken nose.

At long range I knew I could take him, but hugged in those iron muscles he could lick me. I

had to keep clear of him.

Maybe he had forgotten I was a boxer. He didn’t act as if he thought I knew how to fight.

He rushed at me, his arms reaching out for my waist, to bring me down into another

murderous clawing wrestle on the floor. But I had had enough of that. I slipped to one side

and jolted my right in his face. That hurt him, but it didn’t stop him. He was tough. It’d take

more than a slam in the face to put him down.

He came at me again, and this time I went in at him. We met like two charging bulls, I felt

his hands grab my coat front. I grinned into his savage, blood-soaked face, then I brought

over the left hook: the same punch that had broken MacCready’s jaw, that had floored

Waller, that had put paid to the Miami Kid. It landed flush on the side of his jaw3 and I felt

the jar run up my arm. I didn’t care. He was out long before he hit the floor.

203

Gasping for breath I turned to look for Ginny, but she wasn’t there.

“Ginny!”

I rushed into the passage. The front door stood open. Turning, I ran back into the sitting-room and to the window.

I saw her running down the long drive towards the gates. She was staggering as she ran,

and she was holding her hands in her face. I leaned out of the window.

“Ginny! Wait for me!”

But she didn’t look round, although she must have heard me. She kept running, and beyond

her, at the gates I saw two prowl cars swing to the kerb. Two cops tumbled out of the first car

and started up the drive. She ran slap into them She was falling as she reached then, and one

of them caught her and lowered her to the ground. Two more prowl boys spilled out of the

second car and came pounding up the drive.

They looked up and saw me. I was looking at Ginny. There was a tightness in my throat

and a sick, empty feeling inside me. I had a premonition I was looking at her for the last time.

Then I turned and ran into the kitchen.

Benno lay stiff in death, his fat, vicious face seemed to snarl at me. I jumped over him,

climbed into the box elevator and loosened the brake.

Seconds later I was running down the weed-covered path to the back gate. No one fired at

me. I jerked open the gate and scrambled into the waiting Packard. I was shooting down the

narrow alley that led to the boulevard when I heard police whistles. At least I had a car under

me, and a fast car at that.

Where was I to go? The general alarm would be out in a few minutes, and every patrol car

would be looking for me.

Who would hide me from the police? I thought of fat Zoe Eisner who ran the Liberty Inn

on Bay Street. If I could reach her I might buy a hide-out.

I headed for Bay Street.

Half-way down Lincoln Avenue that runs parallel with Lincoln Beach’s main street, I

spotted a cop ahead, looking towards me from the sidewalk. He began waving at me. I shoved

down the accelerator and the Packard surged forward.

204

The cop ran out into the street. He had a gun in one hand and a night-stick in the other. The

people on the sidewalk stopped to stare. He was a pretty brave cop, but at the very last second

he jumped aside. His night-stick came hurtling at me, and instinctively I ducked my head.

The stick smashed a jagged hole in the windshield, I heard shooting behind me and felt the

thumps of slugs as they made holes in the back panel of the car.

I kept on, switched the car around the corner and came out on to the wide boulevard that

runs the length of the promenade and terminates at the gates of the casino.

I wouldn’t get far now with a smashed windshield. Already people on the sidewalks were

staring at the car as I shot it towards the big underground car-park.

I pulled up behind a line of parked cars at the bottom of a brilliantly lighted ramp. I was out

of the car and opening the boot when a white-coated attendant came up. I saw his eyes go to

the smashed windshield.

“What happened to that?” he asked

“Hit a bird,” I said, hauling out the suitcase. “I’ll be back …”

I saw his eyes light on the bullet holes in the back panel. I closed my fist and smashed it at

his jaw. He went down, his head bouncing off the fender.

I looked to right and left. At the far end of the park three white-coated attendants stood

around a car, talking. They didn’t look my way. There was no one else in the park to pay me

any attention. I walked rapidly up the ramp. The suitcase weighed a ton. I wouldn’t be able to

travel far with this burden hanging at the end of my arm. But I wasn’t going to ditch it. With

all that money I might still buy my life: without it I was done for.

As I reached the top of the ramp I spotted two prowl cars coasting along the boulevard, and

heading in my direction. Across the way a cop stood on the edge of the sidewalk. On the

corner, fifty yards farther on, was another cop.

I had to get under cover, and at once. There was no hope now of reaching liberty Inn.

Within ten yards of the cop opposite me was the imposing entrance of the Lincoln Hotel, a

forty-storeyed skyscraper that dominated the promenade.

I crossed the street with a crowd of sun-worshippers as the traffic lights turned red. I kept in

the middle of them, rubbing shoulders with a fat man in a beach wrap and on the other side a

blonde in halter and shorts. She looked curiously at me.

205

The bulk of the crowd were headed for the hotel. I went with them. As I was pushing

through the revolving doors I looked back over my shoulder: a mistake. The cop on the sidewalk caught my eye. He stiffened, stared, then started towards me.

I kept pace across the lobby with the blonde in the halter and shorts. She and a couple of

tanned lounge lizards got into the elevator. I got in with them.

The starter looked sharply at me.

“Tenth,” I said curtly, before he could open his mouth.

The cop came through the revolving doors like a jet-propelled rocket. He was charging

towards the elevator as the doors swished to. No one in the elevator had noticed him, except

of course, me.

Not so good. In a few minutes the hotel would be teeming with police.

The car stopped on the fifth floor and the two lounge lizards got off: nobody got on. That

left the starter, the girl and myself.

“Twenty-second, please,” the girl said, and ran her thumb along the length of the halter, just

inside.

The starter goggled at her, his eyes shifting to her suntanned legs.

“Yes, miss,” he said. He looked at me as he closed the doors. “What’s your room, mister?”

“I’m making a call.”

“Sorry; against the rules. You have to check at the desk first.”

“A little late for that, isn’t it?”

The blonde was staring at me now. She dug her thumbs into the elastic top of her shorts,

pulled it away from her waist and let it snap back again. She seemed full of cute tricks.

“I’ll have to take you down, sir,” the starter said, his mind more on the girl’s shorts than on

me.

“Please yourself,” I said, shrugging.

The car stopped at the twenty-second floor and the doors swung open. The blonde got off.

206

She began to walk down the long corridor. The starter paused to watch her go. Her behind

jiggled as she walked: it seemed to fascinate him.

I tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned my fist connected with his jaw. I hit him so hard

I nearly tore his head off his shoulders. He folded down on hands and knees and stretched

out. I picked up the suitcase, stepped out of the car and pressed the outside button, closing the

doors. Then I set off down the corridor after the blonde.

I caught up with her as she was putting a key into the lock of a door marked 22/4454. She

was opening the door when she became aware of me standing behind her. Her eyes popped

open and she took a hasty step forward that took her inside the room. I had Benno’s .38 in my

hand and I touched her naked midriff with it.

“No screaming,” I said pleasantly, and rode her into the room, closed the door with my heel

and set down the suitcase.

“What do you want?” she asked, in a strangled voice.

“Sit down and take it easy,” I said. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. The cops are after

me, and I am staying here until they go away.”

She sat down. She seemed glad to.

I lugged the suitcase to the open window, and looked out. It was a long, long way down to

the promenade. Already there was a big crowd gathering outside the hotel. As I looked three

prowl cars with wailing sirens came rushing towards the hotel entrance.

“In ten minutes or so,” I said, turning away from the window, “the cops are going to call on

you. Please yourself what you do. I’m wanted for four murders: one more won’t make any

difference to me, but a lot to you. Tell them you haven’t seen me. If you try any tricks you’ll

get the first bullet. Okay?”

She blanched.

I was sorry for her, but I was in such a jam I couldn’t afford to pull any punches. I kept by

the window. The crowd grew every second. More prowl cars arrived. The cops started to

shove the crowd back, leaving a wide space before the hotel. There must have been three

thousand people down there, and their numbers were growing every second.

I heard sounds in the corridor. No cop can walk quietly, and when there are a number of

them, they sound like a herd of buffalo moving around.

207

They were going from room to room as I guessed they would. Well, it was up to the blonde

now. If she let me down I was sunk.

“They’ll be here in a minute,” I said, trying to make my voice tough. “You know what to

do,” and I waved the gun at her.

She sat as still as a waxwork; her eyes growing bigger, and her face the colour of old

parchment. She didn’t look pretty any more.

Then there came a rap on the door.

For a long moment of time nothing happened. I looked at the blonde and motioned to the

door with my gun. She stared at me, horror mounting in her eyes.

The knock came again: louder this time.

“Go ahead,” I whispered, sure now she wasn’t going to do it. I was right. She suddenly

gave a wailing scream and slid off the chair on to the floor.

“Open up!” a voice bawled, and a shoulder thudded against the door panel.

IV

There, was no future for me now. Once in their hands, with Hame in charge of the

investigation, I was as good as dead. But that didn’t worry me. All I could think of right at

this moment was the money in the suitcase. If I couldn’t have it, then I was determined Hame

wasn’t going to have it. Nothing else mattered to me now except how to keep that suitcase

away from him.

The voice again bawled through the door panels. “Open up, Farrar! We know you’re in

there!”

Once again a shoulder crashed against the door which creaked, but held.

I went to the window and looked out. Running the whole length of the building below the

window was a footwide ledge. Leaning out, I could see the ledge terminated about thirty

yards away to my right by a bulging piece of floral carving, overlooking the corner of

Roosevelt and Ocean. If I could reach that bulge I would have excellent cover from a shot in

the back.

I looked down. Three hundred feet below me the promenade teemed with people, staring up

208

at me. It made me feel a little sick as I looked at the narrowness of the ledge, but it was either

that or to be shot down when they broke into the room.

Again the shoulder crashed against the door. I swung my leg over the window-sill and got

out on to the ledge. I held on to the framework of the window, groped inside and hauled up

the suitcase.

A tremendous roar of excitement came from the crowd below, but I didn’t look down. I

stood for a second or so, staring straight ahead, my heart hammering and my knees weak. It

would have been bad enough to take that walk without the suitcase, but with it, pulling me off

balance all the time, it was going to be a nightmare.

Bracing myself, my shoulder rubbing the face of the building, I began to move forward.

I put one foot directly before the other, like a tight-rope walker, not attempting to move

fast, and keeping my eyes fixed on the bulging corner stone ahead of me.

I crept past a window, moved on, aware of an urge to look down. I struggled against it,

knowing if I did, I was done for.

Ahead of me was another window, then wall space, then the corner stone. When I was

within six feet of the window a man’s head appeared. I stopped short, my breath whistling

through my clenched teeth.

He was a fair, tanned man in a fawn sports jacket and a bottle-green shirt. He gaped at me,

his mouth falling open. Very slowly, so as not to disturb my balance, I slid my right hand into

my hip pocket and pulled out Benno’s gun.

“Mind you don’t fall,” the man said in a horrified strangled croak. “Hadn’t you better come

in here?”

“Get back and shut the window,” I said, and pointed the gun at him.

He gave a gasp and jerked back from the window. Once again the crowd roared at me.

I started to move forward again. When I reached the window I peered in, the gun pushed

forward. The room was empty. The door stood open.

I had twenty feet to go before I reached the shelter of the corner stone. I moved more

quickly. Behind me I heard a shout, but I didn’t look round. I kept on, expecting to hear a

shot and feel a bullet smash into me, but nothing happened.

209

I reached the corner stone and gripped hold of one of its projections. Even then I wouldn’t

look down.

For a moment or so I stood there, trying to get my breath looking at the buildings opposite:

the windows crammed with staring faces, not more than fifty yards from me.

“Get back you fool!” a man shouted at me. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I put the suitcase down on the ledge behind me. Still holding on to the projection I began to

climb around it. A woman screamed. The roar of the crowd surged up and submerged me in

sound. Satisfied I had a good hand and foothold, I reached down and pulled the suitcase to

me. Then, clinging on, I lifted it. For perhaps three or four seconds I remained pressed against

the projecting corner, my foot wedged into one of the ornate carvings, the fingers of my left

hand dug into a crevasse of stone, the suitcase dangling from my right hand in space. Its

weight upset my balance, but I managed to hang on while the people at the windows opposite

yelled and screamed at me.

I remained like that for some time. Then slowly, inch by inch, I began to edge into the

hollow made by the two ornate projections either side of the corner stone. It took time, and

once or twice I thought I wasn’t going to do it. Without the suitcase it would have been easy,

but having to work only with one hand and to counter-balance the drag of the suitcase made it

terrifyingly difficult. I got into the hollow without quite knowing how I did it. I had quite a

bit more room once I was inside, and no one could get at me either from the right or from the

left.

I was so exhausted I could no longer stand upright, and still clinging to the suitcase I sat

down, my back firm against the hollow in the stonework, my legs dangling into space.

For the first time since I had been out on the ledge I looked down.

Roosevelt Boulevard and what I could see of Ocean Boulevard were packed solid with

gaping faces. From this height they looked like a white-checkered carpet spread out below

me. I could make out the tiny figures of cops and patrolmen trying futilely to clear the street.

In the distance a mile-long traffic block hooted and honked. I could see people leaving their

cars and making their way on foot to the hotel.

At a guess I had only a few more minutes before the police started to try to rope me or send

some courageous harness bull along the ledge to grab me. My time was running out. But I

couldn’t grumble. At my side I had a quarter of a million dollars. Below me I had some five

or six thousand people who were concentrating on me, and me alone. The next move was

obvious.

210

I opened the case and took out a packet of hundred-dollar bills. I broke the elastic band and

tossed the packet high into the air. The notes broke loose and spun to the ground in a

fluttering little cloud.

The crowd below me stared up, watching the bills as they floated down to them. The bills

took some time to reach them. A man jumped high in the air to be the first to grab one. Then

they realized what I was throwing down to them. A yell went up that seemed to split the air

and shake the buildings.

A man leaning out of a window opposite yelled, “He’s throwing money away!”

I was working fast now, splitting the packages open and tossing the bills out as fast as I

could take them from the suitcase.

The windows opposite began to empty of faces. Those who at one time had the better view

were now rushing to the elevators to get them to the street in time to horn in on this rain of

money.

Well, I had promised myself if ever I got hold of real money I’d go on the biggest spending

bender ever. I was keeping my promise, and I was getting a tremendous bang out of it. Right

at this minute I was the most powerful and the most important man on earth.

The scene below defeated imagination. People fought, trampled on each other, screamed,

yelled and clawed. Even the cops were flaying with their night-sticks to get their hands on the

bills as they floated to the ground. The wind spread them far and wide. I could see people

fighting on the beach. I watched a girl cramming crumpled bills down the front of her dress,

only to have the dress torn from her by a yelling, greed-crazed old woman, old enough to be

the girl’s grandmother.

A man with a handful of bills was being pushed against the side of a car while four women

beat him with their handbags. A policeman was trying to turn a woman who lay on the

sidewalk while she screamed like a train whistle.

I tossed the last of the bills down to them, and then sat back to watch. My breath was

coming in great heaving gasps, and I had sweated right through my clothes. I would have

gone through all I had gone through to have had those ten-minutes of power all over again.

But the money was gone - a quarter of a million gone as Della had said it would go: like

snow melting in the sun, and now I had nothing to show I had ever owned it. My one supreme

moment was over, and it would never be repeated.

211

No one in the street below was paying any further attention to me. They had forgotten me

in their mad, greed-crazed scramble for the money, and they were still fighting and yelling

amongst themselves.

My time was running out. Before long the police would organize a means of reaching me. I

had two alternatives: I could either give myself up or I could anticipate my destiny and slide

off the ledge into space. I was sure there would be no out for me once Hame got his hands on

me.

If it hadn’t been for Ginny I wouldn’t have hesitated. I would have ended it there and then,

but I remembered how she had looked at me when Hame had said I had stolen the money. I

remembered, too, she had said she didn’t believe I had ever loved her. More than anything

else in the world now I wanted her to know how much she had meant to me, and still meant

to me. I wanted her to know my side of the story, sure that if she knew the facts, and how I

had been drawn into this mess as inexorably as a swimmer gets sucked into a whirlpool, she

would realize, after I had gone to the chair, that I wasn’t quite so bad as Hame had painted

me.

And because it was essential to me that she should know the truth, I decided to give myself

up. Before they brought me to trial I would have time to write down my story just as it had

happened, and if the verdict went against me, Ginny would at least have my written record.

Having made the decision, I got cautiously to my feet. I looked back along the ledge. A

policeman was leaning out of a window about twenty yards away from me. Reluctantly, his

eyes popping and his face shiny with sweat, he swung his leg over the window-sill.

“Stay where you are,” I said, waving him back, “I’m coming in.”

As I walked towards him, moving slowly, steadying myself against the side of the building

and keeping my eyes fixed on him, I heard the deep-throated roar from the crowd below. It

reminded me of the noise the lions had made when I had dropped Reisner into the pit. At least

he hadn’t known what was coming to him.

I did.

THE END

212