The Delta Factor

9

And now the little things were starting to fall into place. The probables were balancing out against the possibles and a fine thread was drawing them together. They still made a wavy, indiscernible line, but as the threat tightened the line would straighten and the pattern would become visible.

Time was all it took, and that was running out fast.

I let the day go past, ignoring the occasional contemptuous glances Kim threw my way. Twice I went down to the casino, noticing that the crowd had diminished by half, with more leaving every hour. The hurricane tracking chart showed that the storm, which had swung northward for three hours, had veered back into its original course and was approaching Nuevo Cádiz with unhurried deliberation, picking up in intensity as it moved. There was still a good possibility of it cutting out again erratically, but not too many seemed willing to take the chance.

The huge plate-glass windows of the casino that fronted on the street had been taped and boarded over, but through the still open main doors I could see the activity on the street, the lines of taxis going to the airport, the overloaded wagons piled with household goods and wide-eyed kids coming into the city for greater protection against the storm.

Outwardly it was just another beautiful tropical day, the sun warm and red in a bright blue sky, with only a few wisps of high-altitude clouds in the southeast. Yet there was an oppressive sensation about it all. A dozen birds wheeled overhead, their senses alerted to the thing bearing down on them, calling to each other with shrill, annoyed screeches.

For a half hour I watched the unconcerned play at the tables and even tried a couple of spins of the roulette wheel, but it wasn’t a day for winners and the stickmen were encouraging any kind of activity they could. Whatever hung in the air was too stifling to interest the players and they stayed with the games only out of habit or instinct.

For me there was more than just that heavy feeling. There was that strange warm spot between my shoulder blades, the knowledge that it was an exposed target area and somebody was preselecting it. The past had held too many similar occasions for me to ignore it. It wasn’t a premonition, simply a combination of circumstances only my subconscious recognized and flashed a danger signal to that one spot in my back.

I turned slowly, surveying the faces in the casino. Some of Ortega’s people I knew by sight, some were so casual in their behavior as to be obvious. I spotted Marty Steele, who happened to look up while I was watching him, threw me a short wave and went back to the game. The regulars couldn’t have cared less for the storm and played with no show of concern, but the tourists kept checking their watches and consulting the flight schedules every so often, marking time until they could take off.

But there was nobody I could lay a finger on. Just the same, that warm spot wouldn’t go away. I was going to pick up a drink at the bar, then saw Angelo, caught his signal and moved to the elevator bank instead. At this time of day they were on automatic and when we stepped into an empty and pushed the floor button we were alone.

There wasn’t much time, so Angelo gave it to me as quickly as he could. “The altered passport has been delivered to Señorita Gordot as you wished, señor. This evening she will receive a maid’s uniform to wear over her clothes. Her ticket has been purchased in her name for Flight 51 tomorrow night. She will go out with the other maids when their shift is over and be driven to the airport in the truck of Maria López’ brother.”

“You sure of them?”

“As I am of my own mother, senor. They are of us as Rosa Lee was.”

“Sabin has a watch on the airport, Angelo.”

“I assume that as a woman she knows the art of makeup. It will not take too much imagination to make her look like a maid or a worried tourist in a hurry. I know those people there, señor. Customs is a big joke. It is Russo Sabin’s own men we will have to be careful of, but that will be taken care of.” He looked at me and smiled. “There are ways of attracting their attention elsewhere.”

“Will they check on the tickets?”

“That is unlikely too. The airport people are not used to such confusion. They will be glad to push them through as fast as possible without asking questions. Once on board the airliner she will be safe. The planes are taking off the moment they are filled.”

“You clear, kid?”

“I can take care of myself. You are the one who will be in danger from Director Sabin.”

“If that’s all I have to worry about, I’ll be happy,” I said. “What about tonight?”

“I will be free for one hour at exactly six o’clock. A call at your room will be my last before I am relieved for my supper.”

“Good. I’ll be waiting,” I said as the elevator stopped and he got off.

Kim wasn’t in the room when I got there. Her handbag was gone and so were the three five-hundred-dollar bills, but the rest was back between the rug layers where I had kept them. As far as I could tell, her clothes were all in the closet. I scoured the room for a message, but she hadn’t left any.

I swore under my breath because she should have known better. Nobody authorized her to do one thing on her own except stay with me and if she were trying to make anything out of those three bills that had turned out she could be throwing a noose over both our necks.

The sun tucked itself under the horizon, leaving a purplish glow before the night wiped it out and wrapped the city in a moonless black mantle. Whatever had happened to her, I couldn’t go trying to track her down. At a few minutes to six I slid the.45 into my waistband, made sure I had the lock picks in my pocket and as I finished Angelo knocked on the door.

He came in with the supper for two, pocketed the check I signed that he would turn in later and said, “You are ready, señor?”

“All set. What about the guard?”

“Satisfying his thirst with a bottle of wine in the house-keeper’s closet.”

“And if they ask about it later?”

“He was the one to request it, señor. Shortly he will fall asleep.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

The route out was simplified by the lack of traffic in the hotel. We made the basement through the service elevator, sent the lift back to the main floor by hitting the button before we hopped out, then picked our way past stacked cartons and barrels of dishes to a window that opened on an airshaft between the hotel and the building adjacent to it. Angelo forced open the window in the other building, squeezed down through it and motioned me to follow him. Once inside, I put my hand on his shoulder and let him lead me through a maze he seemed to be familiar with until we came to a service entrance that led to a side street.

Angelo wasn’t taking any chances with cabs. A battered panel truck was parked at the curb and when Angelo motioned to it I jumped in and let him drive a circuitous route toward the house of Rosa Lee to make sure we weren’t being followed.

We entered Rosa’s house from the rear, the lock giving easily to the pick. I snapped the small flash on and let the beam probe the darkness. From what Angelo had found out, the police investigation had been limited to ascertaining the means and time of death and removal of the body. The prime suspect had been me, so other avenues of investigation had been dropped for the time being. At the moment Sabin’s men were making inquiries among the many admirers Rosa had at the Orino Bar, following up the possibility that it might have been a crime of passion.

Angelo pointed to the kitchen. “She was killed there, señor.”

I threw the beam around the room. Pieces of broken dishes were still scattered on the floor, a bread bin was overturned in the corner and its contents strewn all over the place and one of the two wooden chairs was flattened as if something had crashed on top of it.

“She put up a fight,” I said.

“Si. She was much bruised.”

I knelt down and raked pieces of the dishes into a pile and sorted them out. In three minutes I had them assembled enough to see what had been broken. One dinner plate, one cup, one saucer.

As Angelo watched the process curiously, I said, “She wasn’t entertaining. Whoever did it came in the way we did and killed her as she was getting something to eat.”

“I don’t understand, señor.”

“Never mind,” I told him. “Come on.”

He followed me out the back way to the old garage, watched while I jiggled open the padlock and came in through the door behind me. I let the light pick out familiar items, searching for any sign of disturbance, then ran it over the beam that concealed the radio transmitter.

Angelo said, “Señor…”

“No political angle, Angelo. She was killed because of me. Now listen carefully. If Sabin digs in hard enough he’ll come up with either the right answer or some excuse to tear this place apart. There’s a radio setup hidden back here your people can use. When I’m done with it, have it dismantled and taken to some safe place. Can you arrange it?”

“Si, with no trouble, señor.”

“Good. Get somebody on it right away.” I let him hold the light while I checked him out on the operation, then cut in the power, let the set warm up and dialed Art’s frequency, hoping somebody was monitoring the channel. I gave the call signal five times before Art himself answered, made sure of my identity, then told me to go ahead.

I said, “Rosa’s been killed, Art. Nothing on it yet and I haven’t time to explain the details. Did she reach you?”

“Roger, Morgan. The stuff you requested is on the way. I blew a cylinder on the plane so it went out on the only boat available and you were damn lucky. Nothing’s moving around here with the hurricane on the way. It will be landed at José’s place and he’ll get it up to you.”

“Good…” I started to say.

“Hold it. You’re getting some additional cargo besides. Your friend Joey Jolley made it down here and he’s one hell of a scared boy. He wouldn’t talk to me at all and insisted on seeing you so he hopped aboard the same boat too. The condition he’s in I’d keep him under cover if I were you. I got the feeling he thought he was followed, and the guy who’s taking the boat over told me at the last minute that somebody broke into his cabin. He had his course marked out on the chart in the pilothouse and I never gave that a thought because he said some booze was missing and it wasn’t the first time it had happened.”

“Joey mention any names?”

“Not to me he didn’t.”

“You sure no other boats are leaving?”

“Morg, after that last blow that ripped this place apart you couldn’t get anything for hire for a million bucks. The guy coming in to you did it as a personal favor. I saved his neck for him twice. Your luck is still running if the storm doesn’t hit.”

“You kidding? How the hell are we supposed to get out of here? Can’t you get that plane repaired?”

“Not a chance. No parts are available locally and it will be a week before they’re delivered. All I can tell you is that you might be able to take the boat back if you can move that fast. If you don’t get caught in the middle of the blow you might be able to outrun or outride it. It’s a pretty seaworthy job with twin diesels and the captain knows his stuff.”

“Will he stick around?” I asked him.

“I guarantee he’ll wait until the last minute, but when he’s ready to go he’ll cut out and you’ll be on your own. These guys aren’t under orders these days, buddy, and he’s got a wife and six kids to think of.”

“Okay, Art, keep this channel open in case I need another contact.”

“Will do. How’s the project coming?”

“Change of plans. There isn’t time for fancy footwork. It’ll have to be a straight bust out.”

“Think you can handle it alone?”

“Hell, man, who has a choice?”

I heard his low laugh before he signed off and I flipped the power switch. When I had the antenna down and the set back under wraps I made sure Angelo was familiar with its operation, then retraced my steps outside.

For a minute I stood in the darkness smelling the night, feeling the warm, humid air touch my skin. But the warm spot between my shoulders wasn’t there anymore and I knew that whoever had been tracking behind me was waiting someplace else.

At five minutes past seven we parked the truck where we had found it and went back in the way we had come out. On my floor the guard was having a gentle sleep in a sitting position on a pile of packaged laundry, and Angelo waved me on so he could awaken him.

When I opened the door I knew she had come back. The suite was steamy from the open bathroom door and the scent of perfume seemed to dangle in the air. She came out of the bedroom in a fresh dark-blue silk suit, her hair glistening blackly in soft waves down around her shoulders. I went to the radio and turned it up nearly full volume in case there were listening ears.

All I could say was, “Where the hell have you been?”

Only for a second was there a slight trace of anger, then the cold professional attitude returned and she stalked past me to the sofa and sat down. “My contact called me.”

“Damn it! How many times…”

She shut me up with a single look. “It was an emergency. Ortega got his man into Miami to hit the safe-deposit box we had set up. Our people closed in and got him. Unfortunately, there was an error in judgment. They didn’t handcuff him and on the way out he made a break for it and got away. They think they have him holed up in a general area, but there may be the possibility that he can make contact with Ortega if they don’t get to him in time.”

I got it out of my system with a few choice words, then took a deep breath to cool off. “They had to be cute about it. Damn it, they had to be cute.”

“What’s done is done.”

“Don’t be so smug, sugar. It’s your neck too.”

“I knew the risk I was taking.”

“So did I. That’s why I feel like such a sap.” I stopped and looked at her. “Where did you meet this contact?” I kept my voice at whisper level.

“Here in the hotel. He took a lower-level room like a lot of the other local businessmen are doing who have places along the beach. And don’t worry about the guard. He never saw me go either way.”

“How’s this guy keep in touch with the mainland?”

“He has a radio unit built into a recorder he uses for business.”

“Supposing the guy manages to reach Ortega?”

“Then we’ll know about it too. The agency requested cooperation from the Naval Station at Key West to cover all frequencies in case of a transmission and relay the information to us. Since Ortega probably didn’t expect this development they wouldn’t have prepared a code, but in case they did the Navy will have their cryptographers ready.”

“Okay. We’ll just have to go along with it. Who is he and what room is he in?”

She hesitated a moment, then said, “Luis Rondo. Room 203. He’s in the import-export business and has been a resident here eight years. Except for an initial police scrutiny by the police he has been accepted and runs a legitimate business at a profit. He has never been suspected of being planted here by our government. Two years ago he married a native who died a year later of cancer.”

“Good enough.”

“Now, what are your plans?” she asked me.

“First I want to clear Lisa Gordot out of here. That’ll hit Sabin where it hurts and he’ll split up his forces to try to scratch her out. The more we thin out that bunch the easier it’ll be to operate.”

“And if it doesn’t work?”

“Let’s try it first. We’re playing this tune by ear all the way at this point. If anybody hits a wrong note it’ll get lost in the shuffle.”

With a touch of sourness she said, “That takes care of your delta business. Our primary target was Victor Sable. Or did you forget about him?”

“Stop the sarcasm,” I said. “All we can do is wait.” I filled her in on the latest details and let her absorb them. She wanted further information on Joey Jolley, but I told her it was none of her damn business and let it stand at that.

Kim wouldn’t accept it that way. A wry smile twisted the corner of her mouth and she said, “You don’t have to play any games for my benefit, Morgan. You’ve gone to some elaborate pains to make me think you were falsely accused and it isn’t any use.”

“What if it were true?”

She gave a meaningless shrug. “Why think of it?”

“You have a lot to learn, baby,” I told her. “Now let’s finish this honeymoon farce and get it over with. If things work right tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.” I walked over and turned the volume of the radio down so we could speak in normal tones again.

“Bedtime, doll?”

Her voice had a smile in it, but not her expression. “Wonderful idea,” she said. She walked into the bedroom, threw a pillow and blanket at me and shut the door.

In the morning no one had to check the weather advisory to know where the hurricane lay. The sky was a dismal gray and a moist breeze blew in from the tip of the island, still too languid to dissipate the oppressive heat, but it was an early warning sign that the monster was building and heading steadily in our direction.

Bags were stacked beside the hotel desk with the guests busy demanding immediate space on outgoing flights. The same crowd was still at the table gambling, committed to staying and not giving a damn what happened.

Kim and I ate a silent breakfast in the Continental Room, a sallow-faced man with a bulge of a gun showing under his too tight suitcoat occupying the next table and trying to be inconspicuous behind a newspaper. When we finished Kim announced that she wanted to do some shopping and I told her to go ahead because I wanted to try the crap table again. I paid the bill and when we got up the tail decided to stay with her, figuring there were enough of the others in the casino to keep me under their eyes.

And that was the way I wanted it. As long as I was in sight they’d hold their places and let me move around. I made a point of having them spot me without the tail, pass the word around, then wandered aimlessly from table to table making a casual play here and there without winning.

Marty Steel was still trying to beat the faro game, his eyes red-rimmed from lack of sleep. He threw in his last few chips, lost, then reached in his pocket for a sheaf of bills and passed them to the dealer for another stack.

“Bad day?” I asked.

His head snapped around, startled at the intrusion, his face a strange mask before he recognized me and gave me that lopsided smile that seemed to send his jaw out of joint. “ ‘Bad’ is no word for it, friend. I should have taken your advice and blown this coop. These guys are taking me broke.”

I nodded to the chips in front of him. “Better not tap your reserve.”

“Don’t worry, I’m still in good enough shape. You’re going to ride it out, huh?”

“I’m sure not fighting that mob at the airport.” I touched his shoulder. “See you later.”

He said, “Right,” and went back to his game.

Kim finished her shopping by two o’clock and joined me at the bar for a drink. Her tail had taken up a position at the other end, exhausted from following her on her tour. She had her arms full of packages and for the benefit of all the eyes we were nothing but a very loving couple. We held hands and kept our heads together, laughing a lot, but the talk was far from romantic.

I said, “Get up to the room and stay there until I join you. I want to set things up down here to look natural when I make my contact. When we break Lisa out we may need you for a decoy, so don’t go running off.”

“Have you thought what we’ll do if you get Sable out and we don’t make that boat?”

“Yeah, I’ll cry a lot.”

“Damn it, Morgan,” she smiled maliciously, “will you remember we’re dealing with national security?”

“How can I forget it with you to remind me? I love my little parole officer, but she gets damn wearing after a while.”

Her smile thinned out and she dug her nails into the back of my hand. “Maybe I should remind you of something else. I’m authorized to kill both you and Victor Sable rather than expose this project.”

“You really that dedicated?”

Kim answered me with her eyes first, then answered truthfully, “Yes, I’m really that dedicated. And capable.” She got up with another smile, gathered up her packages, patted my cheek and walked off. Her tail seemed to sigh to himself, then slid off his stool with regret and followed her to the elevators.

The trick to faking a drunk at a crowded bar was simply being a roving conversationalist, buying a lot of drinks, but leaving them standing untouched as you hopped around. If you ordered the same drink as the person you talked to and scooted off, he invariably drank it himself and not even the bartender got wise.

I took my time building the act, watching the hours roll by on my watch, getting a little louder and a lot friendlier with each drink, making a point of setting up anybody who joined the throng to a free round on me. Not even the waiters escaped my offers, though they declined politely. Twice cabdrivers came in looking for fares who had called for them and suddenly found a drink in their hands. I kept it at a level that wasn’t obstreperous enough to be cut off, but enough to put the pair who were detailed to watch me at their ease, figuring a hard-spending tipsy customer was only an asset at that point.

When José came in I wasn’t out of character in pulling him in next to me and calling loudly for a highball for my new buddy. When he had it in his hand I toasted him elaborately, making sure he was facing away from the watchers, and downed half my drink.

While my glass was still at my mouth I felt him slip something in my pocket and say, “There is a man with me, señor.”

“I know. Where is he?”

“Outside in the car. What is to be done with this one? He insists on seeing you.”

“Tell him to meet me right here and for Pete’s sake make sure he comes in calm.”

“He is a scared man, señor.”

“So have him fake it.”

“I will try.”

“Then you get back to the boat and tell that captain to stand by as long as possible.”

“With this hurricane approaching, I would not delay too long, señor. Already all the other boats are making for safe ports.

“Sure, José. Now beat it back and make that captain wait us out.”

José’s face studied me seriously. “I know whatever it is you do is for the good of our country, señor. I will do my best.

I cracked a couple of jokes he didn’t get, but he caught the picture and went along with it and excused himself politely to walk away, a little man who could pass unseen in a crowd of two.

Fifteen minutes later Joey Jolley edged in the main doors, glanced around nervously until he located the bar and walked toward me like a man in a room full of tigers, his shoulders tense with fear that he repressed so hard a cold sweat glistened on his forehead.

I pulled the same act I did with José, but hissed between my teeth to make like I was a stranger and ordered a drink for him loud enough to carry down the bar. I kidded with him until nobody was paying any more attention when his drink came, but unlike José he didn’t toy with his, but spilled it down in one fast gulp and set the glass back on the bar for a refill.

I said, “Easy, buddy, it’s going to be a long night.”

He didn’t pay any attention. The second one went down the same way and he shuddered when it hit his stomach, his eyes misting a second before they cleared and rolled up to meet mine. “You know what you did to me, Morgan?” His voice was almost breathless. “It was Whitey Tass. He killed her, now he’s…”

I kicked him square in the shins and he sucked in his breath as the pain of it cut him off short in midsentence. Marty Steele had seen me, edged in and slammed a bill on the bar with an order for a quick shot of Scotch. “Damn, what a miserable day this has been!” he blurted out. “You know I got hooked for six grand? I never saw cards go that long in one direction.” He tossed his drink off and waited for another. “I’m calling it quits,” he told me. He wrinkled his face in a grimace until the scar tissue around the bridge of his nose showed white, poured his drink down to follow the first one and waved the change off to the bartender. “See you tomorrow,” he said, and left.

Joey was still holding his breath from the kick I had given him and when I turned around grinning idiotically he said, “What was that for?”

“For being stupid. Quit mentioning names. Have one more drink, then walk off with me. I’m going to put on a big buddy act and get you up to meet my new bride and you play along with it, understand?”

He nodded vaguely, teased another drink down while I gave him a loud, descriptive picture about the delights of being a fresh bridegroom and finally got him to agree to meet the wife despite the warnings of the two older guys on my right. I paid the bill, draped my arm over his shoulder and staggered off to the elevators and pushed the button.

Angelo’s seeing me was accidental, but the consternation on his face was real. He said something to the bell captain, who nodded and came over in time to step into the elevator behind us. The minute the door closed he said, “Señor?”

I dropped the act and grinned at him. “I’m okay, Angelo.”

“I was worried.” He glanced at Joey suspiciously.

“Friend,” I said. “How’s everything look?”

“Director Sabin’s men are everywhere, señor. I understand he and Carlos Ortega had a falling out over his attentions to the Gordot woman, but Director Sabin is insistent. He thinks he is very much taken with her, but it is more a matter of his hating to be opposed. He calls her room regularly to make sure she is there and the guards watch her door carefully. Things are not going well.”

“Quit sweating. You get that radio from Rosa Lee’s?”

He bobbed his head. “Before dawn. It is already installed in a safe place for future use. An operator stands by at all times.”

“Good. Keep him there.”

“About the Gordot woman…”

“Flight 51 goes out at midnight, doesn’t it?”

“That is correct, señor. The shift goes off duty here promptly at ten. We must be ready by then.”

“We’ll be ready by then,” I said.

The car stopped at our floor and I went back into the drunk act and let Joey help me off while Angelo continued up higher. I banged on the door to the suite until Kim answered, watched her face look at me with utter disgust until she closed the door behind us, then change into one of surprise when I popped back to normal. I kept my voice loud and thick until I had the radio turned up again and when Kim got the idea she called over the noise to Joey to help me into the shower.

When the water was running too hard for any hidden mikes to pick us up she said, “Who’s he?”

“Joey Jolley, the one I told you about.” I looked at him and nudged him with my hand. “Let’s have it, kid. What’s this bit of showing up here?”

Someplace Joey lost his grand manner. His voice was quavery and above his normal pitch; his hands clutched together to keep from trembling. “You stuck me, Morgan. If I knew it was going to be like that I would have kept out of it.”

“Get to the point, Joey.”

He took a breath, let it out slowly and nodded. He looked at Kim and said, “You want her to hear it too?”

“All of it.”

“Sure, Morgan.” He licked his lips, folded and refolded his hands. “I poked around like you asked me to and picked up enough to put it together. Herm Bailey… he was the one who really set me wise. I found him hiding out in the storeroom over the Dixieland Tavern because Whitey Tass had his boys out looking to work him over for lousing up one of their jobs while he was drunk.”

“Details, damn it!”

“I… I’m trying, Morgan,” he said nervously. “Anyway, the way it plays out starts with Gorman Yard. He had this guy with him for a while that Old Gussie didn’t know about. I don’t know where Yard picked him up, but that one had a feeling about guys on the lam. He kept this guy in his room and made him pay pretty steep for the privilege.

“Someplace along the line Yard got the idea this guy had a lot more loot than he was carrying on him and Yard wanted a bite of it. From what I heard he didn’t want to tackle the guy alone. He was a pretty mean type who traveled with a rod and didn’t mind using it. So he figures out another angle. He wangles an introduction to Whitey Tass and lays it in his lap. The deal was for Whitey to have his boys pick the guy up and squeeze the location of the cache from him.

“They had it all set up, but my guess is that Gorman Yard got a little too cagey and the guy smelled the deal out and took off. Naturally, this made Whitey look like a sucker and he doesn’t take that kind of thing. He blew the whistle on Yard by putting the police wise to where he was holed up and Yard took a fall on that upstate rap.

“It would have been okay for Yard if he had kept his big mouth shut, but in the can he sounds off about how he’s going to even things with Whitey Tass and Whitey hears about it and one of his boys in the can pulls the cork on Yard at Whitey’s orders and Yard’s on a slab the same week.

“Nobody would’ve been the wiser. It was a good job, an industrial accident, the report read, but then you showed up in the neighborhood, got through to Bernice Case and started her asking questions about Yard’s connection with Whitey Tass. That put him behind the eight ball again and he couldn’t take any chances on what information the Case girl had so he cooled her himself.”

“And that brings us up to you,” I said.

“You shouldn’t have asked me to do it, Morgan.”

“What happened?”

Joey shuddered again and wiped the back of his hand across a dry mouth. “Whitey tumbled to me. Now he knows I’ve connected him with the kill on Yard and Case.” His eyes looked at me hopelessly. “He followed me, Morgan. I know he was there in Miami. I thought I was clear getting into the Keys, but I’m not so sure. There was another guy I saw once at a gas station and again at a diner. He could have been one of White^y’s men.”

“Nobody was on that boat with you except the captain, was there?”

“No.”

“And nobody’s coming this way while this hurricane is building either. If Whitey’s behind you, then he’s still in the States and we can nail him when we get back there.”

“Morgan…”

“Cool it, Joey,” I said. “Nobody’s going to touch you here.”

For the first time Kim spoke, her voice crisply curious. “Do you mind telling me what this is all about?”

I looked at her just as seriously. “About forty-million bucks floating around someplace.”

An expression of incredulity crossed her face. “What?”

“I never had it, kitten.”

She frowned and shook her head. “Part of the money was found in your room when you were picked up.”

“That belonged to a former tenant, the guy Yard was harboring. When he took off to get away from Whitey Tass’s mob he left it there. He had plenty more and it wasn’t worth coming back for and I got stuck with it when they shook down my room.”

Her smile had a hard edge to it. “Then explain away the three five-hundred-dollar bills in your possession.”

“I told you. Casino winnings. This would be a perfect spot to unload that hot money. Ortega tried his best to make a deal with me to take care of it, so I know the outlet is available. Anybody could have brought it in. Hell, I was tagged for the job, so what did somebody else have to worry about? They’ll check bills downstairs for counterfeit, but they aren’t trying to match up serial numbers with stolen bills. Why should they? All they had to do was put it back in circulation again and they wouldn’t be out a buck.”

“Then Ortega knows you have it?”

“He thinks he knows it, baby.”

She frowned again. “Somebody shot at you. Somebody tried to frame you for Rosa’s death.” She paused, then added, “Somebody else thinks you have it too.”

“Do they?” I asked softly.

Kim looked at me, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Just an idea I have.” I looked at my watch. It was a quarter to six. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, so I’ll lay the program out now. Think you can go it alone?”

Kim nodded hesitantly.

“Angelo has it arranged for Lisa to go out of here dressed as a maid. He’ll make sure she gets to the plane. What I want you to do is get down to her room and see if you can imitate her voice and the general tone of her conversation in case Sabin should call. After the takeoff time for her flight you get back up here and stay with Joey here until I get back. Clear?”

Joey said, “What about me, Morgan?” His voice was barely audible.

“You stay here. Keep the door closed unless you’re sure it’s one of us.”

“Morg… you’re positive about Whitey Tass?”

“If he knows you’re here he knows you can’t hurt him and he won’t be dumb enough to come after you until after the storm anyway.” I got up from the edge of the tub and turned off the shower.

When I turned around Kim was standing there, her eyes full of confusion, staring at me as if she were looking through a microscope. “You still don’t believe me, do you?” I asked her.

Her lovely face reflected the turmoil of her mind. “Why should I?”

“No reason to,” I told her and walked outside.

As I reached the door I heard her quick steps behind me and her voice say, “Morgan.”

I stopped and turned around. “What?”

She couldn’t seem to say what she wanted to say. Instead, she simply shrugged. “Nothing.”

I grinned at her, went into a drunk-trying-to-sober-up act and opened the door.