«Son, you think a lot smarter than you talk,» Mr. Gallemore said. He arose and walked to a window, pulled aside a fine net curtain and looked down on the bustle of Seventh Street. He came back to his desk and seated himself and smiled a little wistfully.
«You are almost embarrassingly correct, Mr. Gage,» he said, and sighed. «Mrs. Penruddock is a very proud woman, or I should simply have offered her the twenty thousand dollars as an unsecured loan. I happened to be the coadministrator of Mr. Penruddock’s estate and I knew that in the condition of the financial market at that time it would be out of the question to raise enough cash, without damaging the corpus of the estate beyond reason, to care for all those relatives and pensioners. So Mrs. Penruddock sold her pearls — as she thought — but she insisted that no one should know about it. And I did what you have guessed. It was unimportant. I could afford the gesture. I have never married, Gage, and I am rated a wealthy man. As a matter of fact, at that time, the pearls would not have fetched more than half of what I gave her, or of what they should bring today.»
I lowered my eyes for fear this kindly old gentleman might be troubled by my direct gaze.
«So I think we had better raise that five thousand, son,» Mr. Gallemore at once added in a brisk voice. «The price is pretty low, although stolen pearls are a great deal more difficult to deal in than cut stones. If I should care to trust you that far on your face, do you think you could handle the assignment?»
«Mr. Gallemore,» I said firmly but quietly, «I am a total stranger to you and I am only flesh and blood. But I promise you by the memories of my dead and revered parents that there will be no cowardice.»
«Well, there is a good deal of the flesh and blood, son,» Mr. Gallemore said kindly. «And I am not afraid of your stealing the money, because possibly I know a little more about Miss Ellen Macintosh and her boy friend than you might suspect. Furthermore, the pearls are insured, in my name, of course, and the insurance company should really handle this affair. But you and your funny friend seem to have got along very nicely so far, and I believe in playing out a hand. This Henry must be quite a man.»
«I have grown very attached to him, in spite of his uncouth ways,» I said.
Mr. Gallemore played with his white quill pen a little longer and then he brought out a large checkbook and wrote a check, which he carefully blotted and passed across the desk.
«If you get the pearls, I’ll see that the insurance people refund this to me,» he said. «If they like my business, there will be no difficulty about that. The bank is down at the corner and I will be waiting for their call. They won’t cash the check without telephoning me, probably. Be careful, son, and don’t get hurt.»
He shook hands with me once more and I hesitated. «Mr. Gallemore, you are placing a greater trust in me than any man ever has,» I said. «With the exception, of course, of my own father.»
«I am acting like a damn fool,» he said with a peculiar smile. «It is so long since I heard anyone talk the way Jane Austen writes that it is making a sucker out of me.»
«Thank you, sir. I know my language is a bit stilted. Dare I ask you to do me a small favor, sir?»
«What is it, Gage?»
«To telephone Miss Ellen Macintosh, from whom I am now a little estranged, and tell her that I am not drinking today, and that you have entrusted me with a very delicate mission.»
He laughed aloud. «I’ll be glad to, Walter. And as I know she can be trusted, I’ll give her an idea of what’s going on.»
I left him then and went down to the bank with the check, and the teller, after looking at me suspiciously, then absenting himself from his cage for a long time, finally counted out the money in hundred-dollar bills with the reluctance one might have expected, if it had been his own money.
I placed the flat packet of bills in my pocket and said: «Now give me a roll of quarters, please.»
«A roll of quarters, sir?» His eyebrows lifted.
«Exactly. I use them for tips. And naturally I should prefer to carry them home in the wrappings.»
«Oh, I see. Ten dollars, please.»
I took the fat hard roll of coins and dropped it into my pocket and drove back to Hollywood.
Henry was waiting for me in the lobby of the Chateau Moraine, twirling his hat between his rough hard hands. His face looked a little more deeply lined than it had the day before and I noticed that his breath smelled of whiskey. We went up to my apartment and he turned to me eagerly.
«Any luck, pal?»
«Henry,» I said, «before we proceed further into this day I wish it clearly understood that I am not drinking. I see that already you have been at the bottle.»
«Just a pick-up, Walter,» he said a little contritely. «That job I went out for was gone before I got there. What’s the good word?»
I sat down and lit a cigarette and stared at him evenly. «Well, Henry, I don’t really know whether I should tell you or not. But it seems a little petty not to do so after all you did last night to Gandesi.» I hesitated a moment longer while Henry stared at me and pinched the muscles of his left arm. «The pearls are real, Henry. And I have instructions to proceed with the business and I have five thousand dollars in cash in my pocket at this moment.»
I told him briefly what had happened.
He was more amazed than words could tell. «Cripes!» he exclaimed, his mouth hanging wide open. «You mean you got the five grand from this Gallemore — just like that?»
«Precisely that, Henry.»
«Kid,» he said earnestly, «You got something with that daisy pan and that fluff talk that a lot of guys would give important dough to cop. Five grand — out of a business guy — just like that. Why, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. I’ll be a snake’s daddy. I’ll be a mickey finn at a woman’s-club lunch.»
At that exact moment, as if my entrance to the building had been observed, the telephone rang again and I sprang to answer it.
It was one of the voices I was awaiting, but not the one I wanted to hear with the greater longing. «How’s it looking to you this morning, Gage?»
«It is looking better,» I said. «If I can have any assurance of honorable treatment, I am prepared to go through with it.»
«You mean you got the dough?»
«In my pocket at this exact moment.»
The voice seemed to exhale a slow breath. «You’ll get your marbles O.K. — if we get the price, Gage. We’re in this business for a long time and we don’t welsh. If we did, it would soon get around and nobody would play with us any more.»
«Yes, I can readily understand that,» I said. «Proceed with your instructions,» I added coldly.
«Listen close, Gage. Tonight at eight sharp you be in Pacific Palisades. Know where that is?»
«Certainly. It is a small residential section west of the polo fields on Sunset Boulevard.»
«Right. Sunset goes slap through it. There’s one drugstore there — open till nine. Be there waiting a call at eight sharp tonight. Alone. And I mean alone, Gage. No cops and no strongarm guys. It’s rough country down there and we got a way to get you to where we want you and know if you’re alone. Get all this?»
«I am not entirely an idiot,» I retorted.
«No dummy packages, Gage. The dough will be checked. No guns. You’ll be searched and there’s enough of us to cover you from all angles. We know your car. No funny business, no smart work, no slip-up and nobody hurt. That’s the way we do business. How’s the dough fixed?»