eleven-thirty I took the black pigskin suitcase down to the car. I wasn’t going to be parted
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from that for a moment. I locked it in the boot, then drove to Roosevelt Boulevard, the main
shopping centre.
There were a lot of cars drifting up and down the broad street and quite a crowd of people
on the sidewalks. Most of them were in beach dress; some of the girls were practically naked,
but no one paid them any attention. I parked behind a big Packard and went into a drug store.
There was one thing I had to find out. I shut myself in a phone booth and dialled Lincoln
Beach 4444.I listened to the burr-burr-burr of the ringing tone, and my heart skipped a beat
when a girl’s voice said, “Good morning. This is the Lincoln Beach Casino at your service.”
“Connect me with Nick Reisner,” I said, and my voice croaked.
“What was that again, please?”
“I said connect me with Nick Reisner.”
“Mr. Reisner is no longer with us. Who is that calling?”
I ran a dry tongue over dryer lips.
“I’m a friend of his. I’ve just hit town. Where can I find him?”
“I’m sorry.” She sounded embarrassed. “Mr. Reisner died.”
“He did?” I tried to make my voice surprised. “I didn’t know. When was that?”
“July 30th.”
The day after he had come to the cabin and had taken Della and me away. I was getting the
shakes again.
“What happened to him?”
“Will you hold it a moment, please?”
“Hey! Don’t go off the line …”
There was a long pause. Sweat began to run down my face. Then there was a click, and a
voice asked, “Who is calling?” A voice that came from a fat throat: Ricca’s voice, I didn’t say
anything. I held the receiver against my ear, listening to his heavy breathing, aware of a cold
chill creeping up my spine.
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“Who is that?” he repeated. “Is it you, Johnny?”
I still said nothing. I wanted to put down the receiver, but that heavy breathing and that fat,
oily voice hypnotized me.
Then suddenly another voice chipped in: a harsh, shouting voice.
“This is Police Captain Hame talking. Trace this call, miss!”
I hung up then and walked rapidly out of the store to my car. I had learned little, and I had
risked much. It had been a bad move to have let them know I was in town.
I sat in the car, my hat pulled down over my eyes, my fingers on the gun butt, and waited. I
didn’t have to wait long. Their organization was pretty efficient. I was expecting cops, but it
wasn’t a police car I saw shooting along the boulevard. It was a big, black Cadillac. It pulled
up outside the drug store, within fifty feet of me.
Two short, square-shouldered men got out, crossed the sidewalk and entered the drug store.
The last two men I expected to see again on this earth: Pepi and Benno.
VII
I lit a cigarette with an unsteady hand. Where had these two sprung from ? The obvious
explanation was they had teamed up with Ricca. I remembered then that Waller, the Negro,
had said they would keep after me until they had cornered me. I had completely forgotten
them, but apparently they hadn’t forgotten me.
I remained in the car, waiting. After a minute or so they came out of the drug store and
paused on the sidewalk to look to right and left. Then they got into the Cadillac and drove
away.
It seemed I was now up against stiff opposition. I had been ready to tackle Ricca on his
own, but I wasn’t too sure of my chances when it came to a combination of Ricca, Pepi and
Benno. Those two lengthened the odds against me.
But no matter what happened to me, they were not going to get their hooks into that money.
Now they knew I was in town I would be crazy to carry all that money around with me. I had
to find a safe place to stash it.
I drove back to my hotel. The head porter sprang forward to open the car door.
“I’m not getting out,” I said. “Is there a safe deposit around here?”
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“First on your left, sir,” he told me. “You can’t miss it. The best there is.” He was right
about not missing it. It was about twenty storeys high and occupied half the block. There
were five uniformed guards on the sidewalk, armed to the teeth* and tough enough to scare
any Chi hood out of his skin.
I pulled up and got out of the car.
One of the guards came over. The others watched me.
“I want to leave a suitcase,” I said. “What do I do?”
“You have it with you, sir?”
I unlocked the boot and hauled out the case. He made to take it, but I waved him back.
“I’m not as weak as I look. Just tell me where to go.”
“If you’ll follow me, sir.”
He took me into a vast reception lobby, surrounded by a wall of steel bars as thick as my
wrist. On a low balcony surrounding the lobby, guards patrolled, automatic rifles cradled in
their arms. There’d be no smash-and-grab raid in this place.
He led me to a pale young man who could have been a foreign prince, but obviously
wasn’t, as he stood up and bowed.
“Mr. Evesham will look after you, sir,” the guard said, and went away.
“I want to deposit this suitcase,” I said. “Can you fix it?”
Mr. Evesham, with another bow, said he would be happy to be of service.
“Do you wish to rent one of our strong rooms?”
I said I did.
“Will you come with me?”
We took the elevator to the fifth floor, walked along a corridor to a steel-mesh gate. A
guard opened it and saluted.
“Let me have the key to room 46,” Evesham said. He sounded like a prince when he was
giving orders.
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The guard produced a key, and a door was unlocked and opened. We entered a small room,
steel lined, about the size of a prison cell, and furnished with two easy chairs, a table and a
fitted grey carpet. Facing us was a wall safe, “Good enough to sleep in,” I said.
“Some of our clients like to consult their papers without taking them away,” Evesham
explained. “We try to make them as comfortable as possible.” He turned to the safe. “The
letters of the combination make up the word ‘economic’. Will you remember that?”
I said I would remember it.
“Perhaps you would care to open the safe yourself? All you have to do …”
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “I’ve handled a job like this before.”
I spun the knob, pausing at each letter. When I had spelt out the complete word, there was a
click and the door swung open.
“When you shut the door, the combination is automatically scrambled,” Evesham went on.
“And the safe is self locking.”
“That’s fine,” I said.
“The key to-this vault is kept with the guard. Our clients are not allowed to take keys off
the premises. Have you any special instructions for us? Do you wish anyone to come here, or
only yourself?”
“No one is to touch the safe unless I’m with them,” I said. “Will your guard know me?”
He allowed himself a princely smile.
“When you opened the safe your photograph was automatically taken. It will be lodged in
the guard-house and checked when you apply for the key.”
“You certainly have thought this thing out.”
“Perhaps you will come downstairs now and complete the formalities, sir?”
“I’d like to get the hang of the safe and check through the contents of my bag before I
leave,” I said. “Would it be all right if I joined you in a few minutes?”
“Certainly. You know where to find me. The guard will direct you to the elevator.”
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When he had gone I opened the suitcase and took from it ten one-hundred-dollar bills. That
amount would hold me for a few days. As I tucked the roll into my hip pocket I felt the bun