I kept calling our offices. Not constantly, because we weren’t supposed to be all that active. Just often enough so that Gunderman would hear a phone ring every once in a while. He might not take conscious note of it, but it would make an impression.
Once Helen put me through to Doug. I told him the weather was nice and the Yankees were in last place and ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. He said things like Mmmmm and I don’t think so and You’d better check it more carefully. Somewhere in the middle of one of my sentences he told me to call him back, he was busy, and I should go into it in detail. Then he hung up on me and I went and had another cup of coffee.
Then I called again, later on, and Helen told me that our boy was gone. “I’ll put Doug on,” she said.
“That’s a sweet friend you’ve got,” he told me. “Robbing that clod makes me feel like Robin Hood.”
“You didn’t take a shine to him?”
“I hated him. I figured the frail was exaggerating, but he’s even worse than she said.”
“How did it go?”
“The right way. Come on up and I’ll tell you about it.”
“Do you have to?”
“Huh?”
I told him that I hadn’t had any sleep. He laughed. “Stage fright? An old hand like you?”
“Partly stage fright, I suppose. Mostly some things I wanted to think about. By the time I felt like sleeping I couldn’t, because I had to be able to meet him on time. I’ve been walking around on adrenalin for a couple of hours and I’m just about out of the stuff. I think I’ll sack out and catch you later.”
“Good enough. Oh, Johnny—”
“What?”
“Don’t go back to your hotel. He told me he has to catch a plane this afternoon. I doubt that he made reservations. You don’t want to be asleep at your hotel when he calls. And your desk clerk might screw things up and tell him. Go to a decent hotel and get a good flop.”
“Where?”
“Not the Royal York if he’s there. Just a minute. Oh, hell — go to my place. You remember how to get there?”
I’d been to his apartment a few times. I told him I remembered where it was.
“The door’s open,” he said.
“You don’t lock it?”
He laughed. “I never lock my door,” he said. “I trust people, Johnny. I’ve found most people are basically honest.”
Thirteen
I spent the afternoon and most of the night at Doug’s apartment. Our respective roles gave him one substantial advantage. As bossman, he was supposed to live it up in a fairly plush apartment. Lackey that I was, I had to make do with a third-rate hotel.
I was back at my third-rate hotel the next day when Gunderman called me. The operator made sure that I was really me, and then I heard Evvie’s voice in the distance telling him that she had John Hayden on the phone, and at last his voice boomed in my ear.
“Where the hell were you yesterday? I stuck around waiting for you to call and calling you and not reaching you, John. I wanted to get together with you before I flew back, and then I tried you last night and couldn’t get hold of you. Got a girlfriend to keep you busy?”
“I was tied up during the morning,” I told him. “And then Mr. Rance said you’d gone straight back to Olean, so I didn’t try you at your hotel.”
“Well, I didn’t want him thinking how close we’re working on this, John. I’ll tell you one thing, though. I like this Doug Rance of yours.”
“He’s quite a man.”
“I’ll go along with that. I’ll bet his background’s good. His family. His father had money, didn’t he?”
“I believe so.”
“It shows. I understand the English say it takes three generations to come up with a gentleman. I don’t know if they’re not a little off on their timetable, but they’ve got the idea. You can always tell whether or not you’re dealing with someone who’s... well, call it quality. I’m as democratic as the next person, John, but I’d be a damned fool if I didn’t know there’s a difference between a man like Rance and a man whose father cleaned out toilets for a living.”
Doug Rance’s father didn’t clean out toilets for a living. He was an auto mechanic, fairly competent when he was sober, which was not his natural condition. He was generally out of work, and he bought himself a case of cirrhosis of the liver and died of it. I did not pass this data on to Gunderman.
“I think he liked me, John. Talk to him?”
“Not at length.”
“And?”
I hesitated. “I think you’ve got a very good chance,” I said finally.
“Just a chance?”
“For one thing, he’ll have to talk to some of the other principals. He can’t make decisions entirely on his own.”
“If he goes for the deal, the rest of them will follow suit, won’t they?”
“I suppose so. But there’s that Chicago group. I told you, Wally, I didn’t get to talk much with him. I know he liked you and that he was impressed with your approach.”
“I just put my cards on the table.”
“Well, I guess he liked that. The way I see it, you’re right on top of the waiting list. You—”
“Waiting list!”
“That’s right. What did you expect? The Chicago people have the inside track. If they hang onto it, they’re going to swing the deal. If they drop out, you’re home free.”
“I don’t know if I like that, John.”
“Look—”
“You look, damn it. I sat there in Rance’s office and we cleared a lot of air. I’ll tell you, he didn’t know me from Adam, but by the time I left we had accomplished something. We knew each other and we liked each other, and what’s more I made him see just how sensible it was for him to deal with me. Now I’ve got my proposition hanging there and I’m supposed to wait and find out what happens next.” He paused, and when he spoke again his voice was pitched slower, his words spaced further apart. “Like proposing to a woman and having her not say yes and not say no, just keeping you waiting until she makes up her mind. A man can tire of that sort of thing.”
I said something sympathetic.
“These Chicago people. I hate this sitting and waiting for them to hit or strike out.”
“I’m trying to sink their ship. What the hell do you expect?”
“You’re trying to—”
I let some impatience show in my voice. “Oh, hell,” I snapped. “What do you think I was doing until four in the morning? It’s going to take some doing, making them look bad to Rance and the others. I’ve been trying everything I can think of to throw them off the track. Don’t you think I want my cut?” I suspect he’d forgotten my cut. “And don’t you think I want to earn it?”
“Well, I’m a son of a bitch,” he said. “I never even thought about that end of it.”
“I can’t think of anything else.”
“My apologies, John. You know I appreciate what you’ve done, not to mention what you’re doing. Have you got something good working?”
“I don’t want to talk about it now,” I said. At least that saved improvising a new bit of material. “Listen, I’ve got to cut this short. I’ll be in touch with you, but don’t expect a call every hour on the hour. I’ll let you know if anything breaks either way. And don’t call me. If there’s anything to know, you’ll know it.”
Doug thought everything was coming up roses. I wasn’t that positive now. The phone call bothered me. He’d gotten fairly belligerent at one point, and this served to point up the thin line we had to walk. We had to keep the carrot just the right distance from the donkey’s nose. Too close and he might take a sniff before biting into it. Too far away and he’d get his hackles up and never bite at all.