“Oh, she doesn’t use our name any more. When she ran away from home she changed it.” Johnny paused for effect. “To Alice Cummings.”
And now Carmichael really winced. “Uh, ah, Alice, uh, Cummings.”
“No, no, just Alice Cummings. Not uh, ah, or mm. She’s told you about me, hasn’t she?”
“No!” exploded young Carmichael. “She never mentioned a brother. And I don’t believe you are her brother.”
Johnny made a clucking sound with his tongue. He appealed to Sam. “Tell the man, Sam, am I, or am I not, little Alice’s brother?”
“Yeah, sure,” said Sam. “She’s our sister — I mean, your sister...”
“Blackmail!” exclaimed Carmichael. “You’re trying to blackmail me.”
“I’ve got nothing against blackmail,” Johnny said. “A man does something he hadn’t ought to do, he ought to pay for it?”
“H-how much?” gulped Carmichael.
“Shall we talk about it?”
“Shall we go in and talk about it?”
“No! Tell me how much, that’s all I want to know.”
“I’ll make a deal with you. A better deal than you deserve. I’ll let you go your crummy way, on just one little condition. Alice’s address. Right now — fast.”
“That’s all you want? You’re sure?”
“That’s all. Nothing more. Absolutely.”
“Chateau Pelham — Fifth Avenue.”
“Mr. Carmichael,” Johnny said, “you’re a scholar and a gentleman. I thank you.”
He started to turn away. A shudder ran through Jess Carmichael and he suddenly reached out and grabbed Johnny’s arm. “I... I don’t get it.”
“You will,” said Johnny and walked out of the club.
Outside, Sam Cragg let out a roar. “Holy smoke, Johnny. That was raw!”
“I didn’t do a thing. I didn’t say anything I couldn’t repeat in a court. It’s his conscience. He read a different meaning into everything. That’s what a guilty conscience does to a man.”
“Where we going now?”
“The Chateau Pelham, where else? And I hope she’s in. I’m getting tired of walking. We’ll ride back.”
3
Johnny said to the switchboard operator in the Chateau Pelham, “Tell her Mr. Carmichael sent me.”
The operator repeated the information into the phone, then nodded to Johnny. “Four-D.”
They rode up in the automatic elevator to the fourth floor. Four doors opened onto the corridor, one for each of the apartments on the floor. Johnny pressed the door buzzer of Four-D.
The door was opened by Alice Cummings, and Johnny knew why the hotel clerk at the Hotel Chesterton still remembered her. She was that kind of a girl. Blonde, tall. Her figure, however, wasn’t much. Too much like Marilyn Monroe’s.
“Do I know you boys?” she asked in a voice that soothed, like molten lava. Behind Johnny, Sam Cragg whistled softly.
“We just left Jess at the club,” Johnny said.
“Sober?” Without waiting for a reply, she opened the door and Johnny and Sam went into the apartment.
It was nice. It was worth around two hundred a month and probably cost three fifty.
“Can I get you a drink?” cooed Alice Cummings.
“To cut a long story short,” Johnny said, “four years ago you bought a fur coat from the Arctic Fur Company...”
The love and kisses faded from Alice’s face. “What?” she cried shrilly.
“Seventy-four dollars. That’s what you owe. You can give it to me in small bills.”
“Why, you lousy—” began Alice Cummings. Then she caught herself. “What is this, a gag?”
“The Acme Adjustment Agency does not jest, madam,” said Johnny severely. “I’m a skip tracer. You skipped with the pelts and I skip-traced you. This is payday for A.A.A. Seventy-four dollars, lady. Cash. Checks not accepted.”
“Ha ha,” said Alice humorlessly. “I laughed. The gag’s a howl. Now scram, boys, I’ve got a date.”
“With the cops,” said Johnny. “You skipped with the coat and that’s against the law.”
“It sure is, lady,” chimed in Sam Cragg. “When you buy mandolin you got to pay for it. You ain’t allowed to hock it in Duluth.”
Alice Cummings whipped open the door. “Out, bums!”
Johnny put his hand against the door and pushed it shut. “The money — or the coat.”
“What coat? That rabbitskin wore out ages ago. I paid more for that junk than it was worth.”
“The Acme Adjustment Agency says uh-uh. And when Acme Adjustment says uh-uh, it means uh-uh. We’re bloodhounds. We get the money from you or it gives blood. I mean it, sister. Seventy-four dollars on the line or I’ll blow the whistle.”
“I haven’t got seventy-four dollars. And even if I had it I wouldn’t—”
“Yes, you would. And it’s still seventy-four dollars.”
“Now, wait a minute,” the girl said, suddenly desperate. “You gave the name of Jess Carmichael so you’d get in. How... how did you know about him?”
“We saw him, lady,” cried Sam. “We talked to him at the Harover Club. He thought we was tryin’ to—”
“Shut up, Sam,” exclaimed Johnny. “But he’s right, baby, it was old Jess himself who gave us your address.”
“Jess,” whispered Alice. “So it’s come to this.”
“Seventy-four,” said Johnny remorselessly.
She suddenly whirled and strode into the bedroom. She came out immediately, carrying a purse. “All right,” she said angrily, “take your money. And I hope you choke on it!”
She tore open the bag, brought out a wallet and skimmed out a sheaf of bills, all that were in the wallet. Johnny counted the money. He shook his head.
“There’s only fifty-seven dollars here, madam. Seventeen short.”
“That’s all the money I’ve got in the place. I’ll send you a check for the balance.”
“You weren’t listening, lady. I said no checks.”
“Come back tomorrow, then!”
The phone whirred and Alice scooped it up. “Yes?” She listened a moment, then her face showed sudden fright. “Mr. Carmichael. Y-yes, tell him to come up.”
She slammed down the receiver. “Get out of here. Right away.”
“Seventeen dollars, baby...”
“I told you I haven’t got the money.”
“Maybe Mr. Carmichael can lend it to you.”
“No!” she cried. “He mustn’t see you here. Go — now...!” In panic she whirled and looked wildly around the room. Her eyes focused on what looked like a table decoration, a bronze figure of a swan or goose, about four inches tall. She rushed to the table, scooped it up and came back. “Here, take this. It’s got more than seventeen dollars in it. Take it and get out.”
Johnny took the statue and shook it. There was a slot on the back of the figure’s neck in which coins could be inserted. The figure was heavy and Johnny heard the cheerful clink of coins inside.
“A piggy bank,” he said.
“A goose bank!” exclaimed Sam.
“Get out now — please...” Alice started to push Johnny toward the door.
“All right,” he said. “I can take a hint.”
He opened the door and stepped out. Sam crowded his heels. In the corridor, Johnny pushed the button for the elevator.
“Jeez,” said Sam. “I feel sorry for the babe.”
“Don’t. She’s tough.”
The elevator door opened and Jess Carmichael stepped out. Johnny stepped in. Carmichael whirled.
“Here, you! What are you...?”
“Good-bye, now,” said Johnny, pushing the “down” button. The door swung shut in Carmichael’s face.
Sam said, “A guy shouldn’t be that rough to any babe.”
“Necessity,” Johnny said. “Remember our three weeks are up tomorrow. You know Peabody’d throw us out on the street. And remember, you’re feeling differently now since you’ve had a big fat lunch. Think back how hungry you were.”