“Good evening, Miss Targ,” he greeted Betty, and to Tommy: “Yes sir, this way, please.”
He led them to a booth at the far end of the room, where it was dim. As they seated themselves, Betty said to Tommy: “I’d like a cocktail. A daiquiri.”
“Two,” Tommy said to the waiter.
“Very good, sir, and will you have dinner later?”
“Probably.”
The waiter went off and Betty planted her elbows on the table and looked at Tommy over her cupped hands. “They’re using you, Tommy. Trent, or maybe it was Earl, found out about your knowledge of locks and keys.”
“I’m not going to answer that question,” Tommy persisted stubbornly.
“You don’t have to. Earl’s taken up with Flo Randall. He’s been giving her the rush act, at which he’s very good. Behind Paul deCamp’s back. It’s Paul they’re after. His money... and that’s where you come in. You’re going to open his safe.”
“This is a nice place,” Tommy said, looking about the restaurant. “Do you come here often?”
“You can open safes, Tommy, can’t you?”
“I can open a safe,” Tommy replied, “if I’ve got the combination.”
“Then Flo Randall got it for Earl.”
“That wouldn’t be very healthy for Flo, would it?”
“Not if deCamp knew it. But it’d be less healthy for you.”
“Betty,” said Tommy, “I’m not going to open Paul deCamp’s wall safe. Take my word—”
“How do you know it’s a wall safe?”
“Isn’t it?”
“It is, but how did you know?”
“I just made a guess.”
“You’re lying, Tommy. Or—” she searched his face shrewdly — “or evading.”
Tommy was given a momentary respite when the waiter came up with the drinks. He took up his glass and looked at Betty over the top of it. “To us!”
She barely tasted the drink. “You’re evading, that’s it. It has something to do with Paul deCamp, but it isn’t his safe. You answered that, straight.” She screwed up her face in thought. “You’re an expert on locks and keys, but not safes. You can open any kind of a lock. I saw you do it.”
“All right,” Tommy cried, “all right! I can open locks. I’ve got a gift for it. I’m the best damn lock and key man in the country. But what’re you getting at?”
“You’re planning to rob Paul deCamp. I don’t know how but it’s got something to do with locks. And Willis Trent and Earl Faraday are using you as a tool.”
“Why should you complain about that?” Tommy lashed at her. “Faraday’ll have a roll of money and he can drop Flo Randall and take you up again.”
“Damn you, Tommy Dancer,” Betty shot back at him. “Can’t you get it through that thick skull of yours that I’m through with Earl Faraday?”
“For the moment.”
“For keeps. All right, I’ll admit it, I thought I was in love with him. But even then I had no illusions about him. I knew him for what he was.” She made an impatient gesture and laughed. “Women are fools about their men. The more worthless they are the bigger fools they are about them Earl Faraday was never in love with me. He thought I had money and when he found out I didn’t have any, well — he didn’t want me then. I’m being brutally frank about it.”
Tommy stared at her. “You’ve got a Cadillac car — a mink coat...”
“And a fine house in Beverly Hills,” Betty said, scornfully. “With a nice mortgage on it... My father died a year ago and mother and I discovered that he had cashed m even his annuities — yes, to buy this Cadillac car and mink coat — and a lot of other things... So if you think you’re getting a rich girl, forget it.”
“What do you mean if I think I’m getting a rich girl?”
Betty leaned back against the seat cushion and looked steadily at Tommy. “If we didn’t spend all our time fighting, maybe you’d know by now...”
Tommy’s hand shot across the table and caught hold of both of Betty’s hands. For a moment she averted her eyes then raised them to meet Tommy’s. A smile parted her lips.
“Hello,” she said.
Chapter Thirteen
Knuckles massaged the thin panels of the door and caused a series of small explosions inside the room. Tommy Dancer rolled over in bed, groaned and opened one eye. It focused itself with some difficulty upon the cheap alarm clock beside his bed. It read 7:10.
“For the love of Mike,” he exclaimed.
“Tommy,” someone called outside the door.
It was the voice of Willis Trent and it shocked Tommy awake. He threw back the bed covers and swung his bare feet to the floor. He crossed swiftly to the door and shot back the night latch.
Trent pushed open the door. “Hello, Tommy,” he said, easily and took in the dingy apartment in a swift glance. “Nice place you got here.”
“It isn’t the Lehigh,” Tommy retorted.
He walked back to the bed and seated himself on it. “Why the early visit?”
“You forgot to call me back last night,” Trent replied. “Remember?”
Tommy grimaced. “I didn’t get in until after two.”
“Out with Faraday’s girl, eh?”
“I’m no good for fighting,” Tommy said, “not until I’ve had my breakfast.”
“Get dressed then and well go out and get a bite. I haven’t had my own breakfast.”
Trent seated himself in the single mohair-covered chair in the room. Tommy headed for the bathroom and taking off his pajamas stuck his head under the cold shower. Then he dried himself and dressed quickly.
When he re-entered the other room Trent was still in the mohair chair. “We worked out the details last night,” he said. “Faraday’s going into the bank with you.”
“I thought he didn’t have a box there?”
“He doesn’t. That’s the point. He’ll step up to the window right behind you and ask about renting a box. He can take longer that way; in fact, he’s going to make a point of keeping the attendant occupied until you come out. We went over it carefully. It’s a matter of seconds and if I just filled out a slip, the girl might go in too soon.” He drew a deep breath. “Besides, when the kickback comes they may check over the slips and see that on two occasions a man named Trent followed one named Dancer.”
Tommy shrugged. “You may be right, but — where’ll you be?”
“Outside, in a car. Oh, don’t worry, I’ve timed it. I’ll manage to come up about thirty seconds after you’ve stepped into the bank; and I’ll see that I’m caught by the red light. That’ll be another thirty seconds. Sixty altogether. Then I’ll make a slow right turn...”
“You’re taking it for granted that I’m waited on as soon as I enter the bank.”
“You will be, if you’re outside the bank when it opens. You’ll be the first one at the window and Faraday will see that no one steps up right after you, except himself.”
Tommy nodded thoughtfully. “Sounds all right.”
“It’s got to be all right. I wouldn’t go through this a second time for twice what there’ll be in that box.”
Tommy got his coat from the closet. “You’ve figured everything out, Trent. What about afterwards; do we split the money and run for the tall timber?”
Trent snorted. “Are you crazy? That’d be the surest way of drawing suspicion to us. We stash the money and we continue exactly the way we are now; you go back to your lock and key shop. You don’t spend a dime more than you earn; not until I give you the word I mean that, Tommy.”
“It’s all right with me. Only I was thinking about Faraday... and Flo Randall. She’s going to be one of the first to know that Paul deCamp’s money is gone and she’s going to remember that she gave the box number to Faraday...”