Walking in the direction of the theatre I felt elation. He was alive. He’d made it out somehow and was back to his old tricks. There was a chance this could play out. By the time I reached the cinema I was wet through. The marquee advertised The Trap with Lon Chaney, and I blanched. What was I walking into? There was no one at the entrance so I quietly slid into an empty lobby filled with the smell of burnt popcorn. It was eerie. No ticket-tearer or usher. From the atrium I could hear a piano playing. I climbed the stairs to the balcony for a better viewpoint. I’d seen the picture when it first came out. Not nearly as good as The Unholy Three.
Through thick smoke the projector cast its light. A piano player laboured over suspense. There was quite a bit left to go, another reel or two. Two miners competed over rival claims, the scenario a pastiche out of Jack London or Robert Service. My mind wandered until a woman gasped as Chaney fought a wolf. The finale treated us to a tender moment with a baby and it all ended happily and for the best. With a flourish the house lights raised. Women fingered on gloves and the murmuring audience unclotted. There: down and to the left, two men in hats seated together, smoking. I gave a low Scout whistle. Jack turned around and pointed a finger at me, a cocked gun. With him this second, younger fellow. They came up through the thinning crowd and we met in the aisle.
“This way,” said Jack.
We took a short stairwell leading to the projection booth and Jack opened the door to what turned out to be a janitor’s cubby stuffed with torn publicity sheets, creased photographs of movie stars, ripped bunting.
“Do you have a handkerchief?” Jack asked once we’d fought our way in.
I shook my head.
“Then take mine. I’ll employ another principle.”
“What’s that?” asked the other man. He was a pretty blond, shorter than me.
“The memorable distracting detail,” Jack said.
The stranger began tying a cloth over his nose and mouth.
“What’s the gag?” I asked.
“Money,” Jack said. “You want some? Bob here does.”
The third man nodded.
“Bob, Mick. Mick, Bob.”
I looked from Jack to this Bob and back again, reeling my Irish in, that hot surge of fury. Without a by-your-leave or a word of explanation, as though my sentiments or any possible objections were not even in consideration. But it was too late. I couldn’t lose face. I was worse than any Chinaman. Jack handed me the disguise, and I put it on.
“What’d I tell you?” Jack said to Bob. “Mick’s our man.”
“I still say it’s a two-man job,” brayed Bob.
“Three’s safer. It’s my caper. Equal shares.”
Bob gave me a dirty look. I was cutting into his portion. Already I didn’t like him much.
“There’s the watchman, the manager, and a girl,” Jack said. “Three’s best.”
“Third murderer,” I said.
“No rough stuff if we can help it. You still have your cannon?”
I opened my coat.
“How much do you reckon?” I asked.
“There’s a whole week’s receipts on a Sunday. Maybe more. We’ll see. You ready? I’m Pete, you’re Sam and Ed. Got the rope?”
Bob took a big coil out from his coat and looped it over his shoulder. Jack checked his wristwatch.
“Half-past ten.”
He opened the door to near-blackness softened only by the red of an exit sign. I went cold with fear. This had the taste of desperation to it, that familiar flavour of fear. My hair steamed as we made our way down a steep flight. Ahead of us was an illumination, a door ajar. Jack eased it open, revealing a man in sleeve garters and a bowtie dipping a pen nib into a bottle of ink. Before him sat a ledger. Jack clucked his tongue and the man looked up.
“What’s this?”
Jack raised a finger to his lips.
“Who are you, sir? This theatre’s closed.”
Bob and I entered the office, guns in hands.
“Good Lord. What is the meaning of this?”
The man snatched off his pince-nez and began to stand. He had pluck, I’d give him that.
“Do not test our resolve, sir. We are here to relieve you of your pecuniaries.”
Jack parodied the manager’s Southern drawl creditably.
“But sir, you cannot. I must insist you disengage!”
“I will ask you to be so kind as to hold your tongue. We desire the contents of the safe,” Jack said. “Samuel, Edward, locate the watchman and the lady. Take care that the doors have been locked and search for any telephones, like so.” Jack picked up the Bakelite machine on the manager’s desk and ripped the cord from the wall, then dumped the disabled works on the floor. At this, the manager stood a moment, then sat again suddenly, pale, confused. Bob left the office and I followed.
“I’ll check the lobby,” I said. “Try the back exit for the guard.”
Bob slipped off, saying nothing. I headed down a passageway, my stomach sinking away, bowels frozen. The hall opened on the shadowy lobby, where an older woman in a cardigan fussed behind the candy counter. I walked to the doors and checked that they were locked from within. Turning my way, the woman went saucer-eyed. I caught my own reflection in a dark mirror, a menacing masked figure with a gun. I’d do whatever I said, for fear of worse.
“Come with me, madam,” said I.
Some of Jack’s mock gallantry had worn off on me. At present Bob was an unknown factor but seemed a cold, bloodthirsty, greedy little bastard. What we were engaged in was a felony. Should something go wrong, it would be the rope for us. Trust Jack, I reminded myself. Why? Because you always have, you fool.
“Where’s the ’phone?” I growled.
Nothing. She was frozen. Get her out of here. I grabbed at her elbow and steered her backstage towards the office. My captive moved jerkily, like an automaton. We ran into Bob, lashing a uniformed geezer’s hands to a ladder. He stuffed a wadded playbill into the watchman’s mouth. Quid ipsos custodes custodiet indeed. Pre-medical grounding in the Classics is a requisite. Some Latin, less Greek, like the Bard. Remembered peppering my Juvenal with accents, playing the Eton swot for the Pater. He watched, bearded and severe as Jehovah, never sparing the rod as I tripped over the dative case. Jack slung the bat with ease, another of his gifts, beaming at our schoolmaster, never an apple polisher but genuinely likeable. People took a shine to Jack, I never knew why. The manager had probably already opened a bottle of sourmash, the two damning reconstruction and toasting the immortal memory of Robert E. Lee. I poked the woman into the room and Bob followed. The woman cried: “John!”
“Mary?”
Bob sniggered. I almost agreed. Who were these people?
“May I assume that you two enjoy the sanctity of the marital bond?” asked Jack.
The manager choked.
“Now see here, you ruffian,” he said.
“For heaven’s sake, John,” wailed Mary.
“Yes, John. For your own sake and that of this good lady, be kind enough to open the safe. We desire no harm to befall the missus,” said Jack.
John goggled. John Adams, I saw painted on the frosted glass of the office door.
“Sir, I beseech you, as a fellow Southerner, please...”
“John!” Mary shrieked.
Adams deflated. He swivelled his chair towards a Chinese screen, which he pulled aside to reveal a squat iron cube, then spun the dial and opened the safe. Jack sat on the edge of the desk, all taut attention and eager amusement, humming “Dixie.” The manager took out a bound pile of notes, a sack of silver, and a fat bag stuffed with loose bills. He passed the lot to Jack.
“Thank you kindly,” said Jack.