“I don’t want to disbelieve you, Charlie, but I’d like to make quite sure that you’re being straight with me. Tell me a little more about this business.”

  “I’ll tell you so much you’ll be surprised,” I say. “I wish I’d brought that letter that Willie sent me outa the cooler. It would make your hair stand up. These guys have double-crossed you an’ him to hell.”

  She raises her eyebrows again.

  “Yes?” she says. “How?”

  “Look,” I tell her, “here’s the low-down: Some time early this year that guy Colonel Sergius Nakorova an’ some other wise guys work this job out. The first thing is that Buddy Perriner has got to be snatched, an’ the first move in that game is for Nakorova—who is a swell lookin’ guy—to go over to U.S. an’ make a play for Geraldine Perriner, who is a very temperamental sorta kid, an’ who falls easy.

  “The second thing is that if an’ when Nakorova gets the job goin’ an’ it looks as if Geraldine is fallin’ for him, he shall get some tough boys to snatch Buddy Perriner.

  “Well, everything goes very well. Nakorova gets Willie Lodz, Borg an’ you to fix the snatch job, but the dirty dog leads you all up the garden path. He lets you all think that this is just goin’ to be an ordinary snatch, an’ that when you get Buddy aboard that boat an’ got him stuck wherever it was he had to be stuck, a ransom note would be put in, Willis Perriner would pay up, Buddy would be sent back an’ you guys would all cut in on the dough.

  “That’s what Nakorova said. The dirty double-crossin’ so-an’-so.”

  “I see,” she says sorta casual. “So there was something else behind it? Go on, Charlie.”

  I take a deep breath an’ start prayin’ that I am not goin’ to slip up in my story. This dame is testin’ me out, puttin’ me through it to see if I am really wise to what Willie is supposed to have told me.

  “You bet there was something behind it,” I say. “Work it out for yourself. When Buddy is snatched Nakorova hangs around for a bit, makes love like hell to Geraldine so that she don’t know which way she is pointin’. Then he scrams over to Paris. Before he goes he fixes with her that she shall go after him. A coupla weeks later she gets on a boat an’ goes to Paris.

  “In the meantime Willis Perriner is not feelin’ so good. He calls in the F.B.I. an’ they send some fella called Wilks over to France to find out what’s goin’ on. In the meantime I reckon Borg an’ Willie an’ you are wonderin’ where your dough is, an’ the next thing that happens is that Willie gets a letter from Nakorova tellin’ him that the dough will be all right eventually when some result or other is secured in Paris. Maybe Willie showed you that letter?”

  “What then?” she says.

  “The last thing that happens,” I tell her, “is that Willis Perriner sends some dame, Juanella Rillwater, Larvey Rillwater’s wife—maybe you’ve heard of her—over to Paris to wise up Geraldine about Nakorova. She does this an’ Geraldine gets wise.

  “Well, you would have thought that Geraldine would have packed her grip an’ gone home. But she don’t. She disappears. Willie told me that he reckoned she’d gone to England. Well, do you see what I’m drivin’ at?”

  “Not quite,” she says. “You tell me.”

  I say: “It looks to me like the whole thing is a plant. It looks to me like Sergius Nakorova never intended to put in a ransom note askin’ Willis Perriner for money, because he didn’t want money. He wanted something else.

  “After Willie an’ Borg an’ you have fixed this kidnap stunt an’ got Buddy on this boat they’re through with you. They never intended to pay you a cut. Snatchin’ Buddy Perriner was only the first move in the game. The next move is to get that boy to do somethin’ they want him to do, an’ they got a swell way of makin’ him do it.”

  She nods her head.

  “You mean Geraldine?” she says.

  “That’s right,” I tell her. “It is stickin’ out a foot that Geraldine disappeared because these guys who are behind Nakorova told her she’d got to disappear. They told her she’d got to go to England. They told her that if she didn’t they’d slit Buddy’s throat, so she had to go.

  “So there’s a sweet set-up for you. Willis Perriner has got to do what he’s told because they’ve got Buddy. Buddy’s got to do what he’s told because they’ve got Geraldine. Geraldine’s got to do what she’s told because they’ve got Buddy. You an’ Willie an’ Borg get sweet nothin’. You’re all washed up an’ they’re through with you, an’ there ain’t anything you can do about it. An’ how do you like that!”

  She starts smilin’, an’ I am tellin’ you guys that although she has got a very sweet mouth an’ lovely teeth, that smile is very ominous. She takes up my glass, walks over to the sideboard an’ gives me another drink.

  “It looks as if you’re all right, Charlie,” she says. “You know your stuff.” She starts smilin’ again. “But I wouldn’t like to say that we were all washed up. I’ve got an idea in my head that when I walk out of Delfzyl I’m taking some money with me. And I am very glad you’ve turned up. Maybe I am going to need a little help.”

  I grin at her.

  “You’re tellin’ me,” I say. “Maybe you’re goin’ to need a whole lotta help. Another thing,” I go on, “I don’t like this place. It is too dark an’ it is sorta dreary. It smells ominous to me.”

  She goes back to the fireplace.

  “What was your idea in coming down here?” she says. “That is supposing you hadn’t met me?”

  “It wasn’t my idea,” I say. “It was Willie’s. In this note Willie sent me he told me that he reckoned you’d be around here sometime, an’ that if I was to run inta you I was to introduce myself an’ join up with you an’ make the best of a bad job. He said that if I didn’t meet up with you here, it might be a very good idea to try an’ see these guys who was behind Nakorova. Maybe Gloydas or Haal or Zeldar. He said that when I saw ’em I could tell ’em that I was representin’ him, that I wanted that dough an’ that if I didn’t get it maybe I would shoot my mouth off an’ start a little trouble for them. He said that he reckoned they might be a bit tough about this”—I grin at her—“but then Willie knows me—I’m tough too.”

  “I’m glad of that,” she says, “because I think that somebody will have to be very tough before this job is through.”

  She takes a cigarette outa the box on the mantelpiece an’ lights it. Then she turns round an’ looks at me.

  She says: “Supposing your idea is right about there being something else behind this snatch except getting a ransom, what do you think they’re after? If the pay-off wasn’t going to be money what was it going to be?”

  I grin at her.

  “I’m not quite certain,” I say, “but I’ll make a coupla guesses.” I blow a smoke ring. “You tell me somethin’,” I go on. “Have you been down to the harbour here?”

  She nods her head.

  “Well, I haven’t,” I tell her, “but I’ll take a bet with you that there are two or three of the Perriner Line cargo ships anchored there right now.”

  She smiles.

  “You’re right again, Charlie,” she says. “There are two of them.”

  “The second thing is, I’m bettin’ my best pair of shoes that Buddy Perriner was brought over here on one of those boats, that you guys fixed it with some of the crew that that kid was either doped or sandbagged, hidden away on one of those boats when they went to sea. An’ I reckon he’s around here somewhere.”

  She moves away from the fireplace an’ starts walkin’ about the room. I can see she is thinkin’ very deeply an’ I am bettin’ an old penknife I got against the Federal Bank Reserve that she is wonderin’ just how far she can play along with me.

  You guys have gotta realise that I have put up a very sweet story to her. She is believin’ that I am a pal of Willie Lodz’ all right, because if Willie had met me sorta casual in Paris, an’ if I had been an old-time pal of his an’ good enough to be in a highway stick-up with him, then I am just the sorta guy that he would write to just as one final chance to get his dough.

  An’ Charlie Hoyt is just the guy to get the dough. He has got a record in the U.S. that would make Jesse James look like a Sunday School superintendent’s favourite aunt.

  After a bit Ardena goes back to the fire an’ sits down in the big arm-chair. She leans back an’ puts her hands behind her head an’ looks at me. I give her a sorta casual once-over an’ it hits me very hard that Willie Lodz must have some very nice technique to get himself a dame in this class. I tell you she is tops an’ she is cool an’ easy an’ unhurried an’ non-flusterable. Also I like the way she has got her hair done, an’ when it comes to ankles she can give points to Geraldine an’ Juanella any day, but don’t say I said so.

  She gets up. She stands there lookin’ at me, smilin’ prettily. She says:

  “Listen, Charlie, I’m going to trust you. It looks as if I’ve got to. But take my advice and don’t try any funny business with me otherwise I am going to throw you to the wolves—don’t make any mistake about that.”

  I think I will clinch this deal.

  “Look, Ardena, I’m puttin’ my cards down. I can’t go back to the States because they still want me for killin’ that goddam copper in the Michigan stick-up that Willie and I pulled in ’32, see? Well, I had a bit of dough but I’ve done it. I’m broke. I’ve got to get a stake from somewhere. I wanta clear out some place where there ain’t any war goin’ on an’ where a guy can do a little quiet drinkin’ an’ get around with a doll now an’ again. That’s how it is with me, an’ so far as I am concerned you will get some very square dealin’. You got me?”

  “All right, Charlie,” she says. “We’ll call it a deal. Candidly,” she goes on, “I’m glad you’re here because I’m a little bit scared myself. These people are a little steep if you know what I mean . . .”

  “Such as?” I ask her.

  She grabs another cigarette. Then she goes over to the sideboard an’ gives herself a straight one. The way she sunk that whisky was an eye-opener.

  She says:

  “You’ve done pretty well with what Willie told you in that letter and what you’ve thought out for yourself. But you don’t know the half of it.”

  “Go ahead,” I say. “Put me wise to this thing. Maybe I can think of somethin’.”

  “This job was originally planned in England,” she says. “I was over there with Willie. We were keeping out of the States for a bit. Things were a bit too hot for us.

  “We met Nakorova and his wife Edvanne. Nakorova put the job up to us as a straight snatch and nothing else but. All we had to do was to get the Perriner kid.

  “We went over to New York to get ready for the job. Then it looked as if there was going to be a war and Sergius told us to lay off and that he would give us the tip. We hung around for some time and then he told us to go right ahead as planned.

  “It was easy. Old Perriner was up to his eyes making war stuff that he wanted to sell to the Allies if war was declared, an’ Buddy was stuck down there in the works working like steam and he didn’t like it. When the time came I made a play for him. He fell for my line and I got him to the place where the boys picked him up and the job was done.

  “Willie still believed that everything that Nakorova said was right. But I was beginning to get suspicious. First of all it looked funny to me to stick Buddy on one of old man Perriner’s ships. Then I found out that Nakorova had gone to all the trouble of getting half a dozen men on the boat on his pay-roll, so that Buddy Perriner could be sneaked aboard an’ kept hidden. Why? When he could have taken off to some place in Mexico and the old man stood up for a couple of million. It would have been easy.

  “Well, I know what happened,” she says. “Gloydas told me. He told me to-night.”

  “Yeah,” I say. “It looks as if you an’ this guy Gloydas are pretty good pals.”

  She gives me a wink that is full of meanin’.

  “How else was I to play it?” she says. “I was here on my own. Willie’s all washed up and I’m playing my own hand.

  “I told Gloydas that Nakorova had done Willie down for our dough, and that I’d come along to see if there was any pickings. Gloydas has got an idea in his head that he likes my kind of woman. He says that if I hang around for a bit and play ball and keep nice and quiet he’ll take care of me.”

  “Very nice work,” I tell her.

  She takes another cigarette an’ gives me one.

  “This Nakorova-Gloydas combination have got brains,” she says. “Lots of ’em. Listen to this:

  “Sergius Nakorova was no mug. While he was playing around with Geraldine in the States he found out plenty. Through Buddy he found out that old Willis Perriner knew goddam well that a war was comin’ along and he was dead keen on the Allies getting away with it. Also he was betting on Roosevelt’s Neutrality Act going through. Willis Perriner’s scheme was that directly the Act was passed he was going to send those ships to sea and they were to sail for England and deliver the stuff. Perriner schemed to get around the ‘Cash and Carry’ part of the Act by selling the ships as well as the cargoes to the English and by putting neutral crews aboard. That’s where he made his mistake. Half a dozen men in the crew of the Maybury—the biggest ship—were put in by Nakorova. They were the boys who took Buddy aboard, kept him out of sight and told him to keep his mouth shut if he wanted to go on living.

  “When the time was right and the ships were at sea, and Nakorova safely in Paris, the ransom letter was delivered to Willis Perriner.

  “This letter did not ask for money. It said that if Willis Perriner wanted to see his son alive again he was to radio the ships that they were to run into this port and to await further orders. And he was to tell the captains that they would get those orders from Buddy Perriner, here in Delfzyl.”

  I get up an’ go over to the sideboard an’ pour myself out another drink.

  “You was right when you said these guys had got brains, Ardena,” I tell her. “They got brains an’ they got nerve, but when you come to work it out if everythin’ went all right they are not takin’ much of a chance. I reckon there’s some sweet dough in this for this bunch.”

  She looks at me.

  “Sweet dough! Do you know what’s on those boats?”

  I shake my head.

  “There’s over two hundred airplanes on them,” she says. “Two hundred of the very latest fighters and bombers, with all the equipment, all ready to be assembled. There’s over three million dollars worth of stuff on those two boats. An’ you know what they aim to do with it, don’t you?”

  “That’s easy,” I told her. “They just sail round the corner outa Delfzyl Bay inta the River Ems. Everybody knows the Germans had the Ems deepened two years ago to take big ships. All they gotta do is sail round the corner over to the other side of the Ems an’ they’re in Germany.”

  “That’s right,” she says. “And those are the orders that Buddy Perriner has got to give the captains aboard those two boats. That’s the orders he’ll have to give.”

  I put down my glass.

  “Well, it’s a nice job,” I tell her. “An’ nice dough, an’ it’s even nicer for ’em now they won’t have to pay Nakorova.”

  “Why not?” she says.

  I gave her a big grin.

  “Nakorova’s dead,” I tell her. “His wife bumped him off an’ then killed herself. Nakorova made a mug outa her too. Like you an’ Willie an’ Borg she thought this job was just a snatch. Then she found out the truth. She got scared. She wanted to try an’ get Nakorova to lay off because, even if Edvanne Nakorova was a bad dame, she was a good Frenchwoman, an’ France is at war with Germany.

  “But Nakorova wasn’t havin’ any. He told her that he was goin’ through with the job an’ that if she didn’t like it he would give her the works. So she killed him. Then she killed herself because really she was dead-nuts on him. She was fond of that guy an’ he just broke her heart by tryin’ to make her into a traitor to her own country.

  “She was a hot dame,” I go on, “but in her own way she earned a croix de guerre that she won’t ever get. Also she had a pair of ankles that are nearly as nifty as those you’re sportin’.”

  I reckon that one pleases her. She gives herself another cigarette. She is smilin’.

  “That’s what they call retribution in the story books,” she says. “Well, have you got any ideas?”

  I shrug my shoulders.

  “Look, Ardena,” I tell her, “we’re in a tough spot. What can we start here? Maybe we might get this guy Gloydas in a corner some place an’ talk to him with the butt end of a gun, but is that goin’ to help?”

  She shakes her head. She stands there lookin’ inta the fire. After a bit she says:

  “Charlie, we’ve only got one chance. It’s no good believing anything these guys say. Gloydas told me that if I stick around here he’d look after me. Well, I wouldn’t like to believe him. Once they get those ships round into the Ems River tied up to a German wharf, Gloydas will probably tell me to take the air. I wouldn’t put it above him. If we’re going to look after ourselves there’s only one way we can do it.”

  “Such as what?” I ask.

  “Look,” she says. “Figure it out for yourself. The two Perriner boats—the Maybury and the Mary Perriner—are tied up here in a harbour in a neutral country. They’ve got small crews aboard them, but they’re not American boys and we can’t expect any help from them. They’re good sea captains, I reckon, but beyond that they haven’t got much sense. None of those people are any good to us. As far as the Dutch authorities are concerned here, everything is in order. Holland isn’t at war with Germany an’ Willis Perriner is quite entitled if he wanted to to sell any stuff he wants and to deliver it in the Ems River.

  “But there is just one point for us. Buddy Perriner has not yet given the orders for those boats to leave here an’ go round. The captains have had their orders by radio from Willis Perriner. Perriner had to tell them that they were to take their orders from Buddy Perriner here. They won’t clear from the harbour until they get them.”

 

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