‘They’re suspicious of him because I told them to be,’ Purvis said quietly. ‘Knowing what I do about the man and his reckless spending, it’s obvious that as soon as he realised he was get ing through his money, and there wouldn’t be any more, he’d think of the jewels. He’s the type who wants his cake and wants to eat it as well. You mustn’t forget that the jewels now belong to the insurance companies. They paid out the insurance, but the value of the jewels has enormously increased now. At a guess I’d say they were worth three times as much as the insurance companies paid for them, and that fact must stick in the Rajah’s throat. It’s my bet if he finds them he’ll stick to them. He could get rid of them in India without questions being asked. Most of the stuff would be snapped up by Indian princes, and no one would be any the wiser. He must lay his hands on some money soon. From what I hear he’s down to his last million.’
‘You don’t say!’ Dal as said sarcastical y. ‘Why, the poor fel a must be starving!’
Purvis pursed his lips. He considered such comments about money in poor taste. Money was Purvis’s god.
‘Never mind that,’ he said. ‘If we handle this right we stand to pick up four grand.’ He played a scale up and down the edge of his desk. ‘It’s my bet the Rajah wil take us to the jewels if we’re patient and don’t tip our hand. Mac-Adam and Ainsworth are covering him at night. Burns is sticking with him during the day. I want you to watch Kile. The Rajah won’t go for the jewels himself. He’ll have someone to do the work for him. That someone might easily be Kile. Keep on his tail, but don’t let him have an idea you’re watching him. If he doesn’t show signs of get ing into the game by the end of the week, drop him, and we’l wait for someone else to show.’
Dallas grunted. His lean brown face didn’t show any enthusiasm.
‘You could be barking up the wrong tree,’ he pointed out. ‘The easiest way to handle this is to sit tight and wait for Hater to come out of jail. He’s the one who’l lead us to the jewels.’
Purvis made a wry face.
‘He won’t be out for two years!’ He leaned forward and rapped on his desk. ‘I can’t afford to wait two years. We’ve got to produce something before then.’
‘What’s the hurry?’ Dal as said, yawning. ‘We’ve been at this off and on for fifteen years. Why not concentrate on other jobs and wait until Hater gets free?’
‘Don’t you realise how much we stand to pick up…?’
‘Yeah, you told me. I don’t know if you’re using the royal ‘we’, but I’m damned sure I’l never smell that four grand, or even a dollar of it.’
‘That remains to be seen,’ Purvis said hurriedly. ‘We haven’t got it yet. The insurance companies have been paying us a retainer for the past fifteen years, and we’ve done precious lit le to earn it. We can’t afford to wait until Hater comes out. We’ve got to get busy right now.’
Dallas looked at him suspiciously.
‘Have they been belly-aching?’
‘They’ve been doing more than that. They’ve stopped the retainer. It was as much as I could do to persuade them to let us represent them for another three months. We’ve got to get things moving or some of us will have to look for another job.’
Dallas unfolded his lanky frame out of the chair. He picked up his hat and slapped it on the back of his head.
‘Don’t kid yourself you’re scaring me,’ he said. ‘I could get me a better job than this one any day of the week. The only reason why I stick with you is because you’ve become a bad habit. Okay, I’l watch Kile. Maybe he’l lead us to the jewels, but I very much doubt it. There’s only one man who knows where they are, and that’s Hater. So long as he’s in prison they never will be found.’
‘That’s defeatism,’ Purvis said severely. ‘We haven’t two years to wait: we’ve only three months.
Keep after Kile, and watch that girl. She may know something.’
Dallas’s face brightened.
‘Watching her won’t be hard work,’ he said, making for the door. ‘It’s going to be a pleasure. If I didn’t think you’d take me up on it, I’d say I’d do it for free.’
As an eager look came into Purvis’s eyes, Dal as ducked out of the office and hurriedly closed the door.
VI
At half-past ten, Rico left his office and walked across the restaurant to the bar. There were not more than twenty couples dining in the restaurant, but that didn’t worry him. It was seldom the club got busy until after eleven o’clock.
Rico bowed when he thought he recognised a face, but he didn’t stop to chat as he usual y did. He noticed some of the diners were looking curiously at his bruised face, and he felt a little self-conscious.
Besides, he didn’t feel up to his usual suave, gossipy round of the tables. He was still horribly shaken by Baird’s telephone cal . Baird must have been crazy to have used the telephone: the kind of slip that put a man in the gas- chamber!
With an uneasy grimace at the thought, Rico entered the bar. There were only a dozen or so people at the tables around the dimly lit room. Rico ordered a double whisky. He approved of the barman’s good manners. He had taken a quick look at Rico’s bruised face, and then had kept his eyes studiously away from it.
As Rico sipped the whisky he once more glanced at the people in the room. He noted with satisfaction that all but two of them were in evening dress. When the Frou-Frou Club had first opened, a year ago, you wouldn’t have found anyone there in evening dress: even Rico hadn’t worn it. Only the rougher element of the town patronised the club, but as soon as he could afford to take a risk, he raised his prices and gradually squeezed them out. Now, by careful advertising and recommendations he had attracted what he liked to call ‘the carriage trade’, and evening dress was the rule instead of the exception.
Among his numerous clients were wealthy business men who knew they could pick up a girl at the club without being involved in any awkward complications, a half a dozen or so not-so-well-known actors and actresses, several con men, crooks and prostitutes, and a small army of tough-looking characters who didn’t advertise what they did for a living, but who brought their women to the club regularly and had money to burn.
