She went on to tell me about the casino, what it looked like, the kind of tables used, the
number of croupiers employed, the amount of profit made in an evening, how much the
various members of the staff were paid, how many crooked tables there were and how they
operated. Then she switched to Jack Ricca, and gave me his background. He had joined
Wertham’s organization about a year ago. No one knew much about him. It was rumoured he
used to run a night-club in New York, but he had neither admitted nor denied it. He was a
man who said little about himself.
“Every so often he goes on a drinking jag,” Della concluded, “and it’s my bet he’s in some
sanatorium, tapering off.”
“You mean Wertham employed a drunk like that?”
“He’s sober ten months of the year. Paul said he has one of the sharpest brains in the
business. Since Ricca took over the casino they’ve trebled the take.”
“Well, you’ve told me about Wertham and Ricca,” I said, looking at her, “how about telling
me something about yourself?”
“Are you getting interested in me, Johnny?” she asked.
98
That was the wrong word, but I didn’t tell her. Without any warning, and apparently
because I had seen her at a different angle, she had suddenly touched off my blood: I was on
fire for her.
“Call it that if you like,” I said. “If we’re going to work together, shouldn’t I know
something about you?”
She gave me a jeering little smile that told me I wasn’t fooling her for a moment.
“I met Paul two years ago when I was trying to break into the movies. I was down to my
last dollar when he showed up. As a man he meant nothing to me. He was selfish, arrogant
and cruel, but he had money and he threw it around. He fell for me, and I played hard to get.
He spent hundreds on me, took me everywhere, but I was angling for marriage. Finally he got
so worked up he said he would marry me.” Her full, scarlet lips parted in a bitter smile. “He
had me for a sucker. The ceremony was phoney. He had a wife already, but I only found that
out after eighteen months of living with him. He promised to divorce her, and he did. The
divorce comes through next month, but it’s a little late. All his personal money goes to his
wife. I get nothing. I’ve lived pretty well these past two years, and I’m not going back to the
old racket again. That’s why I’m going ahead with this set-up, Johnny, and no one’s going to
stop me.”
She was still talking when we heard the door latch click up. I only just had time to flop
back on the bed and close my eyes before Jud Harkness came in.
“Did you get through?” Della asked him.
“Yeah, and he’s coming right away,” Harkness said.
There was a note in his voice I didn’t like, and I peered at him from between my eyelashes.
He was looking towards me.
“Hasn’t he come around yet?” he asked.
“I think he’s sleeping,” Della said. “He seems to be breathing more evenly.”
There was a long, uneasy silence, then Harkness said, “The party reckoned it’d take rum an
hour to get here. If it’s all the same to you I’ll turn in. I’ve got to make an early start in the
morning.”
“Why, of course. We won’t disturb you. I’m very grateful for what you’ve done.”
“That’s okay. Sure there’s nothing you want?”
99
“I have everything.” She stood up. “Don’t bother to get up when Mr. Reisner comes.” She
paused, then went on, “I’d like you to accept …”
