She had taken off her dresss and was wearing a blue silk wrap. There was a cold, brooding
expression on her face, and she drew on the cigarette hungrily, blowing a long stream of
tobacco smoke to the ceiling.
I stood in the middle of the room, my hands in my trouser pockets, my nerves jumpy, my
eyes on her. Slowly she turned her head until she was looking at me.
“Scared, Johnny?” she asked, and her eyebrows lifted.
“It is not a matter of being scared,” I said. “It’s a matter of knowing when you’re licked.
We’ve played our best card, and he’s trumped it. I don’t know the first thing about checking
his accounts, but that’s neither here nor there. Even if I could read a balance sheet that still
doesn’t give us access to the reserve. I always thought this was a screwy idea. What made
you think he would hand over his keys?”
She stared at her cigarette, flicked ash on the floor, and smiled secretively to herself.
“So you want to run away?”
“There’s no alternative. Can’t you see that? All he has to do is to put a call through to
Hollenheimer and ask him for a description of Ricca: then up goes the balloon.”
“There was always that risk. You don’t think I hadn’t taken that into consideration?”
I stared at her.
“Had you?”
“I thought it was more than likely he’d check with Hollenheimer. Nick’s no fool.”
I moved closer and stood at the foot of the divan.
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“What’s the answer, then? What do you suggest we do when he finds out I’m not Ricca?
He’s probably found out by now.”
“Let’s not worry about that,” she said. “There are more important things to think about.”
“Not for me there aren’t. Suppose Reisner gives Hame the story? Then it’ll all come out,
and we’ll go to jail for what we did to Wertham.”
“Poor Johnny,” she said, and laughed. “How fussed you’re getting. Can’t you see Reisner
will be as anxious as we are that no one should find out Paul’s dead? When a kingdom loses
its king, there’s always a scramble to grab. Zoe, Itta, Hame and Ricca - especially Ricca -
aren’t going to stand aside and let Reisner take over, and he knows it. He’ll be as anxious as
we are that no one should know Paul is dead until he has got control of the casino. He won’t
tell Hame. He won’t tell anyone. Now do you see why we haven’t a lot to worry about?”
I sat on the foot of the divan. This was something I hadn’t figured on.
“That guy’s dangerous,” I said. “Okay, suppose he keeps his mouth shut? What’s he going
to do about us?”
She lifted a long, slender leg and examined it critically.
“He’ll probably put a bullet through our heads,” she said calmly. “It would be the most
sensible thing to do so far as he’s concerned. He’s good at arranging accidents. Does that
scare you, Johnny?”
Did it? Maybe it did, but I wasn’t going to admit it.
“That doesn’t come into it.”
“Are you sure? It would be easy. He could fix Hame. You’d be surprised what Hame does
for money.”
“But not murder. You don’t kid me he’d cover up murder.”
“I didn’t say murder. I said an accident.”
I got up and began to move restlessly about the room.
“What’s on your mind, Della? All day you’ve been hinting at something. Let’s have it.”
“I haven’t been hinting at anything. I’ve been showing you a kingdom you can inherit.
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Hasn’t it sunk into your head yet the casino and the rake-off from Bay Street are yours for the
