of the sharpener into the holes of the dial.
“You agree this is a reasonable request?” she said.
“Go ahead and dial the goddamn number.”
He went into the other room, making no attempt to see what number she was painstakingly dialing. What she didn’t know was that Power had inserted a device in the base of the phone to record the numbers of outgoing calls.
She called Shayne back and told him, “Ask for extension thirty-eight.”
He picked up the phone. In a moment a girl’s voice said hello.
“Thirty-eight,” Shayne said.
“Thirty-eight? Are you sure you have the right-oh, yes. One moment.”
Then a man’s voice said pleasantly, “Yes?” It was the same voice Shayne had heard when he tapped the Staten Island line.
“I’m a friend of a friend,” Shayne said. “You may not want to mention any names.”
“Nonsense, why not? This friend would be Michele?”
“Yeah. You may not worry about your phone, but I think I’ll worry about mine. So you’ll know who’s talking, she paid me seven and a half G’s yesterday, and she owes me another seven and a half.”
“Making fifteen in all,” the voice said, amused.
Shayne grunted. “I thought she cut a piece for herself before it got as far as me. If anybody ever gives this doll the lie-detector test, she’ll wreck the machine. Well, you probably know by now that things have gone a little sour.”
“But not totally, I understand? Where is Michele?”
“Right here, but she can’t come to the phone.” He lowered his voice, holding Michele’s eyes across the intervening space. “You probably want to know what it’s going to cost you. Five hundred thousand.”
“How much?” the voice said sharply, losing its pleasant quality.
“An even half million. In American money. That’s not the asking price, it’s the ticket on the deal. I’ve just been arguing with her, and I think I’ve convinced her I mean it. Of course she’s hoping to siphon some of it her way sooner or later. How long will it take you to scrape up that much cash?”
“It can’t be done in any amount of time. I don’t have it.”
“Do your best,” Shayne said philosophically. “I want to give you a phone number.” He thumbed through the yellow pages for the number of the motel, and read it off. “Call me there at four and I’ll tell you the next step. Ask for Matt Maguire. If I don’t get that call, I’m setting fire to the truck. Which would be a shame, considering all the dough you’ve already put into this.”
“You’re bluffing. Nobody bluffs me. I was about to make you a more realistic offer. But if that’s the way you want it-”
Shayne interrupted. “That’s the way I want it. Don’t try to play poker with crazy people. I’m nuts, I admit it. I don’t like handling junk. Neither do you, I notice, whoever the hell you are. They murder you on a drug rap in this state. I’ll deal with you for five hundred grand and not a penny less. Michele knows me. Michele, baby, tell the man. Will I set fire to the truck if I keep getting this price-is-too-high routine?”
He held out the phone.
“Yes,” she said.
“Louder,” Shayne told her. “Say something else so he’ll know it’s really you.”
“Yes, Mr. A.,” she said, “he really will.”
“Put her on,” the man’s voice said.
Shayne laughed. “Huh-uh. I’m just a country boy, but I know if I’m not careful with you guys I’ll lose my teeth. Think about it for another thirty seconds.”
“It is two o’clock now. You are allowing me two hours to raise the money. I doubt that it’s enough. You know nothing about how business is conducted in the modern world.”
“But this isn’t a regular business, is it? That reminds me. If you’re thinking about sending some muscle to the motel to beat my head in, don’t. I’ve parked the stuff with a friend of mine, and he’s itchier than I am. If I don’t call him by five after four, whoosh!”
“I see,” the voice said softly. “I think I understand the situation. Till four.”
Shayne hung up. “How old is he, anyway?” he asked Michele.
“Older than you,” she told him, “and far less interesting.”
“I’ll bet,” Shayne said dryly.
He moved the phone well beyond her reach, and tossed off a fast drink. Michele continued to watch him.
“If you try,” she said, “you can think of some better way than leaving me chained to a refrigerator.”
“It won’t be so bad,” Shayne said. “If you get hungry, you’ve got everything right there. In one way I’d like to wait till dark, but I think I’ll need daylight for this transfer. It’s going to be touch and go there for a couple of minutes. I’ll try to get everything wound up by five, and let’s hope for your sake it goes off OK. The last thing I’ll say to the guy will be where he can find you.”
“Perhaps you will decide to come yourself, after all.”
Shayne grinned. “I’ll keep thinking about it.”
He brushed his hand across her breast, and her lips parted. He took her keys and threw the bolt from the outside. On the way to the elevator he opened the door of the incinerator closet and told Brownie, “Everything’s rolling right along.”
CHAPTER 15
Power had been waiting for Shayne’s call. He answered instantly.
“I wish you’d consider opening a New York office,” Power said jubilantly after Shayne reported what had happened. “Could we use a man like you around here! All right. I don’t want to take any unnecessary chances. I’m still not persuaded that Kraus was their only man in the department, so let’s play it close to the vest. You, me, Tim Rourke and Jamieson-the four of us ought to be able to handle it. Tim can operate the camera. This is one arrest I think I deserve to make in person.”
“I only see one hole in it,” Shayne said thoughtfully. “If this guy is strictly a money man, why won’t he send somebody to make delivery? The way he sounded, he’s not somebody who sticks his neck out unless he has to, and it doesn’t seem to me he has to.”
“You may be right,” Power conceded. “But this is no ordinary deal, and would he trust anybody else with it? A half million in cash-that’s a powerful temptation. Even so. He’ll have to do his own recruiting this time, and that’s going to give us one more link. We can get the phone number from the girl’s phone. Extension thirty-eight will pinpoint it. We have the girl herself, or we will have. We have a lead to the bank on William Street. I think it may be nearly enough.”
“Maybe,” Shayne said dubiously. “What do I tell him when he says he can’t raise the full half million? Do I settle for less?”
“Play it by ear, Mike. The one thing you really have to convince him of is that you’ll blow up the truck at the first hint of trouble. That’s essential. They lock up the Motor Shop at four. Get down there as fast as you can. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes to set up. I’ll bring everything we need. Give him a five-o’clock deadline-he’ll need that long to package the money. I’ve got a hunch we’re going to put this over, Mike.”
“I hope so.”
He hung up, troubled by something too vague to be called a premonition.
He checked in at the motel. Alone in his room, he found a ball game on TV, took off his jacket and tie and sat back against the head of one of the twin beds with a glass in one hand and a pint of cognac within reach. He went over the plan again. Something continued to pick at him, but he wasn’t able to chase it down. They had set up a tight schedule, leaving the opposition too little time to work out any counterplan. There were three things that could happen, and as far as Shayne could tell, no more than three. If the banker appeared in person, they would film the transaction and have the most important narcotics arrest of the decade. If he sent an agent, they would still have an important arrest, as well as a fair case against the man at the top if they could find him. As for number three, if
