There was my cue and I didn’t miss it. I pressed the play back but on on the recorder and turned the volume up.
Rima’s voice filled the room.
Knight made to turn the recorder off, but Shirely waved him away. He stood listening, his head cocked on one side, his dark little eyes moved from me to Knight and then to the recorder.
When the tape finished and I had stopped the machine, Shirely said, ‘Exceptional y good. Who is she?’
‘Just an unknown,’ I said. ‘You wouldn’t know her name. I want a contract for her.’
‘I’ll give you one. Have her here tomorrow morning. She could be a valuable property,’ and he started for the door.
‘Mr. Shirely…’
He paused to look over his shoulder.
‘This girl isn’t wel ,’ I said, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice. ‘I need five thousand dollars to get her fit. When she is fit, she’l sing even bet er than that record. I’ll guarantee it. She could be the sensation of the year, but she has to be got fit. Is her voice, as it is, good enough for you to gamble on a five thousand advance?’
He stared at me, his small eyes going glassy.
‘What’s the mat er with her?’
‘Nothing a good doctor can’t fix.’
‘Did you say five thousand?’
The sweat was running down my face as I said, ‘She needs special treatment.’
‘From Dr. Klinzi?’
There seemed no point in lying to him. He wasn’t the kind of man you could lie to.
‘Yes.’
He shook his head.
‘I’m not interested. I would be interested if she was quite fit and ready to go to work. I would give you a very good contract, but I am not interested in anyone who has to go first to Dr. Klinzi before they can sing.’
He went out, closing the door behind him.
I took the tape off the recorder, put it in its box and dropped the box into my pocket.
‘There it is,’ Knight said awkwardly. ‘You played it wrong. The old man has a horror of junkies. His own daughter is one.’
‘If I can get her cured, would he be interested?’
‘No doubt about it, but he would have to be sure she was cured.’
He opened the door and eased me out.
CHAPTER FOUR
I
When I finally got home, Rima was out. I went into my bedroom and lay on the bed. I was completely bushed.
I hadn’t felt so depressed in years. From the Californian Recording Studios, I had driven to R.C.A.
There they had admired Rima’s voice, but when I began to talk about a five thousand dol ar advance they eased me out so fast I hadn’t a chance to argue with them.
I had gone to two of the bigger agents who also showed interest, but when they heard Rima was under contract to me they brushed me off in a way that made my ears burn.
The fact that Rima had gone out depressed me further. She had known I was going to see Shirely, and yet she hadn’t bothered to wait in to find out the result of the interview. She had been certain nothing would come of it. Bleak experience had already taught her that any effort of mine to get her somewhere was so much waste of time. That thought depressed me even more.
I now had to face the problem of what I was going to do.
I was out of a job and I had only enough money to last me until the end of the week. I didn’t even have my fare home.
I didn’t want to do it, but I final y decided I would have to go home. I knew my father would be sympathetic enough not to throw my failure in my face. I would have to get Rusty to lend me the fare and persuade my father to pay him back.
I was so frustrated and depressed I felt like banging my head against the wall.
Five thousand dollars.
If I could only get Rima cured, I knew she would make a hit. In a year she could make half a million and that would be fifty thousand dollars in my pocket: a lot better than crawling home and having to tell my father I had flopped.
I lay on the bed thinking like this until it got dark. Then just when I had finally made up my mind to go down and talk Rusty into lending me the money, I heard Rima come up the stairs and go into her bedroom.
I waited.
After a while she wandered in and stood at the foot of the bed, staring down at me.
‘Hello,’ she said.
I didn’t say anything.
‘How about something to eat?’ she said. ‘Have you any money?’
‘Don’t you want to hear what Shirely said?’
She yawned, rubbing her eyes.
‘Shirely?’
‘Yes. The boss of the Californian Recording Company. I went to see him this afternoon about you –
remember?’
She shrugged indifferently.
‘I don’t want to know what he said. They all say the same thing. Let’s go somewhere and eat.’
‘He said if you took a cure, he’d make a fortune for you.’
‘So what? Have you any money?’
I got off the bed and went over to the mirror on the wall and combed my hair. If I hadn’t done something with my hands, I would have hit her.
‘No, I haven’t any money, and we don’t eat. Clear out! The sight of you makes me sick to my stomach.’
She sat on the edge of the bed. She put her hand inside her shirt and began to scratch her ribs.
‘I’ve got some money,’ she said. ‘I’ll treat you to dinner. I’m not stingy like you. We’ll have spaghetti and veal.’
I turned to stare at her.
‘You have money? Where did you get it from?’
‘The Pacific Studios. They ’phoned just after you left. I had three hours crowd work.’
‘I bet you are lying. I bet you went down some dark alley with an old man with a beard.’
She giggled.
‘It was crowd work. I’ll tel you something else. I know where we can get that five thousand you’re worrying about.’ I put down the comb and faced her.
‘What the hell are you talking about?’
She studied her finger nails. Her hands were grubby and her nails black rimmed.
‘The five thousand for the cure.’
