money done up in a sealed brown paper parcel. She left without it.’
This news startled Terrell.?‘Homer Hare?’ he exclaimed. ‘You’re sure she left the money with him?’?‘I’m sure,’ Jacobs said.?‘Okay. Now look, Max, this is important. Get back to the entrance of the office block and stay there. If you see either Hare, Karsh or his wife leave with the money, pick them up. Tell them I want to talk to them. Get tough. Don’t let them get rid of the money. Understand?’
‘I’ll handle it, Chief,’ Jacobs said and hung up.
Sam Karsh and Lucille came into Hare’s office as he tore open the brown paper parcel. Hare was smiling. The sight of the hundred dollar bills as they spilt over the desk made Karsh whistle.
‘Wow! That looks good,’ he said and came dose to the desk. ‘That looks like real money!’ Hare dug his fingers into the mass of bills, lifted them and let them flutter back on to the desk.
‘Sammy… we’re rich! In two weeks time, the little lady is going to hand over the rest… we’ll be worth half a million!’
Lucille said, ‘Stop acting like a miser! What are we going to do with this right now?’
Hare looked sharply at her.?‘What’s the matter? You getting an attack of nerves or something?’?‘You’re goddamn right I’m getting an attack of nerves! Suppose the cops walked in now, how would you explain away this amount of money?’
Hare looked towards Karsh. He smiled his evil smile.?‘You married a bright girl, Sammy.’ He opened a drawer in his desk and took out a battered brief-case. Quickly he scooped the money into the case, clipped the case shut and then pushed it across the desk towards Karsh. ‘Get moving, Sammy. Rent a safe at the Miami Safe Deposit. Use any name that comes to your fertile mind so long as it isn’t one of ours and get moving. The quicker this is salted away, the safer it will be for us.’
Karsh shied away from the case.?‘Not me! Lucille can take it. Suppose some cop stops me on the street? I’m not all that crazy!’
‘Take it!’ There was a rasp in Hare’s voice. ‘If you want your cut, you work for it!’
Karsh eyed the brief-case, then he looked at his wife who stared blankly at him. He got no encouragement from her, and finally, he picked up the case.
‘If I walk into trouble,’ he said to Hare, ‘I’ll sing like a lark.’?‘Go ahead and sing,’ Hare said. ‘It’ll be the last Prima Donna act you’ll ever put on!’ Karsh suddenly grinned.?‘Forget it! For a third of half a million, I’d cut my wife’s throat.’?‘And I believe you,’ Lucille said in a flat, hard voice.
Karsh smiled at her.?‘Relax, baby. I was just talking, besides, it’d need a hacksaw to saw through your throat.’ Tilting his hat over his right eye, he left the office, swinging the brief-case in his hand. Jacobs, waiting in the lobby, saw Karsh come out of the elevator. He saw the briefcase in his hand. As Karsh walked briefly out on to the street, Jacobs followed him. Karsh got into the office car and searched his pockets for the ignition key. When he found it, and as be was about to sink the key into the ignition lock, Jacobs opened the offside door and slid into the car beside Karsh.
‘Hello, peeper,’ he said and smiled at Karsh who lost colour as he recognised Jacobs. ‘Headquarters: the Chief wants to talk to you.’
Karsh’s eyes went furtively to the brief-case that lay on the seat between the two men. ‘I’m busy right now,’ he said. ‘I’ll see him later. What’s he want anyway?’?‘He didn’t tell me,’ Jacobs said, lighting a cigarette. ‘Headquarters, Karsh, and snap it up!’
‘I tell you, I’m busy right now,’ Karsh said desperately. ‘I’m on a job! Get out of my car! I’ll see your Chief in half-an-hour. Go on, copper, beat it!’
‘You may not know it,’ Jacobs said, his face suddenly like granite, ‘but there are some thirty officers, including me, who long to punch you in your left eye. We all think you are the nastiest maggot that crawled out of stinking meat! It would give us all great pleasure to push your horrible eye ball into your horrible brain. I said… headquarters!’
‘You threatening me?’ Karsh said, losing colour.?‘That’s it, Karsh. I’ll give you five seconds to get this car moving. At the end of five seconds, you’ll get the sweetest slam in the eye any maggot’s ever had.’
‘I’ll fix you,’ Karsh said breathlessly. He started the car engine. ‘Don’t make any mistake about it! I’ll have your badge taken away!’
‘If you listen hard enough, maggot, you’ll hear my knees knocking,’ Jacobs said and grinned.
Ten minutes later, Karsh, carrying the brief-case, walked into Terrell’s office with Jacobs at his heels.
Terrell looked up from the mass of papers spread out over his desk. Jacobs pointed to the brief-case that Karsh was carrying and nodded his head. This signal went unseen by Karsh as Jacobs was behind him.
‘Now listen, Chief,’ Karsh said furiously, ‘this punk has no right to take me off a job. He threatened me! I’m going to report him…’
Jacobs laced his fingers together, lifted his arms and slammed his hands down on the back of Karsh’s neck.
Karsh went down on hands and knees, dropping the briefcase. He thought the ceiling had fallen on him. He remained like that until Jacobs planted a solid kick on the seat of his shiny trousers.
Karsh staggered to his feet and fell, groaning, into the nearest chair.?‘You can’t bit a man like that,’ Terrell said severely, although his eyes were twinkling. ‘There was a wasp on his neck, Chief,’ Jacobs said, looking sad. ‘I didn’t want the poor guy to get stung.’
‘Is that right?’ Terrell said. ‘For a moment, I thought you were playing rough with him.’ ‘Not me, Chief, you know me,’ Jacobs said, smiling broadly.
Karsh snarled at him.
‘I’ll fix you!’ he quavered. ‘You just wait and see.’?‘There’s that wasp again,’ Terrell said. ‘Better kill it, Max. Look, its right on top of the poor guy’s head.’
As Jacobs, grinning, moved towards Karsh, Karsh scrambled out of the chair and ran across the room, setting his back against the wall.
‘Don’t touch me!’ he yelled frantically. ‘Leave me alone!’
Terrell looked at Jacobs, then at the brief-case. Jacobs picked up the case, opened it and poured its contents on to the desk.
At this moment the door opened and Beigler came in. At the sight of the money covering the desk, he paused.
‘You been robbing a bank, Chief?’ he said. ‘That looks a lot of dough to me.’?‘It does, doesn’t it?’ Terrell said. ‘Let’s see just how much there is here.’?‘Don’t touch it!’ Karsh exclaimed. ‘That belongs to Hare! He told me to put it in a safe deposit.’
Then seeing the three men were staring at him, he went on hurriedly, ‘It’s nothing to do with me!
It’s Hare’s money! I was just…’?‘Shut up!’ Beigler snapped. ‘You want me to give you a poke in the eye?’
Karsh gulped. He was scared of Beigler. He stood, white and sweating, while Jacobs counted the money.
‘Twenty thousand,’ he said finally.
Terrell leaned back in his chair and regarded Karsh with cold, forbidding eyes.?‘Who gave you this money?’?‘I told you… Hare. He told me to put it in a safe deposit bank. I don’t know nothing about it!
‘Yeah? You know Hare hasn’t this kind of money. Where did he get it?’?‘He didn’t tell me. Ask him! Don’t ask me!’?‘I think the wasp’s worrying this punk again,’ Jacobs said. ‘Okay for me to swot it?’
‘Take him away,’ Terrell said. ‘I don’t like seeing insects killed. You might tell the boys that Sammy Karsh is here. They’ll want to get rid of the wasp with you… you mustn’t be selfish, Max.’
Grinning Jacobs caught hold of Karsh and locking his arms behind him, he shoved him out of the office. Karsh yelled and struggled, but Jacobs handled him effortlessly. Finally Karsh’s yells died away and Terrell looked at Beigler.
‘Now what are you going to do?’ Beigler said. ‘That punk mightn’t sing.’?‘I’m going to talk to Homer Hare,’ Terrell said grimly and reached for the telephone.
*****
As Val walked down Main Street, her mind busy, she became aware of hurrying footfalls behind her… the tap, tap, tap of high heels, and she glanced around. A girl was coming up behind her, and as Val looked around, the girl smiled hopefully.
