'So I did some studying and maybe Dad pulled some strings. Anyway I got the license and went to work and it couldn't have been more dull. Sometimes I would follow people. I was never told why e I simply followed them~or tried to—until my feet were sore and my legs ached. When the day was over I wrote a report and that was that. I worked behind department-store counters, all kinds of counters, spying on the help to make sure they were honest. I felt like a spy. I hated it. I never had an exciting moment in nine months or even a very interesting one. Then they told me about coming here/*
'How did they know I was coming?' Jeff asked. 'How did they know about my stepbrother?'
'They said there was a leak in your office.'
'When did they tell you?'
'Saturday.'
'That was a quick leak,' Jeff said dryly. 'This was the Tyler-Texas outfit that found this out?'
'Yes. Actually I don't know the details. All 1 know is that my boss said he had a job I'd like. He knew what plane you were taking and we tried to get a reservation on an earlier flight but by the time I managed to get tourist cards from the consul there wasn't any earlier flight. It wasn't until I got to the airport and you were pointed out to me that I even knew who you were.'
'They told you to pick me up.'
'Yes. They said the only chance I'd have to get the assignment from your stepbrother would be to get to Caracas first. All I had to do was get to know you and make you invite me to have a drink in the terminal restaurant. I asked why and they said the less I knew the better. They said they had been in touch with their Miami correspondents and that someone would meet me and take over. That's why I had to wear the red hat and the gardenias; so the men would know me.'
'What exactly were you supposed to do?'
She straightened her leg and leaned forward, elbows on knees, her voice hardly more than a whisper.
'They told me that when 1 got into the building I was to excuse myself and say I was going to the rest-rooin. Two men were to meet me and tell me what to do/* She wet her lips and said: 'It scared me a little. I wanted to know what the men were going to do to you and they said not to worry, that there'd be no trouble. They had a way to make you miss the plane and I'd go on alone. . . . Well, I didn't know what to say. They made it sound so exciting and—' She groped for a word and Jeff supplied it,
'Romantic?'
'I suppose so/' she said and blushed. 'And there was another reason. I was the one who wanted to be the private detective. I wanted to do something that was exciting—I'd been pestering them for a long time—and I couldn't go to Dad and say I was afraid. I just couldn't. My—my pride wouldn't let me.'
Jeff understood that much and it moved him strangely to know that while pride made her take the assignment, pride did not prevent her from letting him know how she felt.
'So these two men met you,' he said.
'Yes. And one of them gave me this little folded paper. He said to send you to the cigarette machine and put the powder in your drink. He said you'd never taste it. It wouldn't hurt you, and when you started to get drowsy I was to bring you outside and they would handle the rest of it.'
Again the color touched her cheeks and again her voice grew small 'I told them I couldn't. I knew then that they must have planned the whole thing before I left Boston. And now they said I had to do it. They weren't even polite about it. They said: 'Either you'll do it, sister, or your friend
ONE MINUTE PAST EIGHT go
will get hurt. We were hired to do a job and we intend to do it one way or another/ **
She hesitated, her eyes wide open, as though each detail was imprinted on her brain,
They meant it/' she said.
They probably did,' Jel said.
'They said i? I did what I was told they'd get you in a cab and take you to a hotel and let you sleep it off. If not, they d handle it their own way. ... I had to,' she said a little desperately. 'I was afraid not to. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I do hope you'll believe me. Somehow it seems terribly important.'
Jeff stood up and found his neck was stiff. He twisted it, all resentment gone now and moved deeply by this girl and the things she had said.
'I believe you/' he said, hesitating as he looked down at her and wanting very much to speak some word of reassurance. When no such word came to mind he smiled at her and said: 'Maybe, under the circumstances, the mickey was better than a broken skull. Thanks for telling me about it.'
He stopped at the door and turned back. 'But you re still going to try to get that assignment/'
'Oh, I have to,' she said, as though there had never been any question about that particular point. 'I have to try/'
He grinned at her as he went out. He said he was sorry he couldn't wish her luck, but he at least understood the quality of the competition.
He found that he was humming as he moved along the hall, but he did not know there was a grin on his face that was supported by some inner glow that seemed warm and satisfying. He unlocked his door and turned on the light. He snapped the bolt behind him and then stopped short when he saw his two bags, knowing instinctively that someone had transposed them on the luggage rack.
QA ONE MINUTE PAST EIGHT
They were not locked—he had not bothered after clearing customs—and when he opened them he could tell that they had been searched. When he straightened his mouth was grim and there were somber glints in his eyes. There was nothing in the bags of great value and nothing was missing. But the fact that someone had been interested enough to risk a search reminded him that he was in the middle of an ugly situation he did not entirely understand.
7
JULIO CORDOVEZ was waiting on a bench just outside the main entrance when Jeff came downstairs the following morning. He looked very neat in his tan suit; his white shirt was freshly laundered, his shoes were polished, and the bald spot on his head was pink and shiny. He made his customary small bow and his smile was broad as he offered his greeting.
'You slept well?' he asked.
'Very well,' Jeff said, which was true. 'How about some breakfast?'
'I have finished mine.'
'Coffee?'
'I would like that very much.'
They crossed the lobby and went along the hall past the private dining-room to a long high-ceilinged room bright with morning sunlight. The captain gave them a table by the windows, and as Jeff sat down he had his first look at the city, which sprawled below him in the distance, a heterogeneous panorama of structures that followed the val-
leys and crept up hillsides brown from lack of rain. Near the center tall buildings spoke of rapid growth and here and there modern, boxlike structures indicated a growing interest in low- and middle-class housing projects.
Jeff spoke of the view and mentioned his earlier trip, remarking at the change. Cordovez nodded. 'It is only just begun/* he said. 'They cannot build fast enough and everywhere you see businessmen—from the States and England and Germany and Italy.'
He fell silent as Jeff worked on his bacon and eggs, sipping his coffee and pulling on a cigarette that gave off a pungent aroma. As Jeff poured more coffee, he said: 'You have plans for this morning?'
'Do you know where my stepbrother lives?'
'In the Valle Arriba district'
'Is it far?'
'Perhaps twenty minutes.'
Td better call him first.'
'I have written the numbers for you.' Cordovez brought out a slip of paper and pointed. 'This is the residence; this the office.'
The voice that answered Jeff's call to Grayson's home was female and Spanish. He had sense enough to try
