1972 - You're Dead Without Money (14 page)

‘Try everything,’ Holtz had said. ‘He’s got to be found and found fast! We know he is in the City. We know he might try to contact Paul Larrimore, the philatelist. As he owes money everywhere you won’t find him in his usual haunts. He must have holed up somewhere. Check every small hotel, even the rooming houses. Look out for his Alfa: you’ve got the licence number. He’s got to be found.’

Lessing put another twenty men, drawn in from Miami and Jacksonville with instructions to check the hotels and fast, then he sent for Harry Orson and Fay Macklin, two of his top investigators. He told them the problem.

Orson, a powerfully built man in his late thirties, was noted for his patience and bulldog determination. Nondescript to look at, shrewd and an easy mixer, he was the ideal man hunter.

Fay Macklin, mousey looking, small, around thirty-five years of age, had a talent for being in a place and never being noticed.

‘Elliot is thought to be trying to contact Paul Larrimore . . . just why, Holtz didn’t say,’ Lessing said. He pushed a folder across his desk. ‘That will give you all the dope about Larrimore. He seems our best bet. Quite close to his house is an empty villa. I’ve fixed it for you two to get in there and watch his place. I want the dope on everyone who visits Larrimore. Elliot, being a movie star, may try to play it smart. He might arrive in disguise. So check out everyone who calls on Larrimore. You will have two operators to help you. I want you to watch and alert them when someone calls.’

An hour later, Orson and Macklin were installed in an empty upper room of the villa which offered an uninterrupted view of the gates, the garden and the front door of Larrimore’s house. They settled down to an alternate watch, equipped with powerful field glasses, a transceiver, campstools and a hamper of food. Their wait was long and uneventful, but they were used to long, uneventful waits and that was why Lessing had picked them to watch Larrimore’s house. At the end of the road, in a parking lot, two investigators in their cars sat waiting.

Twice during the long day they were alerted to check trucks that had arrived at Larrimore’s house but the report was negative: just a delivery of food. Then around midday, Orson saw Judy come out of the house, get into her beat-up Austin Cooper and drive down to the gates. He immediately alerted one of the waiting investigators who caught up with Judy as she waited for a change of traffic lights.

‘The girl’s Larrimore’s daughter,’ Orson told the investigator over the transceiver. ‘Stick with her, Fred. I’ll get Alec to replace you later.’

‘Okay and out,’ Fred Nisson said.

Half an hour later, Nisson radioed in that Judy was at the Plaza Beach surrounded by longhaired freaks. What was he to do?

‘Stick with her,’ Orson said. ‘Keep reporting in.’

At 15.00 Orson called Lessing. So far the operation was negative. No sign of Elliot. Every caller - and there had only been three of them - had been checked out. Nisson was watching the daughter who seemed settled to spend the day at the Plaza Beach.

Lessing cursed, told Orson he would send a relief for Nisson and then reported to Holtz.

* * *

Barney paused here to marshal his thoughts. He reached for the last sausage on the plate, regarded it thoughtfully before conveying it to his mouth.

‘These sausages are enough to wake up a dead man,’ he said. ‘You don’t know what you’re missing,’

I said I believed in letting the dead lie in peace.

‘Yeah.’ Barney took a swig of beer, pushed away the empty plate, heaved a sigh and settled down to talk again.

‘Joey picked up a battered looking stamp album full of junk but he got four good stamps from a dealer that cost four hundred dollars. These Elliot put in the album. Elliot got Cindy to rewrite the letter to Larrimore he had drafted and that was sent off. There was nothing else for them to do but wait.

‘But Vin had things to do. He had a date with Judy the following evening. He had a lot of thinking to do and as thinking wasn’t his strong point, he worried.

‘Until he was sure that Cindy’s part of the operation succeeded, he couldn’t make plans. But if Cindy did manage to find out in which drawer the stamps were then he would have to think fast and thinking fast always bothered Vin.

‘He had a suspicion that Elliot was on to him. He also had a suspicion that unless he watched Judy closely, she could double-cross him. Vin wasn’t geared for this kind of set-up and he knew it, but he was determined to get his hands on a million dollars.

‘Elliot told them they couldn’t expect an answer - if they were going to get an answer - from Larrimore for at least a week. They must try to relax and be patient.

‘This was something Vin couldn’t do in his present mood and he drove off in the Jaguar to explore the country, look in at a bar or two and take a swim.

‘Cindy and he had had a talk. This was something he was expecting. Her no-wedding-bells-and-I’m-sorry-Vin line left him cold. He grinned at her and shrugged. ‘Okay, baby, if that’s the way you want it,’ he said. ‘Maybe you’re right. You stick to your old man. That way you won’t get pregnant.’ That was the way Vin talked: no consideration for women.’ Barney grimaced. ‘I always say a woman should be shown consideration, Mr. Campbell . . . right?’

I said it was an accepted thing but there were women and women.

Barney let that one go with the breeze.

‘So in the evening, Cindy found herself alone with Elliot. Joey was a TV addict and he was indoors, glued to the goggle box. Cindy and Elliot were sitting in the back garden with a big yellow moon looking down on them, the smell of jasmine in the air and the distant sound of an owl to make the set-up pretty romantic.

‘Elliot had discovered something about Cindy he hadn’t found in any of the girls he had previously known. There was a restfulness about her that made her company easy. He felt he didn’t have to keep talking to keep her interest. She didn’t have to keep talking to keep his interest: just to sit with her in silence pleased him. This hadn’t happened to him before.

* * *

‘Cindy . . . about Vin,’ he said suddenly. ‘You told me you two were planning to get married.’

‘Yes.’ Cindy looked up at the moon. ‘But not now. I’ve changed my mind. I’ve told Vin . . . I think he’s glad.’

‘And you?’

‘Yes, I’m glad.’ She shrugged. ‘He seemed so glamorous and so confident . . . I had never met anyone quite like him. But now . . .’

‘Do you trust him, Cindy?’

She stiffened and looked quickly at him.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You see, Cindy, all this is something new to me . . . this four handed partnership. I feel I can trust your father and you, but not Vin. I may be wrong, but that’s the way I feel right now.’

‘Dad and I have talked about it . . . yes, we feel like you . . . we don’t trust him, but without him we can’t work this, can we?’

‘Without us, he can’t work it either.’

Cindy nodded.

‘Dad said for me not to worry . . . he said you would take care of Vin.’

‘That’s touching.’ Elliot reached out and took her hand. ‘Well, we’ll see. This money means a lot to you two, doesn’t it?’

Cindy’s heart was now beating so fast she could scarcely breathe. The casual touch of Elliot’s hand turned her mind upside down.

‘I don’t know . . . Dad will arrange something.’ She pulled free and got to her feet. ‘I’d better see what he is doing . . . he doesn’t like being left alone for long.’

‘Cindy!’

She paused, looking down at him, her face flushed. He smiled up at her.

‘Let’s forget him . . . let’s forget everything . . . let’s go for a swim.’ He looked intently at her. ‘I want to show you my tin foot.’

Six

A
t 21.00 Orson got his first encouraging lead. He was at the window overlooking Larrimore’s house and was munching a sandwich when he saw a blue Jaguar pull up outside the Larrimore gates. The light was beginning to fade and wasn’t good enough for him to get a good look at the driver.

For the past two days, he and Fay had kept watch but the operation still had remained negative. Lessing’s other men were now checking the smaller rooming houses in the City. So far they had drawn blank. Holtz had been alerted. In his turn, he had alerted Radnitz.

‘He’s got to be found,’ Radnitz had said. ‘This is your responsibility,’ and knowing he could rely on Holtz to achieve the impossible, he dismissed Elliot from his mind.

Orson, tireless and patient, waited. Now this car had pulled up and he stiffened to attention.

‘Here’s something,’ he said, putting down his sandwich.

Fay joined him at the window and they both examined the car through their field glasses.

‘New York plates,’ Fay said. ‘It can’t be Elliot.’

‘Look who’s here . . . the girl,’ Orson said. He had spotted Judy running down the drive. ‘Alert Fred!’

While Fay was speaking to Nisson on the transceiver, Orson watched Judy get into the Jaguar. There was a moment’s pause, then the car drove off, heading towards the centre of the City.

Orson was relieved to see Nisson’s Chevy appear and follow the Jaguar.

* * *

‘Well, how’s Superman?’ Judy asked as she settled herself beside Vin. ‘What’s the programme for tonight?’

He glanced at her. She was wearing a red mini skirt, a yellow see-through blouse, yellow tights and slippers. He thought she looked pretty good and he said so.

‘Low-Life Club,’ he told her. ‘Let’s turn it on there and then we’ll go back to that beach you took me to last time.’

‘Oh no, we don’t! If you’re thinking of screwing me on sand you have another thing coming. If you plan to get laid, we’ll go to the motel.’

Vin laughed.

‘Okay. What have you been doing with yourself?’

She grimaced.

‘The usual. I’m sick of the way I’m living! Time’s running out. In another two years I’ll be twenty! I’ve got to get some money!’

‘I’m not stopping you. Thought any more about those stamps?’

‘Yes . . . have you?’

‘Sure. I think we can swing it, but let’s not talk now. Let’s have a drink, eat and then we’ll go to the Blue Heaven and make a night of it.’

After an excellent meal, they danced for an hour or so, then Vin said, ‘Come on . . . let’s go.’

Nisson followed them without difficulty to the Blue Heaven motel, watched them check in and go to one of the cabins, then he called Orson.

‘They’ve shacked up at the Blue Heaven motel, Harry,’ he reported. ‘Want me to stay with them?’

‘See if you can find out who he is, Fred.’

‘I’ve got that from his licence tag.’ Nisson read off the details he had jotted down which Orson noted.

‘Can you get into the cabin next to theirs? I’d like to hear what they’re talking about.’

‘No can do. The cabins either side are occupied. Besides, from the look of them, there’s not going to be much talking.’

‘Okay. It’s early yet. There’s a chance they won’t spend the whole night there. Stick around until 02.00, then if there’s still no sign of them I’ll send a relief and you can go home.’

‘Go . . . where?’ Nisson said bitterly. ‘Since when have I a home?’

Orson passed the details he had got on Vin to Lessing who in his turn telexed the F.B.I. Washington for an immediate report back.

Oblivious of this activity, Vin was occupied with Judy. When they had had enough lovemaking, Vin got off the bed, made two stiff whiskies and then returning to the bed he gave his attention to business.

‘With your help, baby,’ he said, I’m sure I can get those stamps, but there are things I must know and you can tell me. You say there’s an electric switch that controls all the drawers and the switch is in a steel box let in the wall of the stamp room and kept locked. Right?’

Judy nodded.

‘I want you to find out the name of the maker of the steel box. Lock makers are so proud of their safes they invariably have their name on the door. Do you think you can do that?’

‘If it’s there I can.’

‘The same applies to the burglar alarm. There’s certain to be a fuse box somewhere in the house. Find out where it is and see if the maker’s name is on the box. You say there’s a close circuit TV covering the stamp room?’

‘Yes. It was installed by Security Guards and the monitor is in their office.’

Vin nodded.

‘I know the system. In a city like this it would be popular. They have a big room where screens are hooked to cameras protecting people’s homes and one guard watches all the screens. It works pretty well.’ He paused to think. ‘How come your old man thought of installing a system like that?’

‘They have one at the City Hall covering the Kennedy memorial. My old man saw it and fell for it.’

‘Why should they have a scanner in the City Hall?’

Judy giggled.

‘A year ago, some joker splashed paint on the statue. The City Hall blew its cool and had one installed. Why should they worry . . . it’s the taxpayers’ money.’

Vin filed this piece of information away in his mind.

‘Your old man’ keeps the door to the stamp room locked?’

‘You bet.’

‘How about the windows?’

‘When he’s not there, there are steel shutters to every window.’

‘Is the lock on the door something special?’

‘I wouldn’t know.’

‘Okay, baby, that’s something you find out. Do you think you could get hold of the key?’

‘Not a hope.’

Seeing she was getting bored with his questions, Vin began to wonder if she was going to be as helpful as he had hoped.

‘When does he play golf?’

‘Every Tuesday afternoon.’

‘Could you get me into the house when he’s at the club?’

‘Not a hope.’

He resisted an urge to slap her.

‘Why not?’

‘The lousy staff are always fiddling around. Anyway they wouldn’t let you in. I’m not allowed to take my friends home.’

‘Use your head,’ Vin said impatiently. ‘There must be some way you can get me in. How about at night? How do you get in with the alarms set? Don’t tell me your old man sits up for you.’

‘I have my own entrance. The door from my apartment to the house is always locked after ten o’clock.’