1966 - You Have Yourself a Deal by James Hadley Chase Page B

sit there and imagine you are on vacation. You know what I want you to do.”
    “I know, but I can’t do anything so long as she’s in this coma, can I?” Girland stretched luxuriously. This, he thought, was certainly the life. He looked at the distant blue sea, the blue sky and the distant Cap Ferrat. “All these boys you have here with guns . . . are they part of O’Halloran’s outfit?”
    “Yes.”
    “So you don’t trust me, Dorey. I’m hurt.”
    “Malik beat us to the punch and I’m taking damn good care, now we have got her back, he won’t do it again,” Dorey snapped. “Now, take your job seriously, Girland. You won’t get any more money out of me until you turn in some reliable information. And Girland,” Dorey’s voice became suspicious, “what is this nurse like you have down there?”
    “Like . . . what do you mean?”
    “Is she young?”
    “I get it. You’re worrying that she might seduce me. That’s okay, Dorey, she’s around fifty with three double chins. A nice old thing, but not my style.” As he replaced the receiver, he looked up to see Ginny standing in the doorway. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.
    “You should be ashamed of yourself,” Ginny said.
    “I am.” He regarded her. She looked very out of place in the blazing sunshine in her nurse’s uniform. He struggled to his feet.
    “You can’t dress that way in this heat. Get yourself a sun suit. Dorey will pay. Anyway, come to think of it, you haven’t anything, have you? I bet you haven’t even a lipstick?”
    “No, I haven’t, but I’ll manage,” Ginny said, regarding him wistfully. “There are some things I need for her. I have a list here.”
    “What’s your other name, baby?”
    She hesitated, then said, “Ginny.”
    “Fine. Now listen, Ginny, relax. I want you to enjoy this visit as I intend to enjoy it.” He raised his voice, “Hey, Diallo!”
    A moment later the big coloured man, his face creased in smiles, came hurrying out onto the balcony.
    “Yes, sir?”
    “I want you to take Nurse Roche into Nice right away. She’s got some things to get for our patient. She is also going to buy herself an outfit. Have you any money?”
    “Yes, sir. Mr. Dorey arranged with the bank I could have money.”
    “Then you go along to the bank and get a lot of money and let Nurse Roche fix herself up. Right?”
    “Anything you say, sir.”
    Girland smiled at Ginny who was regarding him with round eyes.
    “Go ahead, Ginny. I’ll watch the patient. Have yourself a ball. You are now the guest of the United States of America.”
     
    * * *
     
    An elderly woman, wearing a tiny flowered hat, an emerald green dress and a mink stole rattled the door handle of Sadu Mitchell’s shop on Rue de Rivoli. The door remained locked.
    The steel grille drawn over the shop window and the darkness beyond the glass door finally convinced her that the shop was shut. She looked with exasperation at her watch. The time was 10.10 a.m.
    Sadu, sitting in the room behind the shop, heard the rattling and he moved uneasily, frowning. He hated to lose a customer, but Yet-Sen, sitting opposite him, his yellow face tight with suppressed rage, Pearl leaning on the back of a chair and Jo-Jo in a corner, nibbling his nails, brought him back to the seriousness of the situation.
    “This woman should have been dead by now,” Yet-Sen said as the door handle ceased to rattle. “Pekin will be displeased. I am displeased.”
    “She could have been dead last night,” Sadu said, “but Dorey moved too quickly for us. How were we to know he would send the woman to the South of France? You will admit we were quick to find that out.”
    Yet-Sen who knew who had been quick, gave Pearl an approving glance.
    “This time there must be no mistake,” he said. “You are leaving at once?”
    “We are catching the 1.55 p.m. plane to Nice,” Sadu said. “We are lucky to get on it.”
    “You will have a car waiting?”
    “I have a Hertz rental