the outcome.
Elliot told him of the conversation.
‘From what Kendrick tells me,’ he concluded, ‘it would be unwise to approach Larrimore. We have a problem here because I have to keep out of sight. By now, all my goddamn creditors will be looking for me. If they catch up with me, we’re sunk. You’ve got to be the front man.’
‘Suits me,’ Vin said. ‘So what do I do?’
‘There’s a good chance we can get the information we want from Larrimore’s daughter. Judy Larrimore is a wild one. I’ve met her a number of times in various nightclubs. She’s strictly not my style. She drinks too much, tries too hard and is my idea of a juvenile pest. Her father can’t stand the sight of her - nor she him. Although she lives with him, they scarcely ever meet. He keeps her short of money so she is on the lookout all the time for boy friends who have money to spend on her. I’m sure you can handle her. I think she could have the information we want. Before Larrimore’s wife died in an accident, he told me Judy helped him classify his stamps. It was only when she lost her mother that the girl went off the rails and has kept off them ever since. So she should know something about these Russian stamps always providing Larrimore has them.’
Vin was listening with interest.
‘Sounds right up my alley. So how do I meet this chick?’
‘No trouble at all . . . a straight pick-up. One of her favourite haunts is the Adam and Eve club. She usually begins her night prowl there around ten o’clock. You can’t miss her. She’s around eighteen, tall, good figure and with red hair. She inherited her hair from her mother who was Italian. This Venetian red is unique . . . you seldom see it here. If you spot a wild—looking girl with red hair, wearing as little as she can, you can bet she’s Judy Larrimore.’
‘I like it even more,’ Vin said with a leer. ‘Sounds to me like fun and business combined.’
‘Handle her carefully,’ Elliot warned. ‘She’s no pushover and she has the pick of the wild ones here, but she’ll go for new blood if you approach her right. Don’t rush her. We have time. After three or four meetings, you can begin to probe and I’ll tell you how to handle it. Just get intimate now . . . okay?’
Vin nodded.
‘I’ll get after her tonight.’
While they were talking, Joey and Cindy were working the local self-service store. Cindy was busy filling her ‘maternity basket’ with items for the evening meal. She planned to make this a special dinner. Elliot had explained he couldn’t return to his home and it would be risky for him to put up at a hotel, so how about moving in with them? Joey and Cindy welcomed this idea. Vin wasn’t too happy about it, but when Elliot said he would pool his nine thousand dollars towards expenses and finance the steal, he was quick to agree.
While Elliot had been explaining about the stamps, Vin, who missed little, had seen the way Cindy was looking at Elliot and he began to get the idea that Cindy was taking more interest in Elliot than was healthy. He had a sneaking feeling that because Elliot had manhandled him, Cindy was now transferring her affections from him to Elliot.
When Elliot had gone to see Kendrick and Joey and Cindy had gone to the self-service store, Vin, alone, had time to think. Elliot was the key to the Big Take which he (Vin) was always dreaming about. He asked himself how much Cindy meant to him. He wasn’t in love with Cindy - Vin just didn’t know the meaning of love. He had thought it would be fun to be married to her, to take her around and to have a good time with her, but was there more in it than that? There were thousands of girls as pretty as Cindy: thousands as cute. If she wanted Elliot, he (Vin) would be nuts to spoil what looked like the Big Take. When they got the stamps and Elliot had paid over the fifty thousand dollars, if Cindy opted to stay with Elliot then that would be too bad for her and Joey. Vin grinned
C. J. Cherryh
Learning to Kill: Stories
John O'Riley
Brenda Sinclair
Christopher George
Stephen Lloyd Jones
Karl Iagnemma
Celya Bowers
Jill Gregory
Aria Cunningham