what’s with Gus and Fargo’s secretary? Shit, she’s a fucking kid, nineteen, twenty years old.’
Hariss said in a measured, distasteful voice, ‘She excites him.’
‘Yeah, well, she’s small enough for him at that. Probably the only broad in town he could let get on top without—’
‘Alex, if our association ever terminates, it will be on the basis of your verbal vulgarity—’
‘Yeah, I know, Walt – but you don’t mind taking your cut out of the FarJon Hotel operations.’
‘Business is business. All right: I sent Gus over to Neil Fargo’s office to make sure the missing hundred-seventy-five gee’s aren’t hidden there.’
‘You mean the paper-wrapped package—’
‘Of course. We have only Neil Fargo’s word for it that Docker ever had that money. Assume for the moment that he and Docker, at least initially, planned the hijack together. Docker’s attaché case could have been taken to the Bryant Street flat empty , merely to serve as a receptacle for the key of heroin.’
‘Yeah!’ exclaimed Kolinski softly. ‘I like that.’ His expression changed. ‘But Fargo’s not stupid. He wouldn’t leave the money in his goddam office. He’d put it in a safe deposit box or—’
‘Events have moved rapidly. Docker may have betrayed Fargo as well as us. Safe deposit boxes cannot be reached until ten A . M ., he may have had to leave the money in his office and may not have had a chance to collect it since. In any event, the girl will know whether he brought a package, a briefcase, anything which could have held the money into the office with him this morning. And Gus will make sure there is no money there now.’
Kolinski’s eyes had sharpened again. ‘And checking up on whether the information about Docker’s car-rental came through the secretary—’
‘Fargo may have held back a license number, let us say, that would aid your people materially in spotting Docker’s car.’
‘But why would Fargo—’
‘Alex, I’m surprised at you.’ He laid aside his cigar to illustrate his words with gestures. ‘Let us turn it around and suppose that Fargo is not involved in the hijack with Docker. That means that somewhere out there is a man with a hundred-seventy-five thousand dollars in cash, plus heroin worth a quarter of a million on the street once it has been cut to the standard five percent.’ He chuckled. ‘Fargo may very well feel – as we do – that if he could beat the other principals to Docker—’
‘I see.’ Kolinski’s bony face had become pensive. ‘But if Fargo’s stringing us along, he’ll have briefed his secretary on what to tell us.’
Hariss chuckled richly. ‘Gus has an extremely persuasive way of asking questions of young ladies.’
The back of Gus Rizzato’s open hand drove Pamela Gardner’s delicately-boned skull sideways against the plasterboard partition beside her desk. The pigskin driving gloves he wore left a mottled red pattern on her cheek.
‘I asked you about a package, dearie.’
Outrage and terror fought in the girl’s face. In a voice high with fear but still defiant, she exclaimed, ‘You, you … get out of here! When Neil hears—’
The knuckles whipped across her cheek the other way. She broke, screamed, scrambled from her chair so she could get the desk between them. Rizzato’s dainty size six shoe swept sideways against her ankles, slamming them together and taking her feet out from under her.
Pamela went down heavily on her side, only partially breaking the fall with one hand. In the same motion she tried to roll under the desk in a flurry of nyloned thighs.
Rizzato’s hand darted down between the churning legs. The girl screamed again, whether in pain, further terror or outrage was impossible to distinguish. She kicked up and out; her shoe missed Rizzato’s face by the slimmest of margins. Since she was on her back she used elbows, bottom and heels to scrabble backward into the well under the desk like a threatened
Hariss said in a measured, distasteful voice, ‘She excites him.’
‘Yeah, well, she’s small enough for him at that. Probably the only broad in town he could let get on top without—’
‘Alex, if our association ever terminates, it will be on the basis of your verbal vulgarity—’
‘Yeah, I know, Walt – but you don’t mind taking your cut out of the FarJon Hotel operations.’
‘Business is business. All right: I sent Gus over to Neil Fargo’s office to make sure the missing hundred-seventy-five gee’s aren’t hidden there.’
‘You mean the paper-wrapped package—’
‘Of course. We have only Neil Fargo’s word for it that Docker ever had that money. Assume for the moment that he and Docker, at least initially, planned the hijack together. Docker’s attaché case could have been taken to the Bryant Street flat empty , merely to serve as a receptacle for the key of heroin.’
‘Yeah!’ exclaimed Kolinski softly. ‘I like that.’ His expression changed. ‘But Fargo’s not stupid. He wouldn’t leave the money in his goddam office. He’d put it in a safe deposit box or—’
‘Events have moved rapidly. Docker may have betrayed Fargo as well as us. Safe deposit boxes cannot be reached until ten A . M ., he may have had to leave the money in his office and may not have had a chance to collect it since. In any event, the girl will know whether he brought a package, a briefcase, anything which could have held the money into the office with him this morning. And Gus will make sure there is no money there now.’
Kolinski’s eyes had sharpened again. ‘And checking up on whether the information about Docker’s car-rental came through the secretary—’
‘Fargo may have held back a license number, let us say, that would aid your people materially in spotting Docker’s car.’
‘But why would Fargo—’
‘Alex, I’m surprised at you.’ He laid aside his cigar to illustrate his words with gestures. ‘Let us turn it around and suppose that Fargo is not involved in the hijack with Docker. That means that somewhere out there is a man with a hundred-seventy-five thousand dollars in cash, plus heroin worth a quarter of a million on the street once it has been cut to the standard five percent.’ He chuckled. ‘Fargo may very well feel – as we do – that if he could beat the other principals to Docker—’
‘I see.’ Kolinski’s bony face had become pensive. ‘But if Fargo’s stringing us along, he’ll have briefed his secretary on what to tell us.’
Hariss chuckled richly. ‘Gus has an extremely persuasive way of asking questions of young ladies.’
The back of Gus Rizzato’s open hand drove Pamela Gardner’s delicately-boned skull sideways against the plasterboard partition beside her desk. The pigskin driving gloves he wore left a mottled red pattern on her cheek.
‘I asked you about a package, dearie.’
Outrage and terror fought in the girl’s face. In a voice high with fear but still defiant, she exclaimed, ‘You, you … get out of here! When Neil hears—’
The knuckles whipped across her cheek the other way. She broke, screamed, scrambled from her chair so she could get the desk between them. Rizzato’s dainty size six shoe swept sideways against her ankles, slamming them together and taking her feet out from under her.
Pamela went down heavily on her side, only partially breaking the fall with one hand. In the same motion she tried to roll under the desk in a flurry of nyloned thighs.
Rizzato’s hand darted down between the churning legs. The girl screamed again, whether in pain, further terror or outrage was impossible to distinguish. She kicked up and out; her shoe missed Rizzato’s face by the slimmest of margins. Since she was on her back she used elbows, bottom and heels to scrabble backward into the well under the desk like a threatened
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