Jimmy and Fay by Michael Mayo

in the card file for the ones that were available. I knew Polly’s system. Usually when they got busy, nobody bothered with the cards, but whenever Cynthia was in charge, she kept all the girls and their times straight.
    Her smile was forced, but she made it look real. She said, “I certainly hope you’re here for the right reason, but I’ll bet you still want to know about Nola. Well, the answer’s the same as it was before. I can’t tell you anything unless I get the word from Polly, and she’s probably going to be tied up for some time. These firemen . . . Jeez.”
    â€œNow, Cynthia,” I said, sounding reasonable as I slipped a sawbuck under her hand, “you know that Pearl, I mean Polly, and I are old friends, and I’d never ask you to do anything she wouldn’t like, right? Just tell me what you can about this girl, what was her name? Nola Revere.”
    She tucked the bill into her bra without missing a beat. “Well, I suppose there’s no harm . . .”
    As Cynthia put it, nobody knew Nola’s real name or expected to. Judging by her accent, they thought she might be Polack. She said she’d worked in some dancehalls and she was so popular she decided she could do better. That led her to Minsky’s burlesque, but she didn’t like it there and a friend told her that Polly Adler’s place was the best in town. She certainly had the figure. Her face was all right, but it was the figure that did it. As Charlie said, nobody forgot those tits. She started filling in on weekends. When one of the regulars left, she moved in and lived there from February to May.
    â€œWhy’d she leave?” I asked.
    Cynthia shrugged. “Who knows? She waited until an afternoon when most of us were out, and then she packed up her clothes and left. The maid who was here said Nola told her to call a cab and left with her suitcases. All she left here were a few cosmetics.”
    â€œIs it unusual for a girl to take off like that?”
    â€œNo, happens all the time. We have a lot of turnover.”
    â€œYeah, I know,” I said. “Hard to keep good help.” That made me think about Connie again, and I worried over whatever was making her so moody. What the hell was eating her?
    â€œYou said Nola hung around with Daphne. Where is she, anyway? I haven’t seen her around.” After that afternoon in the Grand Central Building, the last time I saw Daphne was in Charlie’s place at the Waldorf Terrace a year or so ago.
    â€œShe left, too.”
    â€œTook off like the other girl?”
    Cynthia shook her head. “She got out of the business, and it was good that she did. She and Polly had been on the outs. Daphne was the most popular girl here. She wanted more and Polly wouldn’t give it to her. Don’t tell Polly I said that. Anyhow, Daphne met a rich guy and he set her up in her own place.”
    â€œNo kidding,” I said. “I wonder if she could tell me anything about Nola.”
    Cynthia started to say something but stopped and shook her head. “No, Daphne was as surprised as the rest of us when she left.”
    I could tell she was holding out on me and she was worried at the same time. Well, why not? Most of the cops and thugs who came into the place thought that their position and their money gave them the right to do whatever they wanted to the girls, Polly and Cynthia included. They didn’t talk about it, but I knew they’d been roughed up and the place had been tossed more than once.
    Hell, it was the same for me, only not as bad. After all, in the eyes of the law, we were both trading in something that was illegal—booze and cooze. I had it easier since I didn’t really have to hide what I did. If anybody complained to the local precinct cops that there was an establishment selling alcohol a couple of blocks off Broadway, they’d be laughed out of the place. For Cynthia and