The Only Girl in the Game by John D. MacDonald Page B

seventy thousand shares. That money pays off the balance on all the land, leaving over three hundred thousand to begin the development of the Eleuthera piece first. That property adjoins the Arvida piece, and I’ve got an engineering and development study that’s a gem. It can’t miss, Hugh. I know those islands. It just can’t miss. Fix you a fresh one?”
    “I’ll ride on this, thanks.”
    Temp brought a fresh drink back to his chair and sat down a bit heavily. “That’s the picture. With that much backing I can then pledge my Island Associates shares for the line of credit to handle the stuff I’ve been dodging, and then I can save those deals where I’m in with other people. It’s a hell of a lot of scrambling, but I’ll come out the far end smelling like a rose, believe me. In the meantime I’ve been living it wide and handsome. I’ve been the most confident-looking man in town. You have to keep it up, Hugh, even when it hurts.”
    “Like asking for a suite?”
    “You’re getting the message.”
    “Not all the message, Temp. Who do you have to impress here, for God’s sake?”
    “I don’t know yet.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “I tried to peddle the deal in New York, Hugh. That’s why I went there. I had good contacts. I was dickering with two groups. They both liked the sound of it. I had my chance to grab one or the other, but it looked like a golden chance to improve my end of the thing by playing one against the other. And one day they both turned ice cold. I couldn’t imagine why until one of them was kind enough to tell me to look up a gossip column in a paper of the previous day. I can quote the stinking thing by heart, Hugh. ‘Temple Shannard, golden-tongued promoter who operates in the Bahamas, and whose dreams lately have been turning to nightmares, is in the city with his luscious wife trying to scare up those heavy funds which may or may not keep his tottering tourist empire solvent’ That did it, old boy. That did it to me good. I couldn’t trace the tipster who did me the dirty, and I can’t sue even if it is actionable, which I doubt. That’s the way my luck has been running.”
    “What do you do now?”
    He smiled at Hugh in a somewhat apologetic way. “I take a suite in Las Vegas and throw myself on the mercy of my good friend, Hugh Darren.”
    “If I understand what you mean, I don’t think I like it, Temp.”
    “The money is here, Hugh. It’s a resort business. Men who run deals like this know how to analyze deals like mine. And according to my … ah … researches, there is a lot of homeless, unidentified cash in this area looking for a legitimate home away from home.”
    “I guess I better have that next drink. Temp.”
    “Let me make it, boy. I know what you’re thinking and … what you’re remembering.”
    “A long talk in your house one night, Temp.”
    “I knew you’d remember that. I was very noble and idealistic, wasn’t I?”
    “I wouldn’t have called it that.”
    Shannard turned and said in oratorical tones, “We men who love the Islands have an unwritten agreement to keep important holdings out of the hands of the hoodlums and sharpshooters, and the front men they use. We have been largely successful in this, and we will continue to keep the Islands clean.” He brought Hugh his drink and said in a soft and empty voice, “I wasn’t being squeezed then, pal. I could afford high principles. Now it gets down to survival. I need the money. And I can’t let them bring me crashing down because of something I once thought I believed. But I will try to set it up in such a way that I’ll have a long-term contract to operate the venture.”
    “They would have seventy per cent to your thirty, so how long would that last?”
    “Just so long as I run it the way they want it run.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Hugh, I love you like you were my kid brother.” There was a thickening of his voice that surprised Darren. Shannard used to be more