I’ve come here with some kind of an offer where you can make money. So you just let me tell you what you wouldn’t listen to a lot of years ago.”
“You were always emotional.”
“But you weren’t, Paul. Emotions were left out of you. I watched you go after everything you wanted. Cold as a machine. No mercy, no scruples, and no ethics.”
“The disbarred attorney gives a lecture on ethics.”
“I mean ethics in human relationships. When anything or anybody got in your way, you bulldozed the obstacle aside. I’ve never seen such cold-hearted, cold-blooded, frightening ambition. You didn’t make one friend. I was the poor, warm, stupid slob who tried to be your friend. I even tried to understand you and find out what made you what you were and what you are.”
“Shouldn’t you be accompanied by violins?”
“I should have caught on quicker. Absolute greed plus perfect selfishness plus a ruthless and methodical intelligence. I should have caught on and stayed away from you. Then you wouldn’t have gotten the idea of marrying Melissa. The only reason you wanted her was because I wanted her.”
“She made the choice.”
“On insufficient data. I’ve kept track of you, Paul. You were getting money and power just as fast as I expected you to. Maybe a little faster. And then you got clobbered. You tripped up and you went down like a horse on ice. I got pleasantly drunk the night I heard about that, Paul. It was a celebration. I bought drinks for strangers, and I made them all drink to my toast. Here’s to the utter ruin of Paul Verney, the blackest-hearted bastard of them all.”
“You’re still emotional, Roger. You mentioned my methodical intelligence. It causes me to ask a question. You seem to … disapprove of me. And you hint of some offer that will bring me a profit. Thus the offer is suspect, isn’t it?”
“The direct mind at work. I’m an agent in this matter. When you hear the whole story, you’ll see why you’re the logical one to come to. You have larceny in your soul,but you’ve stayed relatively clean. You are desperate, and you’ve got guts. I’ll never deny you that. This is going to take careful planning on your part, and you’re capable of that. You can make a couple of hundred thousand tax-free dollars. I make a commission and please my boss. I’d foul you up if I could see a way to do it, but I can’t think of a way. You’re ideal for this proposition.”
Verney folded his pale, powerful hands. “I am listening.”
Dixon hitched his chair forward and lowered his voice. “Remember the Rovere case? The money? It’s never showed up. It’s still too hot. It will always be too hot. Want to know a little history? You can’t prove any of this no matter what you decide. There’s three hundred and twenty-seven thousand. All of the fifties and all of the twenties. A county cop grabbed it that night, drove three miles with it and pitched it into the brush and recovered it the next morning. He sat on it for nearly a year, scared to spend it, scared to unload it. He sold it for ten thousand he could spend. He sold it so he could sleep nights. A speculator in Cleveland bought it and, after a second thought, was happy to unload it in Detroit to a friend of mine a week later for fifteen. My friend figured to sit on it for a couple of years until the heat went off! and he could risk spreading it around. But the heat has never gone off. He needs some money. It’s on the market. He’ll let it go for eighty.”
“Why come to me?”
“It can’t be sold in the usual channels. Nobody will touch it. Get caught and it’s too hard for people like that to prove they weren’t in on the snatch. We had a talk about it a month or so ago. I had a few ideas. One of them was you.”
“What good would that money do me?”
“You’re clean. So is Catton. But you’re both larcenous types. You can get it out of the country. Hell, either of you can take all the trips you want. Take it
“You were always emotional.”
“But you weren’t, Paul. Emotions were left out of you. I watched you go after everything you wanted. Cold as a machine. No mercy, no scruples, and no ethics.”
“The disbarred attorney gives a lecture on ethics.”
“I mean ethics in human relationships. When anything or anybody got in your way, you bulldozed the obstacle aside. I’ve never seen such cold-hearted, cold-blooded, frightening ambition. You didn’t make one friend. I was the poor, warm, stupid slob who tried to be your friend. I even tried to understand you and find out what made you what you were and what you are.”
“Shouldn’t you be accompanied by violins?”
“I should have caught on quicker. Absolute greed plus perfect selfishness plus a ruthless and methodical intelligence. I should have caught on and stayed away from you. Then you wouldn’t have gotten the idea of marrying Melissa. The only reason you wanted her was because I wanted her.”
“She made the choice.”
“On insufficient data. I’ve kept track of you, Paul. You were getting money and power just as fast as I expected you to. Maybe a little faster. And then you got clobbered. You tripped up and you went down like a horse on ice. I got pleasantly drunk the night I heard about that, Paul. It was a celebration. I bought drinks for strangers, and I made them all drink to my toast. Here’s to the utter ruin of Paul Verney, the blackest-hearted bastard of them all.”
“You’re still emotional, Roger. You mentioned my methodical intelligence. It causes me to ask a question. You seem to … disapprove of me. And you hint of some offer that will bring me a profit. Thus the offer is suspect, isn’t it?”
“The direct mind at work. I’m an agent in this matter. When you hear the whole story, you’ll see why you’re the logical one to come to. You have larceny in your soul,but you’ve stayed relatively clean. You are desperate, and you’ve got guts. I’ll never deny you that. This is going to take careful planning on your part, and you’re capable of that. You can make a couple of hundred thousand tax-free dollars. I make a commission and please my boss. I’d foul you up if I could see a way to do it, but I can’t think of a way. You’re ideal for this proposition.”
Verney folded his pale, powerful hands. “I am listening.”
Dixon hitched his chair forward and lowered his voice. “Remember the Rovere case? The money? It’s never showed up. It’s still too hot. It will always be too hot. Want to know a little history? You can’t prove any of this no matter what you decide. There’s three hundred and twenty-seven thousand. All of the fifties and all of the twenties. A county cop grabbed it that night, drove three miles with it and pitched it into the brush and recovered it the next morning. He sat on it for nearly a year, scared to spend it, scared to unload it. He sold it for ten thousand he could spend. He sold it so he could sleep nights. A speculator in Cleveland bought it and, after a second thought, was happy to unload it in Detroit to a friend of mine a week later for fifteen. My friend figured to sit on it for a couple of years until the heat went off! and he could risk spreading it around. But the heat has never gone off. He needs some money. It’s on the market. He’ll let it go for eighty.”
“Why come to me?”
“It can’t be sold in the usual channels. Nobody will touch it. Get caught and it’s too hard for people like that to prove they weren’t in on the snatch. We had a talk about it a month or so ago. I had a few ideas. One of them was you.”
“What good would that money do me?”
“You’re clean. So is Catton. But you’re both larcenous types. You can get it out of the country. Hell, either of you can take all the trips you want. Take it
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