Джеймс Чейз - You're Dead Without Money

So when Elliot joined him in the back garden, Vin eyed him expectedly. He knew Elliot had been to talk to Kendrick and he was curious to know 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 suddenly. He would pocket the whole amount and walk out on them. Elliot could take care of them. Why not? If she didn’t go with Elliot, then fine, but he wasn’t going to shed tears if she didn’t.

Once having got this clear in his mind, he relaxed and was able to get along with Elliot.

Cindy had decided to cook a chicken casserole which she did very well. It took her a little time to find two chickens that satisfied her. While she was examining the birds, Joey regarded her with loving eyes. He had seen the change come over her since the clash between Elliot and Vin and in one way he was relieved, but in another way, worried. Vin at least was in Cindy’s class, but Elliot wasn’t. Elliot could just fool around with her and leave her flat and this had always been Joey’s fear that Cindy could get hurt.

When the shopping was over and as they were walking to where Cindy had parked the Jaguar, Joey said, ‘Elliot seems a nice fella, Cindy. What do you think?’

She nodded. As she got into the car, she said, ‘Dad... I’ve been thinking. I’ve made a mistake about Vin.’

Joey sighed.

‘All women are allowed to make mistakes, baby,’ he said. ‘Is there someone else?’

‘As if you didn’t know.’ Cindy gave him a crooked smile. ‘Don... the moment I met him...’

‘Does he feel the same about you?’

‘Of course not! I mean nothing to him.’ She started the car and pulled out into the traffic. ‘A cat can look at a king, but that’s it, dad.’ She pulled a little face. ‘I want you to know I’m through with Vin. I’m going to tell him. We can work together, but now, I don’t want to marry him.’

‘No one ever said you had to,’ Joey said. ‘When this job’s done, we’ll go off together, Cindy. With our share of the money we can find a little place and take it easy for a while.’

Cindy nodded.

But there was an expression in her eyes that saddened Joey.

‘You ever been to the Adam and Eve club?’ Barney asked. He was staring gloomily at the empty plate that had contained the sausages. The regret on his fat face would have melted a heart of stone.

I said nightclubs weren’t in my line and how about a few more sausages?

He brightened perceptively.

‘Yeah... that’s what I call a constructive suggestion.’ He signalled to Sam. ‘The trouble with these sausages, Mr. Campbell, is that they give a man a thirst.’

Sam brought over another plate of sausages and another beer.

‘Nightclubs are special,’ Barney said when Sam had returned to the bar. ‘You either like them or you don’t. The Adam and Eve club is strictly for the wild ones. From what I hear of the place a cultured gentleman like yourself wouldn’t be found dead there.’ He bit into a sausage, chewed, grunted, wiped his eyes and went on, ‘Vin had no trouble in spotting Judy Larrimore. She was up at the bar with a couple of hippies and they were soaking up gin and water. The hippies were around her age with long matted hair and dirty beards. They had on matador trousers and frilled shirts and apart from their smell of dirt they looked like something that had stepped out of the ads from Playboy .

‘Vin got close and ordered a whisky. It didn’t take more than a few minutes for Judy to spot him. The two hippies were getting drunk and Vin could see she was bored with them. He saw her eyes light up as she looked him over. He thought she was the sexiest dish he had seen in years.

‘He gave her his wide “come-on” smile and she smiled back.

‘One of the hippies — the bigger of the two — looked around and glared at Vin who met the glare with the grin he reserved for juveniles. The hippie then looked at Judy to see how she was reacting, but she was continuing to look Vin over.