Джеймс Чейз - You're Dead Without Money

Abruptly Radnitz put down the document and stared at Lessing, his eyes hooded.

‘Where did you find Elliot?’ he asked.

‘He is staying at the Seagull, Seaview Boulevard, sir: a small, four bedroom bungalow that is rented to people on vacation.’

‘Who owns it?’

‘A Mrs. Miller of Miami.’

‘Did Elliot rent it from her?’

Lessing was thankful he had made thorough inquiries before reporting to Radnitz.

‘No, sir. A man called Joe Luck rents it from her. He has rented it for the season now for the past three years. He is living there with his daughter and a man called Vin Pinna.’

‘Elliot is living with these three?’

‘It would seem so.’ Lessing went on to explain how his men had seen Pinna meet Judy Larrimore, how they had followed them to the Blue Heaven motel and then had followed Pinna to the bungalow. ‘A watch was kept on the bungalow and at 09.00 Elliot came into the back garden which is screened from the road. He was joined by the other three and they had breakfast together.’

‘Who are these three?’

‘We have no information as yet on Luck or his daughter, but Pinna has a record. I have an F.B.I. report on him, sir. He is an expert lock man, has served three years for robbery but is not wanted right now.’

Radnitz nodded.

‘I want a watch kept on Elliot and on these other three. I want a daily report. On no account are they to know they are being watched... understood?’

‘Yes, sir,’ Lessing said, thinking this was easier said than done.

‘I want a watch kept on Claude Kendrick. Elliot may contact him. Keep a watch on Larrimore’s house and also continue to watch his daughter.’

Realizing the profit he was going to make from this operation, Lessing put on his most efficient air.

‘I’ll take care of it, sir.’

Radnitz regarded him. His hooded eyes were like tiny pools of ice.

‘If there is one mistake, Lessing,’ he said, his voice soft, ‘then even I will be sorry for you.’

He picked up the document and again began to study it.

Shaken, Lessing looked hopefully at Holtz who ignored him, then he went quickly from the terrace to where Ko-Yu, giving him a sly little grin, opened the front door.

Fred Nisson and Alec Ross were men of considerable experience in tailing suspects. They worked together: one in front of the suspect and the other behind. They had an efficient set of signals with which they communicated with each other. To look at they were just a couple of middle-aged men on vacation who were wandering around the City, gaping at shop windows, wandering around the stores and being generally harmless.

At 10.30, they saw Joey and Cindy leave the bungalow and drive off in the Jaguar. Both men were startled to see Cindy apparently had become heavily pregnant. Having seen her in the garden an hour ago having breakfast this abrupt transformation foxed them.

‘Think it’s her twin sister?’ Ross asked as he drove after the Jaguar.

‘Can’t be anything else,’ Nisson returned. It looks the same girl, but goddamn it, she can’t be. This one looks as if she’s going to lay an egg any minute.’

Still baffled, they followed the Jaguar into the big parking lot of the Central Self-Service store and both men separated, one going ahead of Joey and Cindy, the other lagging behind.

If it had been anyone else but Joey, Nisson and Ross would have been just two men in a crowd, but Joey had a built in antenna that warned him of danger.

The antenna began to quiver as he walked with Cindy into the store. Immediately he looked to right and left to see if there was a store detective around, but he couldn’t see one.

Cindy was planning to cook a beef stew and she made her way briskly to the meat counter.

A balding man wearing a blue and white shirt and blue slacks moved on ahead of her. Joey eyed his back and his antenna really came alive.

He touched Cindy’s arm. ‘No operation, honey,’ he said softly. ‘I’ve got a feeling...’

During the years of going around with her father, Cindy had come to respect his ‘feelings’. Once she had ignored his warning and they had narrowly escaped disaster. A store detective had been lurking out of sight and it was only because Cindy appeared to be so heavily pregnant that he didn’t take action, but told them to get out fast. So now when her father said ‘No operation,’ she obeyed.

They bought what they wanted and while Cindy joined the queue at the paying station, Joey walked through the barrier and waited for her. While he waited, he looked around. The man in the blue and white shirt had bought a bottle of Coke and was standing immediately behind Cindy. Joey’s antenna fluttered and he looked away.

Together Cindy and he walked back to the Jaguar.

‘I think we’re being tailed,’ Joey said. ‘Take the car. I’ll go over to the kiosk and buy cigarettes. You circle for a few minutes, then pick me up at the kiosk.’

Cindy got into the Jaguar and drove away. Joey wandered slowly across the parking lot, pausing to examine a Capri as if the car interested him. He saw the man in the blue and white shirt driving after Cindy. But his antenna still fluttered and he felt sure there was a second tail watching him. He went over to the kiosk and bought a pack of cigarettes and also the Paradise Herald . He paused to scan the headlines, then glanced around but there were so many people that he was unable to spot the second tailer although he was sure he was there.

He continued to appear to be reading the paper until the Jaguar pulled in to the parking lot. Joey got in and Cindy drove off.

‘Where to, dad?’ she asked.

Joey shifted the driving mirror so he could watch the cars behind. He saw another nondescript looking man wearing a green shirt get in the car beside the man in the blue and white shirt and the car moved after them.

‘We are being tailed,’ Joey said, his voice unsteady. ‘They don’t look like cops, but they could be private eyes. Keep going. We’ll go up into the hills and see if they really mean business.’

‘Why should they be tailing us?’ Cindy asked, her eyes growing round.

‘I don’t know and I don’t like it.’

Once free of the heavy traffic, Cindy put on speed and turning off the highway, she took a side road that led up into the hills. After a minute or so, Joey again checked the driving mirror. There was no sign of the following car.

‘Keep going,’ he said. ‘I think we’ve lost them, but they could be foxing.’

In the following car, Ross cursed softly as he saw the Jaguar turn off the highway.

‘I think they’ve spotted us, Fred,’ he said. If I go up that road after them, they’ll know for sure they are being tailed.’ He pulled into a lay-by. ‘How the hell did they get on to us?’

Nisson, acutely aware of Lessing’s instructions that the suspects were on no account to know they were being tailed, broke out in a gentle sweat.

‘I don’t understand it, but I think you’re right. Let’s get back to the bungalow. From now on, Alec, we’ve got to be a damn sight more careful with these people. Maybe I’d better report to the old man.’

‘And get chewed to hell? We don’t know for sure they did spot us. Let’s wait and see how it works out.’

When Joey was sure they had lost the following car, he told Cindy to take the loop road that would bring them back on to the highway.

‘We’ll go home,’ Joey said. ‘Don will want to know about this.’

When Joey told Elliot he stared in disbelief.

‘Are you sure?’

‘I wouldn’t swear to it, but I think so.’

‘Well, let’s take it they were tailing you,’ Elliot said. ‘They could only be tailing you because they suspect you have been helping yourselves in the various stores. Why else should they tail you? Now listen, from now on, we pay for everything we want... understand? We don’t want you two arrested on a shop lifting charge just when we are starting this operation.’ He turned to Vin who had been listening and frowning. ‘You too, Vin. Keep your eyes skinned just in case these two men are also interested in you. If you think you are being tailed, act normally. Don’t try to lose the tailer. The time to start losing them is when we go for the stamps.’