James Chase - Mission to Siena

Felix eyed her compact, beautifully proportioned body.

“Doesn’t Micklem guess?” Lorelli asked as she smoothed the dress over her hips. She moved back to the dressing table and opening a drawer crammed with costume jewellery, she picked out a string of black and red wooden beads.

“That’s what foxes me,” Felix said. “From the look of the guy, he should be full of fight, but he isn’t. Maybe the old man has thrown a scare into him. He is doing exactly what he has been told to do. He’s written a letter to his New York bank, authorizing them to pay the money into his bank in Rome. The old man thought he would kick, but he hasn’t. You have the job of delivering the letter to Micklem’s secretary. She has to take it to New York.”

Lorelli stiffened.

“I have to take it?”

“Yes,” Felix said, looking at her. “There’s nothing to it…”

“Why can’t you take it, or Willie or Carlos?” Lorelli said, her voice rising.

“Don’t ask me,” Felix said sharply. “The old man said you were to take it.”

“Why do I always get picked on for the dirty jobs?”

“What’s dirty about this one?”

“Suppose they hand me over to the police? Look what happened in London. I was nearly caught.”

“Oh, skip it!” Felix said impatiently. “This is dead easy. The police won’t be there, and Micklem’s staff won’t dare touch you so long as we have him where we want him.”

“I don’t want to do it, Felix,” she said. “I don’t see why I should do it. I want to keep out of it.”

“You don’t know it, Lorelli,” he said, looking at her intently, “but you are in trouble. This is the wrong time to say what you will or what you won’t do. You’re to take the letter to the Trioni villa in an hour from now. That’s an order.”

Lorelli turned white.

“What do you mean — trouble?”

“Alsconi isn’t as sure of you as he was. He says in an emergency you have a habit of losing your nerve. I told him you’d be all right and I’d be responsible for you. He wasn’t convinced. He’s sending you with the letter to test your nerve.”

Lorelli-sat down abruptly on the edge of the bed.

“There’s nothing to the job,” Felix went on quietly. “As a test it’s nothing. You’ve got to pull yourself together. Alsconi is watching you. You don’t want me to tell you what that means.”

She didn’t say anything.

“Here’s the letter,” Felix said. He took an envelope from his wallet and put it on the dressing table. “You know where the Trioni villa is ?”

“Yes,” Lorelli said.

“When you get there ask for Marian Rigby. Tell her Micklem is safe and well, and he is no longer in Siena. She is to fly to New York on the first available plane, and she is to deliver the letter to Micklem’s bank. If there is a query as to why Micklem wants such a sum, she is to say he is going to build a villa out here. Tell her that if she tells the police what is happening, Micklem will suffer. Got all that?”

“Yes,” Lorelli said.

“Okay. Get there at half-past two. Take the Citroen.” Felix lit a cigarette. “Now I’ve got that off my chest, there’s something else I want to talk to you about. You never told me how you got on with Crantor. What kind of guy is he?”

Lorelli stared at him in surprise.

“Crantor? I didn’t like him. He’s ambitious and smart and utterly ruthless. Why?”

“I’ll say he’s smart,” Felix said. “Too damned smart. Alsconi told me to phone Crantor to get some information about Micklem. I expected to have to leave it with him, but he trotted out the facts as if he were reading from a dossier. There was nothing he didn’t know about Micklem: how much he was worth, who his bankers were, what insurances he carried- the works. He said he could repeat the performance on anyone in London with an income of more than ten thousand.

That’s being too damned smart.”

“What do you mean?” Loreili asked blankly.

“Already Alsconi thinks Crantor is a good man. If he knew Crantor is taking this amount of trouble on his behalf he might get other ideas about him.”

“What ideas?”

“He might bring him out here and put him in my place,” Felix said. “That’s just the kind of efficiency that would appeal to Alsconi. That’s why you’ve got to watch your step from now on. Alsconi doesn’t approve of our alliance as he calls it.

He hinted I was turning soft.”

“Then we’ve got to get out of here!” Lorelli cried, clenching her fists. “You must listen to me, Felix! If the police don’t catch us, then Alsconi will get rid of us. We’ve got to get away!”

“Will you stop this!” Felix said violently, “I’m warning you! If we try to double-cross Alsconi it’ll be the last thing we do. Will you get that into your head?”

“So you think it’s better to wait for Alsconi to double-cross you?” Lorelli said, her voice shrill. “You’ll look a fool if Crantor takes over from you, won’t you?”

“If Crantor comes here, I’ll fix him before he gets near Alsconi,” Felix said viciously.

“If Alsconi hasn’t fixed you first!”

Felix stood up and kicked the chair out of his way. He went over to Lorelli, grabbed her by her arms and pulled her to her feet.

“I’ve never got tough with you yet,” he snarled, “but I will if I have to, and believe me, when I get tough with a woman, it’s too bad for her.” He gave her a hard little shake. “Listen: there’s no way out for either of us. We’re in this thing too deep. Do you want me to tell Alsconi that you’ve lost your nerve and you want to quit? You know what he’ll do with you? He’ll hand you over to Englemann. If you don’t pull yourself together, I’ll wash my hands of you. I said I’d be responsible for you, but don’t kid yourself I’m going to cover you up if you ask for trouble. I’m not sticking my neck out for anyone!”

Lorelli suddenly relaxed against him.

“All right, Felix,” she said. “I’m sorry. My nerves are bad, but I’ll be all right.”

“You’d better be all right,” he said and released her. “Now, look, you have nothing to worry about. I’ll take care of you.

Just do what I tell you. Do you understand?”

She nodded, not looking at him.

“Okay.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to see the old man now. I can rely on you to take that letter?”

“Yes,” Lorelli said.

“Good girl,” Felix said and patted her arm. “Be there at half-past two.”

When he had gone Lorelli moved slowly to the dressing table and sat down. She was shocked to see how pale she was.

She picked up her rouge pad and heightened her colour. Then she lit a cigarette.

She felt trapped. She told herself she would never have mixed herself up with Alsconi if she had known he was going to start a world-wide and murderous racket like this. How could she possibly have known?

When she had first met Alsconi, five years ago, he had been an impoverished violinist in a cafe band in Rome. She had been a professional dancer at the cafe. She had regarded Alsconi as had the other members of the cafe staff as an egocentric crackpot, not to be taken seriously.

At that time, Alsconi was always bragging about his ancestors of Siena, hinting darkly that it wouldn’t be long before he was back as head of the historical and notorious Vaga family, with unlimited wealth. When he wasn’t playing the violin in the cafe band, he would roam the cafe tables, looking for someone who would listen to his monotonous story of how the Vagas had been exiled from Siena and how they had sworn to return.

Then one day he cornered Lorelli and put a proposition to her. Why didn’t she go into partnership with himself and Johnny Lassiter, a young American who washed dishes at the cafe? There was big money to be made playing the badger game. He had already spoken to Johnny who was willing if Lorelli came in with them. He (Alsconi) knew a number of wealthy men who would be easy prey. He would introduce Lorelli to them. Her job would be to get them into a compromising situation, then Johnny would appear as the outraged husband and the sucker would pay up to avoid a scandal.