Джеймс Чейз - The Way the Cookie Crumbles

‘Yeah, maybe you have something. What will she use?’

‘A little putty held in her left hand. You’re the boy who will cut the keys. You’d better talk it over with her, show her what you want.’

‘Those keys could be tricky to cut,’ Algir said. ‘Depends on how complicated the locks are.’

‘Why should they be all that complicated with a security system as good as they have? I’ll bet they are just locks and just keys. Anyway, you’ll know tomorrow. You’ll have one of the keys for yourself.’

Algir put his head on one side.

‘How come?’

‘Tomorrow, you are going to the bank and you’re renting a safe. You’ll take with you a fat, sealed envelope full of cut newspapers. This, you will explain, is your gambling money. You want to draw money out and pay money in every day. You’ll meet Doris Kirby. You’ll take a good look at her so you’ll know her again. You’ll leave the envelope in your safe and you’ll take away the key. You’ll then be able to decide how complicated it will be to cut keys of the same pattern. In the evening, you’ll arrange for Miss Kirby to fall ill, have an accident, get a bellyache or whatever it is you decide on to get her out of the way. But remember one thing: she holds an important position in the bank. If anything odd happens to her, the security people may smell a rat, and the cops must be kept out. So watch it, Phil.’

Algir scowled down at the floor.

‘How about a little nudge with my car?’ he asked finally.

‘Hit and run,’ Edris said gently. ‘That’s police business.’

‘Does she live alone?’

‘Yes,’ Ira said. ‘She has a top-floor apartment. She did tell me that.’

‘If it’s a walk-up, a string across the top of the stairs would do it,’ Algir said. ‘That okay? She just breaks a leg?’

‘Fine, so long as she doesn’t break her neck,’ Edris said. ‘We don’t want the cops in on this.’

‘Get me the address,’ Algir said to Ira. ‘I’ll look the place over as soon as you get the address to me.’

Ira nodded, then glancing at her watch, she got to her feet.

‘Is there anything else, Ticky? I’m supposed to be at the club. Papa might telephone. If he finds out I’m not there, he’ll start wondering.’

‘That’s all for now, baby. You’re doing fine. I mean it. Just keep going like this and you’ll soon have real money to burn and I mean real money.’

‘You don’t imagine I’m doing this for kicks, do you?’ She moved to the door. ‘So long, Ticky.’ To Algir, she said, ‘Let’s see your speed, birdbrain. It’s time you did something to earn your living,’ and she went out.

‘I’d like to get that little bitch all to myself,’ Algir said, his face congested. ‘I’d like to hear her squeal before I took her apart.’

Edris giggled.

‘You will, Philly-boy. Have patience. She’s far too young to have so much money.’

‘I still don’t get this,’ Algir said, lighting a cigarette. ‘Why do I need to rent a safe?’

‘Oh, for Pete’s sake! Use your brains, buddy-boy. It’ll be Ira’s job to take the money from the other safes and put it in your safe. You’ll call every day and collect the money which the bank will imagine belongs to you. How else do you think we can get the money out of the vaults? Can’t you see how simple it is once we have the duplicate keys and Ira working for us? She will have the run of the vaults for as long as Kirby is away. She will keep feeding your safe with money from the safes she is able to open. They will be dead safes, so it will be months before they find out there’s anything missing, and by then, we’ll be miles away.’

Algir sat motionless, gaping at him.

‘Judas!’ he said finally in an awe-stricken voice.

‘Sweet, isn’t it?’ Edris hugged himself. ‘And there are millions of dollars to be lifted. It’s the sweetest, loveliest take ever thought of.’ Throwing back his head, he yelled, ‘Yipeee!’ with all the force of his lungs.

The following morning at 09.15 hours Mel was in his office, the morning’s mail and various reports on his desk before him. As he was reaching for a Stock Market report a gentle tap sounded on the door that led directly to his private elevator: a door he seldom used as he preferred to walk through the main entrance to the bank, taking the opportunity for a word here and there with the staff. No one ever knocked on this door and he stared at it, wondering if he had heard aright. The knock was repeated.

Frowning, he decided this was so extraordinary, Miss Ashley, his secretary, would have to deal with it. As he reached for the bell push, he heard a soft whisper through the door panels, ‘Daddy it’s me.’

Mel suddenly grinned. He got to his feet, looking a little anxiously at the door leading to the anteroom. If Miss Ashley suspected someone was disturbing him at this hour, she would be shocked and indignant, but the faint clack of her typewriter told him she was occupied. He went to the door, unlocked and opened it.

Ira slipped in. Her blue eyes were guileless, her smile confident. She was wearing a slate grey frock with white collars and cuffs, and around her slim waist was a broad black patent leather belt. Her blonde hair glittered like burnished copper in the sunlight coming through the big open windows.

‘I know. I know,’ she said, keeping her voice down. ‘You don’t have to tell me, Daddy. I know I shouldn’t be here and Ashley would swallow her bridgework if she knew, but I just had to see you.’

‘I suppose you realize you’ve broken one of the most sacred rules of the bank by coming here at this hour and by my private entrance?’ Mel said, sitting behind his desk.

Ira pushed aside some papers on his desk, hoisted herself up onto the desk and adjusted her skirt. Mel thought she looked enchanting and the smile she gave him went to his heart and his head.

‘I’ll never do it again, but this happens to be very important,’ she said. ‘Doris Kirby has had an accident and I want to take her place in the vaults.’

Mel leaned back in his chair.

‘How do you know she has had an accident? Is it serious?’

‘Everyone’s talking about it downstairs,’ Ira said airily. ‘She’s hurt quite badly: a broken arm and three fractured ribs. She was foolish enough to fall down a flight of stairs last night. Now listen, Daddy, let’s be sorry for Doris some other time. What is of immediate importance is I want to take her place. That’s why I am here. I want you to tell old Crawsure I’m to have Doris’s job until she is well. I want you to do this right now before he has time to think of someone else to replace her.’

‘I’m certainly not,’ Mel began firmly, but she put her hand across his lips.

‘Don’t say anything you’ll regret later, Daddy dear. Just listen to me. If I’m going to be of any real use to you and to the bank, I should get to know your important clients. After all, I am your daughter. They will be as interested to meet me as I will to meet them. You can’t expect me to take a great deal of interest in the bank unless I have met some of the clients, can you? By meeting them, my work will come alive. Old Crawsure will have difficulty in replacing Doris. A lot of the staff are on vacation. There is also the security risk to consider. As your daughter, old Crawsure can’t object to me being in the vaults. So you see I am the obvious choice since I want to do the work.’

Mel looked at her. How like Muriel she was, he thought, and had a sudden bitter pang that his marriage hadn’t worked out. Norena had the same brittle beauty, the same hardness, the same calculated persuasion Muriel always used when she wanted to get her own way.