Джеймс Чейз - The Way the Cookie Crumbles

‘Get anything?’ he demanded.

She could feel his feverish impatience.

She nodded.

‘Two,’ and she handed him the small box containing two impressions she had made of the keys to the vacant safes.

‘Who do they belong to?’

‘Mr. Cruikshank and Mrs. Rhindlander,’ she lied, inventing the names on the spur of the moment. ‘They are both rich and both leaving tonight.’

‘Did you see inside their safes?’

‘No.’

He stared suspiciously at her and she had to force herself to meet his gaze.

‘Then how did you get the impressions?’

‘They let me unlock the safes, but not open the doors. Satisfied?’

‘Well, for your sake, I hope there’s more in them than that sonofabitch Lanza had!’

‘Can I help it if there’s no money in the safes?’ Ira snapped. ‘I do what Ticky tells me to do. I can’t work miracles.’

Algir studied her.

‘I’ve heard that one before. See you at Ticky’s place at six,’ and pushing past her, he left the cafe.

Ira didn’t want to go to Ticky’s apartment, but she was scared not to go. They were going to split up Wanassee’s take. What was she going to do with her share? She wondered. If she could get it back into Wanassee’s safe she would have done so, but Algir had kept the duplicate key. She decided she would ask Ticky to keep it for her, explaining she had no safe place to keep it. If there was trouble, at least she could prove she hadn’t touched the money herself.

As she was leaving the bank a few minutes after six, she saw Mel crossing the lobby and she paused to smile at him.

‘What sort of day?’ he asked, taking her arm and walking with her down the steps to the staff parking lot.

‘Oh, all right.’

‘You don’t sound very enthusiastic’ He looked at her and seeing her shrug, he went on, ‘Are you getting bored with being down there? If you are, you can relax. You’ll only have to do it for another two weeks.’

She stiffened and abruptly came to a standstill.

‘Two weeks? But I don’t want to be down there that long! I want to go back to the accounts department at the end of this week! ’

He smiled at her.

‘You must take your job seriously, Norena. Now Miss Kirby won’t be back for at least two months, Crawsure thinks it would be a good opportunity to make a change. We are getting a male clerk from our New York branch to take over, but he can’t get here before the end of the month. You’ll have to carry on until then.’

Ira started to protest, but stopped when she saw he was looking curiously at her.

‘After all, Norena, you did want to go down there. I warned you you would be bored, but now we don’t seem able to do without you.’ He smiled. ‘Okay?’

Two more weeks! she thought in alarm. She couldn’t fool Ticky and Algir for two more weeks and yet she couldn’t refuse. Then she thought of Jess and the telegram she had received that afternoon. He would be arriving tonight. With Jess around, she would be safe.

She shrugged her shoulders.

‘Oh, I guess so.’

‘Fine. I’m on my way to see Joy,’ Mel said. ‘I’m going to ask her to marry me, Norena. Want to come along and keep the Judge company?’

She shook her head.

‘Not tonight, Daddy. I’ve things to do.’ She began to move towards her car, paused and looked at him. ‘Good luck.’

Mel watched her as she walked to the car, got in and drove away and he drew in a deep breath. It was beginning to work, he told himself. She was not only settling down, but she was beginning to accept him.

Ira drove fast to Seacombe. She arrived outside Edris’ apartment block and leaving her car, she entered the building aware that her heart was beating a little too rapidly and that she was nervous.

As the elevator took her up to the top floor, she told herself that she had nothing to be frightened about. It would be tomorrow when Algir found the two empty safes that trouble could start, but by then Jess would be here and he would look after her.

She paused outside Edris’ front door, still aware that her heart was thumping. She had an instinctive feeling for danger, and she was feeling it now. She hesitated, then with her teeth set hard, she reached out and pressed the bell button.

There was a moment’s delay, then the door jerked open and Edris looked up at her. His face was pale and his small eyes were as expressionless as polished glass.

‘There you are,’ he said. ‘You’re late. Come on in.’

She hesitated. Through the open doorway, she could see Algir standing by the window, his hands in his pockets, a cigarette hanging from his thin lips.

‘Well, come on in,’ Edris said and she was quick to hear the controlled impatience in his voice.

She walked into the big living room and Edris shut the door. Her heart gave a little lurch as she distinctly heard the key turn in the lock. She kept moving until she reached the centre of the room and she paused.

Then suddenly she was back once more in the atmosphere of a Brooklyn alley. Like a tiger-cat sensing danger, she was no longer afraid. Under this sudden hidden threat, the veneer of softness that had coated her during the past weeks peeled away.

She took three quick steps that brought her to the nearest wall, turned and faced Edris and Algir, her eyes dark and glittering, her mouth a thin line.

‘All right, you bitch,’ Algir said, his voice husky with rage. ‘You’re going to get it. I’ve been waiting to give it to you ever since we met, and now I’m going to strip the goddamn meat off your back!’

As he began to fumble at the buckle of his belt, Ira looked quickly around for a weapon. Close to her was a heavy ashtray and she snatched it up as Algir slid the belt free of its loops.

‘You make a move towards me, creep,’ she said, her voice steady, her face white but determined, ‘and this goes through the window. Then you can talk to the cops when they come.’

‘Knock it off!’ Edris said sharply to Algir. ‘I’m handling this. I told you, didn’t I? I’m handling it!’

Algir hesitated, glaring at Ira, then with a grunt of exasperation he tossed the belt on the settee.

‘All right,’ Edris said and moving to his armchair he sat down. ‘Sit down, Ira. Philly-boy, you squat too.’

Ira looked from Edris to Algir and then, still holding the ashtray she sat on a straight back chair which stood against the wall. Her mouth was dry and her heart pounding. What had gone wrong? she asked herself. She was more scared of Edris than of Algir. The dwarf’s calmness had a sinister quality that was far more dangerous than Algir’s blustering rage.

Muttering under his breath, Algir sat down.

Edris looked at Ira.

‘I thought you were smart,’ he said softly. ‘It would have been easy to have given Phil names that meant something, but you were dumb enough to dream up those two names. Your Mr. Cruikshank and your Mrs. Rhindlander don’t have accounts with the bank. I checked.’

Ira forced her face to remain expressionless. Yes, that had been a dumb move, she thought, but how was she to know this freak was even suspicious of her?

‘What’s the idea?’ Edris went on. ‘Did you also know there would be no money in Lanza’s safe?’

‘I didn’t know,’ she said.

‘Those two keys you gave Phil. Who do they belong to?’

She hesitated, then she decided to put her cards face up on the table. The showdown was coming quicker than she wanted it to, but these two daren’t touch her in Ticky’s apartment. She could hear the strains of music coming from the television set in the apartment below. She wasn’t alone in the building. She could throw the ashtray through the closed window before they could reach her and she could scream. No, they wouldn’t dare touch her here.