Hot Water Read Free Page B

now.'
    'You do?' said Mr Carlisle, and though he tried to keep the note of disapproval out of his voice it crept in. He hoped he was no snob, but there are social grades and degrees in the world of crime, and everybody knows that stick-up men are not quite.
    Mr Slattery flushed.
    'A guy's got to live,' he argued.
    'Oh, sure,' said Mr Carlisle.
    There was a rather constrained silence. When Mr Slattery spoke again, it was evident that he was anxious to re-establish himself in his companion's eyes.
    'It isn't as if I wouldn't open a safe if I could. There's a big job right here in this town I'd take on to-morrow, if only I'd got a partner to do the inside work.'
    Mr Carlisle was interested. He forgot his disapproval.
    'Right here in this town?'
    'About a mile out. Joint called the Chatty-o Blissac.'
    Mr Carlisle shook his head.
    'Don't know it. I'm a stranger in these parts.'
    'It's up that hill past the Casino. Some American dame has rented it. I'll bet she's got ice.'
    'You don't know.'
    'Must have – a dame that can rent a great place like that.'
    'Probably keeps it at her bank,' said Mr Carlisle, whom misfortune had made a pessimist.
    'Yeah, I guess so. Not that it's any use getting worked up about it. I couldn't do a thing, anyway, me not having an inside worker.'
    'Well, I could do the inside stand,' said Mr Carlisle on a brighter note. 'If it comes to that, why couldn't I do the inside stand?'
    'How are you going to get inside? You see,' said Mr Slattery, 'that's how it goes. A man's helpless.' He drained his glass and rose. 'Well, I'll be taking a little stroll. You staying on here?'
    'Might as well be here as anywhere,' said Mr Carlisle gloomily. The industrial depression had affected his spirits considerably.
    Mr Slattery passed out into the sunlit street, walking aimlessly towards the harbour. And it was as his wandering feet brought him to a narrow and unfrequented alley that he observed immediately ahead of him a small tubby man reading a letter.
    For a moment Mr Slattery hesitated. Then, with a half-sigh, he produced his automatic. The task before him was distasteful, but these were times when every little helped. He sidled towards the tubby man.
    'Stick' em up!' he said.
4
    Mr Gedge stuck them up. He would have been glad to oblige anyone so big and ugly even without the added inducement of an automatic pistol. He was conscious of a sinking sensation akin to that which his wife's eye sometimes induced in him and, mingled with alarm, a tender pang of commiseration for anyone so deluded as to regard holding him up as a step on the road to wealth.
    Mr Slattery, who had been doing some brisk exploring with his left hand, now appeared to have learned the sickening truth. A look of chagrin came into his gnarled features, and the tip of his broken nose twitched in obvious disillusionment. His whole aspect was that of one suddenly brought face to face with the facts of life.
    'Haven't you any dough?' he asked querulously.
    'Not a cent,' sighed Mr Gedge.
    Mr Slattery grunted unhappily. Mr Gedge was an opulent-looking little man, and he had hoped for better things. Replacing the pistol in his pocket, he pushed his hat back with a sort of Byronic despair. The movement caused Mr Gedge to utter an exclamation.
    'Say! I've seen you before.'
    'Yeah?'
    Mr Slattery spoke indifferently. He rather gave the impression that he felt that nothing mattered now. All this trouble and fuss, and not even lunch-money at the end of it.
    'Aren't you the fellow who stuck me up one night in Chicago?'
    Mr Slattery eyed him dully He seemed to be saying that one meets so many people.
    'What were you wearing?'
    'A grey business suit with an invisible blue twill.'
    'I don't place you. Sorry.'
    'Sure you do. A cop came along and you made me put my arm through yours and stroll along as if we were old friends. We sang, don't you remember?'
    'Sang what?'
    ' "Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar." You took the bass.'
    Mr Slattery's face brightened