Kaleidoscope Read Free Page B

returned.”
    “Why don’t you ask Bone Breaker here to fetch it for you?”
    “Cheek. Can be good. Even in an insect. Certainly, I could have Mr. Carlton, or any of my people, make the appropriate inquiries, but that would invite attention from authorities and competitors which at present I cannot afford. And then there is the question of privacy…
    “This is a family matter, Mr. Romaine, a private affair which I would much prefer to keep private. I do not want people close to me knowing details of my family or finances. I certainly do not want my own people to know I’ve been robbed. Nor my other—associates. It could be misconstrued, you see. As a weakness.”
    Bladehorn paused as if waiting for a riposte.
    Jack decided not to oblige.
    “I need an outsider for this task, Mr. Romaine. With luck you’ll be finished inside a day.”
    “You said something about pay.”
    “Naturally,” Bladehorn tightened the knot on his apron. “I will advance you five hundred now against another five if you recover my property.”
    A thousand dollars? One thousand ?! Jack tried to keep his poker face. He could do a lot with a thousand green.
    “A grand, then. All right. For what?”
    Bladehorn selected a trowel from the potting table. “A woman will be released from the workhouse—a Miss Sally Price. Fist will provide a photograph and particulars. Miss Price was the fiancée of a man who was once my chauffeur. Name of Jerry Driggers.”
    “I knew Driggers, what happened to that guy?”
    “Shut yer trap and listen,” Fist rumbled.
    “I was married at the time,” Bladehorn continued. “My wife died at sea, you might recall, with our son. Little over a year ago. Made all the papers.”
    “Didn’t catch it.”
    “Ah. Well. My son was not destined for a long or healthy life and I married Claudia for her money. I was not aware until after my wife’s death that she had hidden substantial sums of cash and negotiable securities in an apartment across town.
    “I didn’t know. Driggers did. Fifty thousand dollars and another quarter million in certificates for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad stolen by my own driver from a safe beneath a bed which my wife while living never shared with me.”
    “Talk about cheek.”
    Bladehorn selected a pot of chrysanthemums. “Driggers planned to start his own bootleg operation. Before I could get to him, he was killed by some jackanapes on the river, some trivial dispute. Taking all knowledge of the cash and securities to a pauper’s grave.”
    “But you figure Sally knows?” Jack supplied.
    “About the theft, certainly. And probably how to locate the cash and stocks as well.”
    “What’s she in for?”
    “Skipping bail. Pity. If my people had gotten to her first, as we should have done…”
    Fist shrank inside his overcoat.
    “Say I find this Sally Price,” Jack went on. “For the sake of shits and grins let’s say that Sally actually does know where to find your property. That’s true, she’s got a fortune waiting. What makes you think she’ll talk?”
    Bladehorn smiled icily.
    “Pick her up. Bring her to me. She’ll talk.”
    Jack squirmed.
    “Not the kinda job I usually do.”
    Bladehorn troweled damp soil into his pot of flowers.
    “How much do you owe, Mr. Romaine?”
    “Me? Owe?”
    “You have markers out all over Cincinnati, of course,” Bladehorn dropped his trowel. “But I believe more serious transgressions lie elsewhere. Chicago, perhaps? Where to my certain knowledge you owe a half-dozen businessmen upwards of a thousand dollars each .
    “One of those gentlemen is an acquaintance of mine. Mr. Capone? Alphonso Capone? Notorious of late for his Valentine benedictions? Now, I realize that you are small fry, Mr. Romaine, and Mr. Capone has a large organization to run. Nevertheless. You owe. You’re late. And I can tell you candidly that if you elect to refuse my offer someone will soon come to collect.”
    Jack tried a smile of his own. “A thousand bucks,