It was nice timing. Just as he stepped through the door, the attendant approached with Willis Trent in tow. Tommy had to step sidewards so that they could pass him in the narrow doorway.
Tommy went through the bank to the sidewalk and started for McCadden. As he turned into the side street he looked over his shoulder and swore roundly when he saw the swarthy man, who’d been shadowing him the day before, close on his heels. He continued on to the parking lot, got his car and drove to Melrose Avenue.
He was late again this morning. But, since he was now a partner instead of a mere employee, George Roan did not remark on it. He greeted Tommy cheerfully, “Good morning, partner.”
Tommy forced a grin. “Good morning.”
“How’d you like to run over to the Hadley people with me, this morning, Tommy?” Mr. Roan asked. “There’s a lot of figuring to be done and you’ve always been pretty good at that.”
Tommy shook his head. “Somebody ought to stay in the shop. Besides, you’ve dealt with them so far and it’s just as well you continue.”
“Maybe you’re right. I guess I might as well run over there now.”
Mr. Roan left the shop inside of five minutes. Tommy took out the envelope containing the smoked key blanks from his pocket, and went to work. He had hardly started, however, when the phone rang.
It was Willis Trent. “Get them all right, Tommy?”
“Of course, but one of them got a little rubbed.”
“You won’t have to take another impression?” Trent exclaimed.
“No, I don’t think so. I can correct it when I go back for the fitting.”
“Good. Do you think you’ll get a chance to work on the keys this morning?”
Tommy looked toward the window of the shop. Undoubtedly the shadow was parked across the street and had made note of the absence of George Roan. Tommy said into the phone: “Matter of fact, I just started on them. The boss left the shop and I’ll be alone until noon.” Then he grimaced, as Trent cut in, “I’ll run over.” He hung up before Tommy could protest.
Angrily, Tommy slammed the receiver on the hook, then stepped to his work bench and began filing furiously at the key blank he had put in the vise. He finished it, got a duplicate key blank and filed it down to match the first. He dropped the second key in a drawer then put the other smoked blank in the vise and began working slowly on it. He was still at it when the door opened and Willis Trent entered.
“How’s it coming?” Trent asked eagerly.
Tommy handed Trent the finished key. “Here’s one and in a minute I’ll have the other.”
Trent examined the key admiringly. “Damned if I see how you do it!”
Tommy gave the key in the vise two or three light strokes of the file and threw down the file.
“Do you think they’ll work?” Trent asked.
Tommy shrugged. “This second one got a little blurred. But I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the first one fits just as it is, maybe just a little touch or two here and there.”
Trent drew a deep breath. “I don’t see how I can stand the wait.”
Tommy said, “Well, shall we run back to the bank now and check on them?”
Trent shuddered. “I lost two years of my life this morning!”
Tommy studied Trent closely. It was true, the bookmaker looked a little pale even now. “Tomorrow?”
“Not me. I’ll go back to the bank with you on Monday. But I don’t think the two of us ought to follow each other like that more than once more.”
“What about Faraday?”
“He hasn’t got a box at the bank.”
“What about Herbie the Lugan or—” Tommy nodded toward the window — “your man across the street. They don’t have to have boxes. They can just stop at the window and make an inquiry or something.”
“No.” Trent was positive about that. “Three people’s enough in this.”
“You mean they don’t know about this?”
“You take me for a fool.” Trent made an impatient gesture. “All right, Louie’s following you. He thinks you welshed on a bet and I want you kept in sight. Come up to the apartment this evening.”
Trent started to turn away, the two keys still in his hand. Tommy reached out for them, but Trent, smiling thinly, dropped the keys in his coat pocket.
Tommy exclaimed, “What’s the idea?”
“I’ll keep them until morning.”
“But I’ve got to smoke them up again before I go to the bank.”
“I’ll meet you at a quarter of ten at Las Palmas and Yucca. You can smoke them up then.”
“You really
“For ten bucks, yes. Maybe even for a hundred, but not for a hundred thousand, or two hundred thousand.”
“You’re building pretty high hopes,” Tommy said. “What if there isn’t that kind of money in Box 294? What if there isn’t
“There’ll be money in it,” Trent said confidently. “There’s got to be. And a lot of it.”
“I hope so.”
Trent left the shop and Tommy puttered about for a few minutes. Then he went back to his bench and pulling out the drawer, retrieved the key he had dropped into it before Trent’s arrival. It went into his pocket to join another key that already reposed there.
