In the lower hallway of the apartment Tommy encountered his landlady. “Oh, good evening, Mr. Dancer,” she said. “I’ve got a message here for you somewhere.”
“Message?”
“Telephone. Let me see now, where did I put it?” She searched the drawer of the low table in the hall and finally produced a little piece of paper. “Oh yes, here it is.” She read it. “Miss Targ called and says to telephone her at Crestview 6-8869.”
Tommy took the slip from the landlady and thrust it in his pocket. “Thanks.”
“Aren’t you going to telephone her now?” the landlady asked hopefully.
“No, it’s not important. I’ll call later.”
Mrs. Cox seemed disappointed but Tommy headed for the stairs and climbed to the second floor. He entered his apartment and began stripping off his clothes. In the bathroom he shaved and took a quick shower and put on his one good suit.
Dressed, he left the apartment. He descended to the first floor and finding the corridor empty stepped to the wall telephone. He dropped in a nickel and dialed Crestview 6-8869.
A woman’s voice answered, but it was not Elizabeth’s. Tommy said, “May I speak to Miss Elizabeth Targ?”
“Who’s calling please?”
“Tommy Dancer.”
There was a slight pause then the woman’s voice said, “Just a moment and I’ll see if she’s here.”
She was. She said: “Tommy, I find that I’ll be able to meet you after all.”
“Where?”
“Let’s see. How about right at the end of the Strip where Beverly Hills starts, at the bridle path. In about an hour and a half?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Good.”
Tommy hung up the receiver and scowled at the phone. How much punishment could a man take? Tommy asked himself the question and answered it grimly. A lot! If it was the right woman. For Tommy there had never been another woman. He did not think there ever would be. He walked slowly out of the building and suddenly grimaced as he saw Louie standing on the sidewalk near the beige-colored coupe. He had forgotten about him.
“A little stepping out tonight, huh?” Louie asked. “I hope you make it a good place. A fellow gets tired of hanging around dumps, you know.”
“I’m getting damn tired of having
“As to that,” Louie replied, “I’m not having so much fun myself. It’s a job. That’s all.”
Tommy stalked away from him and went to his car. He got in and, making a U-turn, chugged along to Hollywood Boulevard. A few minutes later he got out in front of the Lehigh Apartments on Whitley.
It was probably the Filipino’s afternoon off; for Trent himself answered Tommy’s ring. “Getting to be a regular visitor here,” Trent greeted him.
“Look, Tommy said, I’m not enjoying this any more than you are. And I’m fed up with that gorilla of yours tagging around after me wherever I go.”
“Louie? He hasn’t been bothering you, has he?” Trent shrugged. “I’ll call him off.” A faint smile flitted across his features. “Until tomorrow anyway.”
“Speaking of tomorrow,” Tommy said. “Let me look at those keys.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve been thinking of the one that I said got blurred and I don’t believe it got as blurred as I thought at first. Maybe I can touch it up enough before I go back to the bank.”
“You mean you might be ready to make the haul on the next trip?” Trent asked, excitedly.
Tommy nodded.
Trent reached into his pocket and brought out the two white metal keys. Tommy took them from his hand and stepped to a light Trent followed, his eyes intently on the keys in Tommy’s hand as if afraid Tommy would make them disappear or attempt a substitution. Tommy gave one of the keys only a perfunctory examination but held the other one up to the light and studied it. “I’m sure it will be all right if I just touch up this little nipple here in the second valley. You don’t happen to have a file around, do you? Any kind of file.”
Trent grunted. “How about a nail file?”
“All right. Let me have it.”
“You serious?” Trent looked suspiciously at Tommy but produced a nail file from his pocket.
Tommy took it and ran it across one of the valleys of the key two or three times. He did a little scraping then and applied the file once or twice more.
“There, I’m sure it will work now.”
“Then we can make the big try tomorrow instead of waiting until next week?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Trent drew a deep breath and exhaled heavily. “Whew! I hadn’t counted on pulling it so soon, but I don’t see why we shouldn’t.” He frowned heavily, “If I can only get up nerve enough to go through with it”
“I don’t see where you’ll have to display any nerve,” Tommy said. “It’s me who’ll have to do the dirty work.”
“I still have to be in the bank with you.” Trent took the two keys from Tommy’s hand and studied them. “We’ve got to map it out, every step.”
“You’ll need a suitcase to carry two hundred thousand dollars,” Tommy said.
“Don’t be silly. It’s in a safety deposit box. Whatever the amount is it can’t take up more room than the box. I was thinking of one of those canvas sacks that cashiers carry to and from the bank. Or maybe a little Gladstone bag.”
“How about a brief case?” Tommy asked quietly.
