“What about the dough?” Fenner said. “That gone too?” “That’s safe enough. But what am I going to do? Shall I come on back?” Fenner looked at the Chinaman. “Hang around the Baltimore and buy yourself a lunch. I’ll come on out when I’m through. Right now I’ve got a client.”
“But, Dave, what about the girl? Hadn’t you better come now?” Fenner was inclined to be impatient. “I’m runnin’ this office,” he said shortly. “Every minute I keep this guy waitin’ he gets colder and colder, an’ believe me, it ain’t with rage.” He dropped the receiver into its cradle and straightened ,up. He looked at the Chinaman unemotionally. “Well, come on, Percy,” he said. “You an’ I gotta take a walk.”
Paula sat in the Baltimore lounge until after three o’clock. She had worked herself up to a severe tension when, at quarter past three, Fenner came across the lounge fast, his eyebrows meeting in a heavy frown of concentration and his eyes hard and frosty. He said, pausing just long enough to pick up her coat lying on a vacant chair beside her, “Come on, baby, I wanta talk to you.”
Paula followed him into the cocktail lounge, which was almost empty. Fenner led her to a table at the far end of the room, opposite the entrance. He took some care to pull the table away from the wall, so that he could sit facing the swing-doors.
“Are you usin’ booze as perfume these days,” he said, sitting down, “or do you think we can get some hard liquor in this joint?”
“That’s a nice crack,” Paula said: “what else can a girl do in a place like this? I’ve only had three pink ladies. What’s the idea? I’ve been sitting on my fanny for three hours now.”
Fenner beckoned to a waiter. “Don’t say ‘fanny’. It’s vulgar.” He ordered two double Scotches and some ginger-ale. He sat with his back turned to Paula and watched the waiter order the drinks and bring them all the way back. When the waiter had set them down he reached out and poured one of the doubles into the other glass, filled the empty glass half full of ginger-ale and pushed it over to Paula. “You gotta watch your complexion, Dizzy,” he said, and poured half the neat Scotch down his throat.
Paula sighed. “Well, come on,” she said impatiently, “let me in on the ground floor. I’ve been out of circulation for three hours.”
Fenner lit a cigarette and leant back in his chair. “You’re quite sure Miss Daley walked out on you without any persuasion?”
Paula nodded. “It was like I told you. I went up to the desk and started making arrangements for a room. She was standing behind me. I took off my glove to sign the book and I felt sort of lonely. I looked round and there she was drifting into the street. She was on her own and moving fast. By the time I’d got through the revolving door she’d gone. I tell you, Dave, I got a nasty shock. What was worrying me more than anything was I’d got all that money on me. I guess you were nuts to have given it to me.”