“You’ll keep this to yourself, won’t you, Mr. Conrad? If Toni knew I’d come to you, he would skin me.”
“How do you know he hasn’t walked out on you?” Conrad repeated.
“I’m looking after his bank roll,” she said after a pause. “I shouldn’t be talking about it, but Toni wouldn’t go off leaving me with five grand, not that he ever would leave me.”
Conrad looked at her, a sudden thoughtful expression in his eyes. She was right. He knew a little of Paretti’s record. If Paretti were going to leave Flo, he would make sure he collected his money first.
“Do you imagine anything’s happened to him?”
She nodded.
“Something must have. He might have been run over or something.”
“He was going to meet you the night before last: is that right?”
“Yes. He called me around five and said he couldn’t meet me as arranged. He had a job to do.”
“What was the job?”