“I told you all the time Cincinnati was too close to Louisville and Atlanta would be the better place,” Cheatham was saying.
“Well, Cincinnati suited me better,” she said with her panther-like grin. “I reckon I’ve had all the trouble of this thing and I might be considered a little.”
“So you have, but I have financed it,” he said.
“Oh, yes, financed it with a room in a cheap hotel and not even taxi fare if you could help it!”
“Oh, well, I haven’t got so much, and you know it. I have managed to keep Ursula Ellett from having the slightest inkling of Ben Benson’s having left her a fortune. I wanted to be sure the boy was well hidden and then I would get to work with letters telling her of her fortune, following by demands for a large sum if the child was safely returned. Ursula is such a softy and so close-mouthed she would be easy to do out of this fortune, just as she has been easy to persuade that her father’s fortune belonged to me. If she had had the gumption to go to a good lawyer, I should have had to pursue other tactics. Well, I’ll bid you good-bye, my dear. I’d like to take you to dinner but the boy knows me too well for me to let him see me. It is a blessing he never saw you before.”
“Good-bye then,” she smirked, “but it would be just as well to give me a little cash. I am about broke and considering you expect to make such large sums out of this business you might afford a little more sumptuous quarters for your tool.”
He reluctantly separated several large bills from a roll.
“Not half enough,” she said. “Keep it up! You needn’t think I’ll do your dirty work for nothing.”
He sullenly peeled off two more bills and put the roll back in his pocket.
“Well, keep me informed how things are with you. It won’t be long before I can make my haul.”