She said, “I found my party. I told her the price of prints had gone up to ten dollars a print. She said that was too steep. She offered me twenty-five dollars for the lot. I felt that was all I could get, I told her I’d mail them. I didn’t dare make delivery that night.”
“And the negative?”
She said, “Just a minute while I put these films in the water.”
She transferred the films, and I heard the rush of running water, then she pulled the top off another tank and I smelled alcohol. She sloshed the films around a minute, then took them out and placed them on hangers to dry. She said, “I could make four more prints for twenty-five dollars.”
“How soon?”
“I’ll put it next on the list. My partner will make the prints while I’m in this next club.”
The trailer came to a stop, evidently at a traffic signal. She reached up, switched on a light, consulted a book which had a lot of numbers in it, opened a drawer in a little filing system and took out an envelope which had a negative.
I took out two tens and a five from my note-case and handed them to her. “When do I get them?”
“Soon as I finish this run in here,” she said. “Want to go in the club and watch me work?”
“No thanks, I’ll stay here and watch your partner do the printing. Can you tell me anything about the person who ordered the pictures?”