“Okay,” Drake said.
The two men walked over to the bar. Mason slapped a five-dollar bill on the counter and said, “A couple of Old Fashioneds, and tell Bill Golding we want to talk with him.”
“Who does?” the bartender asked.
“We do.”
“Who are you?”
Mason slid one of his business cards across the moist mahogany bar. “Take that to him,” he said, “but don’t forget the Old Fashioneds.”
The bartender nodded, summoned a floorman and spoke to him in an undertone, his eyes on Mason and Drake. He handed the card to the floorman, who looked at it, scowled, and vanished through a door. The bartender mixed up the Old Fashioneds and was just serving them when the floorman returned and nodded at the bartender, then stationed himself by the door.
“Okay,” the bartender said, “Golding will see you.” He made change out of the five dollars. Mason said to Paul Drake, “Cover this end, Paul. Keep your eyes open.” He left his liquor and walked across the room. The floorman opened the door. Mason pushed his way through heavy green hangings and into an office. A man stared coldly at him from behind a desk. A woman, some years younger, her contours displayed by a clinging blue evening gown, stood near the corner of the desk. Her hair was glossy black and filled with highlights. Her full red lips held no smile. Her brilliant black eyes blazed with emotions she strove to suppress. Full-throated, well-nourished, she seemed seductively full of life, in striking contrast to the man who sat behind the desk, his waxy skin stretched so tightly across his prominent cheekbones that there hardly seemed enough left to cover the teeth, which showed in that ghastly grin seen on starving people. Against the pallor of his skin, just below where it crossed his cheekbones, were twin patches of brilliant coloring. His eyes were as dark as those of the woman, but where hers sparkled with vitality, his glittered feverishly.
“Sit down,” the man said in a husky voice.
Mason sat down on a leather davenport and crossed his long legs in front of him. In the seconds of silence which followed, it became apparent that the man was not going to introduce the woman, equally apparent that she did not intend to depart. Mason took his cigarette case from his pocket, glanced at the woman and asked, “Mind if I smoke?”