“Who?”
“Leave that to me. Spill the news to Markan. Back here to-morrow night with the three grand. Get me?”
“I got you.”
Sneaks reached up and turned out the light in the center of the little room. The door opened softly, and Jake Dermott stepped out. The sound of breathing was audible for several minutes after he had gone.
Then the door closed and a key turned in the lock.
Jake Dermott was no longer in Black Pete’s cabaret when Sneaks Rubin strolled through a side doorway and glanced around the floor in search of a likely-looking moll.
CHAPTER X. CARDONA PREPARES
WEDNESDAY morning. Detective Joe Cardona strolled into headquarters, whistling. Acting Inspector Fennimann had not yet arrived.
“Letter there, Joe,” said a man in the office. “May be another one of those Double Z gags. Left it lay for you or the inspector—”
Cardona was ripping open the envelope before the man had finished speaking. Out came a folded sheet of paper. The detective scanned the lines that had been atrociously typed. A gasp followed.