“You don’t. But if I don’t get away from here quick I will be in touch with them.” He glanced at his wrist watch. Gentry had said he’d be back in five minutes. Four of them were gone. He had a minute left. “Where can we meet?”
“I don’t trust you,” the husky voice said querulously. “I’ve heard all sorts of things about your tricks. If you’re on the level and willing to keep your mouth shut for ten thousand dollars, leave there as soon as you hang up and drive north on Biscayne Boulevard. It’s three forty-two by my watch. You should reach Seventy-Ninth Street about four o’clock. Pull into the closed gasoline station on the southeast corner and wait there for me. If you’re on the square and there are no cops, you’ll get your money.”
Shayne said, “I’ll be there at four o’clock, in a black Hudson, and alone.” He broke the connection, got up, and went to the front door which Gentry had left open. He listened for a second, and hearing no sound from above, Shayne closed the door quietly and hurried back to the telephone.
He gave Lucy Hamilton’s number, and when her sleepy voice answered he said rapidly, “Listen carefully, angel, and don’t ask questions. Get dressed fast. A light-colored suit, if you have one. Wear a yellow scarf fluffed out at your throat. Bareheaded. Call a taxi while you’re dressing. Go to the Commodore Hotel and ask at the desk for your key. You’ve forgotten your room number, having just checked in yesterday afternoon. You’re Mrs. Ralph Carrol, or Nora Carrol, from Wilmington, Delaware. If they insist you took your key with you when you went out about one o’clock, say you lost it or something; but get a key to Mrs. Ralph Carrol’s room and get inside. Look for a letter to Mrs. Carrol from Michael Shayne giving a sketch of the layout of my apartment. It should be easy to find. Then get out in a hurry, and back to bed. I’ll see you later on at the office. Got it?”
“I think so,” Lucy told him “Is anything wrong, Michael?”
“Plenty. You’ve got maybe ten minutes to get that letter and get out of there. Good luck.”
Shayne hung up, sweat streaming down his trenched cheeks. He long-legged it to the door, grabbed his hat from a hook near by, went out and down the corridor to a side stairway leading to an exit that didn’t take him through the hotel lobby.
Chapter four
Lucy Hamilton held the receiver to her ear and broke the connection with her finger, then dialed from memory the number of a taxicab company that she had called many times before. She gave her address and asked for a cab to come at once.
She stripped off her nightgown on the way to her bedroom, tossed it on the bed, hurried into the bathroom where she splashed water over her face, patting it dry as she went to the clothes closet.