We’d been so busy that we hadn’t even thought about Killeano and the rest of them.
“It doesn’t seem like it all happened this morning, does it?” I said. “I guess you’ve got some talking to do. How do you figure in all this?”
She sat for a while without saying anything. I didn’t rush her, but I had to know.
“I was a fool,” she said suddenly. “I came out here because I was promised a job, and because I was sick of pushing off men who thought showgirls were easy to make. The job sounded good, but it turned out to be just another masher’s build up. He didn’t want me to work. He wanted me to give him a good time. It wasn’t my idea of a good time, so I found, myself stranded here without the means to get back.”
“When will you girls learn?” I said.
“Speratza came along. He wanted someone to look after the flowers and decorations at the Casino. I got the job.”
“You and flowers go together,” I said.
She nodded. “It was all right for eight months. I liked it, and the money was good. Then suddenly Speratza sent for me. He was in his office with Killeano and Flaggerty. They stared me over, and I didn’t like the way they whispered to each other. Killeano said that I’d do, and he and Flaggerty went off. Then Speratza told me to sit down and offered me a thousand dollars to entertain you. I didn’t know it was you then. He told me you were an important visitor and said, for reasons I needn’t know, I was to entertain you, and if I did the job well he’d give me the money and my ticket home.”
“And what did you think?”
“I didn’t know what to think. It was an awful lot of money, and I wanted to get home, but there was something about the way Speratza talked that warned me not to touch the job. I asked him exactly what I had to do. He said I was to take you around, give you a good time, and then persuade you to take me back to your hotel. He said I was to sleep with you, but you would be doped and you wouldn’t bother me. It was important that I should spend the night in your room. I thought it was a divorce frame-up. I didn’t like it. and I refused.” She gave a little shiver and stared across the moonlit bay. “He tried to persuade me, but the more he talked the surer I was that something was wrong. Then he got up and told me to follow him. We took a trip in his car to the harbour.”