I laughed at the reference to Larry. “Sounds all right to me,” I answered, “if you can get the room. They’re pretty hard to find nowadays. But that building I’m in seems to have quite a number of bachelor apartments. I don’t see that your being in the same building would connect us any, unless we blew into each other’s rooms when some one was watching. That private wire sounds good, but I don’t see how we’re going to lay it where it won’t be seen, or without being seen doing it.”
“Do it at night. That’s easy enough. But we will have to dope out some way so that it won’t be found, except on the wildest of bad luck. Of course they’re always making repairs and putting in telephones in those apartment houses, and we’ll have to watch out for that.”
“Did the Chief mention any particular sets in New York that he wanted us to go for? There are so many thousands of cliques and social groups that we might wander around for years without striking the right one. And then we might not know it for the right one if we saw it.”
“No. He left it pretty much up to us. But he did suggest leaning toward the faster semi-Bohemian sets as being more likely to indulge in drugs.”
Moore paused a moment. “Anyhow, Clayton, that’s the gist of it. Work all your introductions for all you’re worth. I thought at first that it might be well for you to change your name and begin all over again, on account of the gang knowing that you had lost your sister, and therefore suspecting you of being still on their trail. But that would mean giving up all your introductions and losing a lot of time, and also the possibility of running into people that you’d known before, which would make complications. So the Chief decided that it would be better to run the risk of their suspicion, because your principal value in the search is your actual and potential social entrée.”
“Did he map out any particular attitude he wanted me to take—sort of character line?”
“No. But he thought you might let it escape you that you had given up all hope of finding your sister, and that you were broken by it and letting yourself go to the dogs as the easiest way out. That would serve your ends both ways. For taking to drugs would be the most natural thing in the world for a man in your position, and before you could do that, you would have to get hold of the drugs. So that gives you a line to work on.”
“Pretty smart of the Chief, I think.”
“Oh, he’s no slouch. Now I’m going to bed. But before I go, take this.” He drew from his pocket a tiny golden panther strung on a black cord. “Wear it where you can get at it, but where no one else would see it or could pick your pocket for it. And if any one shows you one like it, trust him. It’s the symbol for this particular job. I won’t see you in the morning at all. But to-morrow night suppose you meet me upstairs in a little chop-suey joint in Broadway at 39th Street. The tables are screened off and no one will notice us. We can talk there in peace and quiet and make some more definite plans for keeping in touch with each other. In the meantime try to get started on the social stuff. Dig up all your old friends and start things going. Maybe that Mrs. Furneau might be a good one to start on. After all you don’t know much about her.”
Moore got up. “Well, meet me at that chop-suey joint, remember. Broadway at 39th at eight, and we’ll have another powwow. In the meantime, good luck!”