Part 13 (2/2)
”Who told you to bust in here?” he demanded. ”What do you want?”
”h.e.l.lo, fatty,” Fenner said coming over and sitting on the desk. ”Long time no see.”
”What do you want?” Pete asked again, glaring at Fenner.
”Have you seen Harry Levane recently?”
Pete stiffened.
”No, and I don't want to. Why?”
”I've just been talking to him. Pete, you are in bad trouble.” Fenner shook his head sadly. ”Harry was telling me about the girl you took to Miami last summer. She was a minor. Pete! I'm surprised at you! You stand to get a two-year stretch for that little indiscretion.”
Pete looked as if someone had driven a needle into his behind.
”It's a lie!” he shouted, his face white. ”I don't know what you're talking about!”
Fenner smiled pityingly at him.
”Don't be a chump, Pete. Harry saw you with her. He hasn't forgotten you got him three years for the Clifford jewel steal. He's aching to put you away.”
Pete's face broke out in a sweat.
”I'll kill the punk! He can't prove it!”
”He can. He knows who the girl is and he's talked to her. She's ready to sign a complaint.”
Pete slumped back in his chair.
”Where is she?” he said, his voice husky. ”I'll talk to her. I'll fix it. Where is she?”
”I know where she is. I know where Harry is. It'll cost you, Pete, but what's money,” Fenner said. ”But I'm not telling you if we can't do a deal. I want information. I'll trade what you want for what I want.”
Pete glared at him.
”What do you want?”
”Nothing to it, Pete; just a little information. Do you remember Anna Borg?”
Pete looked surprised.
”Yes--what about her?'
”She worked here?”
”That's right.”
”Did she ever hint that she knew where Riley was hiding out?”
”She didn't know. I'll swear to that.”
”She did mention Riley?”
”I'll say! She was swearing and cursing about him all the time.”
”How did she meet Schultz?”
Pete hesitated.
”This is a trade? You tell me where I contact that little b.i.t.c.h and Harry?”
”It's a trade.”
”Schultz came here a few days after the s.n.a.t.c.h,” Pete said. ”He wanted to know how he could contact Anna. He said Ma Grisson wanted to talk to the girl. When I told him the Feds were watching Anna, he told me to call her and get her down here in this office. I wasn't here when they met, but a couple of days later, Anna quit working for me. She said she had been offered a better job. When the Grissons took over the Paradise Club, she started working there. Eddie and she are living together.”
”Why was Ma Grisson interested in the girl?” Fenner asked.
Pete shrugged his shoulders.
”I don't know.”
Fenner got to his feet. He bent over the desk and scribbled two addresses on a scratch pad.
”There you are,” he said. ”I'd contact those two fast. Harry is aching to see you in jail. It'll cost you plenty to keep his mouth shut.”
As Pete reached for the telephone, Fenner made his way back to the restaurant.
He found Paula talking animatedly to a slim, handsome gigolo who was leaning over her, looking with interest down the front of her dress.
Fenner gave him a heavy nudge.
”Okay, buster, set sail and fade away.”
The gigolo looked quickly at Fenner's ma.s.sive shoulders and his pugnacious jaw and he hurriedly backed away.
”Don't let this ape worry you,” Paula said. ”Brush him off. One good smack in the jaw will fix him.”
But the gigolo was already in retreat halfway across the room.
”Hi, baby, I'm surprised at the company you keep,” Fenner said, smiling at her.
Paula leaned back in her chair and smiled at him.
”Did your Italian friend spit in your eye?”
”No, but that doesn't mean he didn't want to. Come on, baby. I want to go to bed.”
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