“It’s got to look like an accident, Jack,” Gollowitz said. “It’s got to. If there’s the slightest suspicion of murder, we’re finished. A full-scale inquiry would put us out of business. Someone is bound to talk once the pressure’s on. It’s got to look like an accident.”
Maurer sat hunched up over his desk, his small eyes gleaming angrily. For ten days now he had racked his brains for a way to get at Frances, but the solid wall of defence that Conrad had erected baffled him.
“She’s got to die!” he snarled. “The only way to get at her is to set fire to the hotel. Then when they bring her out, we’ll swarm all over them.”
Gollowitz spread out his fat hands pleadingly.
“We’ve got to think of another way. We can’t do it like that. It’d finish us.”
Maurer got up and began to pace the floor.
“What other way? Goddamn it! There is no other way! How are we to get at her unless we smoke her out? How the hell can we make it look like an accident?”
Gollowitz wiped his glistening face. The past ten days had been dangerous and difficult for him. It had come as a great relief when Maurer had sent for him and had told him to forget what he had said at their last meeting. He realized now Maurer couldn’t do without him. The problem was too big for Maurer to handle himself.
“Ferrari could do it,” Gollowitz said. “I’m sure he could.”
Maurer paused to stare at Gollowitz.
“Is he still in town?”
Gollowitz, who had expected an explosion, nodded eagerly.
“He’s in the bar right now.”
“We’re admitting failure by using him, Abe,” Maurer said. “You realize that?”
“We have failed. I wouldn’t have brought him in if we hadn’t failed to get Weiner. I know you blame me, but there was no alternative as there is no alternative now. If anyone can get at that girl, Ferrari can.”
Maurer came back to his desk and sat down. He stared down at his snowy blotter, his forehead furrowed, his eyes narrowed. He sat like that for some minutes. Then he picked up the receiver.
“Louis? Ask Ferrari to come to my office. He’s in the bar.”
Gollowitz sat back. It was a moment of triumph for him. He felt vindicated. Maurer was now doing what he had had to do.
“You’re playing this right, Jack,” he said. “It’s the only way.”
Maurer looked up.
“You’re kidding yourself, Abe,” he said softly. “You think I’m playing it your way, but I’m not. Ferrari is going to take care of the girl, then I’ll take care of Ferrari. That’s the difference between running this organization and letting the organization run you!”
Gollowitz stiffened.
“Take care of Ferrari? What do you mean?”
Maurer showed his teeth in a grin that made him look like a wolf.
“Wait and see, Abe.”
They sat looking at each other for several long minutes, then the door opened and Ferrari came in. He walked silently across the room, climbed into an armchair, wriggled back until he was comfortable and looked at Maurer with alert bright eyes.
“About this girl,” Maurer said. “It’s got me beat. Abe says you can handle it. Can you?”
Ferrari lifted his eyebrows.
“Of course. It’s my job to handle it.”
Maurer’s eyes snapped, but his face remained impassive.
“I’ll pay ten grand.”
Ferrari shook his head.
“Twenty. If it was worth only ten grand you’d be able to do it yourself.”
Maurer shrugged.
“Okay, I don’t haggle. Twenty, then. What makes you so sure you can handle it?”
“I’ve never failed, and I don’t intend to fail now,” Ferrari said. “You look for difficulties, I look for solutions.”
“It’s got to look like an accident.”
Ferrari nodded.
“It will be an accident.”
Maurer’s face turned a purple red.
“You don’t even know where she is! You don’t know a thing about the set-up. How the hell can you talk like this?”
Ferrari gave him a sneering little smile.
“She’s at the Ocean Hotel, Barwood. She’s on the top floor, facing the sea. There are twenty guards; five of them in the grounds, five guarding the top floor, five in the three rooms below her windows, and five off duty. No one can enter the hotel without a security check. No one is allowed near the top floor. The elevators only travel to the ninth floor. Three police women remain with her day and night and never let her out of their sight. When she takes a bath the door is left open and one of the police women sits just outside. She isn’t allowed to leave her room. There is no means of climbing up to her window as the windows below are guarded. The roof is perpendicular, and the only skylight to it is guarded day and night. What makes you think I don’t know the set-up?”
Maurer felt a cold chill run down his back. He stared at Ferrari as if he had been suddenly transformed into a snake.
“You’re lying! How the hell do you know all this? I’ve had the place watched for days and I haven’t even found her room!”
Ferrari smiled.
“But then you are an amateur, and I am a professional.”
Maurer swallowed this insult as he felt it was justified.
“But how do you know?”
“I’ve been up to the tenth floor. I’ve listened end I’ve watched. I’ve even seen her.”
Maurer gaped at him.
“You’ve been up there! How did you get there?”
“That’s my secret,” Ferrari returned.
There was a long pause, then Maurer said, “Well, okay, then tell me how she’s to the accidentally.”
Ferrari crossed one short leg over the other. He yawned, stretched, then folded his hands in his lap.
“It’s an interesting problem, not impossible, but difficult. I believe I am the only man in the world who can do it.”
“You really can do it?”
“I stake my reputation on it. If I fail, you don’t pay me a dime. That’s fair enough, isn’t it? But you’ll pay me. I don’t intend to fail.”
“But how will it be done?”
“That you must leave to me. I never discuss my plans. There are two things I need. I haven’t the time to bother with them myself. Maybe you can take care of them for me?”
“What things?”
“I’ll need an aircraft and a stunt flyer.”
Maurer’s eyes bulged.
“A stunt flyer? You’re not suggesting he should land on the roof, are you?”
Ferrari smiled.
“Nothing so obvious. I merely want him to divert attention. The trick is really very simple. You have seen a good conjuror? When he does a trick he makes sure the audience is looking at something else and not at what he is doing. The stunt flyer will do just that and give me my chance to strike.”
“I’ll get you an aircraft and a stunt flyer. When do you want them?” Maurer asked.
“Today is Wednesday. Shall we say Friday? I must talk to him. There are certain things I have to tell him.”
“When does she get hit?” Maurer demanded.
“Saturday night. It is a good night. The hotel laundry is delivered on Saturday night.” Ferrari slid out of his chair. “Another useful piece of information I picked up.”
“The laundry? What’s that to do with this business?” Maurer asked blankly.
“It has everything to do with it,” Ferrari returned and walked over to the door. “I’ll be here Saturday morning. Have the flyer for me to talk to.”
He went out and shut the door.
Maurer drew in a long deep breath.
“What do you think, Abe?”
“He’ll do it,” Gollowitz said.
Maurer nodded.
“I guess that’s right. Smart little snake, isn’t he?” He got up. “I’ve got things to do, Abe. Ask Louis to come here, will you?”
Gollowitz gave him a hard, searching look, but gathered nothing from Maurer’s deadpan expression. He went out.
Maurer began to pace up and down.
After a few minutes Seigel came in.
“You wanted me, boss?”
“Yeah,” Maurer said. “Sit down, Louis.”
Seigel sat down. He looked at Maurer nervously.
“I’ve got a job for you, Louis,” Maurer said softly. “Ferrari’s going out to the Ocean Hotel, Barwood, on Saturday night. You’re going out there too. On his way back, you’re going to run into him. You’re going to take care of him for me.”
Seigel stared at Maurer.
“Ferrari?”
“That’s right.”
“You want me to hit him?”
“That’s what I said.”
“For God’s sake, Mr. Maurer…!”
“That’s what I said,” Maurer repeated. “It’s either he or you Louis. Please yourself.”