A Swell-Looking Babe by Jim Thompson

Author:Jim Thompson [Thompson, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Detective and mystery stories, Mystery & Detective, Hard-Boiled, Crime, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780679733119
Publisher: Vintage Books
Published: 1991-02-15T04:52:03.031000+00:00

TEN

As the body has its limits to suffer, so is the mind limited to shock. One can be startled just so much, alarmed just so much, and then there can be no more. The wheel of emotions becomes stalled on dead-canter. And instead of turmoil there is calm.

So with Dusty. In little more than an hour a whole way of life had been jerked from beneath him and a new one proffered. He had been pushed to the outermost boundaries of shock; now he answered Tug quietly:

"It can't be done, Tug. Those deposit boxes are theft proof. It takes two keys for each, one, the hotel's and the depositor's, and even if you could get them both…"

"Yeah? Go on, kid."

"There's a box for each room. It would take all night to unlock them all. And you wouldn't know whether they were worth robbing unless you did open them. I couldn't tell you. Practically all the deposits are made in the day time and-"

"Uh-huh, sure"," Tug interrupted. "I know all that. Maybe I'd better lay it on the line for you, huh?" "Maybe you'd better."

"The racing season starts the week after next. All the big bookies will drift in next week. They'll want to look over the track, study the early workouts, and so on. They'll be loaded with cash. There's no damned guess work about it, see? They'll have the dough, and with the hours they keep, they'll have to bank with the hotel. So we make 'em for their keys, say, six or seven of the biggest operators, and we hit the jackpot. We knock down a couple hundred grand, maybe a quarter of a million, in five minutes."

"Yes, but…" Dusty licked his lips. "How do you mean, make 'em for their keys? You mean you'd – you'd-"

"Naah." Tug nudged him jovially. "Nothing like it, kid. I'll just throw a little party for 'em up in my suite; hell, they've been to plenty of my parties in the past. Then, me and the boys will give 'em a little surprise. Knock them out and hogtie them, y'know. Take 'em out of circulation for a while."

"Well…" Dusty hesitated. "But that still leaves the hotel keys. Bascom" – he paused again. "God, I can't do that, Tug! Bascom will be right there; and there's no way I could use the keys without-"

"Hold it. Hold it!" said Tug. "You ain't going to use them. Bascom is. All you're going to do is take the dough and lock it up in the checkroom. Put it in a satchel I'll give you and check it, just like it was a regular piece of baggage. I-"

"But Bascom! What about him?"

"- don't want it with me, see, in case of a foul-up. My boys might get a little excited, know what I mean? They might get to quarreling over the split. So you check it and tear up the stub – memorize the number first, of course – and I'll get in touch with you as soon as the heat dies down.

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