Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 169 by Maxwel l Grant

Author:Maxwel,l Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

CHAPTER IX. A DANGEROUS WOMAN

FLIP WILEY eyed herself in the tall dressing-room mirror with complacent satisfaction. She leaned playfully forward and tapped her lovely reflection with a slim forefinger.

"Boo!" she whispered, smilingly.

Flip's creamy skin had been tinted a pale sea-green hue. There was seaweed tangled in her golden hair.

The hair had been combed out loosely. When she danced on the stage in an artificial undersea setting, her hair would stream smoothly behind her as if floating under water. Actually, hidden electric fans would do the trick.

The costume that Flip wore was a daring one. She had a fish-net brassiere. A girdle of clamshell beads, strung on silver chains, tinkled musically when she moved before the mirror.

A green fishtail, blazing with imitation emerald, concealed her limbs. A clever opening in it permitted her to walk without disclosing her shapely bare feet.

Turning from the mirror, Flip swayed silently into a brief practice dance. She looked like a mermaid undulating gracefully across the sunken bed of an ocean.

A cautious rap on the door of her dressing room halted her brief dance. She straightened rigidly. Her eyes veered toward the locked door.

The cautious knocks were repeated - in a signal Flip knew. Ordinarily, she was not afraid of the man whom she was aware stood outside in the dark corridor. Tonight, however, she was uneasy.

She dared not refuse to answer the summons. Picking up a silken dressing gown, she clutched its folds hastily together over her skimpy costume. She unlocked the door and a man glided quietly and swiftly inside.

It was Roy Hollister.

There was a smile on his handsome face, but he was obviously under a grim tension. The glazed smile made Hollister look somewhat like a cautious banker advancing a loan to a depositor. His actions increased the resemblance. He handed Flip Wiley a package of bank notes.

She counted them coolly. There were ten bills in the packet, each of one-hundred-dollar denomination.

Hollister smiled, handed her another one-hundred-dollar bill.

"That makes it an even eleven hundred," he whispered. "The thousand bucks is what I already owe you for past performances. The extra hundred is a bonus for the tip that enabled me to make arrangements for the Silver Knave."

"Fair enough," Flip said softly. "I'm a gal who always needs dough. You're the sort of guy it's a pleasure to work for."

She laid a caressing hand on Hollister's as she glided past him toward a locked cabinet. Hollister flushed, but said nothing. Flip continued to the cabinet and locked up in one of the drawers the money she had received from him.

"You better be careful about coming to see me," she breathed. "Blue Chip has been acting queer lately. I

think he suspects I'm having dealings with you."

"Its just a business relationship," Hollister muttered.

"Yeah. But would Deegan believe that, if he saw you alone here with me - I mean, in a costume like this?"

With a sultry look in her eyes, Flip allowed her silken robe to sway apart for an instant. Again, Hollister flushed.

"Deegan knows I'm interested in Edith Turner," he muttered.

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