"CRASH!"

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 November 1939, Page 10

"CRASH!"

COPYRIGHT. PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

BY

ARTHUR APPLIN.

Author of “Adventure for Two,” “Winning Through,” “Cold Cream,” etc. |

CHAPTER XXVII. (Continued) There was a knock at the door. In one breath Mrs Garcia said: "That must be your Peggy . . .Come in! . . . I've a brilliant idea —if you aren't engaged, Mr Harcourt, why don’t you join us at the Casino? A partie carree, Ramon. When you want to gamble, we can dance."

Johnny said: "That's really delightful,” and introduced Peggy. Garcia pulled down his white waistcoat, shot out a large hand with spatulate shaped fingers, gripped Peggy's looked her up and and down with the eye of a connoisseur, grunted approval. Then he dashed, bull-like, to the bell, rang it and ordered cocktails: “It all seems a very queer business to me, but we may as well have your story, Mr Harcourt. By the way, though, the solicitor said something over the phone about your being employed by a chemical company. I didn’t know such places had private detectives." Johnny was almost certain Mrs Garcia winked at him. He said. “Well, this detective business is a sideline. My principal work is chemistry."

Garcia stretched out his fat legs. "Good! Well, I'm one of the biggest shareholders in the company the solicitors mentioned even though I’m not on the board of directors —so look out. young man! Now go ahead. “Perhaps I’d better tell my own story,” Peggy said. "Mrs Garcia’s already heard it. from Johnny, and because he loves me he’d consciously or unconsciously weight the scales in my brother’s favour. Dick saw you drop the necklace, Mrs Garcia, so practically he was a thief, for not running after you ahd returning it.” Garcia chewed his cigar, watching Peggy through heavily-lidded cunning eyes. He thought he knew all about human nature, but, having met so much that was inhuman, he was prejudiced; he could, however, read character with the facility of an office boy reading football news. When Peggy had finished he got up, threw his cigar out of the window and said: "Very interesting! Your young man is a dangerous fellow; but so long as we get that pearl necklace back, I shant worry about what you and your brother have done. And the colonel can go to the devil for all I care —don’t want any fuss!” “But, Ramon, I’m not going to let you pay this man Phillipson a thousand pounds for stealing my necklace! And don’t you see, the English police traced it to the pawnbroker's; they suspect Peggy and her brother. We simply must clear them of all suspicion.” She glanced at Johnny and smiled. “You see, she wants to marry this dangerous young man!" Garcia picked up his opera hat and heavy, gold-mounted cane and walked to the door: “Oh, well, we can talk about that during dinner! Come on. Miss Peggy —if you’ve been travelling all day you ought to have an appetite." Peggy was startled; she glanced at Johnny, then at Mrs Garcia, who nodded; then she laughed: “Aren’t you afraid to take a couple of crooks out to dinner. Mr Garcia?”

“My dear girl,” he said. “ how ,d you think I made my fortune in the Argentine? Probably dined with more crooks than you'd meet, even if you lived on the Riviera for the rest of your life! We've a proverb out there, saying: “Cultivate a rich man. but avoid his friends.” CHAPTER XXIX. Garcia didn’t talk during dinner, he ate. Between the courses he pointed out celebrities to Peggy—men and women who were both famous and infamous —according to him the latter were in the majority. “You haven't much faith in human nature?” she suggested. “I’ve faith in nothing but myself; that’s why I am what I am.” “I wonder if you know what you are?” He threw her a quick glance. “Shall I tell you,” he chuckled. An enemy of society! .. . Shall we dance?” He couldn’t dance, but she steered him so successfully round the room that he imagined he could. “I always do this before going into the Baccarat Room,” he confided to her, “sort of sobers me down. Suppose you come to watch me play? I haven't had a really running bank these days, but I feel you’d be a mascot.”

She didn't want to leave Johnny and she felt a faint qualm of fear; she knew she had got off with Garcia —-of course, in a way that was lucky, but she couldn't help still remembering those awful days and nights in Buenos Ayres. “We're going to have a little gamble," he told his wife. "You'd better stop here and dance with the flying crook. I'll bet he's a good dancer —all crooks are.”

Johnny watched Garcia take Peggy off. and wondered what he was up to. For a moment he had an awful feeling that for her everything was going to begin dll over again. They were in this man's power . . . with an effort he put the thought out of his mind and turned to Mrs Garcia. "Will you risk it?” he asked. "Love to!” she smiled. She danced divinely. She was witty as well as beautiful. The floor was half-empty; the conductor of the band smiled at her as they passed. Everyone was watching them. Johnny began to have qualms. He had never met a woman of this type before; he was conscious of her fascinat She 1 brains ' well as a.’lo-.’

ed and amused—but she couldn't really touch him. There was only one woman in the world for him—and continually he found himself wondering what Garcia was doing with her. what he was saying to her. Presently Mrs Garcia asked if he would like to join them in the Baccarat Room. He lied splendidly and said: “No this is much more fun. isn't it?” She nodded, and rested her head against his shoulder as they moved to the music of the latest waltz. “I’d far rather dance with you,” she said, “than watch a lot of silly people fighting over scraps of paper.” CHAPTER XXX. At first Garcia was satisfied to wander about the Baccarat Room; whenever he found a table where someone was running a big bank, he always said: “Banco,” and invariably won. “Looks easy, doesn't it?” he said to Peggy. “In a way, it is—it’s psychology.” She was amused and not uninterested. She asked Garcia why he didn't get a seat at one of the tables and play properly. “Because the tables where the stakes are high enough to interest me are all full. I shall wait now and punt against the Greek Syndicate at the big baccarat table."

Suddenly he took a chip from his pocket and threw it cleverly on to a table where there was a vacant seat. “Try your luck!” he said to Peggy. “No, it wouldn’t amuse me. You can run a bank for 100 francs there.” An attendant rushed forward and pulled out a chair, the croupier smiled at her. Peggy protested: she’d never played chemi, didn’t know how to. Oh, yes, she’d watched it played at Buenos Ayres sometimes. Garcia wouldn’t listen to her. When she said she couldn’t afford to play, he grinned, said he would lend her 1000 francs—he knew she couldn’t lose: “Your lucky star's in the ascendant: I always know." Unwillingly, yet not without a thrill of excitement, she took the “shoe” as it came round to her. Garcia said: “Put 500 francs in the bank.” She obeyed, dealt the cards correctly, and while she watched io see if her opponent wanted another, she whispered to Garcia: "I’m sure .1 shan't know what to do.”

“Do as your instinct tells you," he grunted. “If that fails you, ask the croupier.”

She won. If she had been by herself she would have taken the money in, but she heard someone say “Banco” and she dealt in. Just as she was going to look at her two cards, she saw Colonel Phillipson standing at the big baccarat table! She heard Garcia say: “Turn your cards over!" Automatically she obeyed: two eights—she had won again. She wasn't interested now. Phillipson was within a few yards, where at any moment he might turn and see her, and then —and if he recognised her! The croupier was saying: "Failes vos jeux—le jeu est fait —give cards please, madame.” She dealt them quickly, then put her hand on Garcia's arm: “Look!” she said under her breath, “that man standing over there is Colonel Phillipson. I'd better go, in case he recognises me.”

Garcia turned his head, grunted: “Don't you move! You’ve got a running bank—there you are, you've won again. Just keep it running. When it get to 10,000 francs no one will dare to ‘banco’ it and you will get what they call a “benefice.” I'll go and keep Phillipson's mind occupied.” He walked away. Peggy glanced over her shoulder, saw him standing behind the Colonel, heard him say in a clear voice: "Keep a place for me later on —Garcia!" And then she saw the Colonel turn quickly and look at him. "Le jeu est fait! . . . Banco has been demanded, madame," the croupier cried, rapping the table with his wand: “Sept mills cinq cents dans la banque."

As Peggy dealt the cards the taole began to go round and round and the people with it. She felt horribly giddy and a little sick. Again she heard the croupier prompeting her: “Give a card please. No, giving 10 and having five you stand.” Her opponent threw down his cards; he had only a two —and again she had won. Nearly 15,000 francs in the bank! She tried to calculate what it was in English money. Good God. over £150! She couldn't bear it.

She tried to get up but everything was swimming at a ghastly rate. The croupier seemed to be bellowing into her ear: “Quinzc mille francs," and everyone seemed to be afraid to play □gainst her. She struggled to her feet, and as she did so she felt a hand grip her shoulder. "You can’t leave a running bank like that," Garcia said.

A crowd was collecting: on the fringe of it Garcia saw Phillipson. "All right!" he said quickly, "perhaps you'd better go. I'll buy your bank —but take your winnings.” He seized hetbag, filled it with notes and plaques and chips, and took her place. An attendant made way for her and she went quickly across the room and back to the restaurant. ••My dear!" Mrs Garcia said, “whatever's happened?” Peggy tumbled into a seat, grabbed a glass half full of wine and emptied it. "Sorry” she gasped, "but I've won a fortune —and just seen Phillipson—don't think he recognised me. but your husband talked to him. I don't know what they sat! .if’° mus *- Bnd out *O bn

earned his reward: I'll leave you to dance together. Ramon’s never happy when he gambles, unless there’s some female standing behind his chair watching him. I'll find out what he said to Colonel Phillipson. and phone your rooms in the morning and tell you. Bon soir, mes enfants. Amusezvous bien!”

f' T 'o he Continued. - *