Black Mask (Vol. 7, No. 5 — April 1950), British Edition

When I went home that night I felt relieved. Now the thing was out of my hands. If my letter worked, okay, it worked. If it didn’t, I was licked.

Sackler didn’t come in at all the following morning. I kept the vigil myself, nervously wondering if my all out literary effort would bear fruit.

Shortly after lunch Sackler arrived, grunted at me and sat down at his desk. I was in no mood for conversation and, apparently, neither was he. We sat in silence until the 3:00 o’clock call of the postman.

He tossed some letters on Sackler’s desk and announced, “Special delivery for Joseph Graham.”

I sprang up and signed for it. I ripped open a violet scented, purple envelope with trembling fingers. There was a single sheet of paper inside. It bore a street address followed by two words: Gary, Indiana.

My heart leaped. Obviously, my missive to Abbott had worked. In my hand I held the address of Campbell Parry. I also held nine tenths of ten thousand dollars.

With an effort I kept a dead pan. I didn’t want Sackler to suspect anything. I walked calmly back to my desk. Sackler said, “What is it, Joey? Anything important?”

I shook my head. “Dame I know. Always bothering me. Can’t seem to get rid of her.”

He nodded. He looked at me thoughtfully. “Joey, I’m not sure I believe you. I think you’re doing your own investigation on this Parry thing. I think you’ve got something.”

“Well, suppose I have?”

“If you really have,” he said, “I wouldn’t want to take unfair advantage of you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

He scratched his head. He said, “If you’ve really got this thing figured I’m willing to waive my ten percent.”

“Aren’t you getting a little out of character?” I asked him suspiciously.

“Maybe. I know you think I’d sell my mother for a buck. But you never broke a case single handed before. If you can do it now, I think you’re entitled to the entire reward.”

This speech from Sackler was highly suspicious. However, I turned it over in my mind I couldn’t figure how I could possibly lose anything. I had Parry in my pocket. No one could take that away from me. All I had to do was to see Wolfe and tell him that I knew where Parry was. If Sackler waived his ten percent, well, it was just another grand in my pocket.

“All right,” I said. “So you waive. I accept the waiver.”

“Okay,” said Sackler. “Then our previous agreement is wiped out, cancelled, eh?”

That should have warned me. But with Parry’s address in my pocket I was riding too high to scent danger. I said, “It’s off. Cancelled. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got some business downtown.”

“How long will it take you?”

“About an hour.”

He scribbled something on a piece of paper. “When you’ve finished your business, will you please meet me at this address?”

I took the paper, said, “Okay,” and headed for the door. Sackler called after me, “Oh, you might get in touch with Inspector Wolfe and bring him along with you.”

Since I was going to see Wolfe and he wasn’t supposed to know about it, I glanced at him sharply over my shoulder. He was rolling a cigarette and wearing a bland expression. I figured it was sheer coincidence. I went out into the hall and pressed the elevator button.

Wolfe, who disliked Sackler with the same passion that he disliked arsenic, wasn’t too happy to see me. He looked up from a sheaf of papers in his hand and said, “Well, what’s old Scrooge want now?”

“Nothing,” I said, “I’m working on my own.”

“Doing what?”

“Making ten grand out of which Sackler gets exactly nothing.”

That interested him. “How’s that?” he asked.

I told him of my original deal with Sackler and how it had just been canceled at Sackler’s request. Wolfe was unimpressed.

“That won’t do you much good. We don’t have a line on Perry yet. Maybe Sackler will beat us to it. But you ain’t in the same class as him, Joey. What chance have you got?”

I grinned smugly. “I don’t know about that,” I said, “I have a piece of paper in my pocket which may interest you?”

“Go on.”

“Written on that piece of paper is Parry’s present address.”

He stared at me and held out his hand.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “The reward is all mine?”

“Every nickel of it,” he said. “Give me that paper.”

I handed it over to him and explained my theory and told him of the letter I’d written to the Abbott woman. Wolfe listened, grinning. Then he grabbed a phone and instructed someone to call the Gary cop immediately. He hung up and said, “And Rex doesn’t get a cent of this dough?”

“Not a cent.”

We looked at each other. We smiled broadly. Then we broke into hearty laughter. It wasn’t every day that Rex Sackler talked himself out of dough.

We waited for some forty-five minutes. Then a message came in from Gary that Parry had been picked up and announced he would waive extradition proceedings. Wolfe and I congratulated each other, then set out for the address Sackler had given me.