Fast Buck

It never ceased to surprise him how much Purvis seemed to know. There wasn’t anyone in town who was connected in some way or the other with shady deals or crime that Purvis didn’t know the details about. He could trot out his information as easily as the most complicated card index system, and as fast.

‘I hope you didn’t pay Favell anything,’ Purvis said anxiously. ‘That vampire is sucking up all my profits.’

‘Wel , I had to give him something. How was I to know you had the information?’ Dal as said wearily. ‘Two tens won’t break us.’

Purvis winced.

‘The trouble with you…’ he began, but Dallas broke in hurriedly, ‘I know, I know. My mother told me the same thing. Want to hear about the girl – Eve Gillis?’

‘I know about her,’ Purvis said coldly. ‘She won a five-thousand-dollar beauty prize a couple of years ago. She persuaded the Follies to give her a chance, got top billing after a year, and has been a hit ever since. She has a brother – a twin if I remember rightly – who’s been in India for the past three years. I believe he’s back now. This Gillis girl suddenly chucked the Follies about a couple of months ago and became Kile’s mistress. Why she should have done that I can’t imagine. It’s not as if Kile can do anything for her. He’s going broke fast, and isn’t expected to last the year. I should have thought she would have found that out before giving up the Follies. They were paying her pretty well from all accounts.’

Dallas groaned.

‘It beats me why you employ me when you know so much,’ he said a little irritably. ‘I’ve been walking my legs off…’

Purvis looked smug. He was childishly pleased with his phenomenal memory, and was inclined to ram its efficiency down Dallas’s throat.

‘I don’t pay you to find out about the past. I pay you to keep tabs on the present,’ he said. ‘We can’t all keep facts in our minds. I just happen to be gifted that way. So these two have talked with the Rajah?’

‘They have. They were with him about an hour.’

Purvis slid lower in his chair. He placed his finger-tips along the edge of the desk and began to play an imaginary piano; a trick of his that irritated Dallas almost beyond endurance. Dallas considered the habit to be the height of affectation.

‘Now I wonder why,’ Purvis said, executing a tril . He then commenced a complicated movement that ended in a showy crossing of hands.

‘Could you stop acting like Beethoven for a moment?’ Dallas said, breathing heavily through his nose. ‘Or would you like me to stand up and conduct?’

Purvis placed his finger-tips together again and stared at Dallas from over them. His eyes reminded Dallas of two sloes on white saucers; his face of an inverted pear. There was nothing attractive about Harmon Purvis, but he gave the impression that he would deliver the goods no matter how difficult the job.

‘I’ve always thought I should have been a professional pianist instead of a private eye,’ he said gloomily. ‘One of these days I’ll buy myself a piano.’

‘That’l be the day,’ Dal as said tartly. ‘Maybe it’l convince you you’re better at blowing a trumpet.’

Purvis waved this away with a chilling frown.

‘We’ve got to watch our step,’ he said. ‘We might be within throwing distance of grabbing those jewels. I’ve always thought the Rajah could find them quicker than anyone. I’m surprised he hasn’t tried before.’

‘How do you know he’s after them?’ Dal as said impatiently. ‘Just because the insurance companies are suspicious of him there’s no reason why we should be – or is there?’

‘They’re suspicious of him because I told them to be,’ Purvis said quietly. ‘Knowing what I do about the man and his reckless spending, it’s obvious that as soon as he realised he was get ing through his money, and there wouldn’t be any more, he’d think of the jewels. He’s the type who wants his cake and wants to eat it as well. You mustn’t forget that the jewels now belong to the insurance companies. They paid out the insurance, but the value of the jewels has enormously increased now. At a guess I’d say they were worth three times as much as the insurance companies paid for them, and that fact must stick in the Rajah’s throat. It’s my bet if he finds them he’ll stick to them. He could get rid of them in India without questions being asked. Most of the stuff would be snapped up by Indian princes, and no one would be any the wiser. He must lay his hands on some money soon. From what I hear he’s down to his last million.’

‘You don’t say!’ Dal as said sarcastical y. ‘Why, the poor fel a must be starving!’

Purvis pursed his lips. He considered such comments about money in poor taste. Money was Purvis’s god.