Miss Shumway Waves A Wand

I took a quick gander at my watch. It was nearly lunch time. “Look,” I said, “I’ve got a lunch date. Will you let me think it over?”

“There’s plenty of time. I’ll get my chauffeur to drop you. Where are you going to eat?” I said “Manetta’s” without thinking.

“I see,” he said. “Do you think she’s good looking?”

I stared at him “Her?” I said. “What…?”

“Myra Shumway. She’s your date, isn’t she?”

“What do you know about Myra Shumway? What’s the idea, Peppi?” I sat up. He was talking too many riddles.

“Excuse me a minute,” he said and got up and went out. I sat there wondering what the hell it was all about. Then he came back after a minute and smiled for the first time. “So you want to think it over?” he said.

“Now look, Peppi,” I said, “what do you know about Myra Shumway? Let’s get this straight.”

“I read the newspapers,” he said indifferently, “I hear things. I always hear things. Andasca is more important to me. Can you say yes or no?”

I stood up. “Give me until to-morrow. Where can I meet the guy?”

“To-morrow then,” he said. “Call me. I’ll fix a meeting. You want my car?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said, “I’ll take a taxi.”

He suddenly seemed bored with me and anxious for me to go. “Then you’ll cal. Two fifty is worth thinking about,” and he went out of the room.

He hadn’t been gone three seconds before the butler came in. “This way, sir,” he said and took me downstairs to the front door.

I was on the street and the door was closed behind me before I could collect my bewildered wits. I stood staring up at the big house and I felt someone was watching me.

So I waved to a cab and told the driver to take me to Manetta’s.

Chapter TWELVE

THERE was no sign of Myra when I got to Manetta’s, so I went into the bar.

“I’ll have a mint-julep,” I said to the barman. “And listen, I belong to the crushing school. Don’t just soak the mint leaves, crush ‘em. Do you get it?”

“We always crush them here, sir,” the barrnan said, smiling, “and we wipe the rim of the glass with mint as well.”

“That’s fine,” I said, “I don’t have to tell you anything, but there are guys who soak their mint.”

“They’re just ignorant, sir,” he returned and went to the end of the bar to fix my drink. I lit a cigarette and thought about Peppi. I just couldn’t make out why he had offered me a job. Knowing Peppi I guessed there was something behind. It all and I wouldn’t mind laying a bet that he knew Kelly and that Kelly had been to see him.

While l was thinking, a girl came in. A girl in a flame coloured silk dress that reached an inch below her knees. Across her shoulders she wore a white silk scarf-handkerchief with large red spots and her cute little hat of red and white felt was perched on the side of her head in a saucy tilt.

It was Myra.

And yet, somehow, I didn’t recognize her for a moment. There was something in the way she moved and an unfamiliar expression in her eyes that made her almost a stranger to me.

As soon as she saw me she waved, smiled and came over.

“There you are,” she said. “Have I kept you waiting?”

“I—I didn’t recognize you,” I said, “maybe it’s the new dress.”

She gave me a sharp glance, “Do you like it?” she asked, smiling again. “Especially for you.”

“I think it’s swell,” I said, wondering what was different about her. “Let’s sit down. I’ve had a strenuous hour.”

She went over to one of the tables and sat down. I followed her. “Well,” I said when we were settled with our drinks, “it’s nice to rest my eyes on a beautiful woman.” I looked at her knees with interest, “You’ve got pretty elbows,” I went on, “I don’t seem to have noticed them before.”

She laughed. “You’ve developed an. awful squint since we last met.”

“Yeah,” I said, watching her closely. “You got rid of Whisky then?”

“I got rid of him,” there was a little note of grimness in her voice that made me stare still more intently. She smiled, but her eyes weren’t amused. “Did you have an interesting morning?”

“I certainly did,” I said and I told her about Peppi. She sat quietly listening and when I was through she said, “What are you going to do?”

“You mean about the job? Why, I guess nothing. I wouldn’t want to work for Peppi.”

“But, isn’t it a good job?” she asked, surprised.

“I don’t know. The money’s all right. But Peppi’s a bad guy to work with. He won’t last.”

“But you’re not working with Peppi,” she pointed out. “You’d be working with this Andasca, wouldn’t you?”

“It’s the same thing. Andasca would be Peppi’s stooge.”

“You ought to think about it,” she went on, “what will you do otherwise?”

I finished my drink, “I’ll think about it but let’s eat now,” I said, getting up.

We went into the restaurant.

After the waiters had fussed around, and we had chosen our meal, I said, “Seriously, don’t you think we ought to find your father first?”

She lifted her shoulders, “Oh, I’ve been thinking about that. You know, I don’t care very much one way or the other.”

I looked at her, “You don’t, huh?”

“No.”

“What about this girl who’s impersonating you?”