“On your way out, please tell Harry I would like to see him.”
She shuddered. “Big Harry,” as the girls in the hotel called him, was the only man who had ever scared Annie Tucker. He was a huge man with sloping shoulders and arms knotted with muscle. It was generally known that Harry could have any girl in the hotel he wanted for the night, and that he was not called “Big” just because of his muscles. He had never had Annie because she was Van Gelder’s girl, but she knew that if she ever fell out of favor with Van Gelder, he would toss her to Big Harry in a minute.
And Big Harry would love it.
She shuddered again and left the room.
When Big Harry Reno entered the suite, Van Gelder let him wait for a few minutes before speaking. It was Van Gelder’s subtle way of reminding Harry who worked for whom.
“One of our girls has gone to work for Duke Ballard,” he said.
“Sally,” Harry Reno rasped.
“That’s right,” Van Gelder said, biting into a muffin smeared with jam. “I don’t want any of the other girls thinking they can do the same.”
“You want me to talk to them?”
“No,” Van Gelder said, “I want something to happen at Ballard’s place. I want that little toad to know that he can’t hire girls away from me.” Van Gelder looked at Reno and said, “Do I have to spell it out for you?”
“No, boss.”
“Then do it.”
“Sure, boss,” Reno said, and left.
Van Gelder hated Duke Ballard. The man simply did not belong in San Francisco as the owner of a hotel, even one as insignificant as the Ballard House. The man had connections, though, a few friends high up. This time, however, he had gone too far.
And this time would be the last time.
After finding Harry and giving him Van Gelder’s message Annie went to her room and got dressed.
She didn’t like the way Van Gelder sounded when he was talking about her sister. She had to go to the Ballard House and warn Decker, Duke Ballard, and her sister to watch out for Van Gelder.
He was going to try something.
She was sure of it.
While Harry was still in Van Gelder’s suite she made her way downstairs and left the hotel. The only person she saw on the way was Margot Winfield.
Margot wanted to be Victor Van Gelder’s top girl and, for that reason, hated Annie Tucker.
“Going out, Annie?” Margot asked.
She was about Annie’s age, and almost rivaled her beauty. She was a redhead, with a heart shaped face and a full bosom which she always showed off in extremely low-cut gowns.
“Just some early shopping, Margot.”
“Sure, honey. You always go out this early to shop, don’t you?”
Annie knew Margot would tell Van Gelder that she saw her leaving the hotel early, and she knew she’d have to be ready with a story—but that would come later.
Right now, she had to talk to Sally.
Victor Van Gelder listened with interest to what Margot Winfield had to tell him, and at the same time studied the girl. She was almost—and it was a big almost—as beautiful as Annie Tucker, and Van Gelder knew why she was telling him what she had seen.
He stood up from his table when she was finished and crossed the floor to stand before her.
“So you saw Annie leave the building early, eh?”
“Earlier than usual,” Margot said, nodding her head, “a lot earlier.”
“And you think this is significant?”
“I wouldn’t have told you otherwise, Mr. Van Gelder,” the girl said, solemnly.
He put his hand to her face, touched the soft skin with his fingers. She was about to lean into his touch when he pulled the hand away, and then slapped her across the cheek hard enough to leave the red imprint of his hand.
“Mr. Van Gelder!” she screamed, putting her hand to her burning cheek. “I don’t understand. What—”
“That’s for not following her and seeing where she went,” Van Gelder told her gently. “You must learn, Margot, if you’re going to bring me information, bring me something I can use.”
“Yes sir,” she said, rubbing her cheek. Her eyes were wet with tears, but she didn’t cry. She had spunk.
“All right, Margot, get out.”
“I’ll remember next time—”
“Get out!”
She jumped, then turned and rushed out the door.
Van Gelder clasped his hands behind his back. Annie could have simply been going shopping, but Van Gelder had slept with her enough times to know that she was not an early person. She rarely left the hotel before noon.
What had changed her mind, today?
Chapter Nineteen
Decker and Duke were finishing up breakfast when the desk clerk came in and stopped by their table.
“Yes, Arthur?” Duke said.
“There is a lady at the desk, sir, asking to see either you or Mr. Decker.”
“Well, bring her in, Arthur. Don’t keep a lady waiting in the lobby.”
“Yes sir.”
As Arthur left Decker wrinkled his nose in distaste and said, “Why do you hire people like that?”
“What’s wrong with Arthur.”
“Nothing, if you like men who smell sweeter than most women you know.”
“He’s good at his job,” Duke said. “As long as that holds true, I don’t much care what he smells like.”
“It’s your hotel.”
Arthur came back with the lady, who turned out to be Annie Tucker.
“Well,” Duke said, rising, “this is a pleasure. Hello, Annie.”
“Duke,” she said.
“Forgive my loutish friend for not rising, but he’s a little under the weather, as you know.”
She looked at Decker and asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Much better.”
“That’s good. May I join you gentlemen?”
“Of course,” Duke said, pulling a chair out for her and holding it. “Can I get you some breakfast?”
“No, thanks, I’ve already had some. Is Sally around?”
“She’s waiting tables this morning.”
Annie made a face, then sighed and said, “Well, I suppose she is better suited to this.”
“What brings you here today, Annie?” Decker said.
A worried look came over her face.
“I came to warn you.”
“About what?” Decker asked.
“Not what, my friend,” Duke said, “who.” He looked at Annie and said, “Van Gelder, right?”
“Yes. He’s very upset that you’ve hired one of his girls away from him.”
“One of his girls?” Duke said. “She worked there one night.”
“That’s all it takes,” Annie said. “Oh, I never should have let her come here.”
“If you knew he’d be upset, why did you let her come here?” Decker asked.
“Because I was thinking of her,” Annie said.
“What’s Van Gelder got in mind?” Duke asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “but after he talked to me he called for Big Harry?”
“What’s a Big Harry?” Decker asked.
“Harry Reno,” Duke said. “He’s an ex-fighter that Van Gelder uses to scare people.”
“He does more than just scare people,” Annie said. “Sometimes he breaks them.”
“He wouldn’t just send him over here to start trouble, would he?” Decker asked.
“No, but he’d give him his head,” Duke said. “This is not your run of the mill, punched out boxer we’re talking about. Harry may be big, but he’s got a brain. That’s why he got out of the game while he still had it.”
“What would he try?”
Duke shrugged.
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
“You’ll have to protect Sally—” Annie started to say, but at that moment Sally herself came walking over to the table.
“Hi, Annie!
” she said, happily.
“Hello, darling,” Annie Tucker said. She rose and embraced her sister. Decker didn’t have any siblings, but he could see that Annie and Sally Tucker truly loved each other. “How are they treating you here?”
“Oh, everyone is wonderful,” Sally said. “Duke is so patient.”
“What’s a few broken dishes,” Duke said with a wave of his hand.
“Come on, I’ll show you around,” Sally said. She looked at Duke then and said, “May I?”
“Sure. Maybe your sister will like it here and come to work, too.”
“Oh, that would be wonderful,” Sally said.
“Come on, darling. Let’s talk,” Annie said, and the two women walked away arm in arm.
“Do we have to get our own coffee, now?” Decker asked.
“Hey, you’re sitting with the boss,” Duke said, frowning.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’ll get up and get it myself.”
When Duke returned with a new pot of coffee Decker asked, “Have you got much help around here?”
“If you mean your kind of help, I can get it.”
“I think you’d better. What’s going on between you and Van Gelder?”
“We don’t like each other. It’s as simple as that.”
“Nothing is ever simple, Duke, especially where you’re concerned.”
Duke grinned and said, “Remind me to tell you about it sometime. Meanwhile, let’s finish this coffee and then I can go out and round up a few good hands, along with the man I promised you to watch your back.”
“We may have to put that off for a while,” Decker said.
“Why?”
“Because, my friend,” Decker said, “I think you may need somebody around to watch your back, for a while.”
Chapter Twenty
Decker spent the afternoon in his room, napping. When he awoke he felt strong enough to go for a walk.
Walking around San Francisco was an experience, mostly because there were so many people, and so many different types of stores and buildings. Decker didn’t really pay much attention to them, though. He was thinking about women; about Sally Tucker, and Annie Tucker, the poker playing Stella Morrell and, ultimately, the con woman with no name but many faces. Somehow, he’d gotten way off the trail and involved in things other than hunting her down…or was he deliberately avoiding the hunt?
That had never happened to him before. “The hunt” had always stirred his blood, made him feel alive. Could it be different this time because he was hunting a woman? A woman whose only crime was that she had bilked banks and other establishments out of money they could probably well afford? After all, she hadn’t killed anyone.
His thoughts strayed to Annie Tucker. She did not seem happy working for Van Gelder, so why did she? If she could see that it was not right for her sister, then why couldn’t she see the same thing for herself?
Decker wasn’t paying attention when the woman stopped out of a hat shop and almost into his path, but he managed to avoid a collision through instinct.
“I’m sorry—” the woman started to say, and then he saw that it was Stella Morrell.
“Hello, Stella.”
“Hello, Decker. I heard about your…how are you feeling?”
“Fine. I thought a walk would do me good.”
“I thought some shopping would do me some good. Relax me. Things haven’t exactly been going well at the game.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shrugged.
“A run of bad luck. I’ll ride it out.”
“Are you going back to the hotel?” Decker asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you mind if I walk with you?”
“Why…no, I don’t mind.”
“I thought we might talk about this person you’re looking for.”
Her eyes widened.
“Really?”
“I can’t promise anything, you understand, but I’m willing to listen.”
“That’s all I ask.”
“Well, let’s walk and talk, then.”
They walked, but Stella Morrell did all of the talking.
The person she wanted to hire Decker to find was her sister. It seemed that her younger sister had married back east, in Chicago—which was where Stella was from—and Stella had been receiving letters from their mother about wedding preparations, and then about the wedding, and later about the marriage.
“Recently, I received a letter from my mother telling me that my sister’s marriage had broken up…because she had caught her husband cheating on her.”
“That’s a rough break.”
“You don’t know how rough. She killed him, Decker,” Stella said as they reached the hotel, “she shot him and his lover and killed them both.”
“It must have been terrible for her.”
“Mother says she disappeared after that, afraid that the police would be after her, or simply ashamed to show her face.”
“Your mother has no idea where she might have gone?”
“West, that was all mother’s letter said. She thought that perhaps she was coming west to try and find me.”
“I’m afraid there’s not much I could do in a case like this, Stella. For one thing, I’d have to start my search from Chicago, and I just don’t have the time—”
“I understand,” she said, touching his arm, “I really do. It was silly of me to ask.”
“No, it wasn’t silly, and I can certainly keep my eyes open for her. What does she look like?”
“I haven’t seen her in five years, since she was seventeen, but even then she was a beauty. She’d wear her hair long, because she loved it that way. It’s auburn.”
She went on to give Decker some idea of what her sister might look like now. About five four, slim, but with a good figure.
“Do you think she might have come this far west?” he asked her.
“Well, I spend a lot of time in San Francisco, and usually at this hotel. I’ve written mother to tell her that, in case my sister gets in touch with her.”
“How long has she been missing?”
“Almost a year.”
“And has your mother hired anyone to find her? Detectives?”
“No. My mother is afraid that if a detective finds her, he’ll turn her over to the police.”
“That’s possible.”
Stella looked concerned all of a sudden and said, “You wouldn’t feel compelled to do that, would you, Decker? If you found her?”
“If I found her I’d tell her where she could find you, Stella. The two of you could work it out from there.”
Stella breathed a sigh of relief.
They entered the hotel and went up the stairs together to the second floor. Stella’s room was on the third floor, while Decker had the largest suite on the second.
“Well, thanks for listening, Decker.”
“I’m sorry about before—” he began.
“Don’t be sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry.”
“Good luck with the game.”
He watched as she began to ascend to the third floor, then called out, “Stella!”
She turned to look at him.
“You haven’t told me the most important thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Your sister’s name.”
“Oh, silly me,” she said. “It’s Julie, Julie Morrell. Well, it was Julie Morrell,” she amended. “Her married name is Landan, Julie Landan.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Julie Landan looked around her lavish hotel room and thought, this is the life. This is what I’m entitled to, what I should have.
She’d been there for five days, but she got the same feeling every time she walked into the room. It was a feeling of wonder that there were people in the world who actually lived this way all of the time.
That was her ultimate goal, then, to live this way all the time. What she needed to make that work was one huge con, where s
he’d make so much money she could retire.
It had never occurred to her early in her life that she’d be making the best living as a con woman, but she felt certain once she had put her mind to it, she was the best there was.
She looked at the new dresses she had laid out on the bed and wondered which one she should wear tonight. There were three men who had approached her over the past five days, and although she had not slept with any of them, she had managed to keep them interested. She had to find which one was was the richest. She didn’t usually work cons on individuals, but it had occurred to her since her arrival in San Francisco that there were individual men who were even more wealthy than banks and other institutions.
She decided on the blue dress, low cut but tasteful. She did not want to be mistaken for one of the prostitutes working the hotel.
She decided to spend the day shopping. She had enough money to live this way for another week or so. After that, if she hadn’t found “Mr. Right,” she could always go on to the next bank on her list.
Not once did it occur to her that someone might be on her trail.
Chapter Twenty-two
Instead of going to his room, Decker decided to look for Duke. He went back down the stairs—slowly, but firmly—and was surprisd to see Annie Tucker in the lobby, apparently getting ready to leave. She saw him and waited while he approached her.
“I’m surprised you’re still here,” he said. “Must have been a long visit.”
“I felt I owed Sally that,” Annie said. “I haven’t spent much time with her since her arrival in San Francisco, and she did come here to be with me. I—I apologized for putting her in an awkward position the other night.”
“If she came here to be with you, it sounds like she should be living with you.”
“I’d like that, I really would,” Annie said, and Decker believed her, “but it’s not possible.”
“Van Gelder wouldn’t approve, eh?”
“Especially with her working over here.”
“What would he do if you came to work over here?”
She laughed and said, “Doing what? Waiting tables?”
“You could do the same thing you’re doing at the Alhambra.”
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