black metal cylinder on to the barrel ofthe Mauser. He looked at me and smiled. He wasalways smiling.
âI might not be so lucky a second time,â he saiddiffidently.
I scowled.
âMiss Ruthven,â he went on. âIâm going to usethe phone.â
âWhy tell me?â She was picking up my mannersand they didnât suit her at all.
âBecause Iâm going to phone your father. I wantyou to tell me his number. It wonât be listed.â
âWhy should you phone him?â
âThereâs a reward out for our friend here,âJablonsky replied obliquely. âIt was announcedright after the news-cast of Donnellyâs death. Thestate will pay five thousand dollars for any informationleading to the arrest of John MontagueTalbot.â He smiled at me. âMontague, eh? Well, Ibelieve I prefer it to Cecil.â
âGet on with it,â I said coldly.
âThey must have declared open season on MrTalbot,â Jablonsky said. âThey want him dead oralive and donât much care which ⦠And GeneralRuthven has offered to double that reward.â
âTen thousand dollars?â I asked.
âTen thousand.â
âPiker,â I growled.
âAt the last count old man Ruthven was worth285 million dollars. He might,â Jablonsky agreedjudiciously, âhave offered more. A total of fifteenthousand. Whatâs fifteen thousand?â
âGo on,â said the girl. There was a glint in thosegrey eyes now.
âHe can have his daughter back for fifty thousandbucks,â Jablonsky said coolly.
âFifty thousand!â Her voice was almost a gasp. Ifsheâd been as poor as me she would have gasped.
Jablonsky nodded. âPlus, of course, the fifteenthousand Iâll collect for turning Talbot in as anygood citizen should.â
âWho are you?â the girl demanded shakily. Shedidnât look as if she could take much more of this.âWhat are you?â
âIâm a guy that wants, let me see â yes, sixty-fivethousand bucks.â
âBut this is blackmail!â
âBlackmail?â Jablonsky lifted an eyebrow. âYouwant to read up on some law, girlie. In its strictlegal sense, blackmail is hush-money â a tributepaid to buy immunity, money extorted bythe threat of telling everyone what a heel theblackmailee is. Had General Ruthven anything tohide? I doubt it. Or you might just say that blackmailis demanding money with menaces. Whereâsthe menace? Iâm not menacing you. If your oldman doesnât pay up Iâll just walk away and leaveyou to Talbot here. Who can blame me? Iâm scaredof Talbot. Heâs a dangerous man. Heâs a killer.â
âBut â but then you would get nothing.â
âIâd get it,â Jablonsky said comfortably. I triedto imagine this character flustered or unsure ofhimself: it was impossible. âOnly a threat. Yourold man wouldnât dare gamble I wouldnât do it.Heâll pay, all right.â
âKidnapping is a federal offenceâââ the girl beganslowly.
âSo it is,â Jablonsky agreed cheerfully. âThe hotchair or the gas chamber. Thatâs for Talbot. He kidnappedyou. All Iâm doing is talking about leavingyou. No kidnapping there.â His voice hardened.âWhat hotel is your father staying at?â
âHeâsnot at any hotel.â Her voice was flatand toneless and sheâd given up. âHeâs out on theX 13.â
âTalk sense,â Jablonsky said curtly.
âX 13 is one of his oil rigs. Itâs out in the gulf,twelve, maybe fifteen miles from here. I donâtknow.â
âOut in the gulf. You mean one of those floatingplatforms for drilling for oil? I thought they wereall up off the bayou country off Louisiana.â
âTheyâre all round now â off Mississippi, Alabamaand Florida. Dadâs got one right down near KeyWest. And they donât
Learning to Kill: Stories