Free Introducing The Toff by John Creasey

drawled the Toff.i ‘I was in the other car, and I ducked in time. Also I found your shoe, Annabelle.’
    Anne’s eyes widened incredulously.
    ‘You found it? And you’ve still got it?’
    ‘I have,’ said the Toff, with assurance. ‘Hold on a minute while I get hold of the thing.’
    The Toff went out of the room, with a shrewd idea at the back of his mind as to what would be found in the strap of the shoe. He smiled to himself at the irony of fate; all the time he had been sitting on the solution of McNab’s worries – the secret hang-out of Dragoli, the place where the supplies of cocaine were kept.
    Within three minutes he was back. The girl stood up, tense with excitement, as she saw the shoe.
    ‘That’s it,’ she said quickly.
    ‘You can bet your sweet life it is,’ said the Toff lightly. ‘In the strap, eh? Where’s my penknife?’
    As he spoke he rooted in his pocket for the knife; a minute later he had cut through the stitches of the strap – on inspection it was obvious that they had been made by an amateur with a needle – and a grin of satisfaction creased his lips as he took out a thin spill of paper.
    Anne gasped, and her eyes were bright with excitement.
    ‘The bag of tricks,’ murmured the Toff, and uncoiled the paper.
    If Anne, peering over his shoulders, was a trifle disappointed at the ink-drawn sketch, the Toff was mightily pleased. It was a plan, not drawn to scale, but accurate enough for the purpose, of the situation of Dragoli’s drug warehouse. Once the place was raided, the back of the drug traffic would be broken.
    ‘Do you recognize the place?’ asked the girl.
    The Toff said nothing for a moment. He was tracing along one line, which was intersected at various points by two small, parallel lines. His eyes glinted as he realized that it represented the river Thames, with the intersections representing bridges. Then he transferred his attentions to the several straight lines, all converging to one spot which was marked in a black square. And beneath the black square were the words:
     
    ‘Red Lion’
     
    The Toff’s lips formed a soundless whistle.
    ‘Well, I’m damned!’ he exclaimed after a pregnant pause. ‘The “Red Lion” – Harry the Pug’s place! The little swab double-crossed me after all. I’m getting careless.’
    Anne caught something of his excitement.
    ‘So you know it?’ she demanded.
    ‘Know it!’ The Toff’s eyes were gleaming. ‘I should say I do! It’s bang on the Thames – the stuff could be taken from a ship into the “Red Lion” inside five minutes. And if there was a scare, Dragoli could be out of the place in a jiffy, taking most of the dope with him.’ The Toff looked into Anne’s eyes and chuckled. ‘It’s a shame, but McNab will have the time of his life when he gets this!’
    The girl’s eyes narrowed.
    ‘And there isn’t any chance of Dragoli getting away?’
    ‘Not a ghost of a chance,’ said the Toff optimistically. ‘But there’s likely to be a rough-house down at the “Red Lion” before it’s over.’ He eased his collar suddenly, feeling hot and sticky. ‘You know, I’m getting warm with the thought of it.’
    Anne stood up, and walked towards the window.
    ‘It’s hot in here,’ she said. ‘I think there’s a storm brewing.’ She seemed worried, and the Toff countered promptly.
    ‘There is,’ he said with assurance. ‘A big one.’

 
7:   THE TOFF SLIPS UP
    Perhaps it has not been sufficiently stressed in this story of one of the Toff’s biggest adventures that he, like all men, was human.
    He had seen, with clarity of vision which was almost uncanny, the possibilities of the situation. He had discovered the ‘Steam Packet’, and made it too hot for Garrotty and Dragoli, and now he believed that there would be a breathing space while the Egyptian conferred with his masters on the next move. He had sent the two hired pugs away, for he was not expecting trouble.
    To do them justice, the police