Salute The Toff

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21156, 4 July 1940, Page 5

Salute The Toff

OUR SERIAL STORY

BY JOHN CREASEY

(CHAPTER Vll.—(Continued.) “Me in flat op-sitt,” said the Buck. “Me Charlie, Miss, Charlie Boy, an’ O.K, wid de Baas.” Charlie’s English left a lot to be desired but his understanding was excellent, for he rolled the Toff’s body over with his foot and went through his pockets Irma Cardew, still on the floor but. sitting against the wall, saw him get the keys of the handcuffs in his vast brown hands. She was free and self-possessed in a few seconds, and for once was glad Meldrum had not told her everything. Having the nigger in the next flat was a stroke of genius. “What did Sir Basil tell you?” “Look after Miss, yes,” Charlie beamed. “Baas, him back pritty soon I bet.” He wagered well, for the door opened a moment later, and Meldrum entered. He was smiling and suave and Irma knew that he was well pleased. "Simple, and very easy,” he said. “And you made a perfect bait.” “Bait?” she was startled. “I wanted to get Rollison and I knew he’d come after you. Satisfied?” “Ye-es.” It seemed incredible to Irma Cardew that the Toff was lying here, at her feet, his lips open and his eyes closed, but she pulled herself together. “Congratulations, my dear, but you might have warned me.” “Might I?” Meldrum dug his toe into Rollison’e ribs, but there was no groan, no movement. “You threw your bone, well, Charlie. Take him next door.” Charlie’s teeth flashed as he bent down, gathered the limp form of the Toff in his arms, and turned about. Meldrum’s eyes were on the nigger and his burden. Charlie opened the door, peered along the passage and slipped into the front room of the opposite flat. The door closed and Meldrum’s smiling face loomed sinister to Irma Cardew. “And now what?” she said. “Tysart, I think,” said Meldrum as though nothing had happened. “I’m making plans to teach the others a salutary lesson with Tysart. And then we’ll get rid of Rollison once and for all. Now he can’t hear. I’ll tell you.” ’ “You knew he was listening?” “I hoped he was,” said Sir Basil Meldrum. “He passed in a cab while I was on the doorstep and came up afterwards. Sit down, my dear. I’ll get you a drink, and then we’ll talk. I’ve a feeling that , ! we’re more than half-way home. | After to-night not a cinema owner lin England will say ‘no.’ Listen—” He told her briefly, briskly, what was planned. The horror of it should have made her shiver. Instead it made her laugh, but when he had finished she said slowly: “You’re more cold-blooded than I thought, Meldrum. I’m almost beginning to think we might make a match of it.” “Business,” said Sir Basil Mel- ! drum with a sardonic smile, “before pleasure.” CHAPTER VIII. Stranger To Fear The Toff often seemed a complete stranger to fear, but that was not strictly true. He believed that i 1 the other fellow thought him above fear, that other fellow would be half way towards a fit of the kilters; and it was so. There were many—including Irma Cardew —who could not credit that one day the Toff would receive his final quietus. In the affair of the cinema racket the Toff’s mind had been working at double speed. He knew Irma’s part in the game, he knew her for ; what she was, and he realised that ’ someone cleverer was behind the 1 racket. Irma, in fact, was a step- ' ping-stone. He might have told the ■ police that he had made inquiries at ' the addresses that she had given to ' the various magnates, and that a woman answering her description [ had a flat in Yelton Gardens. As it I happened, Bo’ had given him the card, .no one else knew the address ’ and he had omitted to tell McNab. For McNab would have arrested Irma, might even have worked up a case against her strong enough to take to a jury, but—Meldrum was in the background, and others. Those others worried the Toff. He had other worries. The gang had watched him thoroughly, even : the check-coated man at the Blue , Dog had met trouble, and he had ; been reasonably sure that the only I way to make important discoveries (a) to get Irma alone—his talk of the police had been bluff—or (b) to let himself fall into their hands. The fact that Charlie had appeared on the threshold proved conclusively that the Irma —Meldrum combination needed extra deep dealing. Calling, of course, for an extra packet of danger. But the Toff, above all things, had faith in himself. In the space of twelve hours—before the conference of cinema magnates that morning—the Toff had worked up a plan that he believed would come off. It included, among other things, a gamble that would give him a fifty-fifty chance of filling a coffin. Among other things, the Toff had learned about Charlie, installed in the empty flat opposite Irma’s, and had drawn his own conclusions. Until that morning he had not been sure that Meldrum was a visitor. Now his satisfaction at that discovery was tempered by the fact that Charlie was dumping him like a sack of cement on a badly sprung bed, and humming a negro dirge under his j breath. 1 Once the Toff opened his eyes a fraction and saw the buck nigger’s face. Charlie looked like a large | dog with a bone from a dinosaurus. I The Toff closed his eyes again, and i wished the buzzing in his head would i stop. He had not lost consciousness completely, but he had been precious close to it. Consequently he had felt Meldrum’s kick in the ribs, and stored his second personal point against the knight. He was by no means sure that his feigned unconsciousness would be enough to carry him through and he was prepared for an effort at any moment. But Charlie, beyond looking at him every five minutes seemed happy enough to wait. There was no likelihood of an immediate murder attempt.