1972 - You're Dead Without Money Read Online Free Page A

noticing Joey’s emotion. ‘It’s got to be big. Fifty thousand dollars would do it. Now how the hell am I going to find a job worth all that bread?’
    Fifty thousand dollars!
    Joey sat up in alarm.
    ‘Now look, Vin, that’s kid’s talk. Fifty grand! They could put you away for fifteen years. Now get that right out of your mind! You don’t think I want a son-in-law locked away for fifteen years, do you?’
    Vin stared at him, his eyes cloudy and far away. He didn’t have to put into words the thought that was going through his mind. Joey knew Vin was regarding him with friendly contempt and Vin knew he was looking at a man who lived and thought small and would always live and think small.
    Cindy came to the open door that led to the living room.
    ‘Come and get it,’ she called.
    As the two men got to their feet, Vin asked, ‘Where do I find Abe Levi?’
     
    * * *
     
    Abe Levi’s junk shop was located on the waterfront near, where the sponge trawlers and the lobster boats anchored. The shop was one of the City’s tourists’ attractions. It contained anything from a stuffed snake to a tortoiseshell comb, from glass ‘diamonds’ to handicrafts made by the local Indians, from a canoe to the original muzzle loader that killed some General during the Indian wars. You name it, Levi had it. Stuffed with objects, the vast, dimly lit shop was served by four attractive Seminole girls, wearing their native costumes.
    Levi kept behind the scenes in his small, pokey office. Although Levi made a large and steady income from the junk he sold, he made an even larger and even more steady income from handling loot the local thieves offered him and at a much bigger profit.
    Abe Levi was tall and thin with a balding head, a hooked nose and eyes as impersonal as bottle stoppers. He regarded Vin as Vin sat by Abe’s old-fashioned roll top desk and what Abe saw he didn’t like. He didn’t like handsome men. He dealt with the small fry of the City’s thieves who were invariably shabby and far from handsome. This tall, bronzed man in his immaculate suit and outrageous tie and his arrogance made Abe instinctively hostile.
    Vin had explained who he was and that he was looking for a job to pull. Abe listened, stroking his hooked nose with thin boney fingers, shooting quick glances at Vin and then looking away.
    ‘If I find something,’ Vin concluded, ‘are you in the market to buy?’
    Abe didn’t hesitate.
    ‘No.’
    The flat note and the hostile expression sent a wave of hot anger up Vin’s spine.
    ‘What do you mean?’ he snarled. ‘You’re in the goddamn business, aren’t you?’
    Abe fixed Vin with his bottle stopper eyes.
    ‘I’m in the business but not to outsiders. There’s nothing here for you in this City. Try Miami. They take outsiders. We don’t.’
    ‘Is that right?’ Vin leaned forward, his big hands into fists. ‘If you don’t want my business, there are plenty who will.’
    Abe continued to stroke his nose.
    ‘Young man, don’t do it,’ he said, ‘This City is a closed shop. We have enough working here without outsiders. Go to Miami, but don’t try to operate here.’
    ‘Thanks for nothing. So I operate here,’ Vin said, red showing through his bronze. ‘Who’s going to stop me?’
    ‘The cops,’ Abe said. ‘The cops here know there must be a certain amount of crime in this City. They accept this, but they don’t accept a new face. Someone will tip them that a new face has arrived and the owner of the new face has ideas. In a few days that new face is either run out of the City or else lands up behind bars. Take my tip: there’s nothing here for you. Go to Miami. That’s a fine city for a young man like you . . . but don’t try anything here.’
    Vin stared for a long moment at this tall, thin Jew and it dawned on him that this old man was being helpful in his odd way. He lifted his shoulders and stood up.
    ‘Well, thanks,’ he said. ‘I’ll think about it,’ and turning, he