The Far Side of the Dollar Read Online Free

“I hope that you are, too. On Tom’s side, I mean.”
    “I’ll wait until I know him. It isn’t important, anyway.”
    “Yes it is. It’s always important.”
    “Just what happened between Tom and Mr. Patch Saturday night?”
    “I wouldn’t know, really. Saturday night is my night off. You can make a note of that if you like, Mr. Archer.”
    She smiled, and I caught a glimpse of her life’s meaning. She cared for other people. Nobody cared for her.

Chapter
3
    S HE LET ME OUT through a side door which had to be unlocked. The rain was just heavy enough to wet my face. Dense-looking clouds were gathering over the mountains, which probably meant that the rain was going to persist.
    I started back toward the administration building. Sponti wasgoing to have to be told that I must see Tom Hillman’s parents, whether he approved or not. The varying accounts of Tom I’d had, from people who liked or disliked him, gave me no distinct impression of his habits or personality. He could be a persecuted teen-ager, or a psychopath who knew how to appeal to older women, or something in between, like Fred the Third.
    I wasn’t looking where I was going, and a yellow cab almost ran me down in the parking lot. A man in tweeds got out of the back seat. I thought he was going to apologize to me, but he didn’t appear to see me.
    He was a tall, silver-haired man, well fed, well cared for, probably good-looking under normal conditions. At the moment he looked haggard. He ran into the administration building. I walked in after him, and found him arguing with Sponti’s secretary.
    “I’m very sorry, Mr. Hillman,” she intoned. “Dr. Sponti is in conference. I can’t possibly interrupt him.”
    “I think you’d better,” Hillman said in a rough voice.
    “I’m sorry. You’ll have to wait.”
    “But I can’t wait. My son is in the hands of criminals. They’re trying to extort money from me.”
    “Is that true?” Her voice was unprofessional and sharp.
    “I’m not in the habit of lying.”
    The girl excused herself and went into Sponti’s office, closing the door carefully behind her. I spoke to Hillman, telling him my name and occupation:
    “Dr. Sponti called me in to look for your son. I’ve been wanting to talk to you. It seems to be time I did.”
    “Yes. By all means.”
    He took my hand. He was a large, impressive-looking man. His face had the kind of patrician bony structure that doesn’t necessarily imply brains or ability, or even decency, but that generally goes with money. He was deep in the chest and heavy in the shoulders. But there was no force in his grasp. He was trembling all over, like a frightened dog.
    “You said something about criminals and extortion.”
    “Yes.” But his steel-gray eyes kept shifting away to the door of Sponti’s office. He wanted to talk to somebody he could blame. “What are they doing in there?” he said a little wildly.
    “It hardly matters. If your son’s been kidnapped, Sponti can’t help you much. It’s a matter for the police.”
    “No! The police stay out. I’ve been instructed to keep them out.” His eyes focused on me for the first time, hard with suspicion. “You’re not a policeman, are you?”
    “I told you I was a private detective. I just came down from Los Angeles an hour ago. How did you find out about Tom, and who gave you your instructions?”
    “One of the gang. He telephoned my house when we were just sitting down to lunch. He warned me to keep the matter quiet. Otherwise Tom will never come back.”
    “Did he say that?”
    “Yes.”
    “What else did he say?”
    “They want to sell me information about Tom’s whereabouts. It was just a euphemism for ransom money.”
    “How much?”
    “Twenty-five thousand dollars.”
    “Do you have it?”
    “I’ll have it by the middle of the afternoon. I’m selling some stock. I went into town to my broker’s before I came here.”
    “You move fast, Mr. Hillman.” He needed some mark of