1965 - The Way the Cookie Crumbles by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online

run by an old pugilist who, let into the secret, had trained her as he used to train himself with the gleeful certainty that she couldn’t fail to win.
    As Farr’s girl, Ira had become more and more involved with the gang’s activities. She was always on the spot to cheer them into battle. Often she was used as bait to break the uneasy peace that from time to time was arranged between the gangs.
    The report concluded with these words: ‘This young girl is shrewd, intelligent, vicious, selfish and amoral. It is the opinion of our investigator that there is nothing she would shrink from to gain her own ends. On the small credit side, she has courage, determination and an aptitude for figures. Whenever she is without funds, which appears to be seldom, she does part-time work for Joe Slesser, a bookmaker, who speaks highly of her. From him she has learned to handle a variety of adding machines and computers.’
    On paper, Ira Marsh seemed the ideal candidate for the difficult job Edris had for her. As he sat in the Mini, examining her attractive little face, he became even more confident that she would do.
    ‘I’ve been making inquiries about you, baby,’ he said. ‘I like what I’ve learned. Do you want to make some money?’
    All the time Edris had been driving and now as he talked, Ira had been studying him as narrowly as he studied her. Her instincts told her this little freak was to be taken seriously.
    ‘It depends on two things: how much and what I have to do for it,’ she said.
    Edris patted the steering wheel with his stumpy hands and smiled.
    ‘Are you a gambler, baby?’
    ‘Perhaps.’
    ‘How much money do you want?’
    ‘As much as I can get.’
    ‘I don’t mean that. Do you ever dream about money? I do.’ Edris crossed one short leg over the other. ‘I’m always dreaming about having money. Don’t you?’
    ‘I guess so.’
    ‘How much money do you dream about having?’
    ‘Much more than you could give me.’
    ‘But how much?’
    ‘A million dollars.’
    ‘Why stop there?’ Edris said and giggled. ‘Why not ten million - twenty million?’
    She glanced at her cheap wristwatch.
    ‘Let’s stop playing games. I have to be home in another ten minutes. I have a date tonight.’
    ‘Suppose I showed you how to make fifty thousand dollars,’ Edris said softly, ‘would you be ready to take a risk?’
    She looked at him and she could tell by the expression in his eyes he was serious and she felt a sudden quickening of her blood.
    ‘What have I to risk? I don’t own anything.’
    ‘Yes, you do. You have the same possession I have and which I am going to risk. It depends on the value you set on it. Fifty thousand dollars is a nice sum of money. The risk isn’t very great, but it does exist. You will be risking your freedom, baby, as I’ll be risking mine.’
    ‘What makes you think my freedom is worth fifty thousand dollars? My freedom?’ She laughed. ‘There is nothing I wouldn’t do to have that kind of money.’
    He studied the bitter, hard smile that remained after the laughter, and he nodded, satisfied.
    ‘You’ll have to earn it, baby, make no mistake about it. I have a very special job for you, but you’ll have to earn it.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘Before I tell you that, let me tell you the background of this thing.’
    It was then she learned about her sister and her marriage, and how her sister had run away with the baby and had finally become a streetwalker.
    ‘Your sister is a heroin addict,’ Edris said. ‘There’s nothing anyone can do for her. I give her four months. not more. She’s dying on her feet.’
    Ira sat forward, her face in her hands, her elbows on her knees, her blue eyes cloudy with concentration, so absorbed that she forgot her date with Jess, forgot the Sunday night jive session, forgot everything except the piping, whispering voice that dripped its poison into her ears.
    Finally, Edris got around to explaining what he wanted her to do. It sounded like a