"That's how come we could get the place," said Bang-Bang. "It burned down. I took it up with Twoey and he said it didn't matter. He'd sleep in the pens."
"No," said Heller. "That won't do."
"It's just fahn with me," said the boy. "These yere
two men that come with the place and me will make out great."
Heller looked at two very dirty men who stood nearby, evidently Armenians. They were nodding brightly.
"Dear," said the Countess in a low voice, "I think we had better leave them the land yacht."
"They'd ruin it," said Heller.
"No," said the Countess. "I will have to be coming back and forth to continue his training and I can't work in a pigsty: trying to do that has been the trouble. Now, this has been a good crew: unemployment is high and they'd just be out of work. So we will just leave the drivers and mechanic and stewardesses here to look after the vehicles and the boy. It isn't costing anything, as I can just have Bang-Bang call Mike Mutazione and have him continue their wages and any farm expenses on my Squeeza credit card. We can simply take the jeep back to the office."
"Well, all right," said Heller. "But they'll need the jeep to operate this place."
The Countess looked at him and then smiled brightly. She beckoned to Bang-Bang and they went inside the land yacht.
The rental trucks, job finished, had departed. Heller made some arm signals and presently had the two retired Greyhound bus drivers, the mechanic and the two aged stewardesses around him.
I watched bitterly. As a Fleet officer he didn't have any idea at all of firing people the way you are supposed to do in business.
"You've done a great job," said Heller.
They all smiled.
"Would you like to stay on and take care of the vehicles and the boy?"
They cheered.
"I'll also see that you get a voyage bonus of a thousand apiece," said Heller.
They cheered louder.
I wondered if I could stand any more of this.
The Countess Krak came out of the land yacht with Bang-Bang. "Guess what," she cried. "We're in luck! Just today Mike Mutazione got in an almost brand-new Rolls Royce Silver Spirit. And he's got a real English chauffeur that used to work for a lord. I can use it to commute back and forth to finish the training. We're only a few miles from Newark and he's sending it over this evening. A bargain, too, only fifty thousand dollars. But that doesn't matter, as it goes on my credit card."
I knew I had left the viewer on too long!
I paced back and forth. Mudur Zengin would be in a frenzy with all these bills coming in. My security deposit must be going up in smoke.
Oh, I had to get this handled for more reasons than one!
The trap I had laid absolutely HAD to work!
Because it had been late, they stayed the night at the farm, settling the boy in.
Madison had his front page:
WHIZ KID REFORMS
JOINS WASP PURITY LEAGUE
"No more crime," was the startling statement of the notorious outlaw, Wister, as he deplaned, handcuffed, in Trenton, New Jersey. (See photos page 8.)
"While hiding out," he said, "I was a paragon of virtue. I realized crime did not pay. And when I was approached by an officer of the WASP Purity League on the plane, I instantly signed the pledge."
Judges in both Kansas and New Jersey breathed a sigh of relief. Judge Hanger of the Supreme Court stated, "When an outlaw such as Wister can stand forth pure and noble and vow such a vow, there is new hope for American youth."
Wister, the only man in four centuries to steal an American city...
I was not quite sure which direction this was going to go. But I knew Madison by now. He was on the trail of something hot.
I vigilantly watched the viewers, hoping that Heller or Krak would pick up a paper or someone would call it to their attention.
They rode that morning to the Empire State Building in the Rolls Royce Silver Spirit. A solemn English
chauffeur courteously opened the door and said, in cultured accents, he would send their baggage up.
Heller and Krak ascended and walked down the halls. He opened the door with the jet plane on it and for an instant I thought somebody must have been in ambush and that they were being attacked.
Of all the peculiar, screeching noises!
It was the cat!
It sprang, yowling, into Heller's arms, sprang off, sprang into Krak's arms, leaped into the center of the room and ran in circles, making wild noises the whole time! What a fuss! It took him minutes to finally consent to be held by Krak and petted. What peculiar conduct for a cat: they are so aloof and disdainful. Could he have missed them?
But I had no time to ponder that. Here came Izzy! I have seldom seen him so wild with excitement.
With no preamble, no hello, Izzy cried, "Have I got news for you!" He was waving legal documents like banners. "Sit down. You won't be able to stand this standing up."
They sat down. Izzy pranced before them. "Mamie Boomp has sold Atlantic City! She unloaded it on the Crown Prince of Saudi Yemen! He has been slavering to get a chance to get his hands on Miss Americas. Now he can have his pick of them year after year. Oh, what a businesswoman Mamie Boomp turned out to be! She sold it for cash with plenty of operating expenses available and some other properties the Crown Prince already had. He's honoring the staff contracts and has retained Mamie Boomp as president and general manager."
"Oh, that's great!" said Heller.
"Mamie Boomp is a smart woman," said Krak.
"No, no, that isn't the good news. Come with me!"
He went tearing out. They followed him. Heller managed to steer him into the Silver Spirit instead of a cab and they went roaring uptown at Izzy's excited directions.
They were on Central Park West. Izzy pointed to an underground entrance and they drove into a spacious garage. He got out, still beckoning. He pushed them into an elevator.
When the elevator stopped, Izzy did not open the door. He said, "Now, you will remember when I said that Miss Joy was far too beautiful to live in an office. Well, that's oh, so true. Part of the price the Crown Prince paid was eight posh apartment houses in Manhattan. Now LOOK!"
He threw open the elevator door.
They were pzing at a roof garden. A vast expanse of cultivated paths and plants with areas glassed in.
Izzy took them over to the edge and threw out his arms. And there before them, many stories below, lay Central Park.
He didn't give them any time to look. He was rattling a ring of keys. He rushed to a tall glass door and unlocked it.
Before them spread a pillared interior. The columns were light tan and around them coiled designs in glittering stones, edged and banded in gold. The floor was colored marble squares. The furniture was scrolled and curving. A very posh place. Like a palace!
"Fifteen rooms!" said Izzy. "Surrounded by so much roof garden it takes three gardeners to keep it up. And the whole next floor below for servants and storage. Do you like it?"
"Beautiful!" said the Countess Krak.
"It's your home," said Izzy.
The following day, I brushed the cockroaches off the table and put down the stack of papers. Madison had front page again:
NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR PETITIONED BY PURITY LEAGUE
WHIZ KID CASE BEFORE GOVERNOR
With mass demonstrations (see photos page 12) and avalanches of telegrams, the governor of New Jersey was pleaded with today to have clemency in the case of the notorious outlaw, Wister, known as the Whiz Kid.
Different variations of the story appeared in all the papers. It was national press.
I knew it would be on TV and radio. The WASP Purity League has real clout.
I watched the viewers to get a reaction from Heller and Krak.