I smiled coldly. “Call it an investment. It’s important to me. I need the money. Can I have it?”

I saw her frown suspiciously. This was the test, I thought. Now she’d have to put up or shut up.

“It’s quite a lot of money, Mike. We don’t have unlimited funds, dear.”

“Twenty thousand bucks can’t even be seen when you stack it up against a million. You’ll never miss it. And I need it.”

“What sort of investment is this, dear?”

Savagely I mimicked her: “ What sort of investment is this, dear? You see? You see? You talk about letting me have all the money I need—but the one time I really need it, you forget all the things you said!”

“Mike, I never said you couldn’t have the money. But so much, and so suddenly—why, I’d have to talk to Stu just to find out if we can spare so much at such short notice.”

That was the topper. Speak to Stu! I rose angrily. “Okay, speak to Stu. But here’s your chance to back up all those pretty words of yours with dollars, Helen. Here’s your chance.”

I turned on my heel and headed out of the parlor toward my bedroom.

There wasn’t much sleep for me that night.

* * *

I got my answer the next day, from Helen.

She said, “I spoke to Stu about—your request. He says no.”

“No?”

She nodded. “He told me we just don’t have that much fluid cash on hand now. He’s swinging some big deal that’s tying up our liquid assets right now and he just doesn’t see how he can pry loose a chunk of money that big.”

It was a lie. A cold flat conscienceless lie. I knew enough about the Jesperson estate to know that $20,000 could be detached every day for a week, and twice on Sunday, and there’d still be some cash left over for tips. But I couldn’t say that to Helen. I couldn’t say, Did you really ask him, or are you just determined to put me in my place and keep me there?

And I couldn’t say, Go ahead, play your games, but a week from now the police are going to dredge a girl’s nude body out of the lake and burn me for it.

Instead I said, “I’ll talk to Stu. Maybe I can swing it, if I oil him up.”

“Don’t, Mike. It’s no use—”

“Let me try,” I said, and phoned Berril’s office.

He sounded cheerful enough, until I got around to the part where I asked for the money.

“Oh,” he said, and I could hear the phony professional amiability drain out of his voice. “Hasn’t Mrs. Foster spoken to you about that?”