WILLIE the Lace— his hundred pounds in his pocket— had gone away. Callaghan said:
"Did you listen-in on the call from Sabine? Did she come through?"
"Yeah," said Nikolls. "She called through all right, but it wasn't any good. She was speakin' some foreign language. An' he never said a thing except a word here an' there."
"It doesn't matter," said Callaghan. "Get on the line to Gringall. I'll give you his number. I want to speak to him. It's urgent."
Nikolls went into the outer office. Callaghan could hear him dialling. He lit a cigarette. Leaned his elbows on the desk, rested his head on his hands. The cigarette smoke went into his eyes, making them smart. He cursed, threw the cigarette into the fireplace.
Two or three minutes passed. Then he heard Nikolls talking. Nikolls came into t
