The Big Caper | Page 3

several minutes. She wasn't impatient. She knew that Frank
could very well be busy, out in front by the pumps, waiting on a
customer. Ham wouldn't have arrived yet and Frank would be handling
the service station alone.
She waited almost four minutes before he picked up the receiver.
"Harper's Service Station!" He spoke in a crisp, businesslike voice.
"Frank? Kay. Your uncle has just arrived."
It was a private line, but still she didn't take any unnecessary chances.
They hung up simultaneously, neither having said another word.

2.
Frank Gerald Harper placed the receiver on the hook and was turning
away when a bell rang sharply. It was the bell actuated by the rubber
hose, that ran from the front door of the small office to the curb, giving
warning that a car had been driven up to the gas pumps.
It was a blue Cadillac convertible with the top down and there was a
large, red-faced man behind the wheel. A girl who could have been his
daughter, but looked like something else altogether, sat close at his side,
and they were talking quietly to each other.
Frank passed behind the car, absently noticing the New York plates,
and approached on the driver's side.
"Fill her up and check the oil." The man didn't bother to look at him
and he gave the order in an indifferent, almost insolent voice.
Frank reached for the hose attached to the pump marked "Special,"
smiling wryly. Six months ago he would have taken exception to being
spoken to in that careless, offhand manner. Now he cared only that
something like four or five dollars would be rung up on the cash
register.
What made it really funny was that he was getting a kick out of it--and
it didn't mean a thing to him. Not one damned thing.
Almost without thinking about it he lifted the hood, checked the
oil;--the Caddie didn't need any--then checked the radiator and the
water in the battery. He sprayed the windshield and wiped off the
collection of dust and dead bugs. The car took fourteen gallons and two
tenths, and Frank took the ten-dollar bill from the red-faced man and
went in and rang up the sale on the register. He brought back the
change and said thanks and stop back soon.
The Caddie pulled out, the back wheels once more ringing the signal
bell.

Frank went back into the station. He wasn't thinking about the Caddie
or the red-faced man or even the pretty little brunette who had been
with him. He was thinking about the telephone call from Kay.
"So he's here," he said in a voice just barely above a whisper. It was a
habit he had formed lately, this talking to himself half aloud.
Harper, tall, thin, and in his early thirties, had the broad shoulders,
narrow hips, flat stomach, and tanned, healthy complexion of a man
who had always kept himself in top physical condition. His hair was a
little too dark to be called true blond, and he had large, rectangular blue
eyes in a lean, high-cheekboned face. His mouth was possibly a little
too generous, but his chin, which needed shaving, was square and firm.
Slouching into the battered, one-armed chair facing the scarred desk, he
looked up at the electric clock on the wall. It was just nine o'clock, and,
once more speaking in a barely audible whisper, he swore softly.
"That goddamned Ham," he said. "He would be late again today."
The words were hardly out of his mouth, however, when he heard the
unmistakable rattle of the old Ford service car as it pulled in beside the
gas station and came to a creaking halt. A moment later he heard Ham
Johnstone slam the car door. He had the usual apologetic grin on his
wide, black face as he rounded the building and entered.
"Mawnin', boss," he said.
Frank stood up. Again he looked at the clock.
"Damn you, Ham," he said, "you're late again."
The colored man kept nodding his head as Frank spoke.
"Save it," he said. "I've gotta run out to the house for a few minutes.
Uncle of mine just got in for a visit. You take care of things. There's a
couple of tires have to be changed, and watch those pumps. And
goddamn it, don't try to use the cash register. I'll leave the change

drawer open and you just make change and mark it down."
The colored man kept nodding his head as Frank spoke.
A minute later Frank was outside and hurrying to his parked Chevvie.
He was about to open the door when a police car pulled in and stopped
just short of the pumps. Frank looked up and smiled.
"Morning, boy."
"Hiya, Waldo," Frank said.
He strolled over