“But I thought all horses in America had to have their lips tattooed,” said Bond. “How have they got round that?”
“Grafted new skin on to Pickapepper’s mouth. Copied Shy Smile’s marks on it. This tattoo gimmick is getting old fashioned. The word in Pinkerton’s is that the Jockey Club are going to change to photos of the night eyes.”
“What are night eyes?”
“They’re those calluses on the inside of a horse’s knees. The English call them ‘chestnuts’. Seems they’re different on every horse. Like a man’s fingerprints. But it’ll be the same old story. They’ll photo the night eyes on every racehorse in America and then find the gangs have dreamed up a way of altering them with acid. The cops never catch up with the robbers.”
“How do you know all this about Shy Smile?”
“Blackmail,” said Leiter cheerfully. “I had a drugging rap all lined up on one of the Spang stable boys. I let him buy his way out of it with the details of this little caper.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Remains to be seen. Going up to Saratoga on Sunday.” Leiter’s face lit up. “Hell, why don’t you come along with me? Driving up, and I’ll get you in at my dump. The Sagamore. Swanky motel. You’ve got to sleep somewhere. Better not be seen out together much, but we’ll be able to meet up in the evenings. What do you say?”
“Wonderful,” said Bond. “Couldn’t be better. And now it’s dam near two o’clock. Let’s have some lunch and I’ll tell you my end of the story.”
The smoked salmon was from Nova Scotia and a poor substitute for the product of Scotland, but the Brizzola was all that Leiter had said, so tender that Bond could cut it with a fork. He finished his lunch with half an avocado with French dressing and then dawdled over his Espresso.
“And that’s the long and short of it.” Bond concluded the story he had been telling between mouthfuls. “And my guess is that the Spangs are doing the smuggling and the House of Diamonds, which they own, is doing the merchandising. Any views?”
Leiter tapped a Lucky Strike out on to the table with his left hand and lit it at the flame of Bond’s Ronson.
“Sounds possible,” he agreed after a pause. “But I don’t know much about this brother of Seraffimo, Jack Spang. And if Jack Spang is ‘Saye’ it’s the first I’ve heard of him for a long while. We’ve got records on all the rest of the mob, and I’ve come across Tiffany Case. Nice kid, but she’s been on the fringe of the gangs for years. Didn’t have much chance from the cradle up. Her mother ran the snazziest cat-house in San Francisco. Doing fine until she made one hell of a mistake. Decided one day not to pay the local outfit’s protection money. She was paying the police so much I guess she reckoned they’d look after her. Crazy. One night the mob turned up in force and wrecked the joint. Left the girls alone, but had themselves a gang-bang with Tiffany. She was only sixteen at the time. Not surprising she won’t have anything to do with men since then. Next day she got hold of her mother’s cash box, busted it open, and took to the hills. Then the usual round-hat-check girl, taxi-dancer, studio extra, waitress-until she was about twenty. Then maybe life didn’t seem so good and she took to liquor. Settled in a rooming house down on one of the Florida Keys and started drinking herself to death. Got so she was known as The Boiled Sweet down there. Then a kid fell in the sea and she jumped in and saved him. Got her name in the papers and some rich woman took a fancy to her and practically kidnapped her. Made her join Alcoholics Anonymous and then took her around the world as her companion. But
Tiffany skipped when they got to ‘Frisco and went and lived with her old Ma who had retired from the girl game by then. But she never would settle down and I guess she found life a bit quiet so she went on the lam again and ended up in Reno. Worked at Harold’s Club for a bit. Came across our friend Seraffimo, and he got all excited because she wouldn’t sleep with him. Offered her some sort of a job at the Tiara at Las Vegas and she’s been there for the last year or two. Doing these trips to Europe in between, I suppose. But she’s a good kid. Just never had a chance after what the gang did to her.”