Also Peter was surprised to find how “easy”
Mr. Ackerman was. He made no lofty pretence of
being indifferent to the Reds. He put himself
at Peter’s mercy, to be milked at Peter’s
convenience. And Peter would make the most of
this opportunity.
“Now, Mr. Ackerman,” he began, “You
can see it wouldn’t be any use to tell things
like that to the police. They dunno how to handle
such a situation; the honest truth is, they don’t
take these Reds serious. They’ll spend
ten times as much money to catch a plain burglar as
they will to watch a whole gang like this.”
“How can they have got into my home?”
cried the old man.
“They get in by ways you’d never dream
of, Mr. Ackerman. They have people who agree
with them. Why, you got no idea, there’s
some preachers that are Reds, and some college teachers,
and some rich men like yourself.”
“I know, I know,” said Ackerman.
“But surely—”
“How can you tell? You may have a traitor
right in your own family.”
So Peter went on, spreading the Red Terror in the
soul of this old millionaire who did not want to be
killed. He said again that he did not want to
be killed, and explained his reluctance in some detail.
So many people were dependent upon him for their livings,
Peter could have no conception of it! There were
probably a hundred thousand men with their families
right here in American City, whose jobs depended upon
plans which Ackerman was carrying, and which nobody
but Ackerman could possibly carry. Widows and
orphans looked to him for protection of their funds;
a vast net-work of responsibilities required his daily,
even his hourly decisions. And sure enough, the
telephone rang, and Peter heard Nelse Ackerman declare
that the Amalgamated Securities Company would have
to put off a decision about its dividends until tomorrow,
because he was too busy to sign certain papers just
then. He hung up the receiver and said:
“You see, you see! I tell you, Gudge, we
must not let them get me!”
They came down to the question of practical plans,
and Peter was ready with suggestions. In the
first place, Mr. Ackerman must give no hint either
to the police authorities or to Guffey that he was
dissatisfied with their efforts. He must simply
provide for an interview with Peter now and then,
and he and Peter, quite privately, must take certain
steps to get Mr. Ackerman that protection which his
importance to the community made necessary. The
first thing was to find out whether or not there was
a traitor in Mr. Ackerman’s home, and for that
purpose there must be a spy, a first-class detective
working in some capacity or other. The only trouble
was, there were so few detectives you could trust;
they were nearly all scoundrels, and if they weren’t
scoundrels, it was because they didn’t have
sense enough to be—they were boobs, and
any Red could see thru them in five minutes.
