Long White Con: The Biggest Score of His Life Read Online Free PDF Page B

comforting him for a couple of hours.
    Folks strolled into his bedroom and closed the window drapes to cue Trevor. He went back to the bar and waited for the desk to announce Trevor. He let Stilwell pick up the desk ring several moments later. He looked at Folks with his mouth agape as he passed him the receiver.
    Folks said, “Yes, this is Mister Remington. Who? Mister Lee! My business manager, why, I can’t believe it! Put him on!”
    Trevor came on.
    He said, “Mister Lee, what the hell are you doing in town? This morning I sent you to Indiana to evaluate Mister Stilwell’s parcel of farmland for purchase. You’re fired! What? You’re certain of that? Let me speak to the desk clerk. All right, Miss. He’s my Mister Lee, pass him.”
    He hung up with a shocked face.
    He whispered, “He claims he’s found her! The Unhappy Virgin Statue here in a ghost town. If he hasn’t, I will draw and quarter him!”
    Shortly the doorbell chimed. He opened the door to Trevor. Exultant Trevor seized them both when he opened the door. He danced them into the living room, gurgling with wanton joy, then pulled them down on the sofa beside him.
    Folks said, “Now control yourself, Mister Lee, and give me a coherent report of your alleged find.”
    He babbled, “Alleged in a pig’s eye! I’ve found her an hour’s drive away . . . ghost town . . . a derelict called Aztec Billy, oblivious to her fame and glory . . . the fool has junked the statue behind his shack.”
    Folks said evenly, “Mister Lee, have you ascertained her authenticity? Are you sure she isn’t an excellent reproduction?”
    Trevor exclaimed, “She’s the Virgin! I’ve seen her! I’ve verified five points of her authenticity and I tell you, Mister Remington, she’s real!”
    Folks shook his head dubiously. The mark, between them, swiveled his head in the crossfire con, like a tennis buff at the Forest Hills championships.
    Folks said, “Five points verification isn’t enough. I need ten, and that requires our fluoroscope, which, unfortunately, is in the field in New Mexico.”
    Trevor leapt to his feet, his face smug. He proudly drew himself up and said, “You have an efficient, inventive man in your employ, Mister Remington. I rented a fluoroscope a half hour ago for immediate confirmation of the statue’s authenticity. Albert, your chauffeur, and I have it hitched to your limousine out front. Well, what are you waiting for, Mister Remington?”
    Folks said, “A fluoroscope couldn’t prove ten points with daylight gone.”
    Trevor laughed. “That one on the street can. It’s one of the latest, with an ultra violet capability.”
    Folks let the floodgates of ecstatic joy burst free. He leapt up and hugged Trevor. He jigged and raced to the bedroom for his jacket and shoes. He sprinted through the open door behind Trevor, and heard the mark pounding the carpet behind him.
    As Speedy cruised from the city limits, Folks lay his head back on the cushions between Trevor and the mark.
    He mused the “convincer” legend of The Unhappy Virgin. “Ah, what a poignant legend she bears, my magnificent obsession. What a bitter, awful story her living counterpart suffered ages ago.
    “Once upon an incestuous time, an Aztec King fell madly in love with his voluptuous virgin daughter. The King was determined to be her first lover. One night he stripped nude and invaded her chambers. He caressed all the secret, fragrant places with his eager tongue. But she awakened and she clawed and maimed the King. The royal guards rushed to his rescue. They raised their daggers to slay her, but the King saved her for a worse, hellish fate. Jail . . . until she agreed to lavish her royal cherry on the King.
    “He imprisoned her in a tower in rags, and on her sixteenth birthday, the King decided to make any hankie pankie impossible. He gifted her with a bigger than life size gem-encrusted statue in her gorgeous image. The jewels were worth millions, but the interior of the