I saw the waitress stare at me. I swallowed and tried to listen to Slim. “No.”

Slim was staring at the waitress. “He loads them up with used cars every day so those who are hunting a parking place can’t get in,” he said absently. “You know what he wants?”

“Well, no.” I never could figure those things, but Slim could see the angles a mile away. He was always good at that.

“He’s made an application for a permit to build a parking ramp that will cover a solid block down in the middle of the Loop. Now, if he can build a place to park eight or ten thousand cars, naturally that one spot is going to be the best business spot in the city. And Richard LaBombard holds leases or options on half the store space around that block. He stands to make millions.”

“Where does my three hundred come in?”

Slim ignored the acidulousness in my voice. “Well, as I say, I followed him with the brain-finder and found him holding hands with the mayor’s wife at a skating rink⁠—and the next day I⁠—ah⁠—persuaded him to give me an option to lease this building on the edge of the Loop.”

“You mean you blackmailed him.”

“That’s a harsh word. I prefer ‘persuaded’ myself. After all, he wouldn’t want something like that to come up just when he’s finagling for that permit, would he? Anyway, I paid five dollars for the option.”

“That’s unusual. You’ve got some of your own money in this deal.”

Like a gentleman, Slim ignored that thrust. “Tomorrow is the first. I’ve got to raise two hundred and fifty for a month’s rent. We’ll need fifty more for deposits on light, heat, and power. We’ll make a million within a month. We split fifty-fifty.”