"Zorchi!" he snapped. And I remembered the name I had heard on the
platform. The mad-man! Zorchi, Luigi Zorchi, the human jellyfish.
"Wills, do you know that that man has just cashed in on his _twelfth_
disability policy? And not a thing we could do to stop him! You were
there. You saw it, didn't you?"
"Well, yes, but--"
"Thought so. The twelfth! And your driver said on the phone it was both
legs this time. Both legs--and on a common carrier. Double indemnity!"
He shook his enormous head. "And with a whole corps of expediters
standing by to stop him!"
I said with some difficulty, "Sir, do you mean that the man I saw run
over by the train was--"
"Luigi Zorchi. That's who he was. Ever hear of him, Wills?"
"Can't say I have."
Gogarty nodded his balloon-like head. "The Company has kept it out of
the papers, of course, but you can't keep anything from being gossiped
about around here. This Zorchi is practically a national hero in
Naples. He's damn near a millionaire by now, I guess, and every lira
of it has come right out of the Company's indemnity funds. And do you
think we can do anything about it? Not a thing! Not even when we're
tipped off ahead of time--when, what, and where!
"He just laughs at us. I know for a fact," Gogarty said bitterly, "that
Zorchi knew we found out he was going to dive in front of that express
tonight. He was just daring us to stop him. We should have! We should
have figured he might disguise himself as a porter. We should--"
I interrupted, "Mr. Gogarty, are you trying to tell me this man
_deliberately_ maims himself for the accident insurance?" Gogarty
nodded sourly. "Good heavens," I cried, "that's disloyal!"
Gogarty laughed sharply and brought me up standing. There was a note to
the way he laughed that I didn't like; for a moment there, I thought he
was thinking of my own little--well, indiscretion. But he said only,
"It's expensive, too." I suppose he meant nothing by it. But I was
sensitive on the subject.
Before I could ask him any more questions, the massive face smoothed
out in a smile. He rose ponderously, greeting someone. "Here they are,
Wills," he said jovially. "The girls!"
* * * * *
The headwaiter was conducting two young ladies toward us. I remembered
my manners and stood up, but I confess I was surprised. I had heard
that discipline in the field wasn't the same as at the Home Office, but
after all--Gogarty was a Regional Director!
It was a little informal of him to arrange our first meeting at dinner,
in the first place. But to make a social occasion of it was--in the
straitlaced terms of the Home Office where I had been trained--almost
unthinkable.
And it was apparent that the girls were mere decoration. I had a
hundred eager questions to ask Gogarty--about this mad Zorchi, about my
duties, about Company policy here in the principality of Naples--but it
would be far out of line to bring up Company matters with these females
present. I was not pleased, but I managed to be civil.
The girls were decorative enough, I had to admit.
Gogarty said expansively, all trace of ill humor gone, "This is
Signorina dell'Angela and Miss Susan Manchester. Rena and Susan, this
is Tom Wills."