KING'S RANSOM
Douglas King is rich. A nice house in the best part of the city, servants, big cars, fashionable clothes for his attractive wife, Diane. He's worked hard all his life to get where he is today, and now he's planning a big business deal. It's a very expensive deal, and there are enemies working against King, but if he wins, he'll get to be company president. If he doesn't win, he'll be out on the street. Sy Barnard and Eddie Folsom are not rich. They're smalltime crooks, not very successful, but they want all the good things that money can buy. So they plan the perfect kidnapping. 'Five hundred thousand dollars by tomorrow morning, or we kill the boy,' they tell Douglas King. It's a beautiful plan. But Eddie's wife, Kathy, …ver más…

'It's a good shoe, a fine shoe, but we're thinking of profit now.'
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'The red and the black,' Benjamin repeated. He turned to an older man sitting beside him. 'Am I right, Frank?' 'One hundred per cent,' Frank Blake said, in a thick Southern accent. He blew cigarette smoke at the high ceiling. 'The American housewife,' Benjamin said, 'can't afford this shoe. But even if she could afford it, she wouldn't want it. Mrs America, our customer. The stupidest little woman in the world.' 'We've got to excite her, Doug.' 'You're a married man, Doug. What excites Mrs King?' Pete Cameron, King's assistant, was standing at the bar at the back of the room. He smiled at King, but King did not smile back. He stared at Benjamin. 'Clothes excite a woman!' Stone said. 'Dresses, hats, jackets, bags, shoes!' Benjamin said, his voice rising. 'Profit depends on excitement,' Stone said. 'You can't excite a woman with these shoes. There's just no excitement at all in these shoes!' The room was silent for a moment.

'Now you're asking the right questions,' Benjamin said. 'Give us all another drink, will you, Pete?' Cameron began mixing the drinks. A tall and handsome man of thirty-five, he moved quickly and watched the others as he worked. 'All right, Doug,' Benjamin said. 'We're the top men in Granger Shoe. I'm sales chief, you're production, and Rudy here is fashion and design. We're all on the board of directors, and we all know what's wrong with the company.'