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According to Sage, and this too contradicts Polly Hamilton’s statements, she kept Hamilton informed of her talks with Zarkovich. “I told Polly that Martin was coming to see me and Polly said not to tell John,” Sage said. “[She said] to tell Martin anything to keep him from coming to the house, and to meet him somewhere else.”

In any event, it didn’t matter; according to Sage, Zarkovich didn’t call that Sunday. Two nights later, on Tuesday, July 17, the evening he told Art O’Leary to take a vacation, Dillinger left Chicago. According to Sage, Dillinger said he was driving to Wisconsin on business and would return in two or three days. The next morning, Wednesday, July 18, Sage again telephoned Zarkovich. He said he would visit her apartment the next day, Thursday, and did, arriving at 3:00. According to Sage’s account, it was only then that she explained that Hamilton was dating Dillinger, who was scheduled to return the next day. “I told him that I would call him on Saturday and let him know definitely if John Dillinger had returned to Chicago and if he hadn’t, if Polly had heard from him and knew where he was located,” Sage said.

Friday morning Dillinger returned from his trip. In all likelihood he had been off with Van Meter, studying details of his train robbery; that same day, in fact, the two outlaws swung by Jimmy Murray’s Rain-Bo Inn, where they found Fatso Negri and told him to arrange a meeting with Nelson the next night. According to Sage, Dillinger spent the rest of the day playing cards with Hamilton. The next morning, Saturday, he went with Hamilton, Steve Chiolek, and two girls to the beach. The moment he left, Sage said, she telephoned Zarkovich and gave him the go-ahead to bring in the FBI.

Sitting in Purvis’s car, Ana Sage said she expected to attend a movie the following evening with Dillinger and Hamilton. They would probably go to the Marbro Theatre, on West Madison Street. As soon as she knew for certain, Sage said, she would telephone the FBI; Purvis gave her his private number, Andover 2330. Sage said she would wear an orange dress to help the agents spot her on the street.

It took only a few days for the FBI to poke substantial holes in Ana Sage’s story. If Purvis, sitting in the car beside the lake, had any doubts, he kept them to himself. All he wanted was Dillinger, and Ana Sage was handing him to them on a plate.

The night Ana Sage cut her deal with Purvis, Dillinger drove out to the northwest suburbs to discuss the train robbery with Nelson; if he really was planning to exclude Nelson, he hadn’t told him. Nelson was enthusiastic about the job, and would remain so the rest of his life. As before, only Fatso Negri would ever give details of the meeting, and those were scant. Negri said he arrived late to find Nelson, Dillinger, and Jimmy Murray waiting impatiently for Van Meter. Nelson was cursing. At one point, as they stood waiting for Van Meter, it was mentioned that Negri wanted to return to California.

Nelson said it was fine with him. But Dillinger objected. “He knows too much,” Dillinger said, smiling as he turned to Negri. “Why not stay here and play ball? We’ll make a lot of money. Then you can go home and go about your business, and no one will find you. You’ll have some real dough in your pockets. I heard Johnny say your folks are poor. You can smother them in money when we’re finished. You can do that, can’t you, Fats?”

“Sure,” Negri said, “I can stay.”

When another hour passed with no sign of Van Meter, they decided to call it a night. As they left, Nelson’s last words to Dillinger were a suggestion that he find Van Meter and “kick his skinny ass.” They agreed to meet again two nights later, on Monday.10

Sunday, July 22

It was another steamy summer day. By late morning the temperature had reached the nineties and was inching toward one hundred degrees. Cowley and Purvis arrived on the nineteenth floor early. They telephoned most of the squad, telling them to stay in touch; something might break. After a bit the East Chicago cops, Zarkovich