1977 - I Hold the Four Aces (12 page)

Hinkle pushed the trolley to the bedside.

“Will you be in for lunch, madame?”

“No. We are going into the mountains and we won’t be back until four or five. If we could have an omelette for dinner?”

“Certainly, madame.”

He left her, and Helga drank her coffee, thinking about Grenville. His love-making had been marvellous. She felt sure now that she could persuade him to take an important position in her corporation. She wouldn’t want to be married in Lugano. She would want the marriage to take place in Paradise City. To launch Grenville, it would have to be a big affair, and the thought thrilled her.

They would fly to Paradise City at the end of the week. The announcement would be made. There would be a lot to arrange. She wondered how Loman and Winborn would react. Then she frowned. She suddenly remembered she had gone off with Chris without telling Winborn or Loman where she was!

She also remembered she had left most of her clothes at the Plaza Athenee Hotel.

Winborn might even imagine she had been kidnapped! Jumping out of bed, she took a quick shower and then slipped into a trouser suit.

As she left the bedroom, Grenville, wrapped in a towel, came towards her.

“Darling!” Helga ran to him and they kissed. “Did you have a lovely swim?”

“Marvellous.”

“I’ve just remembered. I haven’t told my people I am here. Ask Hinkle for coffee and sit on the terrace. I won’t be long.”

Leaving him, she went into the living-room and reached for the telephone.

Grenville went to his bedroom and put on slacks and a polo neck sweater, then went out onto the terrace.

“Tea or coffee, sir?” Hinkle asked, suddenly appearing.

“Coffee please, nothing else.”

Grenville sat down. Faintly, he could hear Helga talking on the telephone. He must gain a little time, he told himself. He must see Archer. But how?

While swimming, he had considered Helga’s proposal. He was sure, even in four years’ time, he would not be capable of earning five million dollars. No, he must first try for the million dollars Archer was promising him. If that didn’t work, then maybe he would have to think again, but, first, he must see Archer.

Hinkle brought the coffee.

“Is there a golf course near here?” Grenville asked.

“Yes, sir: a reasonable one, I understand. It is at Ponte Tresa. I have a map if you would care to look at it.”

“Thanks, I would.”

He had finished his coffee and had studied the map before Helga appeared. She looked irritated.

“I’m going to be held up,” she said, sitting by his side. “My stupid people are making a mess of buying the site at Versailles.” She put her hand on his. “That’s why you are going to be so important to me. You and I, working together, won’t make a mess! I was planning to go into the mountains, but, now I must stay here for more telephone calls.”

Here was Grenville’s chance.

“I understand.” He smiled at her. “Helga, darling, about last night’s talk. May I have just a little time? Would you mind if I have a game of golf? When playing golf, I think better than at any other time, and I will be back with an answer.” He smiled. “I think the answer must be yes.”

Helga, her mind now occupied with business, nodded.

“Go ahead, darling. Take the Rolls. When do I see you?”

“I’ll be back around three o’clock. Will that be all right?”

“Of course. But your clubs, don’t you need clubs to play golf?”

Grenville laughed.

“The pro will lend me a set.” He got to his feet, bent and kissed her. “I’ll get off.”

She watched him leave, disappointed. She would have liked him to have stayed with her, to be able to consult him, to get his views on the difficulties that had arisen, and to be able to assess his thinking, but, she told herself, there was time.

Standing on the terrace, she watched him drive away in the Rolls, then she went to her bedroom where Hinkle had just finished making the bed.

“Would it bother you to give me something light for lunch, Hinkle?” she asked. “I have phone calls to make and Mr. Grenville is going to play golf and won’t be back until after lunch.”

“Certainly, madame. I suggest a grilled sole.”

“Yes.” She wandered restlessly around the bedroom. “Hinkle! I really love him! I’m trying to persuade him to take a position in the firm, but he is so correct. If I can persuade him, we will marry.”

“If that would make you happy, madame,” Hinkle said, in his disapproving voice, and went into the bathroom.

The telephone bell began to ring, and for the next three hours Helga was engrossed in the affairs of the Herman Rolfe Electronic Corporation.

chapter five

S
itting in the shabby lounge of the Hotel de Suisse, Archer thought back on the previous day. He had been busy and was satisfied. He had rented a Mercedes from the Avis people, then had gone around talking to the various estate agents until he had found a small wooden villa on the outskirts of Paradiso which is a continuation of Lugano. It was a modest place and he had been forced to rent it for a month, but it would act admirably, he told himself, as a hide-out for Grenville.

Tomorrow at 14.00, Segetti and Belmont would arrive. He would drive them to Helga’s villa so that they would know where to find it and then to the rented villa. Tomorrow night the kidnapping would take place.

Archer nodded to himself. As long as Grenville had taken care of Helga, Archer could see no reason why, in a few days, he wouldn’t be worth a million dollars. It was, he thought, a well worked-out plan, but everything depended on how well Grenville had done his homework.

Glancing through the dirty glass doors of the hotel that led into the street, he saw a silver and black Rolls-Royce pull up and Grenville about to get out.

Jumping to his feet, Archer hurried from the hotel, and Grenville, seeing him, opened the off-side door. Archer got into the car and Grenville set it moving.

“What a magnificent car!” Archer exclaimed, and a wave of envy ran through him. He thought if it hadn’t been for Helga, by now he might just possibly have been able to buy such a car.

“I have to talk to you!” The sharp note in Grenville’s voice made Archer look quickly at him.

“Is something wrong?”

“This woman is suffocating me! She’s driving me crazy!” Grenville snapped. He edged the car through the heavy traffic until they came to the lake. He looked for parking space, but, in Lugano, parking space was practically non-existent. Muttering under his breath, he continued on, until he found a space with a no-parking sign. He pulled in and turned off the engine. “She now wants me to work in her firm! Can you imagine? She’s determined to marry me! She says she will loan me five million dollars so I won’t be living on her! Who in his right mind would want to work for her? She would never leave me alone! When I wasn’t screwing her, I’d be at a desk!”

Archer drew in a deep breath. If only such an offer had been made to him, he thought. How he would have jumped at it! A loan of five million dollars, and the opportunity to work with the Herman Rolfe Electronic Corporation! He regarded Grenville and suddenly had complete contempt for him. He was, indeed, a gigolo, afraid to work, afraid of responsibility.

“Yes, I understand your feelings,” he said quietly. “But there is no need to get worked up, Chris. How have you left it?”

“I told her I wanted to think it over,” Grenville said sullenly. “I said I thought best when I was playing golf. It was the only thing I could think of to get away from her. She is caught up with some dreary business about buying a site in Versailles so she let me go.” He banged his clenched fist on the driving wheel. “She would marry me tomorrow if I agree to work for her!”

“But that’s what we want her to think, Chris,” Archer said patiently. “You are taking this far too seriously. There is no chance of you two getting married. You have done very well. Keep it up. When you go back, tell her you will work for her and the sooner you can marry her, the happier you will be.”

Grenville took out his cigarette case and lit a cigarette.

“The thought of being married to her makes my blood run cold. Are you sure it is going to be all right? When can you get me away from her?”

Again Archer regarded him, feeling contempt. What would he give to change places with this handsome, useless dummy?

“Tomorrow night you will be kidnapped and your worries will be over,” he said. “Things are very definitely going our way.”

“I hope they are. You have no idea how possessive and domineering she is! I’ve never met such a woman.”

“Do try and relax,” Archer said soothingly. “Everything is arranged. Tomorrow night at ten o’clock, two men will arrive, wearing hoods and carrying guns. They will threaten you both. You should put up a very minor show of resistance, but don’t overdo it, as these two are amateurs. Go with them. They will leave Helga a note which I have prepared. I will coach them what to say to her. I assure you they will say enough to stop her calling the police. They will drive you to a villa I have rented and I will pay them off and then I will take over. I assure you, in less than a week, you will be worth a million dollars. It is really as simple as that.”

Grenville stubbed out his cigarette in the ash-tray.

“But what about Hinkle?”

“Yes, there’s Hinkle.” Archer frowned. “What time does he go to bed?”

“God knows! Last night Helga sent him to bed after dinner.”

“To be on the safe side, we will make the kidnapping at eleven o’clock. Suggest Hinkle leaves you two alone.”

“He may stay up.”

“Then one of my men must take care of him. And another thing, Chris, you must unlock the front door. I know the villa. There is no way to get in except through the front door. There is a loo in the vestibule. Excuse yourself, once you know Hinkle is out of the way, then unlock the front door, understand?”

Grenville nodded.

There came a tap on the car window and both men looked around. A policeman in a white helmet, brown uniform and jackboots was looking at them.

Exasperated and nervy, Grenville pressed the button to lower the window.

“What is it?” he barked in Italian.

“You are in a no-parking zone, sir,” the policeman said. “I am giving you a ticket.”

“To hell with that!” Grenville snapped. “There are no parking places in this stupid town! You people should get parking properly organized!”

Archer, who had lived in Switzerland for a long time and knew how touchy the Swiss police were, was horrified.

The policeman ”s eyes hardened.

“Your papers, sir.”

“Oh, for God’s sake!” Grenville opened the glove compartment and gave the policeman the car’s papers.

After taking some time examining the papers, the policeman again regarded Grenville.

“This is not your car?”

“You can read, can’t you?” Grenville snapped. “The car is owned by Madame Herman Rolfe. You may possibly have heard of her. She lent me the car.”

The policeman “s face became stony.

“Your passport, sir.”

As Grenville travelled so much, he always carried his passport with him. He handed it to the policeman.

Then Archer made a stupid mistake. He intervened. Taking out his wallet, he produced one of his old business cards, giving his name and the address of his late firm of international lawyers.

“As you will see, officer,” he said in his smoothest manner, “Mr. Grenville is English and is not used to continental regulations. I assure you, Madame Rolfe has lent him this car. He is staying with her as her guest.”

The policeman studied the card, then handed it back. He returned the car papers and the passport to Grenville.

“Please don’t park in a no-parking zone in the future, sir,” he said, saluted and motioned Grenville to drive on.

As the Rolls drifted away, the policeman, who had an excellent memory, began to write in his notebook. He was puzzled that a man so shabbily dressed as Archer was could claim to be an international lawyer.

“The bastard!” Grenville muttered as he continued on along the lake road.

“For goodness sake, Chris!” Archer said nervously. “You can’t talk that way to a Swiss policeman. That was very stupid of you.”

“To hell with him!”

He pulled into the parking lot of the Eden Hotel.

“Let’s have a drink.”

The two men walked onto the terrace and took an isolated table. They sat down and Grenville ordered two gin martinis.

“Now look, Jack, this has to come right,” he said. “Tell me about these men who are going to kidnap me. Are you sure they are reliable?”

Archer waited until the drinks arrived, then he began to talk.

* * *

Grenville returned to the villa a little after 15.00, feeling relaxed. Archer had convinced him that in a few days he would own a million dollars with no strings attached. He had played nine holes with the pro and had beaten him so easily that the pro had generously said that Grenville was the best golfer he had ever played with and that pleased Grenville.

He drove the Rolls into the garage and then entered the villa. As he closed the front door, he could hear Helga talking on the telephone, so he went to his bedroom, took a shower, changed, then wandered into the living-room.

Helga was wearing her hard expression, but it softened at the sight of him.

“What a morning!” she said. “These fools! They have been driving me out of my mind!” She pushed aside a mass of papers spread out on the desk and getting to her feet, she ran to him and kissed him. “Dear Chris! Tell me the answer, tell me it is yes!”

“It is yes,” Grenville said and picking her up, he carried her into her bedroom and kicked the door shut. “And we will have an immediate dress rehearsal.”

“You’ll shock Hinkle!” Helga said, but she was already slipping out of her trouser suit.

“To hell with Hinkle! I have myself a wife.”

Ten minutes later, lying side by side, naked on the bed, Helga, ecstatically happy, began to tell Grenville about her wedding plans.

“We will go to Paradise City. I have a wonderful place there on an island. It’s perfect. There is a cottage which you can have while I make the announcement. It must be a big, big wedding, Chris! There are so many important people and their wives, my executives and people we deal with who must be invited.”