Just Another Sucker (21 page)

Renick drew in a long, slow breath of exasperation. Then he asked the question I had been silently willing him not to ask.

‘Was he alone?’

‘He had a girl with him.’

Renick got slowly to his feet. He could scarcely control his excitement.

‘Did you happen to notice the girl, Mr. Keller?’

Keller grinned widely.

‘Oh, sure. There aren’t many pretty girls that I don’t notice.’

‘How was she dressed?’

‘She had on a blue and white cotton dress. She wore big sun goggles and she had red hair – my favourite colouring for a girl.’

‘Red hair?’ Renick paused in his pacing to stare at Keller. ‘You are sure about that?’

‘I’m sure.’

I took out my handkerchief and surreptitiously wiped my face.

Renick snatched up the telephone.

‘Taylor, get that dress the girl was wearing up here right away.’

As he replaced the receiver, Keller said in a puzzled voice, ‘I thought you were interested in the guy, Lieutenant, not the girl.’

‘What did these two do?’ Renick asked, ignoring Keller’s remark.

Seeing the hard, seriousness in his eyes, Keller stiffened to attention.

‘They came into the lobby. The man was carrying a suitcase. The girl got her ticket checked and the man handed over the suitcase. Then he went away and the girl went through the barrier.’

‘Did they speak at all to each other?’

Keller shook his head.

‘Come to think of it, I don’t think they did. The guy just handed over the suitcase and left.’

A police officer came in carrying a blue and white dress. Renick took it from him and held it up so Keller could see it.

‘That’s the one,’ Keller said confidently. ‘She looked real cute in it.’

‘You’re sure?’

‘That’s the one, Lieutenant.’

‘Okay, Mr. Keller. I’ll be seeing you again. Thanks for your help,’ and nodding to the police officer to take Keller out, Renick went to the telephone and called Barty to come in.

I felt as if a noose was slowly tightening around my throat. I just sat there, doodling and sweating.

‘There’s something phoney about this business,’ Renick said, sitting down at his desk. ‘I’ve had an idea from the very start that this wasn’t a straightforward kidnapping.’

‘What do you mean?’ I said, aware my voice sounded husky.

‘I’m damned if I know, but I’m going to find out.’

Barty came in.

‘What’s up?’

Renick told him what Keller had said.

Barty sat on the edge of the desk, frowning.

‘She went alone, but a redhead. This girl’s dark. There’s two of them – Keller and the air hostess who both swear the girl was a redhead. What was she listed as on the flight record?’

Renick took out a file and glanced through it.

‘Ann Harcourt: booked for L.A. Who’s Ann Harcourt? Look, Barty, drop everything. I want to know everything about this girl. Get the boys working. Get L.A. to check on her there. I want all the hotels checked just in case she stayed at a hotel.’

‘Just what’s on your mind, John?’

‘There’s something phoney about this set-up. The kidnapper tells the girl he is Jerry Williams who she hasn’t seen for a couple of months. He persuades her to go to a joint like the Pirates’ Cabin: a place where none of these youngsters ever go. From there she suddenly vanishes. A big guy wearing a brown sports suit is seen in her car at ten-thirty. Another car is heard to drive off, but is not seen. Then a big guy in a brown sports suit is seen with a girl wearing the same dress the murdered girl is found in at the airport at eleven o’clock. That would make the timing right. From the Pirates’ Cabin to the airport is just about half an hour’s drive. So far so good. She could have been kidnapped. She could have been so terrorised that she changed her dress, put on a red wig and sun goggles and gone with the man. But what happens?’ He slammed his fist down on the desk. ‘
She goes alone
! There were fourteen other people travelling in the plane, all in couples. They couldn’t have had anything to do with this girl. The air hostess knows them all! This man who was driving her car, walks out of the airport and disappears. Then the briefcase containing the ransom money is found with the murdered girl. It’s stuffed full of old newspapers, and a rather sinister fact comes out there are two briefcases, the replica of each other.’ He paused to stare at Barty. ‘Make anything of it so far?’

‘Could have been a faked kidnapping,’ Barty said. ‘Providing this girl Ann Harcourt was Odette Malroux. That’s something we’ll have to find out.’

‘Yeah,’ Renick said. ‘Okay, get going. Let’s check on this girl, and when I say check, I mean check!’

He swung round to me.

‘Get that dress photographed. Get one of the office girls to put it on and block out her face. Someone else might recognise it. Get the picture circulated in all the local papers and in L.A.’

I picked up the dress and went back to my office. I felt as if I hadn’t a bone in my body. The teeth of the trap were closing too fast. In another twenty-four hours, if not sooner, Renick might even be on to me. Somehow I had to think of a way to prove that O’Reilly had killed her – but how?

I was too busy for the next hour to think about my problem. I got the dress photographed, gave a Press meeting and made sure the photograph would be circulated in Los Angeles.

By then it was lunch time. I was preparing to go to lunch with Renick and Barty when the telephone bell rang. We three were in Renick’s office. He answered the phone, then handed the receiver to me.

‘It’s Nina,’ he said. ‘She wants you.’ I took the receiver.

‘Yes?’ I said. ‘I’m just going to lunch.’

‘Harry, will you please come home?’ There was a note in her voice – a note I had never heard before– that sent a chill snaking up my spine. ‘I have to talk to you.’

The fear, the cold flat tone in her voice shook me.

‘I’ll be right over,’ I said and hung up. ‘Nina wants me to have lunch with her. Something’s come up.

One of the usual domestic things,’ I said. ‘I’ll be back by two o’clock.’

‘Sure, go ahead,’ Renick said. He was reading a file and didn’t even look up. ‘Take a car, Harry. I want you back here at two o’clock.’

As soon as I left his office, I ran down the passage and down the stairs. I got in a police car and drove home fast. I knew something had happened. I couldn’t imagine what, but I knew from the tone of her voice it was bad.

I parked the car outside the bungalow and walked fast up the path, took out my key and pushed open the front door.

‘Nina?’

‘I’m here, Harry,’ she said from the lounge.

I crossed the hall, pushed open the lounge door and entered. Then I stopped short.

Nina sat in a chair, facing me. She looked small and scared and very white.

Seated near her, his legs crossed was O’Reilly. He had changed out of his chauffeur’s uniform and he had on a sports shirt and bottle green slacks. He was picking his teeth with a match splinter and he grinned at me as our eyes met.

In his right hand, he held a .38 police automatic. Its blunt blue nose was pointing at me.

I

‘Come on in, buster, and join the party,’ O’Reilly said. ‘Your wife doesn’t seem to appreciate my company.’

I moved into the room and over to Nina. I was quickly over the shock of finding this man in my home, and a cold fury was taking the place of my first pang of fear.

‘You’d better get out before I throw you out,’ I said.

He grinned, showing even white teeth.

‘Look, buster,’ he said, ‘you may be a good guy in your own class, but you’re not in my class. I could take two like you and think nothing of it.’

Nina put her hand on my arm. Her fingers telegraphed a warning for caution.

‘What do you want?’ I demanded.

‘What do you think? Those tapes and I’m going to have them!’

‘So you did kill her!’

He rubbed the side of his jaw as his grin widened.

‘Did I? The evidence shows you are the guy who did it. Brother! What a sucker you are! You talk too much. If you had kept your trap shut about those tapes, Rhea and me would have imagined we were sitting pretty, but you had to sound off. Those tapes put Rhea out on a limb. They don’t bother me, but she and I are working together on this thing, so I promised her I’d get the tapes.’

‘Too bad,’ I said. ‘You’re not getting them. If anyone gets them it’ll be Renick.’

He glanced at the gun in his hand and then at me.

‘Suppose I aim this rod at your wife’s left leg,’ he said. ‘Suppose I pull the trigger? I could do it if you don’t hand over the tapes.’

Nina said quietly, ‘Don’t listen to him. Harry. I’m not frightened of him.’

I said, ‘You fire that gun, and we’ll have at least ten people at the door before you can get away. That kind of cheap bluff won’t work. Now get out!’

He leaned back in his chair and laughed.

‘Well, it was worth a try,’ he said. ‘You’re right. I wouldn’t shoot either of you.’ He slid the gun into his hip pocket. ‘Okay, let’s get down to business. I want the tapes and you’re going to hand them over to me. Where are they?’

‘In my bank where you can’t get at them’

‘Come on, sucker. We’ll go to the bank and you’ll hand them over. Let’s go.’

‘You’re not having them! That’s final. Now get out!’

He stared at me for a long moment.

‘Well, okay, if that’s the way it has to be,’ he said, not moving. ‘Now I’ll convince you you’re going to part with them. There are millions of dollars involved in this thing. Those tapes could unstick a plan I’ve really worked at, and that’s not going to happen. I don’t give a damn what happens so long as this plan of mine sticks. I have all the money I need to back up the right kind of action to get the tapes. Now, I’ll show you something.’ He took from his pocket a small bottle of blue glass. He removed the cork and very gently poured liquid from the bottle onto the occasional table at his side. The liquid seemed alive. It hissed as it made a tiny puddle in the middle of the table. I could see it stripping off the varnish and stain. ‘This is sulphuric acid,’ he went on. ‘It’s the stuff you throw in people’s faces who don’t co-operate.’ His expression suddenly turned vicious as he stared at me. ‘I know a mob who would arrange to throw this stuff at your wife, Barber, for less than a hundred bucks. They are a tough mob. Don’t kid yourself you could protect her. They would bust in here when you weren’t expecting them and give it to her and take care of you. I either get the tapes right now or within twelve hours your wife will be blind and her flesh will be burned off her face. What’s it to be?’

I felt Nina’s fingers gripping my arm. We both stared at the bubbling, hissing liquid on the table. I looked at O’Reilly. The expression in those small grey eyes convinced me he wasn’t bluffing. He would do this thing. It wasn’t possible for me to protect Nina.

I was licked, and I knew it.

I stood up.

‘Okay, let’s go.’

Nina caught hold of my arm.

‘No! You’re not to! He wouldn’t dare do it! Harry, please…’

I shook her off.

‘This is my mess – not yours.’

I went to the door while she sat motionless, wide-eyed, staring at me.

O’Reilly got to his feet.

‘He’s right, baby. You keep quiet. Watch out how you clear up that mess. You don’t want to burn your pretty hands.’

‘Harry!’ Nina exclaimed, jumping up. ‘Don’t do it! Don’t let him have them!’

I went out of the bungalow and down to the car with O’Reilly following me. He got in the car beside me.

‘Tough luck, sucker,’ he said, ‘but you should keep your trap shut. Now you’re right on your own.

How’s Renick getting on? Hasn’t he got onto you yet?’

‘Not yet.’ I pulled away from the kerb. I hated this man with a cold vicious fury that almost stifled me. I realised too late how stupid I had been to have taunted Rhea with the threat of the tapes. Once I had parted with them, as O’Reilly had said, I was on my own. It would be my word against hers, and she could afford to hire the best attorney in the country to make mincemeat of my story.

‘When you’re picked up, sucker,’ O’Reilly said, ‘don’t try to involve Rhea nor me. We both have cast iron alibis.’

‘That’s nice for you,’ I said.

We looked at each other. There was a puzzled expression in his eyes.

‘You’re a pretty cool punk considering the jam you’re in,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think you had so much nerve.’

‘I walked into this mess,’ I said, ‘and I’m prepared to take what is coming to me. Everything looks perfect right now, but you’re going to come unstuck because you don’t know a damn thing about women.’

That hit him. He twisted around to stare at me.

‘What the hell do you mean?’

‘You’ll find out. I’ve been a newspaper man for years. I’ve had plenty of experience with show girls.

I know their mentality. This I do know: Rhea Malroux isn’t planning to spend the rest of her days with an Irish roughneck. You’re not kidding yourself you’re anything better than an Irish ex-cop with as much polish as a sheet of sandpaper, are you? When Malroux dies and she comes into the money, she’ll suddenly lose interest in you. You’ll find you’ll be eased out. She’ll know how to do it. You won’t realise what’s happening until you are just another ex-cop in search of another job.’

‘Yeah? Is that what you think?’ His thin lips moved into a grin, but there was no grin in his eyes.

‘Don’t kid yourself, sucker. Long after you have ceased to exist me and Rhea’ll be married.’

I managed a laugh.

‘That’s about the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.’ I swung the car to the kerb outside my bank. The time was now three minutes to two. The bank doors were still shut. ‘You really imagine a woman like Rhea would marry an Irish roughneck like you? Well, maybe I’m a sucker, but I’m not the only one.’

‘You shut your trap unless you want me to shut it for you,’ he snarled, his fleshy face turning red.

‘Sure. I won’t say another word if you’re that sensitive,’ I said, paused, then went on, ‘But I know what I’d do if I was in the fix you’re in.’

He eyed me.

‘Yeah? So what would you do?’