Just Another Sucker

I

A small dark cloud drifted across the face of the moon. For the space of a minute or so, the sea looked suddenly cold and the beach dark and uninviting, then the cloud passed, and once more there was silver on the water and brightness on the beach.

Rhea Malroux was looking at me.

‘There is no other way of raising such a sum,’ she said. ‘It will have to be kidnapping. It’s the only way to make my husband part with the money. It is easy enough. It’s just a matter of working out the details.’

‘Kidnapping carries the death sentence,’ I said. ‘Have you thought of that?’

‘But no one is being kidnapped,’ she returned, and stretched out her long, beautiful legs. ‘Just supposing something went wrong, then I will tell my husband the truth, and that will be that.’

To me, she was as convincing as a carpet salesman trying to sell me a fake Persian rug.

But at the back of my mind was the thought of fifty thousand dollars. Maybe, I told myself, if I handled the set-up, worked out all the details myself, I could sink a hook into that money.

‘You mean your husband will just laugh and tell you you and your stepdaughter are naughty girls and do nothing more about it? The fact that I have telephoned him, telling him his daughter has been kidnapped and demanding money, won’t mean a thing — he’ll treat it as a joke? You think he’ll tell the Federal Agents this is just some fun dreamed up by his wife to rook him out of five hundred thousand dollars?’

There was a long pause, then she said, ‘I don’t like your tone, Mr. Barber. You are being impertinent.’

‘So sorry, but I once was a newspaper man,’ I said. ‘I know, perhaps a lot better than you do, that if the daughter of Felix Malroux is kidnapped, it will make headline news all over the world. It could turn out to be another Lindberg case.’

She shifted in her chair and I saw her hands turn into fists.

‘You’re exaggerating. I won’t allow my husband to call in the police.’ Her voice was sharp and impatient. ‘The situation will be this: Odette will disappear. You will telephone my husband and tell him she has been kidnapped. She will be returned if my husband will pay five hundred thousand dollars. My husband will pay the money. You will collect it and Odette returns. That’s all there is to it.’

‘You mean that’s all you hope there is to it,’ I said.

She made an impatient movement.

‘I know that’s all there is to it, Mr. Barber. You tell me you are prepared to take a risk if you are well paid. I am offering you fifty thousand dollars. If that isn’t enough, say so and I’ll find someone else.’

‘Will you?’ I said. ‘Don’t kid yourself. You would have quite a time to find anyone to take on a job like this. I don’t like any of it. There are all kinds of snags. Suppose your husband calls in the police, in spite of what you say? Once you have the police in your hair you have them there until someone gets arrested, and that someone could be me.’

‘The police won’t come into it. I’ve told you: I can handle my husband.’

I thought of an ageing millionaire, dying slowly of cancer. Maybe he had lost his grip on life. Maybe she was right. Maybe she had the power to persuade him to part with five hundred thousand dollars without a fight. Maybe…

But against this sudden prick of conscience was the thought that if this worked, I would own fifty thousand dollars.

‘Your stepdaughter agrees to this idea?’

‘Of course. She needs the money as much as I do.’

I flicked my cigarette butt into the darkness.

‘I’m warning you,’ I said, ‘if the Federal Agents get onto it, we’ll all be in trouble.’

‘I’m coming to the conclusion you’re not the man I am looking for,’ she said. ‘I think we are wasting each other’s time.’

I should have agreed with her and let her walk away into the darkness as silently as she had come, but there was this nagging thought in my mind of the fifty thousand dollars she was offering me. The amount fascinated me. I realised, as I sat there in the moonlight, that if the Police Commissioner had put on his desk fifty thousand dollars in new crisp bills I would have fallen for his bribe. I realised, with a sense of shock, that my integrity was proof against a bribe of ten thousand dollars, but not against an offer of fifty thousand dollars.

‘I’m just warning you,’ I said. ‘You and your stepdaughter and I would feel pretty sick if we landed behind bars.’

‘How many more times do I have to tell you? There is no question of that.’ Her voice was stifled with irritated impatience. ‘Can I rely on you or can’t I?’

‘You’ve given me the bare outlines of your idea. Suppose you tell me exactly what you want me to do,’ I said, ‘then I’ll be able to decide.’

‘Odette will disappear; you will telephone my husband.’ Her voice was exasperated. ‘You will tell him she has been kidnapped, and she will be returned on payment of five hundred thousand dollars. You will make my husband believe that if he doesn’t pay the ransom, Odette won’t be returned. You will have to be convincing, but I am relying on you for that.’

‘Does your husband scare easily?’ I asked.

‘He is very fond of his daughter,’ she said quietly. ‘In these circumstances, he will scare easily.’

‘Then what do I do?’

‘You arrange how he is to pay the money. You collect it, you take your share and give the rest to me.’

‘And your stepdaughter, of course.’

She paused before she said, ‘Yes, of course.’

‘It sounds pretty simple,’ I said. ‘The one snag is you may not know your husband as well as you imagine you do. He may not scare easily. He may call in the police. A man who has made the fortune he has must have plenty of what it takes. Have you considered that?’

‘I told you: I can handle him.’ She drew on her cigarette so the glowing tip lit up her glistening red mouth. ‘He is ill. Two or three years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible. A very sick man, Mr.

Barber, hasn’t much resistance when someone he loves seems to be in danger.’

I had a slightly sick feeling to imagine that but for the grace of God this woman could have been my wife.

‘You probably know more about that than I do,’ I said.

Again there was a pause. I could feel her hostility as she stared towards me out of the darkness.

‘Well? Are you going to do it or aren’t you?’

Again I thought of the fifty thousand dollars. This wasn’t something to rush into, but given thought, given a detailed plan, it might possibly work.

‘I want to think about it,’ I said. ‘I’ll give you my decision tomorrow. Suppose you telephone me here at eleven?’

‘Can’t you say yes or no now?’

‘I want to think about it. I’ll give you a definite decision tomorrow.’

She got to her feet. Opening her bag, she took out a small roll of bills and dropped them on the table that stood between us.

‘This should cover the cost of the cabin and any other expenses you may have. I’ll telephone tomorrow.’

She went away as silently as she had come, disappearing into the darkness like a ghost.

I picked up the money she had left on the table. There were ten ten-dollar bills. I slid them through my fingers, multiplying them in my mind five hundred times.

The time was now ten minutes after ten. I had a couple of hours yet before I need return home. I sat there in the moonlight, staring at the sea and I considered her proposal. I considered it from every angle: particularly the risk involved.

A few minutes after midnight, I made my decision. It wasn’t an easy one to make, but I was influenced by the money she was offering me. With that sum I could make a new life for Nina and myself.

On my terms, and my terms only, I decided to do what she wanted me to do.

The following morning, I went down to the cabin early. I told Bill Holden I wanted to keep the cabin on for at least another day, possibly longer, and I paid him the rent for two days.

I sat in the sun outside the cabin until a few minutes to eleven, then I went in and sat by the telephone.

Exactly at eleven o’clock the telephone bell rang. I picked up the receiver.

‘Barber here,’ I said.

‘Is it yes or no?’

‘It’s yes,’ I said, ‘but there are conditions. I want to talk to you and the other party. Come here with her at nine o’clock tonight.’

I didn’t give her a chance to argue. I hung up. I wanted her to realise that the initiative had passed from her to me now, and it was going to stay that way.

The telephone bell rang, but I didn’t answer. I went out of the cabin, shut and locked the door.

The bell was still ringing as I walked away to where I had parked the Packard.

II

I returned to the cabin just after six. I had been home and had collected a number of articles. Nina had been out which was lucky for me as she would have wanted to know why I needed a long length of flex, my tool kit and the tape recorder I had bought when I was working for the Herald and which she had kept for me all this time.

The two hours I had spent the previous night examining Rhea Malroux’s plan hadn’t been wasted. I had quickly realised that it was essential for my safety to make absolutely certain neither Rhea nor her stepdaughter left me holding the baby if anything happened to go wrong. I had decided to make a record of our conversation this night: neither of them would know of the recording, but if Malroux did call in the police, and there was always that risk, then these two couldn’t deny knowing anything about the plan nor shunt the blame onto me.

When I reached the cabin, I took the recorder into the bedroom and put it in the closet. The machine ran pretty silently, but there was just a chance one of them on the alert might hear it if it was in the sitting-room. I bored a small hole in the back of the closet through which I passed the mains lead. This I took into the sitting-room and plugged into a two-way adaptor that was controlled by the switch at the door. I satisfied myself that when I entered the cabin and turned on the light, the recorder and the light in the sitting-room would be switched on simultaneously.

I spent some minutes trying to make up my mind where to conceal the microphone. I finally decided to fix it under a small occasional table that stood in a corner, out of the way, but with an uninterrupted field of sound.

All this took time. By seven o’clock, I had had a practice run and I was satisfied the recorder worked as I wanted it to work, and the microphone picked up the sound of my voice from any part of the room.

The only two snags I could think of were if the two women wouldn’t go into the cabin, and if they didn’t want the light on. I thought I would be able to persuade them to enter the cabin. I could point out someone might be out for an evening stroll and might spot us if we didn’t keep out of sight. If they wanted the light out, I could turn the lamp off by the switch on the lamp and not by the switch at the door.

There were still a number of people on the beach, but the crowd was thinning. In another hour, the beach would be deserted.

I was just gathering up my tools when there came a knock on the door. I had been so preoccupied with what I had been doing the sharp rap made me start. For a moment I stood staring at the door. Then I shoved my tool kit under a cushion and went to the door. I opened it.

Bill Holden stood there.

‘Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Barber,’ he said. ‘I wanted to know if you’re keeping the cabin on for tomorrow. I have had an inquiry for it.’

‘I want to keep it for a week, Bill,’ I said. ‘I’m writing a few articles and it is a good place for me to work. I’ll settle with you at the end of the week, if that’s okay with you.’

‘Sure thing, Mr. Barber. It’s yours until the end of the week.’

When he had gone, I collected my tool kit, locked up and went over to the Packard. I didn’t feel like going home so I drove to a sea food restaurant about half a mile down the road. By the time I had eaten, the hands of my watch showed twenty minutes to nine.

It was getting dark.

I drove back to the cabin. The beach was now deserted. I remembered not to turn on the light. I could just see my way to the air-conditioner which I put on. I wanted the cabin to be invitingly cool when they arrived. Out on the veranda it was hot: too hot for comfort, but I loosened my tie and sat out there in a lounging chair.

I was pretty tense, and I wondered if Rhea would be late again, and what the stepdaughter, Odette, would be like.

I wondered too, after they had listened to what I was going to say, if they would have the nerve to go ahead with this plan.

A few minutes after nine, I heard a sound and looking quickly to my left, I saw Rhea Malroux coming up the three steps to the veranda. She was alone.

I got to my feet.

‘Good evening, Mr. Barber,’ she said, moving towards one of the chairs.

‘Let’s go inside,’ I said. ‘Someone passed just now. We shouldn’t be seen together.’ I opened the cabin door and turned on the light. ‘Where’s your stepdaughter?’

She followed me into the cabin and I closed the door.

‘She’ll be along, I suppose,’ she said, indifferently. She sat down in one of the lounging chairs. She was wearing a pale blue, sleeveless dress. Her slim legs were bare and she had on flat-heeled sandals.

She took off the scarf that covered her head and shook free her sable-dyed hair with a quick jerk of her head. She still wore the green sun goggles and these she kept on.

‘I’m not touching this job until I’ve talked to her,’ I said. ‘I want to be sure, Mrs. Malroux, that she knows about this kidnapping idea, and she agrees to it.’

Rhea looked sharply at me.

‘Of course she agrees to it,’ she said curtly. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I want to hear her say it herself,’ I said and sat down. Then speaking entirely for the benefit of the tape recorder, I went on, ‘It’s not an unreasonable request. You tell me you and your stepdaughter have concocted a plan where your stepdaughter pretends to be kidnapped. You two are urgently in need of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The only way you can get this sum from your husband is to fake a kidnapping. If I help you, you will pay me fifty thousand dollars.’ I paused, then went on, ‘Kidnapping is a capital offence. I want to be absolutely sure your stepdaughter knows what she is doing.’

Rhea said impatiently, ‘Of course she knows what she is doing… she isn’t a child.’

‘And you are satisfied your husband won’t call in the police?’ I said.

She began to drum on the arm of her chair.

‘You seem to have a natural talent for wasting time,’ she said. ‘We’ve been all over this before, haven’t we?’

I was satisfied. With that short conversation on tape, she now couldn’t deny being implicated if we hit trouble.

I looked at my watch: the time was half past nine.

‘I’m not discussing this job nor am I touching it until I can talk to your stepdaughter,’ I said.

Rhea lit a cigarette.

‘I told her to come,’ she said, ‘but she seldom does what she is told. You don’t expect me to drag her here, do you?’

I heard the sound of someone moving about outside.

‘Maybe this is her now,’ I said. ‘I’ll see.’

I went to the door and opened it.

A girl stood on the bottom of the steps, looking up at me.

For a long moment, we stared at each other.

‘Hello,’ she said and she smiled at me.

Odette Malroux was small and finely made. She was wearing a feather-weight cashmere white sweater and a pair of leopard skin patterned jeans. Her outfit was calculated to show off the shape of her body. She had raven black hair, like Nina’s, which was parted in the centre and fell to her shoulders in a careless but effective way. Her face was heart shaped and her complexion pallid. She could be any age from sixteen to twenty-five. Her eyes were slate grey. Her nose was pinched and small. Her mouth was a careless crimson gash of lipstick. She gave out an over-all picture of corrupt youth. You can find girls exactly like her in any juvenile court: defiant, rebellious, frustrated, sexually blasé, heading nowhere: one of the legion of the young lost.

‘Miss Malroux?’

She giggled, then came up the steps, slowly.

‘You must be Ali Baba — how are all the thieves?’

‘Oh, come on in, Odette,’ Rhea called impatiently. ‘Save your wit for your moronic friends.’

The girl wrinkled her nose, making a grimace, then she winked at me. She moved past me into the cabin. She had a deliberately cultivated duck-tail walk. Her neat little behind moved as if on a swivel.

I closed the door.

I was thinking of the recorder. The tape had about forty minutes to run. I would have to hurry this up if I was to get the whole conversation recorded.

‘Hello, darling Rhea,’ Odette said, dropping into a lounging chair near the chair where I had been sitting. ‘Isn’t he gorgeous?’

‘Oh, shut up!’ Rhea snapped. ‘Be quiet and listen. Mr. Barber wants to talk to you.’

The girl looked at me and fluttered her eyelids. She drew up her legs under her, put one hand on her hip and the other to support her face and became mockingly grave.

‘Please do talk to me. Mr. Baba.’

I looked into the slate grey eyes. The juvenile pose didn’t kid me for a moment. Those eyes were a complete give away — something she couldn’t conceal. They were the unhappy, puzzled eyes of a girl who wasn’t sure of herself, knew she was going the wrong way, and not strong enough to do anything about it.

‘I want to hear this direct from you,’ I said. ‘Are you a party to this kidnapping idea?’

The girl looked swiftly at Rhea and then at me.

‘A party to it?’ She giggled. ‘Isn’t he a doll, darling Rhea? Yes, of course, I’m a party to it. Darling Rhea and me thought it up between us. It’s a great idea, isn’t it?’

‘Is it?’ I stared at her. ‘Your father mightn’t think so.’

‘That’s no concern of yours,’ Rhea snapped. ‘Now, if you are satisfied, perhaps we can discuss this thing.’

‘We can talk about it,’ I said. ‘When does it happen?’

‘As soon as it can be arranged — the day after tomorrow perhaps,’ Rhea said.

‘Miss Malroux disappears — where is she disappearing to?’

‘Call me Odette,’ the girl said, and she pushed her chest out at me. ‘All my friends do…’

Ignoring her, Rhea said, ‘There is a quiet, small hotel at Carmel. She can go there. It will only be for three or four days.’

‘How will she get there?’

Rhea moved impatiently.

‘She has a car.’

‘It’s a honey,’ Odette told me. ‘A T.R.3. It goes like the wind…’

‘You can’t drive a car like that without being recognised,’ I said. ‘You must be a familiar figure to people living here.’

She looked a little startled as she said, ‘I suppose I am.’

I looked across at Rhea.

‘Your idea, of course, is that only you, your stepdaughter and your husband are to know about this kidnapping?’

She frowned at me.

‘Of course.’

‘Is it all that simple for you to disappear?’ I said to Odette. ‘Haven’t you any friends? How about the servants?’

She lifted her slim shoulders.

‘I’m always going away.’

I looked at Rhea.

‘If I were in your husband’s place and someone telephoned me that my daughter had been kidnapped and to get her back I had to pay out five hundred thousand dollars, I wouldn’t be in too great a hurry to pay up. The way you plan it, there is no atmosphere. If I were your husband I might even think it was a hoax.’ I stubbed out my cigarette, then went on, ‘And I would call the police.’

‘A lot depends on how convincing you are when you telephone him,’ Rhea said. ‘That’s what I’m paying you for.’

‘I’ll be convincing,’ I said, ‘but suppose he does call in the police? What are you going to do? Tell him it’s a joke? Admit you two were just having a bit of fun or will you say nothing and hope I’ll get the money and the police won’t find out the truth?’

‘I keep telling you…’ she began angrily.

‘I know what you tell me,’ I said, ‘but I don’t have to believe you. If the police come into this, will you call it off or will you still go ahead?’

‘We go ahead,’ Odette said. ‘We must have the money!’

There was a sudden hard note in her voice that made me look sharply at her. Her face had a bleak expression and she wasn’t looking at me, she was staring at Rhea.

‘Yes,’ Rhea said, ‘we must have the money, but for the hundredth time the police won’t come into it!’

‘It will be a lot safer to assume they will,’ I said. ‘Okay, it is possible your husband will hand over the ransom, but when he gets his daughter back, he is practically certain to tell the police and they will investigate. A man who has made as much money as your husband isn’t a fool. How do you know he won’t arrange to have the money marked? What use would it be to you if you didn’t dare spend it?’

‘I’ll see he doesn’t do that,’ Rhea said. ‘That is something we don’t have to worry about.’

‘Is it? I’d like to share your confidence.’

‘My husband is very ill,’ Rhea said, her voice hard and bleak. ‘He does what I tell him to.’

I felt a chill crawl up my spine as I looked from her to Odette. Both of them were staring at me. The girl had lost her ‘little-girl’ pose. She seemed suddenly as hard and as ruthless as the older woman.

‘I’m going to assume your husband will contact the police,’ I said. ‘If you don’t like the way I’ve planned this thing, say so and I’ll quit.’

Rhea’s hands were fists in her lap. Odette was nibbling at her thumbnail: her eyes intent.

I spoke directly to her.

‘Today is Tuesday. We can be ready by Saturday. I want you to arrange to go to a movie with a girl friend on Saturday evening. Can you fix that?’

I could see the surprise in her eyes as she nodded.

‘I want you to have dinner at home and I want you to tell your father where you are going. I want you to wear something distinctive so you will be noticed and recognised when you go out. You will arrange to meet your friend at eight o’clock, but you won’t meet her. You will drive to the Pirates’ Cabin. It’s a small bar and restaurant about a couple of miles from here. Maybe you know it?’

Again she nodded.

‘You will drive into the parking lot and you’ll go into the bar for a drink. At that time the place will be crowded. I don’t imagine you’re likely to run into any of your friends there. What do you think?’

‘Not a chance,’ she said. ‘It’s not the sort of place my friends would go to.’

‘That’s the way I figured it. I want you to be noticed. Upset your drink or do something to attract attention in an accidental way. You will leave after five minutes. Be careful not to get involved with anyone. I’ll have my car in the parking lot. Make sure no one is watching you, then get into my car.

There will be a change of clothes in the car and a red wig. You’ll put on the clothes and the wig.

‘While you are changing, I will take your car and drive it to Lone Bay parking lot. You’ll follow me.

I’ll leave your car in the parking lot. The chances are it won’t be spotted until we need it again.

‘You’ll pick me up and I’ll drive you to the airport. I’ll have a reservation for you to Los Angeles.

You will go to a hotel where there will be a reservation for you. You will tell the clerk you aren’t well.

You’ll stay in your room, having all your meals sent up until I tell you to come back. I’ll keep in touch with you by telephone. Do you follow all that?’

She nodded. She had stopped nibbling at her thumb. She looked intrigued.

‘All this is entirely unnecessary,’ Rhea said. ‘If she goes to the hotel at Carmel…’

‘Do you want this money or don’t you?’ I broke in.

‘Must I repeat every statement I make to you?’ she said angrily. ‘I have said I want it!’

‘Then you do it my way or you won’t get it!’

‘I think he’s an absolute doll,’ Odette said. ‘I’ll do whatever you say, Harry… I may call you Harry?’

‘You can call me what you like so long as you do what I tell you,’ I said, then to Rhea, I went on,

‘When I’ve seen Odette off on the plane, I will telephone your husband. He is a millionaire. What chance have I got to get to him?’

‘His secretary will answer,’ Rhea said. ‘You tell him you want to talk to my husband about his daughter, his secretary will ask him if he wants to speak to you. I will be there. I’ll see my husband does speak to you.’

‘It will be late. I’m hoping Odette’s girl friend will have telephoned, asking where she has got to.’ I looked at Odette. ‘Do you think she will telephone?’

‘Of course she will.’

‘I want her to. It will create the right atmosphere. You must be missing before I telephone.’

‘She’ll call,’ Odette said.

‘Okay. I’ll tell your father to have the money ready in two days’ time and to wait for further instructions,’ I said, then looked over at Rhea. ‘You must persuade him not to try any tricks. What you have to be careful about is that he doesn’t tell the bank to take the numbers of the bills or get the Federal Bureau to mark the money. How you do that, I wouldn’t know, but if you don’t fix it, you won’t be able to spend the money — nor shall I.’

‘I’ll arrange it,’ Rhea said curtly.

‘I hope you will. Two days after my first telephone call, I’ll call again. Is your husband well enough to deliver the ransom himself?’

She nodded.

‘He wouldn’t trust anyone to do it except himself.’

I lifted my eyebrows at her.

‘Not even you?’

Odette giggled, putting her hand over her mouth, while Rhea’s eyes narrowed and her face hardened.

‘Of course he trusts me!’ she said angrily, ‘but he would consider it dangerous. He wouldn’t allow me to go with him.’

‘Well, okay.’ I lit another cigarette. ‘I’ll tell him to leave home at two in the morning and drive along East Beach Road. He is to drive the Rolls. There’ll be no traffic on that road at that time. The money is to be in a briefcase. Somewhere along the road he will see a flashing light. As he passes the light he is to drop the case out of the car and drive on. He is not to stop. In the meantime, Odette will have returned.

She will come here to this cabin and wait for me. I will take my share of the money and give her the rest.

What you two do with it after doesn’t concern me, but you’ll have to be careful.’

‘Oh, no!’ Rhea said sharply. ‘I’m not agreeing to that! You’re not to give her the money! You’re to give it to me!’

Odette sat up, swinging her legs to the floor. Her pallid face was puckered with spite.

‘Why shouldn’t he give it to me?’ she demanded shrilly.

‘I wouldn’t trust you with a nickel!’ Rhea said, her eyes glittering. ‘He’s to give it to me!’

‘Do you imagine I trust you?’ Odette said, her voice hard and vicious. ‘Once you get your claws into that money…’

‘All right, all right, cut it out!’ I broke in. ‘We’re wasting time. Here’s a better way. I’ll draft a letter for Odette to write to her father. It’ll be more convincing that way and will save me a third telephone call. She will tell him how to deliver the ransom. She will say, after he has delivered it, for him to drive on to Lone Bay parking lot where she will be waiting for him. It’s a good half hour’s drive. That’ll give you both time to be here and collect the money. How’s that?’

‘But if Daddy finds I’m not at the parking lot, he might go to the police,’ Odette said.

That was the first sensible thing either of them had volunteered since they had entered the cabin.

‘That’s right. Then in the letter, he will be told there is a note waiting for him at Lone Bay, telling him where to find you. I’ll put the note in your car. When he gets it, he’ll be told you have returned home. That fix it?’

Rhea was staring at me.

‘We shall, of course, have to trust you with all that money, Mr. Barber.’

I grinned at her.

‘If that’s going to worry you then you shouldn’t have picked on me. If you have a better idea, now’s the time to trot it out.’

The two women looked at each other, then Rhea, hesitating for a moment, said, ‘So long as I am here when you hand over the money, I have no better suggestion.’

‘That’s another way of saying she trusts you and not me,’ Odette said. ‘Isn’t she a lovely stepmother?’

‘She has to trust me,’ I said. ‘Now you tell me something: what happened to you? Why didn’t you meet your friend at the movies? Why did you go to the Pirates’ Cabin? Who kidnapped you?’

She stared blankly at me.

‘I wouldn’t know. Why ask me? It’s your story.’

‘Don’t you think you’d better know? Your father will question you. You can bet he will call in the police after he has got you back, and they will question you. Those boys are professionals. If they once suspect you’re lying, they’ll rip into you until they get the truth out of you.’

She lost a lot of her poise then and she looked uneasily at Rhea.

‘But I’m not going to be questioned by the police! Rhea says I’m not!’

‘Of course she isn’t!’ Rhea broke in.

‘You both seem pretty certain of that,’ I said. ‘I’m not so sure.’

‘My husband has a horror of publicity,’ Rhea said. ‘He would rather lose the money than get newspaper reporters worrying him.’

‘Sorry, I’m still not convinced. I wouldn’t be earning what you’re going to pay me,’ I said, ‘if I didn’t take the police into consideration. She must have a story ready in case the police move in. I’ll fix it for her.’ To Odette, I went on, ‘Can you come out here tomorrow night so I can coach you? You’ll need a lot of coaching if you want to keep that money.’

‘It’s not necessary,’ Rhea said. ‘How many more times do I have to tell you: my husband won’t call in the police!’

‘I told you I’d take this job on my own terms. You either do what I say or I’ll quit,’ I said.

‘I’ll be here tomorrow night at nine,’ Odette said and smiled at me.

‘That’s that then.’ I got to my feet. ‘Just one more thing.’ I was speaking to Rhea. ‘You’re to get her a dress. Get it from a cheap store: something a college girl would wear, and you’ve got to get her a red wig. Be careful how you get it. Don’t get it at a local shop. Maybe it would be better if you went into Dayton for it. It mustn’t be traced back to you. She’s got to disappear completely at the Pirates’ Cabin.

She’ll be seen there, and she’ll be seen leaving, but after that there must be no trace of her until she returns home.’

Rhea shrugged.

‘If you think this is really necessary, I’ll do it.’

‘Bring the dress and the wig with you tomorrow night,’ I said to Odette. ‘By then I’ll have a story ready for you, and the letter.’ I went to the door, opened it and looked out. The beach was deserted. ‘See you tomorrow night.’

Rhea went first, not looking at me. Odette followed her. As she passed me, she gave me a half smile and fluttered her eyelids at me.

I watched them walk away into the darkness, then I went into the bedroom and turned off the tape recorder.