Believe This... You’ll Believe Anything

Nine

The gun had been in my brief case in the drawer. Now it had gone!

Who had taken it?

Vidal? Gesetti?

But neither of them knew I had the gun!

The shock of finding it gone, now that I was resolved to kill Vidal, was so great I felt as if I had been hit on the head. I dropped into my chair, resting my face in my shaking hands.

The sound of the storm was continuous. The screaming noise of the wind pounded on inside my skull.

Then who had taken the gun?

The only one who knew I had it was Val.

Val!

She had begged me to shoot her! Had she, in a mad moment gone to my office while Dyer and I were checking the doors and windows, found and taken the gun?

I stumbled to my feet.

God! Had she killed herself?

In this infernal noise I wouldn’t have heard the shot. I stood for a long moment in the grip of panic. It was at this moment when I thought I might have lost her for good that I fully realised how much I loved her, how much I depended on her to wipe out the memory of those six empty years when I had her only in my dreams.

I went out into the corridor.

Was she already dead?

Moving slowly, my heart hammering, I walked down to her door. I put my head close to the door panel and tried to listen but the noise of the raging hurricane blotted out every sound.

Bracing myself, I opened the door.

Would I find her lying on her bed, lost to me forever? Would she be bleeding from a dreadful wound in the head?

‘Who is it?’

Her voice! She was alive!

I moved quickly into the room and closed the door I stood there, looking at her as she sat in a chair near the hurricane lamp, her hands in her lap, the lamp lighting the rise and fall of her lovely breasts and casting her tense white face into sculptured shadows.

‘Oh, Val!’

I stumbled to her and fell on my knees, my head on her thighs, my hands around her waist.

Gently her fingers moved into my hair.

‘Tell me.’ Her voice was unsteady. ‘Don’t be frightened. Tell me I am free.’

I remained motionless. What had she said?

A tremendous clap of thunder shook the windows.

‘Clay, darling...’

Tell me I am free.

I was still so shaken to find her alive, my brain refused to function.

‘Clay!’ Her voice sharpened. Her hands moved to my shoulders. She pushed me upright so we looked at each other. ‘What has happened?’

Why was it her face seemed to me to be chiselled out of marble? A trick of the flickering light?

‘Give me the gun,’ I said.

‘Gun? What do you mean?’

I got unsteadily to my feet.

‘Don’t fool with me, Val! Give me the gun!’

‘Gun? Clay! Pull yourself together. You told me you had the gun!’ Her voice turned shrill.

‘It’s gone! For God’s sake, Val, don’t torture me like this! You took it, didn’t you?’

‘I?’ She leaned forward, her fists clenched, her face the colour of old parchment, her eyes wild and wide. ‘No! What are you saying? Isn’t he dead?’

‘No, I was going to kill him.’ I turned away from her. I couldn’t face her wild, despairing eyes. ‘I had it all planned. It was to look like suicide. It seemed so simple. The motive was there. They always look for a motive. He was being threatened by prison or exile. He had lost all his money. All I had to do was walk in there and shoot him through the head.’ I moved further away from her. ‘The gun has gone!’

There was a long pause, then she said in a voice I could scarcely hear: ‘Who took it?’

‘I was sure it was you.’

‘No...’

I lifted my hands helplessly.

‘What can I do now? I have no weapon. I can’t fight with him. He is far too strong.’

She drew in a long, slow breath.

‘I told you...’ She stared down at her clenched fists. ‘There is nothing to do. He is protected. Devils always are protected. Please go. If he found you here...’

‘I promised to help you. I am going to help you!’

‘Please go away!’ She dropped her head in her hands and began to sob.

‘I will free you, Val!’ I said frantically. ‘By tomorrow you will be rid of him!’

‘Oh, go away! Spare me your empty promises. I told you! There is no solution. For God’s sake, go away!’

I left her and returned to my office. I put the torch on the desk and stood listening to the creaking boards guarding the windows as the wind slammed against them.

Your empty promises.

That really hurt.

I went around my desk and sat down. The flickering lamp cast ghostly shadows.

If Val hadn’t taken the gun, who had?

I tried to remember when last I had seen it. Then I recalled opening my desk drawer and looking at the gun early this morning. I hadn’t looked at it since. So either Vidal, Dyer or Gesetti could have found and taken it.

I discounted Vidal immediately. I was sure, had he found it, he would have demanded an explanation: why had I a gun in my desk? If Dyer had found it, I felt almost sure he would have left it alone. I couldn’t imagine Dyer touching any gun.

Then it must be Gesetti!

I reached for the whisky, poured a stiff shot and drank it. The spirit bolstered my jumping nerves. Snatching up my torch, I went to the door and peered up the dark corridor and then down the dark stairs. Moving swiftly, I descended the stairs and finally reached Gesetti’s room. I paused to listen. He was still snoring.

For a long moment I hesitated, then turning the door handle, I moved into the room, leaving the door ajar.

There was a smell of stale sweat, sickly hair oil and cigarette smoke hanging in the darkness.

My heart was slamming against my ribs and my mouth was dry. If it hadn’t been for the whisky I would have backed out of the room.

Gesetti gave a sudden violent snort that lifted the hairs on the back of my neck, then he stopped snoring.

Had he come awake?

I remained motionless, sweat trickling down my face. I heard him heave himself over, grunt and then the snoring began again.

Still I waited. Then satisfied he was truly asleep, I screened the bulb of my torch with my fingers and turned it on.

Keeping the shielded light away from the bed, I looked around the small room. Against the wall, close to me, was a chest of drawers. This would be the most likely place for him to have put the gun. Gently, I eased open the top drawer. It was full of fancy shirts, but no gun.

Closing the drawer, I pulled open the second drawer. As it came open it gave a sharp squeaking sound that chilled my blood. I snapped off the torch.

The snoring stopped.

Inch by inch I began to close the drawer.

Then out of the darkness, Gesetti growled, ‘Who the hell’s there?’

I had the drawer shut now and I stepped quickly away from the chest.

‘It’s all right.’ I turned on my torch. My voice was a strangled whisper.

Gesetti was sitting up in bed. His snake’s eyes glittered in the light of the torch. He looked as if he were about to spring at me.

‘What do you want?’ he snarled.

‘I... I just looked in to see how you were.’ I backed towards the door.

‘Yeah?’ His big fists rested on his knees. He was wearing his black open neck shirt. His heavy fat jowls were covered with stubble. ‘I’ll tell you. I’ve got a goddamn headache and I want to sleep. That’s how I feel! Now piss off and don’t come sneaking in here again or I’ll kick the hell out of you!’

I stepped into the dark corridor and closed the door. I was so shaken I felt I was about to throw up.

As I started down the corridor, I saw a light coming from the stairs and the sounds of someone descending. I paused, leaning against the wall.

Dyer came into view. He had on a dark blue dressing gown. The beam of his torch lit up the stairs.

I watched him. He went straight to Vidal’s door, tapped, opened it and paused in the doorway.

‘Didn’t I tell you I was not to be disturbed?’ I heard Vidal bark.

‘I’m sorry, sir, but Mrs. Vidal...’ Dyer’s voice trailed away.

‘Well, What about Mrs. Vidal?’

‘She seems upset, sir. I heard her crying and sort of moaning. I thought you should know.’

‘Very considerate of you Dyer’ Vidal’s voice was angrily sarcastic. ‘You are getting as bad as Burden with this concern about Mrs. Vidal.’

‘I think you should see her, sir. She really sounds very bad,’ Dyer said and moved back into the corridor.

‘Goddamn it!’ Vidal exploded. I heard him push his chair back violently and he came bouncing out into the corridor, slamming his office door shut behind him. ‘I’m getting good and tired of Mrs. Vidal’s damned hysterics!’

Pushing Dyer aside, he ran quickly up the stairs. Dyer hesitated, then followed him up.

I moved forward and paused at the foot of the stairs, seeing Dyer standing at the head of the stairs.

Then above the noise of the storm, I could just hear Vidal’s angry shouting voice, but not what he was saying.

Then I heard a wild scream that made Dyer move forward.

I darted up the stairs as Dyer threw the beam of his torch down the corridor.

Val came bursting out of her room, her eyes wild, her hands groping forward.

I heard Vidal bellow, ‘Come back here! Do you hear me? Come back here!’

She paused for only a brief moment to look back into the room, then she darted up the narrow stairs that led to the attics.

Vidal appeared in the doorway. His face was livid with ugly rage.

‘Valerie! Come back!’

Then a great rush of wind came down the stairs, sending him staggering. I shoved Dyer aside and ran down the corridor. The violence of the wind caught me and threw me against the wall.

‘The goddamn lunatic!’ Vidal bawled. ‘She’s gone on the roof!’

He began to fight his way up the stairs. Clinging to the banister rail, hammered by the wind, I followed him to a broad landing.

Facing us was a doorway through which poured the wind and the rain. The door was slammed back against the wall.

‘She’s as good as dead!’ Vidal bawled. ‘No one could live out there!’

He struggled to the open doorway. Gripping the sides of the doorway, he peered out into the darkness while the wind and the rain lashed him. A vivid, blinding streak of lightning lit up the sky. The crash of thunder was deafening.

I tried to join him, but the wind slammed me to my knees. Vidal held on, his great strength defeating the pull of the wind.

Then I saw Dyer.

He came scrambling up the stairs on hands and knees, his eyes bolting out of his head, his mouth half open. He passed me and then he drove forward in a flying tackle, his hands slamming against Vidal’s broad back.

Caught off balance, Vidal pitched forward into the wind and the rain.

I had one brief horrible glimpse of him as the wind swept him from sight, then the torch I was holding slipped out of my fingers and began to roll down the stairs.

Darkness closed in as I heard Dyer, his breath sobbing through his clenched teeth, drag the door shut and slam home the bolt.

Val and Vidal were out there on the exposed roof, swept by the ferocious, deadly wind!

Had Dyer gone out of his mind?

He had bolted them out to certain death!

The sudden beam of Dyer’s torch half blinded me. I could see he had set his back against the door. His face was as white as tallow and his lips kept twitching.

‘Dyer! She’s out there!’ I shouted at him. ‘Get away from the door! She’ll be killed! I’m going after her!’

‘Clay!’

The sound of her voice turned me to stone. Slowly, I moved my eyes, my body rigid with shock.

Val was standing in the doorway of a small room to my right.

‘It’s all right Clay.’ A ghastly little smile hovered around her lips. ‘It was the only way. You couldn’t do it, so we did it.’

I stared from her to Dyer who was wiping his sweating face with his sleeve, then back to her.

‘At last, I’m free Clay,’ Val went on, her voice trembling. ‘He’s gone forever.’

I couldn’t grasp what she was saying. I felt so bad I thought I was going to pass out and I grabbed hold of the top of the banister rail to steady myself.

‘You and Dyer? What are you saying?’ My voice was a croak.

‘You failed to help me, Clay, so Vernon has freed me.’

Bitter jealousy and anger swept over me. I faced Dyer. ‘What is she to you to have done such a thing? You’ve murdered him!’

‘Shut up!’ His voice was a thin quaver. ‘It’s done!’

Then above the sound of the hurricane there came a violent hammering of fists on the door.

Dyer jumped away as if the door had turned red hot, his face a mask of fear. He looked with horror at Val who seemed to shrink, her face that of an old, terrified woman.

‘Burden!’

Vidal’s voice came through the door panels.

‘He’s alive!’ I started forward but Dyer moved between me and the door.

‘You want him dead, don’t you?’ he quavered. ‘Leave him! He’ll be swept away. You want Val to be free, don’t you?’

I hesitated.

‘Open the door Burden!’ Vidal’s voice sounded fainter. ‘Burden!’

‘He’s calling to me.’ I said stupidly.

‘Let him!’ Dyer’s voice turned vicious. ‘Go away! Leave this to me. He can’t hold out much longer.’

‘No’

I saw my father, blood on his hands, as he skinned a rabbit. All the old revulsion of violent death swept over me. I realised then that I would never have been able to shoot Vidal. And now, I knew I couldn’t stand by and let him die out there. I had to save him! I just could not stand by, listening to him calling to me for help and do nothing.

The hammering on the door abruptly ceased.

‘He’s gone!’ Dyer exclaimed.

Val hid her face in her hands.

I moved towards the door. Dyer grabbed hold of my arm.

‘Get back!’

I shoved him aside and took hold of the bolt. I received a stunning blow on the side of my head that made me stagger. As I spun around Dyer hit me again, his fist thudding into my right eye, half blinding me.

Mad rage seized hold of me. All my pent up frustration seemed to burst inside me. My fingers closed around Dyer’s throat. He dropped the torch as he tried to drag my fingers away, but I was stronger than he.

He went down on his knees. I increased my grip. Vaguely I heard Val screaming.

‘Don’t! Don’t! Don’t!’

Her screaming voice brought me to my senses. With a shudder, I threw Dyer from me, pushed Val aside, grabbed hold of the bolt and wrestled it back.

The wind pounced as the door slammed open. I went down on hands and knees, peering into the wet darkness.

‘Vidal!’

A vivid streak of lightning lit up the roof. I saw him. He was lying flat, his fingers trying to get a grip on the wet roof, the wind moving him closer and closer to the sloping edge. Once there — nothing could stop him from being swept away.

I heard the door slam and the bolt go home. Dyer had locked me out! I didn’t care. I had this compulsive urge to save Vidal and I was going to save him! Laying flat, buffeted by the wind, I began to edge towards him.

‘Vidal!’ I yelled at him.

He looked around. The roof was lit by more lightning and he saw me.

The wind suddenly flung me towards him. Grabbing hold of a low wall that ran along the side of the roof, I managed to anchor myself. I saw the wind shift Vidal towards the sloping edge. I was within ten feet of him. I relaxed my grip slightly so I was blown closer to him. Still holding on to the wall, I stretched out my leg and his fingers closed around my ankle.

The wind tore at us. I thought my grip must be broken. My arm felt as if it was being pulled out of my shoulder socket. Vidal shifted his grip to my knee and heaved himself on top of me. As my grip was broken, he reached above me and grabbed the wall. I began to slide away and I seized hold of his jacket.

Half drowned, hammered by the wind, we lay panting. Then with incredible strength, Vidal began to claw his way back along the wall, dragging me with him. He kept moving back until we reached the shelter of a chimney stack. The wind continued to roar around us but no longer dragged at us.

Vidal leaned forward, his mouth close to my ear.

‘There’s another exit on the far side of the roof,’ he shouted. ‘If the door’s locked, we’re cooked.’

His face lit by a flash of lightning showed no fear. He looked confident and calm which was a lot more than I felt.

‘Stay here,’ he went on. ‘I’ll try to get across.’

‘You won’t make it!’ I shouted.

He didn’t stop to argue. Keeping flat, he began to edge out of the shelter of the stack. Instantly, the wind pounced on him and if I hadn’t caught hold of his arm, he would have been swept away, across the roof and over the edge.

I dragged him back to shelter.

‘So we stay here,’ he said.

We stayed there, the warm rain beating down on us, the wind howling around us, but at least we were in no immediate danger.

The minutes dragged by: the most uncomfortable minutes I had ever lived through. There was no let up from the violence of the wind and the rain. We had to keep our heads down to breathe. The almost continuous crash of thunder deafened me. My mind was bludgeoned. I didn’t even wonder how long we could remain as we were.

Then suddenly Vidal gripped my arm.

‘Look!’

I followed his pointing finger. Across the far side of the roof appeared the light of a powerful torch. The beam swept the roof, passed near us, continued on, came back and found us. For several seconds the beam held us, then abruptly went out.

‘Gesetti!’ Vidal shouted.

I felt a surge of hope.

Again the light appeared, then I saw Gesetti’s squat figure, lit by the lightning, as he plunged towards us. The wind threw him flat and swept him across the roof. For a moment I thought he was going over the edge but another flash of lightning showed me he had a rope around his middle and the rope was secured somewhere inside the doorway he had just left.

He fought his way nearer. Again the wind swept him back and again, but for the rope, he would have gone over.

‘Hang on to me,’ Vidal shouted.

As I caught hold of his jacket, he moved out of the shelter. We were swept towards Gesetti who grabbed hold of Vidal’s wrist.

Then began the long and desperate struggle to get to the open doorway. Gesetti hauled on the rope, dragging himself, Vidal and myself inch by inch across the wet roof until we finally rolled through the doorway, out of the rain and the wind. As I leaned against the wall, my knees buckling, Vidal and Gesetti got the door shut.

‘You took long enough,’ Vidal said harshly. ‘What the hell were you doing?’

Gesetti snorted.

‘Getting the goddamn rope. If you think that was easy, have another think.’

‘Where are they?’

‘Trying to bust into your office.’

‘That’ll take them quite a time. Where do they think you are?’

Gesetti gave a snorting laugh.

‘Dyer put on a big act and I fell for it. He got me out of bed, yelling you were out in the garden and in trouble so I go out in the wind and the sonofabitch locks me out. I saw you on the roof so I get the rope, kick in the back door and here I am.’

‘They’ll be busy for an hour or so. We’ll take a shower and a change of clothes,’ Vidal said. ‘Here, Gesetti, find Burden something to wear. I’ll be in Harris’s room.’ Taking a small flashlight from his pocket he went down the corridor and into a room at the far end.

Gesetti led me to another room. He lit a hurricane lamp, then regarded me with his sneering snake’s eyes.

‘Go ahead, buster,’ he said. ‘Help yourself,’ and he left me.

Unsteadily I went into the small bathroom, stripped off, took a shower and then returned to the room. Going to a closet I found a shirt and a pair of slacks that fitted me.

I moved like an automaton, my mind completely blank. I felt I was in the grip of a nightmare and what made this nightmare so terrifying was the certain knowledge that when I woke from it, reality would be even more terrible.

The door jerked open and Vidal came in, wearing a dressing gown that trailed around his ankles.

‘Come along Burden, you need a drink.’ He led me down the corridor and into the butler’s sitting room.

Gesetti, wearing only a towel around his thick middle, was pouring whisky into glasses.

‘Give Burden a drink,’ Vidal said, sitting down, ‘then get out.’

‘Yes, boss.’

Gesetti gave me a tumbler half-full of whisky and crushed ice, then left the room.

‘Sit down Burden,’ Vidal said. ‘Smoke if you want to. There are cigarettes in that box.’

I drank some of the whisky, then putting the glass on a nearby table, I sat down.

‘You puzzle me,’ Vidal said, staring at me. ‘You saved my life.’ He crossed one stumpy leg over the other. ‘What made you do it? It interests me. Only an hour ago you were set to shoot me.’

I stiffened, staring at him.

‘Tell me... why did you save my life Burden?’ he went on.

How could he have known that I was going to shoot him? Seeing my bewildered expression, he gave his short, barking laugh.

‘There is nothing supernatural about me Burden, in spite of what my wife has led you to believe and there is nothing I don’t know about your association with her. When I discovered how dangerous she is, I had every room in this house bugged. I had your room and hers at the San Salvador hotel bugged. I have been listening for the past weeks to her plan to get rid of me with considerable interest, not to say admiration for her ingenuity.’

‘What are you saying? Val? Dangerous?’ I leaned forward to glare at him. ‘It is you who are dangerous! Since you seem to know so much, you may as well know I have loved her for years and I still love her!’

‘I know that. I’m sorry for you Burden. Even now you can’t see that she has been using you as a cat’s paw — as a sucker.’

Don’t listen to him, I told myself. Val has warned you. This man is evil! He is trying to turn you against her.

‘My poor Burden,’ he went on after a long pause, ‘you are in for a shock. Valerie is incapable of loving anyone. She just uses people for gain: as she used you, as she has used Dyer and as she tried unsuccessfully to use me.’

‘I will believe nothing you say against her!’ I shouted at him. ‘She warned me! You are evil, vicious and ruthless. You have molested her under hypnotic influence! Nothing could be more despicable than that!’

‘And yet you saved my life?’ He lifted his eyebrows. ‘Why did you do that Burden?’

‘Why did I? I have a conscience! I would rather be dead than to have your disgusting life on my conscience!’

‘Very praiseworthy and yet you were tempted. She nearly convinced you, didn’t she?’

‘I won’t discuss her with you!’

‘Do you really believe that nonsense about me hypnotising her?’ he asked. ‘I admit, listening to the tapes, she is very persuasive but I assure you I have no talent for hypnotism.’

‘I would rather believe her than you!’

There was no letup in the storm while we were talking. Thunder crashed and the wind howled and the rain hammered against the shuttered windows.

He got to his feet.

‘Possibly they have broken into my office by now. Come along Burden, see for yourself.’

He went to the door and opened it.

I sat there, hesitating. I recalled the scene of the landing when Dyer had shoved Vidal out on to the roof. I saw again Val’s ghastly little smile and heard again what she had said: It was the only way. You couldn’t do it, so we did it.

‘Are you frightened of testing her Burden? Scared she isn’t the angel you think she is?’ The sneer in his voice flicked me like a whip.

I got to my feet and followed him down the corridor to a door near the head of the stairs. He opened it and I found myself facing my office door.

‘Wait a moment,’ he said and went quickly into his room, leaving me alone in the dark with the sound of the hurricane crashing around the house.

He was away less than three minutes. His torch showed me he had pulled on a sweat shirt and slacks.

‘Now let us go down,’ he said.

As we reached the foot of the stairs, I saw his office door stood ajar and a light showed. I was also aware that Gesetti was standing just outside the door. Seeing us, he came towards us.

‘He’s trying to open the safe, boss,’ he said.

‘That should prove difficult,’ Vidal said. He was speaking in his normal voice. The sound of the hurricane turned it into a whisper. He caught hold of my arm and urged me to the half open door. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘Stay right where you are, but listen.’

I stood there, unable to see into the room, hearing nothing but the screeching wind and the rain.

Then above the storm I heard Val say, ‘What the hell do you think you are doing? You said you could open it! Damn you! Open it!’

I scarcely recognised her voice which sounded harsh, strident and vicious.

‘He’s changed the combination!’ Dyer shouted, his voice frantic. ‘It won’t open!’

‘You’d better open it, you stupid bastard!’ Val screamed. ‘Do you think I’ve gone through all this for nothing?’

Every word she said made me cringe. I felt Vidal’s hand on my arm.

‘Let’s go in Burden,’ he said. ‘Let’s surprise them.’

Before I could resist, he had shoved me through the doorway and he and I paused just inside the room.

Above the noise of the storm, I heard Val’s scream.

Dyer was at the big wall safe. The light of three hurricane lamps played on him. Val was at his side, her eyes wide, her face like grey stone.

‘No luck?’ Vidal said as he moved into the room. ‘Yes, I changed the combination. I thought it safer.’ He gave his short barking laugh. ‘Here’s poor Burden. He still imagines you are an angel, Valerie.’

I was staring at Val. The bitter fury and fear in her eyes made her a stranger

Then Gesetti came in.

The sight of him brought a faint scream from Val. Dyer who had been standing as if paralysed went limp and his face turned a greenish white.

Vidal walked over to his desk and sat down.

‘Let us put Burden in the picture. As he saved my life, I feel that is the least we can do.’ He waved to a chair near him. ‘Sit down Burden. Sit down you other two.’

There was a long pause, then Val sat down. Dyer looked fearfully at Gesetti and he too sat down, away from Val. I sat in the chair Vidal had indicated.

‘Right,’ Vidal said, looking directly at me. ‘I will explain to you why these two nearly persuaded you to commit murder. In that safe that Dyer was trying to open are bearer bonds to the value of eight million dollars, the result of a deal I negotiated in Libya. The money, less my commission, belongs to the Government of El Salvador. Dyer assisted in the deal: he did the paperwork. He knew the bonds were in the safe. I discovered several weeks ago that my wife was having an affair with him. I was not surprised. I have ceased to trust her for some time, but she is useful as a hostess and her infidelities — there have been others — don’t worry me. However, it did worry me that my personal aide was being disloyal. I took the precaution to have the house bugged It was a good move as I discovered they were planning to murder me. All their plotting is on tape. Dyer told Valerie about the bonds and assured her he could open the safe. For some time Valerie has been looking for an opportunity to get rid of me. As my widow she would have been reasonably wealthy, but when she learned she could pick up eight million dollars as well as getting rid of me the temptation was too great to resist. There is an interesting tape of her trying to persuade Dyer to kill me, but Dyer lacked the guts. He wanted her, he wasted the money, but he balked at murder. Valerie, on this tape, even discussed the possibilities of murdering me herself, but she flinched from a police investigation. Then you, poor Burden, arrived in Paradise City. When she insisted you should be her guide to El Salvador, I became curious but not for long. There is another interesting tape which you can hear if you wish which records her and Dyer planning to make you their cat’s paw. I don’t recall her exact words but she intimated that you were gullible, that she would make love to you and revive your old passion for her, then over a short period she would lead you to believe that she was totally in my power and the only way she could get free was either to die herself or for me to die. Quite absurd Burden. I did warn you. If you could believe that, you would believe anything. I arranged to have your room and hers bugged at the Intercontinental hotel. The tapes of her conversations with you were really astonishing, not to say diverting! Trilby and Svengali! My poor Burden, how stupid can you be? And all this talk about devils and me possessing her. Dyer, of course, was on hand to support her story. He even arranged that this old black quack should also support the story. Did you really imagine that old rogue was genuine? I have had him investigated. He would sell his mother for a quarter. Anyway, Valerie and Dyer succeeded in insinuating into your very gullible mind that the only way she could be free of my evil influence was for, you to kill me. Having got that idea firmly fixed in your mind, they then gave you the perfect motive for an apparent suicide so you could feel safe after you had shot me.’ He gave his short barking laugh. ‘Her story that I had lost my money, that I am in trouble with the tax authorities and that I am about to flee to Lima is just hog’s wash. However, you seemed so impressed with her story I took the precaution of removing your gun. Her talent for acting when she faked her trances which not only fooled you but the doctors, comes from being an actress in a third rate touring company some years before she became an efficient secretary. I am not asking you to believe any of this Burden. You can hear the tapes. They will convince you.’ He looked across at Val who was motionless, staring down at her hands. ‘In spite of being on my guard Burden, she very nearly outwitted me. I admit I underestimated her. I really did believe she had gone on the roof. I also underestimated Dyer. I didn’t believe he had the guts to do what he did. Although they had no hope of laying their hands on the bonds, they did nearly succeed in murdering me.’ He got to his feet. ‘I think that will be enough for tonight. Tomorrow, you can listen to the tapes. It will be of interest and will help pass the time while you sit out this hurricane. We will have to remain here for another two or three days: a tiresome necessity. I suggest you all keep to your rooms. Gesetti won’t let you starve. None of you need be anxious. I will arrange a divorce. Dyer will look for other employment. As for you Burden, I could find a place for you in my organisation, but we can discuss that possibility tomorrow.’ He crossed to the door. ‘Good night,’ and followed by Gesetti, he left the room.

I looked at Val who was still staring down at her hands, then I looked at Dyer. His eyes shifted from mine and muttering something, he got up and walked stiffly out of the room.

I sat still. The noise of the hurricane still continued to hammer against the house.

‘Val!’

She didn’t look up.

‘Tell me he was lying, Val, and I will believe you,’ I said, my hands gripping the arms of my chair as I stared at her in sick despair.

Still she didn’t move nor look at me.

‘Val! Please! He must be lying! You couldn’t do such a thing to me! I’ve loved you every minute of the six years we have been parted. I love you still! Tell me he is lying!’ Still she said nothing. ‘For God’s sake, Val!’

Suddenly she shook her head. In a low, hard voice, she said, ‘He wasn’t lying.’

Well she had said it. I drew in a long, shuddering breath.

‘Val, darling, please listen to me. He is going to divorce you. At last you will be free of him. We can go away together. We can’t get married because of Rhoda, but we can find work together. Darling, I don’t care what you did. I don’t care about Dyer. I love you! We can make a new life together.’

She looked up then, the bitter contempt in her eyes shrivelled me.

‘A new life with you?’ She started to her feet. ‘With you, you weak, gutless jerk! I’ve never loved you! You have always been a stupid joke to me.’ She was screaming at me now, her face contorted with spite and rage. ‘Who wants your gutless love? I hope to God I never see you again!’

She left me, my head in my hands with the nightmare that had now become reality.

Thunder shook the house while the wind screamed against the boarded up windows.

I stared down at the rich carpet, hearing again those cruel words she had flung at me before leaving the room. I have never loved you! How it hurt to realise after so many years that I had been idolising a woman who only existed in my besotted imagination! I sat there, hearing the hurricane, feeling my life had come to an end.

‘Hey, buster! Wake up!’

Gesetti’s gravel voice made me lift my head. He was standing by me, his mouth twisted into a sneering grin.

I reared back.

‘Get away from me!’

‘Come on, buster, up on your feet. Beddy-byes now. I want you where I know where to find you. Move!’

The threat in his voice forced me to my feet. I couldn’t bear the thought of him touching me, but he did touch me. His fingers closed around my arm: fingers like a steel claw and he led me from the room, out into the hall and up the stairs and I went without resistance. When we reached the upper landing, I saw Vidal standing in the doorway of his room. He held a torch in his hand, the beam directed on the floor. The reflection of the light showed me his set, hard face.

I paused to stare at him.

A violent clap of thunder rocked the house as he stepped back into his room and closed the door. There had been something in his small, glittering eyes — something sinister that chilled me.

‘Move buster,’ Gesetti said and nudged me on.

I had a sudden feeling of danger. I was now facing the door into my room and Gesetti pushed the door open. A presentiment that something terrible was about to happen brought me. to a standstill. I spun around.

I felt a compulsive urge to rush down the stairs, fling open the front door and face the violent night — anything than stay a moment longer in this house.

Steel fingers gripped my arm and Gesetti’s shoulder, as solid as a block of concrete, slammed against my chest. I went reeling back into the darkness of my room and the door slammed shut.

I groped around until I found the foot of the bed. The darkness was stifling. The noise of the hurricane hammered at me as I sank on the bed.

I began to shiver. Something was going to happen: something I was powerless to stop. I sat there, my fingers digging into the mattress, my heart slamming against my ribs while the hurricane banged and tore at the house.

Then I heard a faint scream. It was immediately blotted out by the roar of the hurricane, but I was sure it had been a scream.

I blundered to my feet and groped my way to the door. My sweating hand slid up and down the panel until I found the door handle. I turned the handle but the door remained immovable. I was locked in!

Again I heard the scream. This time there was no mistaking it. Val was screaming!

I threw myself against the door. I might just as well have thrown myself against a brick wall. I rattled the handle. I began to hammer on the panels.

The sound of my hammering fists was swept away by the noise of the hurricane.

Then the door shook as a tremendous blast of wind screamed down the corridor and I knew the door leading on to the roof had been opened.

‘Val!’

I wrenched and tore at the door. It was immovable. Then the wind was cut off as the door leading to the roof was shut.

There was a long pause while I leaned against my door, listening. All I could hear was the violence of the hurricane raging outside. I felt as if some living thing inside me had died. It was a feeling that left me weak and sick.

I groped my way across the darkness to the bed and sank on to it. I knew instinctively that Val was dead. I knew Gesetti had forced her on to the roof to be swept away by the wind as Vidal could have been swept away but for me.

I could still hear her far away scream of terror echoing inside my head.

The door suddenly jerked open and Vidal, carrying a hurricane lamp, came in.

‘An unfortunate accident Burden,’ he said, setting the lamp down on a nearby table. ‘Valerie was deranged.’ His little eyes, glittering with triumph, dwelt on me. ‘You understand? The doctors know she was suffering from a nervous breakdown. The hurricane unsettled her. She lost control of herself and before I could stop her, she ran out on to the roof to be swept to her death.’ His eyes never left my face. ‘You understand?’

‘You murdered her,’ I said.

‘Don’t be stupid Burden. It was an accident. And Dyer...’ He gave his short barking laugh. ‘He turned out to be a hero. Before Gesetti or I could restrain him he went after her only to be swept away in his turn. You understand?’

‘You murdered both of them,’ I said.

‘No one attempts to take my life nor my money without paying for it.’ His voice was a sudden snarl. ‘You won’t be involved Burden. You were sleeping and heard nothing. I doubt if the police will even question you. If they do, you know what to tell them. I’m giving you this chance because you saved my life.’

Gesetti came to the door and stared menacingly at me.

The sight of him sent fear through me: fear that paralysed me.

‘It was an accident,’ I said huskily.

‘That’s right,’ Vidal nodded. ‘People like those two don’t deserve to live.’

He left me, and after staring at me for a long moment, Gesetti turned and followed him.

I sat there staring at the flickering light of the lamp. Life would be empty without my dreams of Val. I had no one now, then suddenly I thought of Rhoda. Even she, with her sluttishness, was better than nothing.

I sat there, listening to the violence of the hurricane, trying to assure myself that Rhoda was indeed better than nothing. The thought, stupid as it was, helped me to face the hours that stretched ahead.