Just Another Sucker

I

The hall clock began to strike nine. The sharp pinging sound of the bell seemed to fill the room.

I got to my feet, staring down at the broken glass and the puddle of whisky on the floor.

‘I’ll fix it,’ I said and started for the door.

‘Harry…’

‘I’ll be right back.’

I had to have a breather. I knew I was chalk white. My mind was seething with panic. I strove desperately to think of a convincing lie, but I couldn’t think of one.

I picked up a swob in the kitchen and then started back down the passage to the lounge. I saw Nina fumbling at the front door, trying to open it. When we had come in I had shot the bolts. The top one was stiff and she was trying to draw it back.

‘Where are you going?’ I shouted to her, throwing aside the swob.

She looked over her shoulder at me. Her face was pinched and white and her eyes unnaturally large.

‘To the garage.’

She got the bolt back as I jumped forward and grabbed her.

‘You’re not going out there! Give me those keys!’

‘Let go of me!’

She wrenched free and darted away from me, putting her hands behind her back and leaning against the wall. Her breasts under her white shirt rose and fell with her violent breathing.

‘Give me those keys!’

‘Don’t come near me! What have you done?’

‘Give me those keys!’

‘No!’

I had to have them. I grabbed her, but she twisted away and ran into the lounge. I went after her, caught her wrist and spun her around with her back to me.

‘Harry! You’re hurting me!’

I wrenched open her fingers and got the keys. As we struggled, she slipped and fell on her knees.

I let go of her and stood away, breathing heavily. I felt like hell.

She remained on her knees, her face in her hands and she began to cry.

I dropped the keys into my pocket.

‘I’m sorry, Nina.’ I could scarcely get the words out. ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you. Please don’t cry.’

I wanted to pick her up but I was too ashamed even to touch her.

She remained on her knees for about two minutes while I stood there, watching her. Then slowly she got up, holding her wrist.

We faced each other.

‘You had better tell me the truth,’ she said. ‘What have you done?’

‘I haven’t done a thing,’ I said. ‘Forget it. I’m sorry I hurt you.’

‘Will you please give me my car keys? I want to open the trunk of the car.’

‘For God’s sake, Nina! Will you stop it! I told you to forget it. Don’t you understand? You’ve got to forget it.’

She held out her hand.

‘Give me my keys.’

‘You little fool!’ I said desperately. ‘Keep out of this! I’m not giving you the keys!’

She sat down abruptly, staring at me.

‘What’s in the trunk you’re so frightened I’ll see — so frightened those two soldiers would see? Harry!

Don’t tell me that — the girl is in the trunk?’

Sweat was glistening on my face now and I was shaking.

‘Listen to me,’ I said. ‘You’ve got to pack a bag and go to a hotel! I must be alone here tonight! Will you please, please do what I’m asking and don’t ask questions?’

‘Oh, Harry!’ She was staring at me now in horror. ‘Tell me it’s not true! I can’t believe it! Harry!

She’s not in there, is she?’

‘Stop asking questions!’ I slammed my clenched fists together. ‘Go and pack a bag! Get out of here!

Can’t you see I have enough on my mind without having to worry about you?’

‘Is she dead? She must be dead! Did you kill her?’

I went up to her, grabbed her by her arms and pulling her upright, I shook her.

‘Stop asking questions! You know nothing! Do you understand that? Nothing! Now get out and keep away until tomorrow.’

She pulled free and moved away from me, her hands to her face. Then suddenly she seemed to relax and she lowered her hands.

‘I’m not going,’ she said, her voice quiet and steady. ‘Stop shouting Harry, and sit down. We’re going to share this thing. Please tell me what has happened.’

‘Do you want me to hit you?’ I snarled at her. ‘Can’t you get it into your head you could go to prison for years if you know anything about this? Don’t you understand? I’m trying to save you. You’ve got to leave here and at once!’

She looked steadily at me, shaking her head.

‘The last time you were in trouble you kept me out of it and made me an outsider. You’re not doing that to me again. I’m going to help you in any way I can.’

‘I don’t want your help!’ I said violently. ‘Now get out!’

‘I’m not going, Harry.’

I started a swing, the flat of my hand aiming at her face, but I couldn’t hit her. My hand dropped to my side. I stared helplessly at her, feeling completely defeated.

‘Did you kill her, Harry?’

‘No.’

‘But she is in the trunk?’

‘Yes.’

‘Dead?’

‘Yes.’

Nina shuddered, and for a long moment the only sound in the bungalow was the steady ticking of the hall clock.

‘What are you going to do?’ she asked finally.

‘I’ll hire a car, and take her out to the Petrie silver mine.’

‘We haven’t the money to hire a car.’

I dropped wearily into a chair.

‘I have the ransom money.’

Nina got up and made two drinks. She gave me one and drank the other. Then she sat on the arm of my chair, her hand on mine.

‘Please tell me how it happened: right from the beginning.’

‘If the police catch up with me,’ I said, ‘and they find out you know about this, you’ll go to jail for ten years; maybe longer.’

‘Don’t let’s think about it.’ The touch of her fingers on my hand had a soothing effect. ‘Please start right from the beginning. I want to know what happened, and please tell me everything.’

So I told her. I held nothing back. I even told her that Odette and I had been lovers.

‘I couldn’t leave her in the cabin,’ I concluded. ‘I was going to hide her in the mine when the damn car broke down.’

Nina’s hand closed over mine and gripped it hard.

‘You poor darling. You must have had a dreadful time. I had a feeling something was wrong, but I never imagined it could be so terribly bad.’

Somehow, sharing this thing with her, made me feel better. I didn’t feel so scared. My mind, up to now frozen with panic, felt more able to cope with what lay ahead.

‘Well, now you know,’ I said. ‘I’ve no excuse to offer. I did it for the money. It was wrong, but that doesn’t help to know that now. If I had waited, this job would have come along, and we could have been happy. I didn’t wait and I’ve got myself into this mess. You must leave me, Nina. I mean it. I can handle it on my own. I don’t want you mixed up in it. If anything goes wrong and I’m caught, I couldn’t bear the thought of you getting caught too. That would be the last straw. Can’t you see that? You must keep out of it.’

She patted my hand, then slid off the arm of my chair and crossed to the window. She stood with her back to me for several seconds as she looked out into the dark street, then she turned.

‘We’re going to handle this thing together. Don’t let’s waste time arguing about it, Harry. When do you think it will be safe to move her?’

‘It’ll be less risky if I do it around two and three in the morning, but you’re not having anything to do with it…’

‘I’m helping you. Wouldn’t you help me if our positions were reversed. Wouldn’t I feel you had no real love for me if you let me handle such a thing alone?’

She was right, of course. I shrugged helplessly.

‘Yes. All right. Nina, I’m sorry. I was crazy to have done this. I won’t argue any more. I’ll be grateful for your help.’

She came to me and we held each other. We stood pressed to each other for some minutes, then pushing away from me, she said, ‘Is it safe to use that money for the car?’

‘It’s in small bills. Malroux hadn’t time to take the numbers. Yes, it’s safe to use it.’

‘Then you had better arrange about the car now, hadn’t you? You can leave it at the top of the road.

When you are ready to move her, you can bring it to the garage.’

‘Yes.’

I didn’t move. I sat there, staring down at the carpet. I would have to open the trunk of the car to get the briefcase. The thought of seeing Odette’s body made me quail.

‘You’d better have another drink,’ Nina said.

She was quick to realise what was going on in my mind.

‘No.’ I stood up. ‘I’m all right. Where’s the flashlight?’

She went to a drawer and took out a pocket torch.

‘I’ll come with you.’

‘No. This is something I must do on my own.’

I took the torch, then without looking at her, I went to the front door, opened it and stepped out into the darkness.

The street was very silent. Across the way the windows of a bungalow showed, lights. My next door neighbour’s house was in darkness. I walked down to the gate and looked up and down the street. There was no one to be seen. My heart was thumping, and there was a sour, sick taste in my mouth.

I walked to the garage doors. I had trouble in fitting the key into the lock. As I opened one of the doors, the faint, but unmistakable smell of death came to me, and I paused, fighting nausea and panic.

I closed the door and turned on my torch. It took me several seconds to screw up my nerve to approach the trunk. It took me nearly a minute to fit the key into the lock.

I stood there, sweat on my face, my breathing hard and fast, my heart pounding while I willed myself to lift the trunk lid.

I swung it up.

The shaking light I held in my hand lit up the cheap blue and white dress, the long, beautiful legs, and the small feet in ballet shoes resting against the spare tyre.

The briefcase lay by the body. I snatched it up and slammed down the lid of the trunk. Sour bile was rising in my mouth and I fought down the urgent need to vomit. My whole body was crawling with the horror of the situation. I controlled myself, forced myself to lock the trunk, then the garage doors and then I walked quickly back to the bungalow.

Nina was waiting. The strain was showing on her face. It seemed to me she was older, thinner and very tense.

I put the briefcase on the table.

‘I’ll have that drink now,’ I said huskily.

She had the drink ready. The whisky braced me. I took out my handkerchief and wiped my face.

‘Steady, darling,’ Nina said gently.

‘I’m all right.’

I lit a cigarette and drew smoke down into my lungs.

‘I’ll open it,’ Nina said and moved to the briefcase.

‘No! Don’t touch it! Your fingerprints mustn’t be found on it.’

I took up the case. There was a clip lock on it: it was easy to open. I pressed down the catch and flicked back the flap over. I turned the case upside down and emptied its contents on the table.

I expected a cascade of money. I expected to see dozens and dozens of packets of currency bills.

Instead about thirty newspapers spilled out onto the table: old newspapers, some of them soiled, but just newspapers.

There was no money — just old, soiled newspapers!

II

I heard Nina catch her breath sharply.

I was too stunned to move. I could only stare at the newspapers, scarcely believing what I saw. Then the realisation came with the force of a sledge hammer blow.

There was no money — I wouldn’t be able to hire a car!

‘We’re sunk,’ I said as I stared helplessly at Nina. ‘We really are sunk.’

Nina flicked through the newspapers as if hoping to find some of the money between the folds of the sheets, then she stared at me.

‘But what’s happened to it? Did someone steal it?’

‘No, the briefcase wasn’t out of my sight until I locked it in the trunk.’

‘But what’s happened to the money? Do you think Malroux never intended to pay?’

‘I’m sure he intended to pay. The money meant nothing to him. He would have known if he had tried a trick like that he would be risking his daughter’s life.’

Then I suddenly remembered the other briefcase: the replica Renick had asked me to get photographed.

‘There were two briefcases: exactly alike. One of them contained the ransom money, the other these newspapers. They must have been switched as Malroux was leaving.’

‘Who could have switched them?’

‘Rhea. Of course! It sticks out like a sore thumb. At the time it struck me as odd that she should have trusted me to collect all that money. I was fool enough to think she had no alternative, but of course she had. She prepared the other case, waited her opportunity and switched the cases. She never had any intention of trusting me nor Odette. That’s why she didn’t come to the cabin. She didn’t have to. She had the money before Malroux left the house. I risked my neck for a caseful of newspapers! I’ll bet she never even intended to pay me the fifty thousand she promised me. She’s played me for a sucker, and she’s got away with it!’

Nina said quietly, ‘What are we going to do now, Harry?’

That brought me up with a jolt.

‘What can we do? Without a car, we’re sunk!’

‘There are dozens of cars in this street and in Pacific Boulevard that are left out all night. We must take one of those.’

I stared at her.

‘You mean — steal it?’

‘We borrow it,’ Nina said firmly. ‘We bring it here, put her in it, then drive it round the corner and leave it. The car will be reported stolen, the police will find it and the girl.’ She gripped my hand. ‘I can’t bear the thought of leaving her in that mine, Harry. She must be found and found quickly.’

I hesitated, but I realised what she had said made sense.

‘It’s a risk, but you’re right. There’s no other way.’ I looked at my watch. The time was a little after eleven. ‘I’ll go out and see if I can spot a car that’s not locked.’

‘I’ll come with you.’

‘Okay.’

I put the newspapers away in the briefcase, and the case in a cupboard, then we left the bungalow.

Arm-in-arm, we strolled up the street like any couple for an airing before going to bed.

We reached Pacific Boulevard that ran parallel with our road. There were a number of cars standing at the kerb on either side of the street. We finally came on an old Mercury, and both of us paused.

‘This could do,’ I said.

Nina nodded. We looked up and down the street, then she opened her bag and took out a pair of gloves.

‘Let me do this,’ she said and backed up against the car. As she put on the gloves, she went on, ‘Put your arms around me, Harry. Make it look as if we’re courting. I’ll try the door.’

I took her in my arms.

If anyone was looking out of any of the many windows overlooking the street, they would have seen a man and a woman holding each other, the woman leaning against the car. It was a sight you could see in any street.

Nina said, ‘The door isn’t locked.’

I drew away from her and looked up at the house before which the car was standing. There were lights on in the upper rooms, but the lower rooms were in darkness.

Nina opened the car door and slid under the driving wheel, pulling the door to. I lit a cigarette while I kept a sharp look-out, up and down the street.

She was out again almost at once.

‘It’s all right,’ she said, taking my arm and moving away from the car. ‘The ignition isn’t locked.’

‘We can’t do a thing until after one o’clock,’ I said. ‘We’d better go back.’

‘Let’s walk. I don’t want to sit at home and wait.’

I could understand that, so we walked slowly down to the sea. That part of the beach was deserted.

We sat on the sea wall and looked across the bay at the distant lights of Palm City.

‘Harry,’ Nina said after a while, ‘are you sure the girl was murdered? She couldn’t have committed suicide?’

‘Not a chance. She was strangled. No, she was murdered all right.’

‘Who could have done it?’

‘I keep asking myself that. Unless it was some maniac who saw her going to the cabin and attacked her, then it’s my bet Rhea is responsible. She has the motive.’ I went on to tell Nina what Tim Cowley had told me about the hereditary laws of France.

‘If Odette had lived, she would have inherited half Malroux’s enormous fortune by right. Malroux is a dying man. It’s pretty convenient for Rhea that Odette should die like this, but I can’t believe she killed the girl herself. I’m willing to bet this alibi of hers — being ill and taking a sedative — will stand up. She’s too smart to be caught out in a false alibi. Sooner or later, Renick will get around to the fact Odette was to inherit half the fortune. If he suspects the kidnapping was faked, this motive will put him onto Rhea, and she’s smart enough to know it.’

Nina said, ‘This woman, Harry, must have a lover. Don’t tell me a woman like her is prepared to live with a sick old man. I’ve seen her photographs. I’m sure she has a lover.’

She was right, of course. I wondered why I hadn’t thought of the possibilities of a lover before.

‘Let me think a moment. You’ve given me an idea.’ I lit a cigarette, my mind busy. After a while, I said, ‘Let’s suppose there is a lover. Rhea tells him, when Malroux dies, half the fortune goes to Odette.

Suppose this guy thinks it would be better for the two of them to grab the lot. Neither of them are willing to take the risk of murdering Odette, so they look around for a fall guy and they pick on me. The kidnap plot is just a smoke screen. I fall for it. Odette falls for it too. Why she falls for it, defeats me, but she falls for it. Rhea and her boy friend are sitting pretty. If anything goes wrong, I’m the guy who’ll take the rap. The more I think about it, the more sure I am you’re right. There is a man behind all this — the lover — and he must be the one who killed Odette.’

For the next hour we talked, speculated and tried to plan, but we didn’t get anywhere. All the time, we both were thinking that the minutes were bringing us closer and closer to the time when we had to steal the car and move Odette’s body. It was a thought that froze both of us.

Somewhere in the distance, a clock chimed one. Nina looked at me.

‘We’d better make a start.’

Neither of us spoke on the way back to the bungalow. We walked side by side, holding hands. There was nothing to say, both of us realised the full horror to which we were walking.

The street in which we lived was deserted. By now the TV sets had been turned off. The windows of the neat bungalows were dark. We were alone in this little suburban world.

At the intersection of Pacific Avenue and Pacific Boulevard, we paused.

‘We’ll get the car,’ I said.

We walked down Pacific Boulevard until we came to the Mercury. Every house and bungalow was in darkness. Without hesitation, Nina slid into the driving seat and started the engine. I went around to the off-side door which she opened for me and I got in beside her, being careful not to touch any part of the car. She drove the car into our street and pulled up outside our bungalow. I got out to open the gates and then the garage doors. Nina backed the Mercury down the runway. The Mercury and the Packard were now bumper to bumper.

Nina got out of the car and joined me. We both looked at the trunk of the Packard.

This was the moment.

‘Go into the bungalow and wait for me,’ I said.

‘I’ll help you, Harry,’ she said, a quaver in her voice.

I put my arms around her and hugged her. I knew what it meant for her to make such an offer.

‘I’m handling this myself,’ I said. ‘You must leave me to it.’

‘I’ll stand by the gate, just in case…’

She walked to the gates and stood there, looking up and down the road.

I went to the garage and took up the tyre lever and forced open the trunk of the Mercury. I swung up the lid.

I then unlocked the trunk of the Packard and swung it open.

The distance clock struck the quarter of the hour.

I dragged Odette’s body from the Packard’s trunk into the trunk of the Mercury. Handling her was a gruesome experience: an experience I will take to my grave.

While Nina continued to watch, I went into the bungalow and got the briefcase. I put it beside the dead girl and then I closed the lid of the trunk.

‘Okay,’ I said to Nina. ‘Let’s go.’

We got in the car. We were close together. I could feel she was trembling. She drove the car to the corner of Pacific Boulevard and there we left it. Silently, we walked back to the bungalow. We met no one.

As I shut the front door, Nina gave a strangled sigh and slid to the floor in a faint.