1951 - In a Vain Shadow (13 page)

‘You mean that’s when we kill him?’

I looked into the stony green eyes.

‘That’s when we kill him.’

We sat facing each other in silence for perhaps half a minute. I was watching her, and she was watching me.

‘I see.’

‘Is that all you have to say?’

‘He’ll have the money on him so all we have to do is to take it. That’s it, isn’t it.’

‘Go on.’

She frowned.

‘What do you mean?’

I reached forward and put my hand on her knee. I was grinning. I couldn’t help it. She had as much brain for this kind of job as Netta, if you can call what Netta had a brain.

‘Well, pick holes in it as I picked holes in your idea.’

‘It sounds good to me, Frank.’

‘Think about it. If you don’t start picking holes in it, you can bet your sweet life Emmie will.’

She was floundering now.

‘Well, what do you do with the body?’

‘That’s better. Now you’re using your brain. Never mind about the body. I’ve got that tied up. Anything else?’

‘It sounds perfect if you really can hide the body, Frank.’

‘Does it? Think again. Have you forgotten Emmie’s crazy about him? They’ve worked together for ten years. They’re like partners. Doesn’t that mean anything?’

‘What are you getting at now?’

‘I said this had to be safe, didn’t I? Not safe for a week or a month, but safe for as long as you and I live. And how long do you think we’ll be safe if she doesn’t hear from him after he’s supposed to have gone? Do you think she’s going to let him walk out of her life like that? She’ll be convinced he’s going because he’ll tell her so, but if she doesn’t hear from him after a few days she’ll begin to wonder, and after a few more days she’ll get excited. In less than a month she’ll be sure something’s happened to him and she’ll go to the police. The trouble with her is she’s positive he can’t do without her. She wouldn’t believe he would walk out and leave her flat. She wouldn’t, would she?’

‘That’s right. She does think he can’t do without her, and I don’t think he can.’

‘But she would believe he’s left her flat if she found out he had gone off with a woman. That’s the only set-up that would convince her. If he ditched you and her for another woman, she’d believe it.’

‘What other woman?’

‘After she thinks he’s gone, you’re going to see her. You’re going to show her a letter you’ve found and a photographs. You’re going to call him every name you can think of for leaving you and her for another woman. And you’ve got to make it sound convincing. The letter and the photograph will help, but it’s up to you to swing it so she believes in them.’

‘What letter and photograph?’

I reached behind me.

‘Remember he wrote this to you? It hasn’t your name on it and it isn’t dated. It’s tailor-made for the job,” and I handed her his letter I had found in the box in her wardrobe drawer.

‘Go on, read it aloud, and see if it isn’t tailor-made.’

She read it aloud and it sounded wonderful.

Cherie,

I can see nothing but danger and trouble ahead of us. It is impossible to remain here much longer: a week at the outside. It is time for you to decide what you are going to do. At the moment I have enough money for both of us. Together we can drop out of sight and begin a new life. For the moment Paris is safe enough, but later it may be possible to go to America. I must know immediately. You can be sure of my love. In haste.

Henry.

From the look in her eyes she thought it sounded wonderful too.

‘I’d forgotten this. He wrote it...’

‘Never mind why or when he wrote it. Forget you ever had it. That’s the letter you found.’ I screwed it up in my fist, crushing and crumpling it. ‘You found it in the wastepaper basket. Probably he decided not to write to her, but ‘phone her instead. But that’s the letter you’ve got to make Emmie believe.’

I tossed Netta’s photo into her lap: the photo of her in her birthday suit with the crummy message in white ink: Waiting for you always, my darling. All my love, Netta. ‘And that’s the girl he’s gone off with. That’s believable, isn’t it? A man would go off with a lush piece like her, wouldn’t he? Even Emmie would believe that.’

She stared at the photograph, blood rising to her face.

‘Who’s this?’

I grinned at her.

‘His girlfriend. And if you can look the way you’re looking now when you show her to Emmie, we’re in.’

She jumped to her feet, her eyes glittering.

‘Someone you know, I suppose?’

‘That’s right.’

‘And she’s still waiting, is she?’

I took the photograph out of her hand.

‘It’ll be a long, long wait.’

‘Are you in love with her?’

‘What’s the matter with you? What are you looking like that for?’

She grabbed me by the front of my shirt.

‘If I thought you were cheating...’

I broke her hold and gave her a shove that stretched her flat on the settee. She lay there glaring at me, as furious and as vicious as a wild cat.

‘Do I snivel about your boyfriends? Do I work myself up over your he-man, Boris, who whined because you played around with other men? Do I?’ I was bellowing at her now. ‘I took you as I found you, and you’ll damn well take me as you find me!’

We glared at each other for seconds, then with a sullen, angry shrug she reached for a cigarette.

‘Well, all right, as long as you don’t see her now.’

I adjusted my tie. She had nearly strangled me.

‘And cut out the rough stuff or you’ll get hurt. I don’t like women shoving me around. Now if you’ve got over your brainstorm, will you get your mind back to business?’

‘That’s one thing I won’t stand for, Frank. If you cheat on me...’

‘Oh, shut up! I’m not cheating on you. Forget it.’

‘Well, don’t.’

I took a turn round the room until she calmed down.

‘Is that photo coupled with the letter enough to convince her he’s bolted with a woman?’

She looked sullenly at me.

‘I think so.’

‘That’s not good enough. You’ve got to be sure. Can you convince her? If you can’t, we don’t go ahead. It wouldn’t be safe. She’s got to be convinced.’

She drew in a deep breath.

‘I’ll convince her.’

The rain had stopped, but the night was pitch dark and damp, and the ground squelched under our feet. I held her arm.

In my other hand I carried an electric torch.

We walked round the back of the house, along the path to the old well under the yew trees.

I handed her the torch.

‘Keep the light steady.’

I knelt and lifted of the zinc cover. A dank smell came up from the mouth of the well.

‘That’s where he is going. There’s over a hundred foot of water down there. With no one to look for him; no one thinking anything’s happened to him, there couldn’t be a better or safer place.’

She came closer and peered over my shoulder. The beam of the torch lit up the black, still water. Green slime clung to the old, brick walls. A frog swam into the darkness, flashing its legs, to get away from the light.

She leaned against me, shivering.

‘Let’s go in, Frank.’

‘That’s where he is going. I’ll wire stones to him. He’ll never come up.’

She turned away.

‘I’m going in.’

I grinned in the darkness.

I had her dangling on the hook. I knew it. I could feel it.

She believed every word I was saying.

chapter eleven

A
mong the tricks I learned when serving with the Commandos was to make an effective booby-trap, and it crossed my mind that such a booby trap could be used to sock the fear of death into Sarek.

Now I had convinced her I was going to murder him, I had to pretend to put the first move of the plan into operation, and the first move was to frighten him so badly he would want to run for his life.

So the following morning I decided to go to London and collect for my booby-trap a gadget I had lifted from the Army stores before getting my ticket. This gadget was used extensively during the war to hand out death by remote control, and I had snaffled it, as I had snaffled a lot of other bits of Army property, as a souvenir of the best years of my life.

I remembered this gadget was in a suitcase of junk I had left with Netta, and the thought of seeing Netta again excited me. An hour or two of her company would make a quiet change from Rita’s sultry violence.

I was sitting before the fire, thinking about Netta in the way men think about women, while I waited for Rita to finish making the bed, when the telephone bell rang. With my mind still on Netta I automatically picked up the receiver and said.

‘Hello.’

Except for the faint humming on the line I heard nothing for a second or so, then Emmie’s voice said ‘Is that Mitchell?’

All right, I admit it. The sound of that whining voice stopped my heart for a second. It congealed my blood too.

I was supposed to be miles away from Four Winds, and yet here I was at nine o’clock in the morning, having obviously spent the night in the house alone with Sarek’s wife, and answering the telephone with Emmie of all people on the line. I could see my whole plan blowing up in my face.

‘Hello? Is that you, Mitchell?’

My brain went scurrying around in my skull like a frightened mouse. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even move. I was in such a panic I could scarcely breathe.

‘Hello? Hello?’

Rita came flying into the room. One look at my white, sweating face told her what was happening.

‘Tell her it’s a wrong number, you fool!’ she hissed at me.

‘What number do you want?’

I didn’t recognize my voice; it sounded like the croak of a frog.

‘Topham 229. Is that you, Mitchell?’

‘Sorry; wrong number,’ and I hung up.

‘You fool! You stupid fool!’

‘All right, all right. Don’t shout at me!’

‘If she tells him...’

‘Oh, shut up! She couldn’t have recognized my voice.’

The bell rang again.

She pushed me away and picked up the receiver. I’ll say this for her: she was as steady and as cool as a block of ice.

‘Hello? Yes, Mrs. Sarek speaking. Oh, hello. Miss Pearl. Oh is he? I’d better meet him then. Yes, I will.’

We looked at each other while the whining voice droned on.

‘Who? Mitchell? Why, no. I haven’t seen him since Henry went away. No, I can’t tell you. Yes. Thanks for letting me know.’

She hung up.

‘You careless fool! You talk about making it safe, and the first chance you get of slipping up, you slip up. How could you be so stupid as to answer the phone? If she tells him, he’ll clear you out of here in seconds, and then what will we do?’

I was getting my nerve back now.

‘She won’t tell him. Now, shut up about it. Is he coming back?’

‘He’ll be on the nine forty-five plane. I’ve got to meet him.’

I went over to the sideboard and poured myself out a whisky. I was still feeling wobbly in the legs.

‘Tonight?’

‘Yes.’

I swallowed the whisky at a gulp.

‘What did she say about me?’

‘She wanted to know if I had seen you. She wants to let you know he’s coming back, but she doesn’t know where to find you.’

‘Think she smells a rat?’

‘How do I know? If this is the way you’re going to handle it...’

‘Shut up about it! It won’t happen again.’

‘It’d better not. I thought you had more nerve than that.’

‘My nerve’s all right. She caught me on the wrong foot.’

‘Do you think I’m blind? You looked like a frightened rabbit.’

‘Never mind how I looked. Now, let it alone. I’ve had enough of it, so shut up about it.’

She went to the window, stiff with rage, I was still sweating, but the whisky was beginning to hit me and the wobble went out of my legs.

‘I’m going up to London right away. I’ll look in and see Emmie. I’ll know if she’s smelt a rat, and I’ll handle her. Besides, I’ve got to be the one to drive him home.’

She turned.

‘What are you collecting?’

‘A little gadget that’ll scare the life out of him. The less you know about it the better.’

She watched me closely, her green eyes alert.

‘And where are you collecting it from?’

I put a dumb look on my face. I knew what she was thinking.

‘A bloke who’s keeping my old junk for me - why?’

‘It wouldn’t be Netta, would it?’

I shook my head.

‘No, it’s not Netta. Get her out of your mind the way I’ve got Boris out of mine. I haven’t seen her for years and I don’t want to see her again. Satisfied?’

We studied each other for a moment or so. If I’m not good at anything else I’m good at lying. I saw the suspicion leave her eyes. ‘I can’t believe he’s coming back.’

‘You will when you see him, and don’t forget, from now on I’m going to work on him. Don’t be surprised at anything that happens.’

‘So long as you make a good job of it, Frank.’

I climbed the four flights of stairs, keeping my hand off the banister rail. Before I reached the door I heard the typewriter rattling away like a machine-gun.

I put my head around the door and smiled at her.

‘Hello, Pearl of Great Price, how are you?’

She stopped typing and started as if someone had stuck a pin in her fat hide, her gooseberry eyes behind the thick lenses bulged.

‘I thought I’d better look in to see if there was any news of him.’

‘I’ve been trying to find you.’

I entered the office, closed the door and leaned my back against it.

‘Well, that’s nice. You don’t mean you’re beginning to care, surely?’

A faint red spread over fat, spotty face.

‘Did Mrs. Sarek tell you?’

‘Did she tell me - what?’

I watched the quick change of expression, and grinned.

‘You were there this morning, weren’t you?’

I was ready for her this time.

‘Where’s there?’

‘It was you who answered the telephone. I recognized your voice.’

‘Would you mind explaining what you are drivelling about?’