Angel's Ransom (8 page)

Somebody released a long-held breath. There was no other sound but the faint purr of the idling motors.

Freddy looked thoughtfully at the two slips of paper for a long moment.

‘A hundred grand,’ he said at last. ‘That
’s
a nice round sum. Suppose I do write the
check
. Then what?’

‘Roche will go ashore with it and the letter you have written, take the train to Nice, and fly from there to
Geneva. I shall allow him a day for the journey, a day to
transact his business, and a day to return. During that time
the
Angel
will disappear from sight, as you have announced
that it would disappear. At the end of three days we shall
return here to rendezvous with Roche, pick up the money,
and leave the yacht. You will have lost a small proportion of
your fortune to us instead of to the roulette wheel, and
suffered no other harm — provided, of course, that you and
your guests behave yourselves.’

‘Very tricky.’ Freddy was wide awake now. ‘There
’s
a hole in it, though. How do you know your boy is going to
come back with the money? What
’s
to keep him from pulling out for South America as soon as he gets his hands on
it?’

‘You underestimate me,
Mr
Farr.’ Holtz gave his wolfish grin. ‘Your f
r
iend Krug - he has been investigated as
thoroughly as you have, believe me - is not a man to permit
a hundred thousand good
American dollars to travel with
out an escort, particularly since you have invited him to
keep an eye on it. It will arrive safely enough. Draw the
check
.’

‘I’m not as sure about it as you are. I’ve got to have a guarantee. If he double-crosses you, do you double-cross
me?’

‘You are in no position to make demands,
Mr
Farr.’ Holtz was no longer grinning. ‘I do not bargain. Draw the
check
.’

Freddy shook his head, laid down the pen he had been holding, and folded his hands on the desk in a gesture of
finality.

‘No dice,’ he said.

Only he, because Holtz stood to one side and behind him, failed to see the beginning of the blow the gang leader
struck. To the others it was an action as calculated and as
unemotional as the driving of a nail. The heavy pistol rose
and fell like a hammer on the unprotected hands clasped on
the desk-top. Freddy screamed, and screamed again.

Cesar was out of breath by the time he had run all the way back to
Sûreté
Publique
. The clear fact of his urgency
won him a quick audience with the Bureau
sous-chef
, a conscientious public servant with bags under his eyes who had
listened patiently to a thousand stories of fantastic happenings in the Principality, many of them true. His name was
Neyrolle. He chain-smoked
Gauloises
and made quick notes
on a pad of yellow paper while he heard Cesar out. The
trouble with Cesar
’s
account of the rape of the
Angel
was
that he told it, in all good faith, as he imagined it must have
happened, and his imagination was
colored
by the
detective
stories that Michaud had rightly accused him of
favoring
. Neyrolle
’s
note-taking grew more infrequent as Cesar
went into the details of the piracy. It finally stopped
altogether.

He said, ‘Where were you when these acts of violence occurred?’

‘Why - why, here at the Bureau, or on my way here with the rest of the crew. Because of the phony
permis
, as I have
explained.’

‘I understand about your visit to the Bureau. What I do not understand is how at the same time you could have been
an eyewitness to the forcible seizure of the yacht by the two
men whom you accuse of the crime.’

‘I wasn’t exactly an eyewitness. I
–’

‘Then how can you be so certain that the violence took place?’

‘It
had
to take place. The captain is no man to let his ship be grabbed without an argument.’

‘How do you know that the ship was in fact grabbed?’ Cesar had a dismayed feeling that time was running out,
for him and the
Angel
alike. He said pleadingly, ‘Your
honor
, there are certain to be eyewitnesses if you must have
eyewitnesses. I did not myself look for them. I came here
first so you could stop the getaway. The
Angel
is still only ten
minutes out of the port. Send a boat after her, put a squad
of flics aboard, seize these gangsters before they can do
harm. Eyewitnesses can come later.’

‘You have used the word “gangsters” several times, monsieur. I know the meaning of the word, even though
Monaco has so far fortunately escaped the fact. But assuming for the moment that you are correct in your analysis
of the characters of two men with whom you had only the
briefest of conversations, what would be the purpose of a
gangsterism
involving the
Angel
?
You understand? I am trying
hard to understand the reason for your certainty that a
gangsterism
has taken place, when all you know for a fact is
that the
Angel
has sailed unexpectedly.’

‘Loot! The yacht itself! An escape from vengeance!’ Cesar flung his arms wide in an appeal for more action and
fewer questions. ‘A ravishment, perhaps! There are two
women aboard, and one of them would tempt a monk. I do
not pretend to know the reasons for it, only that the
Angel
was grabbed! I came here as quickly as I could so you could
get busy!’

‘Quite rightly, too.’ Neyrolle drew a reluctant line through the notes he had made on his pad. ‘Unfortunately -
or perhaps I mean fortunately - you have given me nothing
on which to take action. M. Farr
’s
yacht seems to have left
port with little regard for its crew, I grant you. But M. Farr
is
notoriously disrespectful of conventions, and his failure to
settle accounts with his employees is not the kind of a
misdemeanor
for which I should be inclined to pursue the
Angel
with a boatload of police. Unless you can give me
some concrete evidence of the commission of a crime, I am
helpless.’

‘But the phony
permis
!
The trick to get us out of the way!’

‘It is something to be loo
ked into, certainly. Do not misu
nderstand what I am saying. You were right to come here, and I have every intention of investigating. My office is here
for that purpose.’

‘Investigating!’ The steward was almost in tears of
frustration
. ‘Every minute you waste investigating, the
Angel
gets farther out of reach!’

‘M. Farr publicly announced his intention of taking the yacht out of the Principality, for reasons adequate to him.
It is no crime.’

‘And the two gangsters? The rough stuff?’

Neyrolle said wearily, ‘What two gangsters? What rough stuff?’

‘There had to be rough stuff! I tell you
–’

‘Please do not.’ Neyrolle pushed a button. ‘I am a busy man. If there has been a crime committed, my staff will
learn of it and take proper steps, I assure you. You will help
most by dictating an account of what you have told me to
the clerk outside, and leaving an address where you can be
reached. Thank you for your cooperation.’

Minutes later Cesar walked moodily back towards what had been the
Angel
’s
mooring. His hands were in his pockets,
his shoulders hunched. Once he kicked at a loose pebble in
his path and said aloud, angrily, ‘There had to be rough
stuff!’

Neyrolle, at the same moment, was giving orders to one of his agents. ‘Go down to the port and see if you can find
anyone who noticed anything unusual about the departure
of a motor-cruiser from the south jetty within the last hour,’
he said. ‘The
Angel
. American. I don’t expect you to turn
anything up, but go on the assumption that you will.’

Neyrolle was a conscientious man, even though he lacked Cesar
’s
imagination.

Shock had dulled the initial agony of Freddy
’s
broken hand by the time Blake got him below. Roche went along
to stand guard in the doorway of Blake
’s
cabin while he did
what he could for Freddy with the contents of a first-aid kit.
The other prisoners had been hustled to their own cabins by
Jules and locked in.

Holtz
’s
cool orders to Blake had been, ‘Patch him up and bring him back. We’ll try again,’ but Blake knew that it was
not pity that allowed Freddy a respite from immediate
further violence. Holtz wanted to give the lesson time to
take effect. If so, it was not necessary. Freddy was
thoroughly terrified.

‘The guy is crazy, Sam!’ He moaned as Blake examined his injured hand. ‘A sane man couldn’t do that to another
human being! Who is he? Where did he come from? How
did he get aboard?’

Blake told him all there was to tell while he split a tongue depressor, padding the pieces with cotton to make splints.
The forefinger of Freddy
’s
left hand was broken. Freddy
cringed, sweated and swore as Blake splinted the fractured
bone. He did not think that it was set properly, but Freddy
could not stand the pain of manipulation. Blake could only
immobilize the finger and hope for the best.

‘God, that hurts!’ Freddy whimpered. ‘I ought to be in the hospital! You’ve got to get me out of this!’

‘I don’t know just how to go about it. I tried crashing the jetty, but they were too much for me. How does it feel now?’

‘It hurts, of course! Get me a drink! I need a drink!’

‘You’ll have to wait until
you go topside. There isn’t any
thing here.’

‘I’m sick!’ Freddy caught despairingly at Blake
’s
arm with his good hand. ‘I can’t go back up there! If I don’t sign
that
check
, he’ll - he’ll - God knows what he’ll do, Sam!
Can’t you get to the radiophone, or send up a rocket or
something?’

‘With a gun looking down my throat, no.’

Freddy
’s
eyes slid apprai
singly sideways toward the door
way. Blake said, ‘He doesn’t understand English. Talk in a normal voice, and don’t look at him.’

‘He wouldn’t be much for you to handle, Sam. You could get the gun away from him.’

‘I’m not going to try.’

‘I’ll give you a thousand dollars to jump him.’

Blake went about the business of fashioning an arm-sling, waiting until he was sure he could keep resentment out of
his voice before he answered.

‘The answer is no at any price. Even if I got his gun, there are two more aboard. These men are tough, Freddy.
They’re taking a big risk for a big reward. The little one -Holtz - wouldn’t hesitate for a minute to shoot anyone who
got in his way. And I’m not going to get myself shot to save
you the kind of money you could lose at roulette without
suffering from it.’

‘It isn’t the hundred thousand! Don’t you see, I can’t pay off without a guarantee! How do I know they’ll turn me
loose? If I give in once, what
’s
to keep them from doing it
again, as long as they can get anything out of me - and slit
my throat when they’re finished? I’ve got to have some
protection!’

‘Cut the
patati-patata
and get on with it,’ Roche said roughly. ‘We haven’t got all day.’

Blake said, ‘Holtz can’t hold you indefinitely. He can’t send a messenger to the United States the way he does to
Geneva, and he certainly hasn’t had a chance to investigate
your New York banker the way he
’s
investigated Krug. How
much more is there that he can squeeze out of you? What
will be left in your Swiss account if you write the
check
?’