Just Another Sucker (18 page)

‘Thanks,’ I said, breathing again. ‘I was damned if I was going to let him bust my car.’

‘You were right. Okay, Mr. Barber.’

He saluted Nina and then went off down the path.

‘Well!’ Nina said. ‘I hated that little beast. I knew he was going to make trouble the moment I saw him.’

I closed the garage doors.

‘Better lock it,’ I said. ‘I don’t want him sneaking back here, and he could.’

She gave me the key and I locked the doors.

Together, we went into the bungalow.

‘What’s been happening, Harry? They think this girl’s dead. Everyone is talking about her. What’s been happening?’ Nina asked as we walked into the lounge.

‘I don’t know. Get me a drink, will you? I’ve been at this rat-race all day and I’m about petered out.’

I took off my jacket and tossed it into the settee, then I sank into a lounging chair and loosened my tie.

Nina mixed a whisky and soda.

‘What are we going to do about the car?’ she asked.

‘It’ll have to wait. We can’t afford a new gearbox.’

She carried the drink over.

‘A cigarette?’

‘Yes.’

She gave me a cigarette.

‘My lighter is in my pocket.’

She went over to my jacket and put her hand in one of the pockets. My mind couldn’t have been working. I was so used to having her wait on me.

‘Harry!’

The tone of her voice brought me alert.

She was holding my car keys and her car keys in her hand and she was staring at them.

I felt my mouth turn dry.

She looked at me.

‘Harry!’

There was a long pause while we stared at each other, then the glass of whisky I was holding slipped out of my hand and smashed to pieces on the parquet floor.

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!’