Angel's Ransom (9 page)

‘A few thousand.’

‘Have you any other European accounts? Anything else he can get at?’

‘No.’

‘Then the hundred thousand is all he can hope for, and he probably knows it. You’d be a fool to hold out.’

‘It
’s
easy enough for you to say.’ Freddy was sullen. ‘It isn’t your money. Or your throat that will be cut.’

‘It isn’t my finger that
’s
broken, either. Use your head. If you don’t sign that
check
, he won’t cut your throat.
He’ll mash another finger, or crack a collarbone.’

Freddy
’s
already grey face lost another shade of
color
. He said violently, ‘Damn that girl! It
’s
all her fault!’

‘It
’s
not all her fault. She was tricked, as I was. She
’s
already come within an inch of getting herself shot, and
taken a crack in the face with a pistol butt, trying to bail us
out of this. All it takes from you is a signature on a
check
.
I’m not on your side until you pay off.’

‘That
’s
all,’ Roche said with finality. ‘Get out of there!’ He gestured with the pistol, stepping warily aside to let
them come into the passageway.

Except for Holtz, the salon was empty when they returned to it. The gang leader still waited where he had been when
they left, by the desk on which the pale-blue
check
and the
photostat
lay. Freddy went immediately to the sliding panel
that hid the bar.

It did not move when he pulled at it. Holtz said smoothly, ‘It
’s
locked,
Mr
Farr.’

‘I’ve got to have a drink.’

‘Jules has taken the keys. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until he returns.’

‘I can’t do anything without a drink.’ Freddy held up his uninjured hand to show that he spoke the truth. ‘I can’t
even hold my fingers steady.’

‘You have written
checks
before in the same condition, as we both know. It will lend authenticity to your
signature
.’ The gun in Holtz
’s
hand rose to impose its command.
‘We will take up where we were interrupted,
Mr
Farr. You
may have a drink afterwards.’

Freddy was sweating heavily when he took his seat at the desk. He picked up the pen, put it down, wiped his hand on
his dressing-gown, and picked up the pen again.

‘What happens if the ink blots, or the pen slips?’ he asked unhappily.

‘I have more
check
blanks. But I would advise you not to let the ink blot or the pen slip.’

Freddy wet his lips.

It was visibly painful for him to take the injured hand out of its sling, more so to hold the blank
check
steady with it
while he wrote. The splinted finger was an awkward
encumbrance
, but the pen moved surely enough until he came to
the line for signature. There he hesitated for seconds, put
down the pen to wipe sweat from his hand, looked at the
photostat
before him, and signed with extreme care.

Holtz was equally careful in comparing the signature with the
photostat
. Satisfied, he gave the
check
to Roche.

‘Take the captain with you and put the launch over the side,’ he said. ‘Jules will be along in a minute.’

‘My drink,’ Freddy reminded him.

‘It will have to wait on Jules.’ Holtz
’s
pistol-barrel
indicated
the companionway leading to the cabin below. ‘Go below.’

‘You promised me!’ Freddy protested piteously.

Holtz sneered at him.

‘Alcohol is a hard master,
Mr
Farr, You should be grateful that I am helping you resist it.
Go below
!'

Freddy stumbled miserably toward the companionway. Holtz followed him.

Jules came on deck while Blake, under Roche
’s
still watchful eye, was casting off the lashings of the cruiser
’s
power boat. Roche was too much afraid of lowering his
guard to be of any help, but Jules was quick, efficient and
either unaware or unconcerned that his help brought the
gun in his belt within Blake
’s
reach more than once. Blake
thought,
Do they know I won’t take the odds?
and was unaccountably angry to think that they might have judged him
so well. Afterwards he kept his mind stubbornly on the job
at hand until the launch was in the water.

It did not dawn on him until Jules and Roche were in the launch and casting off the falls that he was being left alone
above deck with Holtz. He had no chance for an appraisal
of the opportunities the
circumstances might offer before the
gang leader spoke to him from the safe vantage point of
the bridge wing, ten yards off and above where he stood by
the dangling davit falls.

‘
S
tay where you are until the launch returns, Captain.’ The barrel of the Walther glinted from its rest on the bridge
railing. ‘I needn’t tell you that at this distance you would
have as little chance in the water as you have on deck.’

‘No,’ Blake said. ‘You needn’t.’

Again he had the feeling that it had all been rehearsed. Under Holtz
’s
watchful eye, he was as effectively
neutralized
as his passengers, locked in their cabins below.

It might be that he was even more helpless. He had become aware of a muffled pounding underneath the deck
where he stood. It was more of a vibration than a sound, and
it did not override the putter of the idling diesels, but it was
not a normal ship
’s
noise. His mental picture of the cruiser
’s
layout helped him localize and identify it for what it was.
Somebody was kicking steadily at a steel door.

The after-starboard guest cabin was directly beneath him. He made the movement to lean his elbows on the rail casual
but deliberate, conscious of Holtz
’s
alert watch. In that
position the pounding came to him more clearly, and he
could catch brief snatches of conversation through an open
porthole.

Laura di Lucca
’s
voice said faintly, pleadingly, ‘
…
couldn’t stand it if he hurt you the w
ay he hurt Freddy!
Please,
caro
!
’

‘
…
porthole!’ Bruno
’s
deeper voice growled. ‘Two of them gone
…
got the chance!’

‘He’ll kill you! Oh, please, please,
caro
!
…
my sake!’

‘
…
not afraid of the
…
’

‘No,
caro
! No! Please!
…
’

‘
…
leave me alone! Stand out of the
…
’

The wake of the launch was a broad arrow pointing at the rocks at the tip of the little cape protecting Monte Carlo
beach. There were neither swimmers nor beach umbrella
s
where the launch was going, only tumbled stony dangers to
rip the hull of small craft in the hands of inexperienced
sailors. But a good boatman could land a passenger dry-shod on the rocks with the swell of one wave, ride seaward
out of danger on the next, and Jules put Roche ashore in
that way while Blake watched. As the tiny figure scrambled
up the rocks and the launch backed away toward safety, he
said loudly, ‘Holtz!’

The pounding below decks stopped immediately. Holtz said, ‘What is it?’

‘Why didn’t you shoot m
e when I tried to ram the break-
water?’ Blake kept his voice loud.

‘It wasn’t necessary. You were behaving according to pattern. I expected you to make an attempt to oppose me
before you saw how useless opposition was, and I was fully
prepared to handle you as I did.’ The gang leader laughed,
a short bark like that of a fox. ‘Besides, you are still useful.’

‘I’m glad of that.’

‘I did not mean to imply that you are essential.’ Holtz was enjoying himself. ‘If you are weighing the possibilities of
a venture before Jules returns, give it up. He is quite capable
of shipping the launch without your help - as I am of
depriving him of it.’

The casual tone of the threat did not detract from the reality of its promise. Blake could only hope that Bruno had
heard it, but there was no more pounding.

So there goes his chance to earn a thousand dollars, he thought.

It would still be four or five minutes before the launch came alongside. Bruno might very well have been able to
batter his way out of confinement in that time. He would
have died, in all probability, attacking Holtz, but it could
have been to some purpose. He might have given Blake his
own chance, freed the rest of them, saved Freddy
’s
money.
Freddy would have been grateful for the sacrifice, as he
would be unable to understand why Blake had stopped it.

He watched the launch approach. Not even aware of what his hands were doing, he got a bumper ready to fend
the boat
’s
bow from the
Angel
’s
hull when Jules brought
the launch alongside. Holtz, looking down from the bridge
wing, grinned at the unconscious action. Blake was
behaving
predictably, as Holtz
’s
pawns were supposed to behave.

Jules cut the launch
’s
motor, hooked the davit falls into place, and came swinging up to the cruiser
’s
deck hand over
hand. Holtz said calmly, ‘When you have the launch
aboard, lock the captain in his cabin and come up to the
pilot-house. If he gives you any trouble, kill him.’

The pistol barrel resting on the bridge rail glinted dully in the sunlight.

George Saunders did not spend a great deal of time in Monaco, and for that reason knew Neyrolle only casually.
They did not particularly like each other. Neyrolle thought
the reporter opiniona
ted and overbearing, George con
sidered the
sous-chef
cauti
ous, conservative and old-woman
ish. But George, who spoke good colloquial French, knew
the importance of a source of information at police head-quarters, and Neyrolle recognized the power of the Press.
They got along, after a fashion.

It was unusual for Neyrolle to telephone George
’s
hotel and ask him to stop by
Sûreté
Publique
. George, who had
slept most of the day after his night out with Freddy, went to
the appointment with some curiosity. He found the
sous-chef
frowning over a copy of Michaud
’s
complaint to the Com
mandant du Port about the abandonment of the
Angel
’s
crew. A transcript of Cesar
’s
dissimilar report of the same
happening lay on his desk.

‘One does not wonder that Justice is commonly portrayed with a blindfold,’ Neyrolle said. He handed George copies of
the two papers. ‘Read these, then tell me which one you, as
a journalist, would consider more nearly an approximation
of the truth. Not the truth in itself, but possibly leaning in
that direction.’

George took the statements, his interest sharpening as he read. When he had finished, he said, ‘The steward
’s
story is
nonsense, of course. He
’s
seen too many American movies. It
should be easy enough to check the engineer
’s
guess about
the writ of attachment. If one has been issued, it will be
on record. Freddy told me he was expecting it any day.’
‘I have already instituted inquiries.’ Neyrolle took back
the papers, put them on his desk, squared their corners, and
placed a paper-weight carefully on top. ‘I am more interested at the moment in asking questions you yourself can
answer.’