Just Another Sucker (23 page)

Renick was staring at me.

‘Well, then I guess I can’t help you, Lieutenant,’ Holden said.

‘What makes you think Mr. Barber was here on Saturday night?’ Renick asked in a deceptively mild voice.

‘I just imagined he was. He…’

I cut in.

‘I had rented a cabin here, John. I was planning a book. I found I couldn’t work at home.’

‘Is – that – right?’ The unbelief in his voice was painful to hear. ‘You didn’t tell me that.’

I forced a grin.

‘The book didn’t jell.’

Renick stared at me for a moment, then turned to Holden.

‘Were all the cabins locked on Saturday night?’

‘Sure,’ Holden said. ‘I locked them myself: except Mr. Barber’s cabin of course. He had the key.’

‘None of the locks had been tampered with?’

‘No.’

‘Did you lock your cabin, Harry?’ Renick asked.

‘I think so. I can’t be sure. Maybe I didn’t.’

‘Which was your cabin?’

‘The last one on the left, Lieutenant,’ Holden said. He was now uneasy and he kept shooting glances at me and then at Renick.

‘Anyone in the cabin now?’

Holden looked at a chart on the wall.

‘It’s empty right now.’

‘Have you ever seen Odette Malroux here?’ Renick asked.

‘The girl who was kidnapped?’ Holden shook his head. ‘She never came here, Lieutenant. I’d know her. I’ve seen enough pictures of her. No… she never came here.’

‘I’ll take a look at the cabin. Got the key?’

‘It’ll be in the door, Lieutenant.’

Renick started for the door and I started after him.

Holden said, ‘Oh, Mr. Barber…’

Here it comes, I thought. I turned and grimaced at him.

‘I’ll be right back,’ I said, and as Renick paused, I crowded up against him, trying to shove him out of the little office.

‘What is it?’ Renick asked Holden, refusing to be shoved.

‘It’s okay, Lieutenant,’ Holden said, looking unhappy. ‘It’s nothing important.’

Renick went out into the hot sunshine. We walked in silence along the wooden slats laid on the sand, avoiding the half-naked sun-bathers who stared at us, wondering who we were in our city clothes, until we came to the cabin where Odette had died.

The key was in the lock. Renick pushed open the door and stepped in. He looked around, then, turning, he looked hard at me.

‘You didn’t tell me you had hired this cabin, Harry?’

‘Should I have done?’ I remained by the door. ‘It didn’t cross my mind you’d be interested.’

‘This is where she could have been murdered.’

‘Think so? She could have been murdered on the beach.’

‘I want you to think: did you lock the door or didn’t you?’

‘I don’t have to think – I didn’t lock it,’ I said. ‘I didn’t tell Holden that. I didn’t want him to get mad at me. I left the key in the lock. I found it on Monday when I looked in to pick up my typewriter.’

‘So she could have been murdered here.’

‘The locks on these doors don’t mean a thing. She could have been murdered in any of the cabins or on the beach.’

He brooded for a long minute while I stood there, listening to the thump-thump-thump of my heart beats.

Then he glanced at his wrist watch.

‘Okay, Harry, you get off home. I don’t want you any more for tonight. Get one of the boys to run you home. Tell the others I want them right here.’

‘I don’t mind sticking around if I can be of any help,’ I said.

‘It’s okay. You get off home.’

He wasn’t looking at me now, but staring around the room. I knew what would happen the moment I had gone. They would take the cabin to pieces. The fingerprint boys would test every inch of the place and sooner or later they would find Odette’s prints. There was just a chance they would also find Rhea’s prints and O’Reilly’s prints. They would certainly find mine, but that didn’t worry me. What did worry me was that Renick would go back to Bill Holden and ask him if he had seen a big, broad-shouldered man in a brown sports suit, and Holden would tell him I had been wearing a brown sports suit.

But was this proof that I had killed Odette? I didn’t think so. I felt I had still a little time: it was running out on me fast, but at least, I had a little time.

‘See you tomorrow then, John.’

‘That’s it.’

He still didn’t look at me as I walked out of the cabin and started across the sand to Holden’s office.

Holden was standing in the doorway.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t settle with you, Bill,’ I said. ‘It went right out of my mind. I’ll send you a cheque tomorrow. That okay?’

‘I’d be glad to have it now, Mr. Barber,’ Holden said awkwardly. ‘My boss doesn’t give credit.’

‘I happen to have left my wallet at the office. I’ll send you a cheque.’

Before he could argue, I walked on to the waiting police car.

I said to one of the technical men, ‘The Lieutenant wants you boys in the cabin at the far end. I’m going home. I’ll take the bus.’

One of the detectives who had been guarding the stairs said, ‘That’s okay, Mr. Barber. We’ll run you back. This isn’t our pigeon. We’ve just come for the ride.’

Now was the time to test my suspicions.

‘That’s okay. I’ll take the bus. So long, boys,’ and I walked away over to the waiting bus.

As the bus moved off, I looked back over my shoulder.

The two detectives in the police car were right behind the bus.

I knew now for certain the red light was up, and I was suspect Number One for Odette’s murder.

I

As I stepped into the hall, shutting the front door, Nina came out of the lounge. She was looking pale and anxious. She ran to me, reaching up to kiss me. I put my arms around her, holding her close to me.

‘Harry!’ She was whispering. ‘They have been here this after noon when I was out, searching the place.’

My arms tightened around her.

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Keep your voice down. Do you think they have hidden a microphone somewhere?’

I hadn’t thought of that possibility. I immediately realised the danger.

‘It’ll be in the lounge if it is anywhere.’

‘I’ve looked. I can’t find it.’

‘Wait here.’

I went into the lounge and crossing over to the radio I turned on, with the volume well up. A second or so later, the room was filled with the strident sound of a jazz session.

I went to the window and looked out. There was no sign of the police car, but I was sure it was there, out of sight, but from where they could watch my front gate. Then I went into the kitchen and looked out of the window. There was an alley running along the bottom of the garden. Two linesmen were working within sight of the kitchen door. One of them was at the top of a telegraph pole: the other lounged at the foot. Neither of them seemed busy.

While Nina watched from the door of the lounge, I made a systematic search for the microphone. I finally found it hidden in the radiator. If I hadn’t had some experience of police methods, I would never have found it.

I moved the radio to within a couple of feet of the radiator and let the jazz swamp the microphone.

‘They can’t hear us now,’ I said. ‘What made you think they had been here?’

‘I don’t know – a feeling.’ She sat down abruptly, looking at me with frightened eyes. ‘As soon as I opened the door I felt someone had been here. When I looked in the closet I found my clothes had been disarranged.’ She shivered. ‘What does it mean, Harry?’

‘It means they are on to me. They’re watching outside now.’

I had a sudden idea. I went into the bedroom, opened the closet door and checked my suits.

The brown sports suit was missing.

For a long uneasy moment I stood staring at the space where it had hung, then I went back into the lounge.

‘They were after my brown suit and they’ve taken it,’ I said.

Nina was trying not to cry. It wrung my heart to see her.

‘What are we going to do? Oh, Harry! I can’t bear the thought of losing you again! What will they do to you?’

I knew what they would do to me – they would put me in the gas chamber, but I didn’t tell her that.

‘Why did you let him have the tapes?’ she went on frantically. ‘I would rather…’

‘Stop it! This is my mess! He wasn’t bluffing. I had to give them to him!’

She beat her knees with her fists.

‘But what are we going to do?’

‘I don’t know. There must be a way out of this mess. I’ve been trying to think…’

‘You must tell John the whole story. He’ll help us. I’m sure he will!’

‘He can’t do a thing for me. There’s no proof. My only possible hope is to make O’Reilly confess, but how do I do that?’

‘What happened to the ransom money, Harry?’

I stared at her. A sudden prickle of excitement ran through me. I remembered what O’Reilly had said:
Find the ransom, and you’ll find the killer.

‘What is it, Harry? Have you thought of something?’

‘The money! Where is it?’ I got to my feet and began to pace up and down. ‘Five hundred thousand dollars in small bills can’t be easily hidden. Where have they hidden it? Not in a bank – that’s certain. In the house? Dare they risk that? They must know as soon as I’m arrested, I’ll try to incriminate them and Renick will search the house. I can’t believe they would risk hiding it there – then where?’

‘A safe deposit?’

‘It would be risky. They would have to open an account and sign for a key. The most likely place is a left luggage station, either at the airport, the bus station or the railroad station. It would be easy and safe for O’Reilly to check in a suitcase at any of these places. No one would remember him, and he could get at the money quickly in an emergency without identifying himself.’

‘You must tell John.’

‘That wouldn’t help me. O’Reilly must be caught getting the suitcase out. He must be caught red-handed to do me any good.’

Nina made a gesture of helplessness.

‘But he would never let himself be caught red-handed.’

‘That’s right. Unless…’ I paused, then went on, ‘unless I can stampede him by some trick.’

‘But how? A man like that…’

‘Let me think about it. Let’s have supper. While you’re getting it, I’ll think. I want to turn the radio off. It’s driving me nuts.’

‘I’m so frightened. If they took you away…’

‘It hasn’t happened yet. Get hold of yourself, darling. I’m relying on you.’

‘Yes, of course.’ She got to her feet. ‘I’m sorry, Harry.’

I kissed her.

‘Go ahead and let’s eat,’ I said, then I crossed to the radio and turned it off.

When she had gone into the kitchen, I sat down and really bent my brains to the problem, but it wasn’t until we had made a poor meal in silence, that a sudden idea dropped into my mind.

Nina who kept glancing at me expectantly, saw by my sudden change of expression that I had an idea.

She began to speak, then remembering the microphone, she stopped. I put the radio on again.

‘I think I’ve got it,’ I said. ‘There is only one way to work it. I’ve got to trick him. I think I have an idea how I can do it, but everything depends on whether or not the money is in a left luggage station or a safe deposit. If it’s in the house, then I’m sunk, but I can’t believe it is in the house.’

‘What are you planning to do, Harry?’

‘Give me a moment.’

I went to my desk and taking a sheet of paper, I wrote out the following: NEWS FLASH.

We interrupt this programme to bring to you the latest development in the Malroux kidnapping.

The Palm City police have reason to believe that the ransom money has been lodged in a safe deposit
or at a left luggage station.

A special search warrant has been obtained from the State Governor, and beginning at nine o’clock
tomorrow morning, teams of detectives are to search all parcels and luggage in left luggage stations and
all newly opened safe deposits.

Anyone who has rented a safe since the beginning of the month is asked to call at the nearest police
station with the key of the safe.

The search will cover a radius of a hundred miles of Palm City. District Attorney Meadows feels
confident that, by this extensive operation, the ransom money will be found.

I gave the sheet of paper to Nina who read it. She stared blankly at me.

‘I don’t understand, Harry.’

‘It’s my job to feed the local TV and radio stations with news of the kidnapping. They’ll broadcast this without question. I’m hoping when O’Reilly hears of this, he’ll stampede. He could lead me to the place where he has hidden the money.’

‘But you don’t know he’ll be listening in.’

‘He’ll be listening in all right. I’m going to tell him to listen in.’ I moved to the telephone, then paused. ‘They’ve probably tapped the line by now. I’ll have to use an outside line. If it got back to Meadows, he would stop it.’ I started for the door. ‘I’ll go to the drug store at the corner. I’ll be right back.’

‘Shall I come with you, Harry?’

‘Better not. You wait here for me.’

By now it was dark. I left the bungalow and strolled down the path to the gate. As I opened the gate, I glanced to right and left. The police car was parked about fifty yards up the road. The drug store was the other way. I didn’t have to pass the car. I set off, walking at a normal pace. I heard the car start up. I knew it was crawling after me, but I didn’t look back. My one fear now was that they would arrest me before I could put my plan into operation. If they did that, I was really sunk.

I went into the drug store and shut myself in a booth. I called the local TV station. I got through to Fred Hickson, the P.R.O. and my opposite number.

‘Fred,’ I said, ‘I have an important announcement for you. The D.A. wants it broadcast and put on TV

at eleven tonight. Can you do it?’

‘Sure: let’s have it,’ Hickson said.

I read the News Flash to him and he took it down.

‘That’s okay,’ he said. ‘We’ll interrupt both programmes at eleven o’clock. The D.A. certainly means business, doesn’t he?’

‘He sure does,’ I said. ‘Well, thanks, Fred – so long,’ and I hung up.