I
THE following evening, around ten o’clock, I was trying to decide whether to go to bed early or open a new bottle of Scotch and make a night of it, when the telephone bell rang.
The bell sounded shrill and urgent and startled me, probably because, up to now, the cabin had been as still and as silent as a poor relation at a wedding.
I lifted the receiver.
‘Hello?’
Above the faint humming on the line I could hear a dance band playing a waltz. The high notes of the muted trumpet suggested Glyn Boos’s Serenaders; that would make the call from the Country Club.
‘Mr. Malloy?’ A woman’s voice: pitched low with a little drawl in it. A voice calculated to stimulate male interest. At any rate it stimulated mine.
‘Speaking.’
‘My name is Serena Dedrick. I’m at the Country Club just now. Can you come over? I can offer you a job if you want it.’
I wondered why she couldn’t have waited until the morning, but then the Dedricks seemed to specialize in out-of-office hours. It didn’t worry me. I wanted her custom.
‘Certainly, Mrs. Dedrick. I’ll be right over. Do I ask at the desk for you?’
‘I’ll be in my car in the parking lot. It’s a black Cad. Will you be long?’
‘A quarter of an hour.’
‘I will wait that long, but no longer.’ The drawl had sharpened
‘I’m on my way…’ I began, but she had hung up.
I went into the bathroom to inspect myself in the mirror, and decided I looked neat enough without being gaudy. As I straightened my tie, I wondered what she wanted: probably some first-hand information about the kidnapping. From the pictures I had seen of her and from the sound of her voice, she wouldn’t be satisfied with anything second-hand.
I got the Buick out of the garage and drove fast up Ross-more Avenue that skirts the golfcourse, where a couple of cranks were trying to play golf in the moonlight with the aid of luminous balls, turned left up Glendora Avenue and arrived I at the imposing entrance of the Country Club with four I minutes of the quarter of an hour in hand.
The wooded gardens were ablaze with lights, and as I drove up the drive I could see a bunch of half-naked men and women clustered around the swimming pool, while Glyn Boos’s Serenaders played under the arclights in a flower-decked alcove nearby.
The car park was around the back of the clubhouse. I edged my way in, and parked in what seemed to be the only vacant space left. I got out, looked up and down the long rows of cars, and decided it would be easier to pick the needle out of the haystack than find one particular black Cad. from this collection of luxury cars. There must have been over three hundred of them, and probably a third of that number were Cadillacs.
Parking lights flickered on and off, away to my left. I set off hopefully towards them. They continued to go on and off until I drew close enough to see they were attached to the glittering black car I had seen outside Ocean End two nights ago. I walked up to the car and looked in at the window. She was sitting behind the wheel, smoking a cigarette. The cold, hard light of the moon fell directly on her, and the first thing I noticed was the string of diamonds that flashed and sparkled like fire-flies in her hair. The moonlight gave her a sculptured-in-alabaster effect. She was wearing a low-cull strapless creation in gold lame, and she looked exactly what she was: the fourth richest woman in the world, from the diamonds in her hair to the cold, haughty expression on her rather long but distinctly lovely face.
While I was looking at her and thinking she had the largest eyes I have ever seen and that her long and silky eyelashes were probably her own, she was looking at me. In the few second of silence that followed we sized each other up with frank curiosity.
‘I have about a couple of minutes in hand, Mrs. Dedrick, I said. ‘But even at that I seemed to have kept you waiting. I’m sorry. Do you want to talk here or somewhere else?’
‘Where else is there?’
‘Well there’s a river view near the golf-course that isn’t bad. At least it’s quiet.’
‘All right. We’ll go there.’ She moved along the bench seat. Perhaps you’ll drive.’
I got in under the steering wheel, switched on and trod on the starter. As I manoeuvred the car out of the lot into the drive-way, I gave her a quick glance. She was looking away from me, remote and thoughtful, her face as expressionless and as smooth as an ivory mask.
I drove through the entrance gates, turned right, continued up the brilliantly lit avenue to the bridge, then swung the car on to the bridle path that led along the river. A few minutes’ more driving brought me to the spot I had in mind. I slowed down, turned the nose of the car to face the glittering moonlit river and parked. Except for the occasional croak of bullfrogs in the reeds farther up the river and the lap-lap-lap of water against the bank, there was no sound to disturb us.
‘Do you want to get out?’ I asked, breaking the silence that had brooded over us since we had driven from the club.
She roused herself, as if her thoughts had been miles away, tossed her cigarette end into the river and shook her head.
‘No; we can talk here. It was you who found Souki, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes. Have you any news of your husband?’
‘They ‘phoned tonight. They want five hundred thousand. They told me he was well and was looking forward to seeing me again.’ She spoke in a cold, flat voice that didn’t quite conceal a frightened anxiety. ‘The money is to be paid the night after next, and he will be released as soon as they have it.’
I didn’t say anything. After a long pause, she turned to look intently at me. ’
‘Someone has to deliver the money. I want you to do it. I’ll pay you well.’
I was afraid she was going to say that. Dealing with kidnappers could be a dangerous business. More often than not the stooge who hands over the ransom money gets himself knocked off.
‘Have you made any arrangements with them yet?’
She shook her head.
‘This is only the opening move. The money is to be in used twenty-dollar bills. It is to be made up into three parcels, wrapped in oilskin. I shall get last-minute instructions where the money is to be delivered.’ She turned to look at me. ‘You’re not frightened of the job, are you?’ ‘I’ll tell you that when I’ve heard what the arrangements are.’ Then you think it could be dangerous?’
‘It could be.’
She opened her handbag and took out a cigarette case. As she offered it, she said, her voice a little unsteady, ‘Do you think they’ll send him back?’
I took the cigarette, tapped it absently on my thumb-nail before saying, ‘The possibilities are that they will.’
I lit her cigarette, and for some moments we smoked in silence. ‘I want you to tell me the truth,’ she said suddenly. ‘Will they send him back?’
‘I don’t know. It depends if he’s seen them. If he hasn’t, then there’s no point in not sending him back.’ ‘But if he has see them?’
‘It depends on them. Kidnappers are about as ruthless as blackmailers, Mrs Dedrick. Kidnapping carries the death penalty. They won’t take chances.’
‘There’s nothing I wouldn’t do or pay to get him back. It’s all my fault this has happened. If it wasn’t for my money, he wouldn’t have been worth kidnapping. He’s got to come back!’
There was nothing I could think of to say to that. My own feeling was she had seen the last of him: anyway, alive. With all that money at stake they were pretty certain to get rid of him. Most kidnappers prefer to kill rather than return. It is a lot safer for them. Too many kidnapped people in the past have given clues to the police that have led to the kidnappers being caught.
‘Have you consulted the police about this development?’ I asked.
‘No; and I’m not going to! This man tonight said every move I make is being watched, and if I communicate with the police, Lee would be murdered. Besides, the police are useless. They haven’t done a thing.’
‘We have time to set a trap. The money could be marked in a way no one would spot it. At least, it would give the police a chance to catch them after your husband’s safe.’
‘No!’ she said emphatically. ‘I gave them my word not to try any tricks. If I did that, and they found out, and Lee suffered, I’d never forgive myself. I don’t care a damn about the money. It’s Lee I want.’
‘Who ‘phoned you? Did you get an idea from his voice what kind of man he was? I mean was he educated? Did he have an accent? Was there anything about his voice that you would recognize if you ever met him?’
‘I think he was talking through a handkerchief. His voice was very muffled. He didn’t have an accent, but that’s all I can tell you.’
‘Did he talk tough?’
‘Oh no. In fact, he was horribly polite.’
I stared thoughtfully at the river. Probably they had killed Dedrick as soon as they got him out of the house. They hadn’t hesitated to kill his chauffeur, and they wouldn’t hesitate to wipe me out after they had the money. It was a job I didn’t want.
She was smart enough to guess what I was thinking.
‘If you don’t do this, I have no idea who else to ask. I’ll come with you if you will do it.’
‘Oh no. If I do it, I do it alone.’
‘There will be no question of that. I’ve made up my mind to see the money delivered to them with my own eyes. If you won’t go with me, I’ll go alone.’
I turned to look at her, surprised by her vehemence. We stared at each other for about three seconds. I could see by the expression in her eyes no one would make her change her mind.
‘Well, all right, if that’s how you feel about it,’ I said. I’ll come with you.’ We sat for some moments in silence.
‘There’s one thing I wanted to ask you,’ she said abruptly. ‘What was this woman like who said she was my secretary?’ ‘You mean to look at?’
‘Yes.’
"Well, she was about thirty or so, dark, good-looking and well dressed. I thought at the time she didn’t look like anyone’s secretary.’
‘Was she very pretty?’
‘I suppose she was, and she had character too. She hadn’t the usual vacant face of the usual pretty woman.’
‘She called my husband by his Christian name. Is that right?’
‘Yes.’
I saw her clench her fists.
‘That fat fool of a policeman thinks Lee was having an affair with her,’ she said, and she seemed to be speaking through locked teeth. ‘Do you think that?’
‘Does it matter what I think?’
‘I’m asking you—do you think that?’ Her voice was harsh and tight with emotion.
‘I don’t know. I know nothing about your husband. It looks like it, but she may have just been a friend of his.’
‘He wasn’t in love with her!’ she said so quietly I could scarcely hear her. ‘I know it! He wouldn’t have done a thing like that. He wouldn’t have taken another woman into my home. He wasn’t that type.’ She stopped, looked quickly away, her hand going to her face.
‘Have the police found her yet?’
‘No. They’re not trying to. They’re so sure she’s Lee’s mistress. They say it’s better not to find her. I don’t believe it! She must know something.’
I didn’t say anything.
After a long, heavy silence, she said abruptly, ‘Perhaps you’ll drive me back to the club. I don’t think there’s anything else to discuss until the night after next. Will you come to the house at six? We may have to wait, but we must be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.’
‘I’ll be there.’
We drove to the club in silence. As soon as I parked the car, she got out and gave me a meaningless, automatic smile as she said, ‘The night after next then, at six.’
I watched her walk towards the clubhouse; a graceful, lovely figure in the gold dress; diamonds sparkling in her hair; fear and jealousy in her heart.
II
I toiled up the stone steps leading to Mifflin’s small office on the fourth floor of Police Headquarters’ building.
Mifflin was staring out of the window, his hat over his eyes, the stub of a cigarette stuck on his lower lip. He had a brooding, dismal look on his red face and his eyes showed the energy of his thoughts.
‘You,’ he said gloomily as I pushed open the door and edged my way into the small office. ‘Funny thing, I was thinking about you. Come in, and park. I’m out of cigarettes, so don’t ask me for one.’
I pulled up a hard, straight-backed chair, sat astride it, and folded my arms along the back of it.
‘How’s the kidnapping going?’
‘Awful,’ he said, and sighed. ‘Nothing to work on, and Brandon’s going around like a fiend. He reckons someone will make him Chief of Police if he catches the kidnappers.’
I searched in my coat pocket, fished out a package of cigarettes, offered him one.
We lit up and brooded at each other.
‘Anything on the Jerome dame?’
Mifflin sighed.
‘Have you come in here just to pick my brains?’
"No; nothing like that. I came here to swop some information.’
Mifflin’s face lit up and he gave me a quick, searching look.
"You got anything?’
‘Not much. It’s confidential. Last night, Mrs. Dedrick called me up. You can guess what she wanted.’
‘She’s got the ransom demand, and you’re to deliver the dough, is that it?’
I nodded.
‘She doesn’t want the police to know.’
‘She wouldn’t,’ Mifflin said, bitterly; ‘but she expects us to get her husband back. When?’
‘Tomorrow night. They’ll call her and give her final instructions.’
‘Brandon will have to be told.’
I shrugged.
‘That’s up to you. There’s nothing he can do about it, unless he moves in and grabs the guy who collects. If he does, he’ll kill Dedrick as if he shot him himself.’
‘It’s my bet, Dedrick’s dead already.’
‘Maybe, but we don’t know for sure.’
‘Well. I’ll have to tell him.’
‘So long as he doesn’t let Mrs. Dedrick know I’ve been here. What will you do—tap the telephone wire?’
‘Could do,’ Mifflin said, closed his eyes and frowned. ‘If that woman doesn’t want us in this, the chances are Brandon won’t do anything. He’s scared to make a wrong move with her. Once the ransom’s paid, our troubles will be over. The Federal Bureau will take charge.’
‘Getting back to Mary Jerome; anything or nothing?’ ‘Brandon’s leaving her alone, but I’ve traced her car. A patrolman spotted her coming from Ocean End and got the number. He’s one of those freaks who remembers car numbers. He shoved in a report when he heard about the kidnapping. She rented the car from the Acme Garage. Maybe you know the joint. It’s run by a guy named Lute Ferris. We’ve had our eye on him off and on for smuggling reefers, but have never pinned anything on him. He was in Los Angeles when I called, but I talked with his wife. She remembers this Jerome dame. She arrived the night before last—the night of the kidnapping—around eight o’clock and asked Lute for a car. She paid fifty dollars deposit and said she needed the car for a couple of days. She gave the Orchid Hotel as her address.’
‘Trusting of Ferris to let her have a car without checking on her first, wasn’t it?’ Why should he care? The car’s insured. Anyway, that’s the story, and we’re stuck with it.’
‘You’ve checked the airport and the station to see if she came from out-of-town?’
‘Yeah, we’ve done that, but can’t get a line on her.’
‘And that’s as far as you’ve got?’
‘That’s as far as we’ll ever get,’ Mifflin said, stubbing out his cigarette. ‘A kidnapping case is the worst kind of case you can get. If they knock off the guy who’s kidnapped and the money ain’t marked, you’re up a tree. The only hope is for one of them to be dissatisfied with his cut and give the rest of them away. It makes it ten times as hard now Brandon’s scared to move. This Jerome dame is our only lead, and I can’t go after her.’
‘Well, maybe you’ll have another murder on your hands to cheer you up,’ I said bitterly. ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if I don’t get knocked off tomorrow night.’
Mifflin eyed me thoughtfully.
‘That’s the only bit of good news I’ve had this week,’ he said. ‘Yeah, come to think of it, it’s an even bet that’s what they’ll do to you.’
I left him, rubbing his hands and whistling the Dead March in Saul.
III
‘Have you made a will?’ Jack Kerman asked as he watched me load a .38 from a box of shells on my desk. ‘I hope you’ve left me all your money. I can do with it. That redhead of mine seems to think I’m made of the stuff.’
‘Do be quiet, Jack,’ Paula said sharply. She was trying not to show how worked up she was, but the worried expression in her eyes gave her away. ‘Haven’t you any sense of decency?’
‘Oh, shut up, you two,’ I said, scowling at them. ‘You’re giving me the shakes. Now, let’s get this straight, Jack. The house will probably be watched, so you’ve got to keep out of sight. I’ll let you know where we’re going on my way out. Give us a good five minutes to get clear of the house, then follow on after us. Make certain no one sees you. We can’t afford to slip up on this. Whatever you do, don’t show yourself unless trouble starts, and then come out shooting.’
Kerman gulped.
‘What was that last bit again?’
‘I said come out shooting.’
‘I thought that’s what you said. Come to think of it, it mightn’t be a bad idea if I made a will myself.’
‘And for the love of Pete, try to shoot straight,’ I went on, looked at my wrist watch, stood up and shoved the .38 into the shoulder holster under my coat. ‘We’d better get off. If you don’t hear from either of us, Paula, by midnight, get on to Mifflin and tell him the tale.
‘She’ll hear from me,’ Kerman said, looking worried. ‘Well, damn it, I hope she will!’
‘Be careful, Vic,’ Paula said anxiously.
I patted her shoulder.
‘I can’t make you out. You worry over a little job like kidnapping, but think nothing of sending me into a room full of dope fiends. Be your age, Paula. Think of the money we’re going to make.’
‘Well, don’t do anything silly,’ she said, trying to smile, ‘and for heaven’s sake don’t show off before that rich blonde.’
‘You’re making me nervous,’ I said. ‘Come on, Jack. Let’s get out of here.’
Together we went along the corridor to the elevator. ‘Think we have time for a drink?’ Kerman asked hopefully as we reached ground level.
‘No; but there’s a pint in the car. And, Jack, don’t make any mistakes. This might turn out to be a nasty job.’
Kerman gave an exaggerated shudder. ‘It’s already nasty enough for me.’
He climbed into the back of the Buick and squatted down on the floor. I chucked a rug over him.
‘I’m going to love every minute of this,’ he said, poking his head out from the folds of the rug. ‘How long do you reckon I’ll be under this lot?’
‘Oh, about three or four hours: not more.’
‘With the temperature in the eighties, that should give me some idea what the Black Hole of Calcutta was like.’
‘It’ll get cooler in the evening,’ I said heartlessly and started the car. ‘You have a whole bottle of Scotch to help pass the time, only don’t smoke.’
‘Not smoke?’ His voice shot up in a yelp of dismay.
‘Listen; stop kidding yourself. If these guys find out you’re in the back of the car, they’ll steal up and slit your gizzard.’
That quietened him.
I drove up the two miles of private road a lot more sedately than the first time I came this way. I took the bend in the drive nice and slow, and pulled up within a yard of the balustrade surrounding the courtyard.
In the warm light of the evening sun, the house looked about as attractive as any house would look after a million dollars had been spent on it. The big black Cadillac stood before the front entrance. In the middle distance two Chinese gardeners were picking the dead roses off an umbrella standard. They worked as if the rose tree was their main source of income for the next nine months: probably it was. The big swimming pool glittered in the sun, but no one swam in it. Across the expanse of velvety lawn in the lower garden, below the terraces, six scarlet flamingoes stood looking towards me, stiff-legged and crotchety, as unreal as the blue sky of an Italian postcard. There was everything to be had this day at Ocean End except happiness.
I looked towards the house. The grass-green shutters covered the windows; a cream-andgreen striped awning flapped above the front door.
‘Well, so long,’ I said in a low voice to Kerman. ‘I’m going in now.’
‘Have a lovely time. Kerman’s voice was bitter from under the rug. ‘Don’t stint yourself. Have plenty of ice with your drinks.’
I walked along the terrace and screwed my thumb into the bell push. I could see through the glass panels of the door into a big hall and a dim, cool passage that led to the back of the house.
A tall, thin old man came down the passage and opened the front door. He looked me over in a kindly way. I had an idea he was pricing my suit and wishing he could buy me something a little better that wouldn’t disgrace the house. But I was probably wrong. He may not even have been thinking about me.
‘Mrs. Dedrick is expecting me.’
‘The name, sir?’
‘Malloy.’
He still stood squarely in the doorway.
‘Have you a card, please?’
"Well, yes, and I have a birthmark too. Remind me to show it to you one of these days.’
He tittered politely like an aged uncle out to have fun with his sister’s young hopeful.
‘So many gentlemen of the Press have tried to see Mrs. Dedrick. We have to take precautions, sir.’
I had an idea I would be standing there till next summer if I didn’t show him my card, so I got out my bill-fold and showed him my card: the non-business one.
He stood aside.
‘Would you wait in the lounge, sir?’
I went into the room where Souki had been shot. The Mexican rug had been cleaned. There were no bodies lying about this evening to welcome me; no untouched whisky and soda, no cigarette stub to spoil the repaired surface of the table.
‘If you could sneak me a double Scotch with a lot of ice in it, I’d appreciate it.’
‘Certainly, sir.’
He drifted across the room to the sideboard on which stood a bottle of Haig and Haig, glasses, a bucket of ice and White-rock.
I listened attentively as he moved, but I couldn’t hear his bones creak. I was surprised. He looked old enough for them to squeak. But, old as he was, he was no slouch when it came to mixing a drink. He handed me one strong enough to tip over a pony and trap.
‘If you would care to look at some periodicals while you wait, sir, I will get some for you.’
I lowered myself into an easy chair that accepted me as if it was doing me a favour, stretched out my legs and balanced my drink carefully on the arm of the chair.
‘You think there’ll be a long wait?’ I asked.
‘I have no experience in these matters, sir, but it would seem likely they won’t communicate with us until it is dark.’ He stood before me, not unlike one of the flamingoes I had seen in the lower garden, and every inch of him dedicated to a life of service. Probably he would never see seventy again, but the blue eyes were still alert and clear, and what he lacked in speed he made up in experienced efficiency: a family retainer straight out of Hollywood, almost too genuine to be true.
‘Yeah, I guess you’re right. Looks like a good three-hour wait: probably more.’ I dug out a package of cigarettes. He had a match flame ready before I got the cigarette into my mouth. ‘I didn’t get your name.’
The grizzled eyebrows lifted.
‘Wadlock, sir.’
‘Do you work for Mrs. Dedrick or Mr. Marshland?’
‘Oh, Mr. Marshland, sir. I have been lent to Mrs. Dedrick for the time being, and I am very happy to be of service to her.’
‘Have you been with the family long?’
He smiled benignly.
‘Fifty years, sir. I was with Mr. Marshland senior for twenty years, and I have been with Mr. Marshland junior for thirty years.’
That seemed to put us on a friendly footing, so I asked, ‘You met Mr. Dedrick when he was in New York?’
The benign expression went away like a fist when you open your fingers.
‘Oh, yes, sir. He stayed a few days with Mr. Marshland.’
‘I haven’t seen him. I’ve spoken to him on the ‘phone, and I’ve heard a lot about him, but there appears to be no photograph of him. What does he look like?’
I had an idea there was disapproval in the blue eyes now, but I wasn’t sure.
‘He is a well-built gentleman; dark, tall, athletic, with very good features. I don’t think I can describe him any better than that, sir.’
‘Did you like him?’
The bent old back stiffened.
‘Did you say you would like some periodicals, sir? You may find the wait a little tedious.’
I had my answer. Obviously for some reason or other this old man had as much use for Dedrick as I had for a punch on the jaw.
‘That’s all right. It makes a change to sit and do nothing.’
‘Very good, sir.’ He wasn’t friendly any more. ‘I will let you know when there is any news.’
He went away on his spindly old legs as dignified as an archbishop conferring a favour, and left me alone in a room full of bad memories. About a yard from my left foot Souki’s head had bled on the rug. Over by the fireplace stood the telephone into which Dedrick had breathed hurriedly and unevenly while he talked to me. I turned to stare at the casement window through which the kidnappers had probably come, gun in hand.
A short, dapper figure in a white tropical suit and a panama hat stood in the doorway, watching me. I hadn’t heard him arrive. I wasn’t expecting him. With my mind full of murder and thugs, he gave me a start that nearly took me to the ceiling.
‘I didn’t mean to startle you,’ he said in a mild, rather absent-minded way. ‘I didn’t know you were in here.’
While he was speaking he came into the room and put his Panama hat on the table. I guessed he would be Franklin Marshland, and looked to see if Serena took after him. She didn’t. He had a small, beaky nose, a heavy chin, dreamy, forgetful woman eyes and a full, rather feminine mouth. His wrinkled face was sun-tanned, and the thick fringe of glossy white hair, above which was a bald, sun-tanned patch, made him look like a clean-shaven and amiable Santa Claus.
I began to climb out of my chair, but he waved me to stay where I was.
‘Don’t move. I’ll join you in a whisky.’ He consulted a narrow, gold wrist-watch, worn on the inside of his wrist. ‘Quarter past six. I don’t believe in drinking spirits before six, do you?’
I said it was a good rule, but rules should be broken now and then if one was to preserve one’s sense of freedom.
He paid no attention to what I was saying. There was look of aloof disinterest on his face that hinted he seldom ever listened to anything anyone said to him.
‘You’re the chap who’s going to pay them the ransom money,’ he went on, stating a fact and not asking a question.
I said I was as he carried a fair-size snifter to an arm-chair opposite mine. He sat down and stared at me over the rim of the glass the way you would stare at some curious animal at the Zoo.
‘She tells me she’s going with you.’
‘So she says.’
‘I wish she wouldn’t, but nothing I say makes any difference. He sipped the whisky, stared down at his white buckskin shoe. He had the smallest male feet I have ever seen. ‘I never have been able to influence her one way or the other. A pity, really. Of course, old people are bores, but sometimes they are able to help the young if the young would only let them.’
I had the idea he was talking rather to himself than to me so I didn’t say anything.
He brooded off into a silence that lasted some time. I helped myself to another of my cigarettes, kept an intelligent expression on my face just in case he might think it worth while to speak to me and resisted the temptation to fidget.
In the middle distance I noticed the two Chinese gardeners had decided to call it a day. They had been staring at the umbrella standard for some time without touching it; now, having learned it by heart, they moved off to enjoy a well-earned rest.
‘Do you carry a gun?’ Marshland asked suddenly.
‘Yes; but I don’t expect to use it.’
‘I hope not. You’ll see she takes as little risk as possible, won’t you?’
‘Of course.’
He drank half the whisky. It didn’t do much to cheer him up.
‘These fellows have pretty big ideas. Five hundred thousand is an enormous sum of money.’
He seemed to expect me to say something so I said, ‘That’s why they snatched him. The risk is enormous too.’
‘I suppose it is. Do you think they’ll keep their side of the bargain?’
‘I don’t know. As I explained to Mrs. Dedrick, if he hasn’t seen them…’
‘Yes; she told me. You’re probably right I’ve been reading about some of the famous kidnapping cases of the past years. It would seem the higher the ransom the less likely is the chance of the victim surviving.’
I was suddenly aware that he wasn’t mild or absentminded any more, and that he was staring at me with an intent, rather odd expression in his eyes.
‘It depends on the kidnappers,’ I said, meeting his eyes.
‘I have a feeling we shan’t see him again.’ He got slowly to his feet, frowned round the room as if he had lost something. ‘Of course, I haven’t said anything to her about it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they haven’t already killed him.’ The white eyebrows lifted. ‘What do you think?’
‘It’s possible.’
‘More than possible, perhaps?’
‘I’m afraid so.’
He nodded. The pleased, satisfied expression in his eyes jarred me to the heels.
He went out of the room, very spry and dapper, and humming a tune under his breath.
IV
It wasn’t until the hands of my watch had crawled round to eleven that the telephone bell rang. The five-hour wait had been interminable, and I was so het-up I very nearly answered the telephone myself, but someone in some other part of the house beat me to it.
I had been pacing up and down, sitting on the settee, staring tout of the window and chainsmoking during those five long hours. I had seen Wadlock for a few minutes when he had brought me dinner on a wheel wagon, but he hadn’t had anything to say and left me to serve myself.
I had been out just after eight o’clock to have a word with Kerman and to drop him a cold breast of chicken through the car window. I didn’t stay more than a minute or so. I was scared anyone who might be watching the house would hear his flow of bad language.
Now at last something was going to happen. Although Dedrick meant nothing to me, I was nervy after the long wait. I could imagine what Serena must be feeling like. She was probably fit to walk up a wall.
A few minutes later I heard movements outside and I walked into the hall.
Serena, in black slacks and a short, dark fur coat, came hurrying down the stairs, followed by Wadlock, who was carrying three oilskin-wrapped packages.
She looked white and ill; there was a pinched, drawn look about her that told more clearly than words how she had suffered during those long hours of waiting.
‘Monte Verde Mining Camp. Do you know it?’ she said in a low, unsteady voice.
‘Yes. It’s on San Diego Highway. It’ll take us about twenty minutes to get there if the traffic is light.’
Franklin Marshland appeared silently.
‘Where is it?’ he asked.
‘Monte Verde Mining Camp. It’s an old worked-out silver mine on San Diego Highway,’ I told him. ‘It’s a good spot for them.’ I looked at Serena’s white face. Her lips were trembling ‘Any news of your husband, Mrs. Dedrick?’
‘He—he is to be set free three hours after the money has be delivered. They will telephone us here where we will find him.
Marshland and I exchanged glances.
Serena caught hold of my arm.
‘Do you think they’re lying? If we let them have the money, we’ll have no hold on them at all.’
‘You haven’t a hold on them, anyway, Mrs. Dedrick. That’s what makes kidnapping such a filthy business. You’re entirely in their hands, and you just have to trust them.’
Wouldn’t it be better, my dear, if you let Mr. Malloy delivers the money, and you wait here for the second message?’ Marshland asked.
‘No!’
She didn’t look at him.
‘Serena, do be sensible. There’s always a chance they might be tempted to kidnap you. I’m sure Mr. Malloy is quite capable…’
She turned on him, distraught with misery and hysteria.
‘I’m going with him, and nothing you say will stop me!’ she cried wildly. ‘Oh, you needn’t pretend any more. I know you don’t want Lee to come out of this alive! I know you hate him! I know you’ve been gloating with joy that this has happened to him! But I’m bringing him back! Do you hear? I’m bringing him back!’
‘You’re being absurd…’ Marshland said, a faint flush coming to his face. His eyes looked hard and bitter.
She turned away from him to me.
‘Are you coming with me?’
‘Whenever you’re ready, Mrs. Dedrick.’
‘Then bring the money and come!’
She ran to the front door, jerked it open and went out on to the terrace.
Wadlock gave me the three packages.
‘You’ll take care of her, sir,’ he said.
I gave him a crooked grin.
‘You bet.’
Marshland walked away without looking at me.
‘She’s very upset, sir,’ Wadlock murmured. He looked upset himself.
I ran along the terrace, down the steps to the Cadillac.
‘I’ll drive,’ I said and tossed the packages into the back of the car. ‘I won’t be a moment. I want my gun.’
I left her getting into the Cad. and ran over to the Buick.
‘Monte Verde Mine,’ I said. ‘Give us five minutes, then come on—and watch out, Jack.’
A soft moan came from under the rug, but I didn’t wait. I went back to the Cadillac and climbed under the steering wheel. Serena sat huddled up in a corner. She was crying.
I sent the car shooting down the drive.
‘Don’t let it get you down.’
She went on crying quietly. I decided perhaps it was the best thing for her, and drove as fast as I could without taking risks, and ignored her.
As we drove along Orchid Boulevard I said, ‘Better get hold of yourself now. You haven’t told me yet what was said. If we make one false move, we may spoil his chance of getting back to you. These guys will be a lot more scared than we are. Now, come on, pull yourself together, and tell me. What did they say?’
It took her some minutes to control herself, and it wasn’t until we were shooting up Monte Verde Avenue that she told me.
The money is to be left on the roof of a shed standing before the old shaft. I don’t know if you know it?’
‘I know it. What else?’
‘Each parcel is to be placed at least a foot apart and in a row. After we have placed the parcels we must leave immediately.’
‘That the lot?’
She gave a little shiver.
‘Except for the usual threats about setting a trap.’
They didn’t bring your husband to the ‘phone?’
‘No. Why should they?’
‘Sometimes they do.’
The fact they hadn’t made it look bad for Dedrick, but I didn’t tell her so.
‘Was it the same man who spoke to you before?’
‘I think so.’
‘The same muffled voice?’
‘Yes.’
‘All right. Now this is what we do. I’ll stop the car at the entrance to the mine. You stay in the car. I’ll take the money and put it on the roof. You’ll be able to see every move I make. I’ll come straight back and get into the car. You will drive. At the beginning of Venture Avenue you’ll slow down and I’ll drop off. You carry on and get back to the house.’
‘Why are you dropping off?’
‘I may catch sight of them.’
‘No!’ She caught hold of my arm. ‘Do you want them to kill him? We’re leaving the money and doing what they tell us. You’ve got to promise.’
‘Well, all right; it’s your money. If they double-cross you, you’ll stand no chance of catching up with them. I’ll guarantee they won’t see me.’
‘No!’ she repeated. ‘I’m not going to give them any opportunity to go back on the bargain.’
I swung the long black nose of the Cad into San Diego High-way.
‘All right, but it’s the wrong way to play it.’
She didn’t answer.
There was a lot of traffic belting along the Highway, and it took me some minutes before I could swing the car across to the dirt track leading to the mine. We went bumping over the uneven surface of the track. It was dark and forlorn up there, and the headlamps bounced off great clumps of scrub and dumps of rubbish. Although only a few hundred yards or so off the main Highway, once on this track it was as lonely and as dark as the inside of a tomb.
Ahead of me was the entrance to the mine. One of the high wooden gates had been blown off its hinges. The other still stood upright, but only just. I pulled up before the gateway. The headlights sent a long, searching beam along the cracked concrete driveway that led directly to the head of the shaft.
We could see the shed. It was not more than seven feet high; a rotten, derelict building where probably at one time the time-keeper had sheltered while he checked in the miners.
‘Well, that’s it. Now you wait here. If anything happens get out of the car and run for it.’
She was staring at the shed as if she expected to see Dedrick come out of it. Her face looked as if it was carved out of ice.
I got out, opened the rear door and collected the three par-cels. Holding them under one arm, I loosened the .38 in its holster and set off down the driveway towards the shed.
Only the distant rumble of traffic on the Highway disturbed the silence. Nothing moved. No one jumped out on me with a gun. It seemed a long way to the shed, and the brilliant headlamps made me a nice target for anyone with a trigger itch. I was glad when I got there. My right hand slid inside my coat and rested on the gun butt as I peered through the half-open door.
Only a broken chair, a lot of dirt and scraps of paper on the floor greeted me. The headlights of the car went through the doorway and made two pools of light on the spider-infested wall.
I was reluctant to leave all that money on the roof of the shed. I had a feeling Serena would never see it again; nor would she buy Dedrick back with it. But I had been hired to put the money there, so I put it there. I placed the packages along the rusty, corrugated roof in a row, spacing them carefully a foot apart as she had been instructed. There was nothing more to do. I would have liked very much to have hidden near-by and watched, but if I was spotted and Dedrick died, I would have his death on my conscience. She was right. Her one hope was to trust them to carry out their end of the bargain.
I walked towards the car, my flesh creeping a little, still a target for anyone who wanted to shed a little blood. I wondered if they were watching. There were many number of places to hide in this ruined mine.
I reached the Cadillac, jerked open the door and slid under the wheel.
She was crying again.
‘If you’re sure you don’t want me to watch, I’ll take you back,’ I said, not looking at her.
‘Take me back,’ she said in a muffled voice and turned away from me.
As I drove through the gates I caught sight of a shadowy figure that ducked behind a pile of old railway sleepers. I thought it was Kerman, but couldn’t be sure. If it was Kerman, he would probably hang around and see something. I looked quickly at Serena, but she was busy with her handkerchief and hadn’t noticed anything.
In a more optimistic mood I headed for Ocean End.
V
The hands of the clock on the mantelpiece showed a quarter past two. I sat alone in the lounge, nibbling at a whisky and soda, staring at a silver-and-gold inlaid Mexican saddle that was hanging on the wall without particularly noticing it.
Serena was upstairs somewhere.
We had been waiting for two and a half hours.
A sudden soft whistle from behind me jerked me round I and spilt my whisky.
‘Lousy nerves you’ve got,’ Kerman said, coming in. ‘Is that whisky you’ve spilt?’
‘There’s plenty more. Help yourself. You look as if you could use it.’
‘I can.’ He crossed to the wagon and mixed himself a long stiff drink. ‘Phew! Think we’ll get any sleep tonight?’
‘Never mind sleep. Did you see anything?’
He flopped into an armchair opposite me.
‘No. At least I didn’t see them, but I did see the money go.’
‘But didn’t you see who took it?’
He shook his head.
‘The guy’s smart He kept hidden. I think he was probably standing on one of the girders that support the shaft head. It was pitch dark up there. Anyway, he must have been above the roof of the shed. He had a fishing rod. One of those deep-sea rods, I should imagine. It would have to be something pretty hefty to take the weight of those parcels. He just dropped a hook on the parcel and fished it off the roof into the darkness. I never heard a sound or caught a glimpse of him. It was damned spooky seeing those parcels take off in the moonlight until I tumbled to what he was doing.’
‘Yes, that’s smart. Did he see you, Jack?’
‘Not a chance.’
‘Don’t be too sure. I saw you.’
‘I’ll bet my life you didn’t. Besides, I didn’t arrive until you were driving away. I saw your tail lights. And when I reached the mine I was crawling around like a Red Indian.’
‘Well, I saw someone as I was leaving.’
‘It couldn’t have been me.’
I tried to remember what the shadowy figure had looked like. It had certainly reminded me of Kerman, so that would make it tall, broad-shouldered and lean. Not much to go on, but something.
‘Must have been one of the gang. I wish I had seen more of him.’ I looked at my wrist-watch. ‘In another quarter of an hour we should hear: if we’re going to hear.’
Kerman rubbed weary knuckles into his eyes.
‘I feel whacked. That five-hour wait in the car nearly killed me. Think they’ll turn him loose?’
‘I don’t know. I can’t see them doing it. It’ll be a lucky break for him if they do.’
‘Brandon’s going to love this if he doesn’t come back,’ Kerman said, stifling a yawn.
‘It’s her responsibility.’
‘But we are accessories. He’ll be scared to curse her, but he’ll have something to say to us.’
‘Well, let him say it,’ I said, got up and tramped across to the wagon to make another drink. My hand hovered over the bottle as Franklin Marshland came silently into the room.
‘So you’ve got back safely,’ he said. ‘I must say I was very worried.’ He looked inquiringly at Jack Kerman.
I introduced them.
‘A very long, unpleasant wait,’ Marshland went on. ‘Surely it’s time they communicated with us?’
‘It needs five minutes to the three hours,’ I said, giving Kerman another drink and going back to the settee. ‘If they’ve released him, they’ll make sure he doesn’t get back here until they are well out of town.’
He half turned to stare at me.
‘I think it’s extremely unlikely they will release him,’ he said ‘If we don’t hear in another half-hour I propose calling the Police.’
‘That’s up to you,’ I said, ‘but as we’ve waited so long, I think we should wait until daylight. Even now any false move might be dangerous for him.’
‘I think he’s dead.’
I felt tired, and beyond making aimless small-talk.
‘Just what is it you dislike so much about Lee Dedrick, Mr. Marshland?’
He ignored this question, and stepped out on to the terrace. He remained out there for three or four minutes, then came in again and headed for the door.
I’d better see how my daughter is,’ he said, more to himself than to us. ‘This wait is very hard on her.’ At the door he paused, looked back at me. ‘A man who marries a woman for her money is always worthy of contempt, Mr. Malloy.’
He went out of the room, and we listened to his footsteps on the stairs.
Kerman made a grimace.
‘Did he marry her for her money?’ he asked in a whisper.
‘I don’t know.’ I jerked my thumb at the clock. ‘Five minutes overdue.’
‘Doesn’t look very healthy, does it?’
There’s nothing we can do except wait. I swung my legs up on the settee. ‘I like that girl. Maybe she is a little over-rich and probably spoilt, but she’s got a tender heart.’
Kerman grunted.
‘I like ’em hard and shiny,’ he said, and closed his eyes.
Minutes ticked by. We began to doze. We finally slept.
The first rays of the morning sun brought me upright with a start. I looked at the clock. It showed a quarter to seven. Kerman slept soundly. I heard no sound except the gentle beating of the surf on the low ridge of coral stone that made a natural harbour at the end of the garden.
I swung my legs off the settee and walked on to the terrace.
The two Chinese gardeners were at work, staring at the umbrella standard. The flamingoes were grouped around the lily pond, hunting up some breakfast On a balcony at the far end of the terrace, Serena Dedrick, still in her black slacks and her short fur coat, sat staring out to sea. There was a 1ost look on her white face: a look that told me no one had tele-phoned while we slept, and no one had sent him back.
I walked quietly into the lounge and left her alone with her misery.