James Chase - Just Another Sucker

I looked into the slate grey eyes. The juvenile pose didn’t kid me for a moment. Those eyes were a complete give away — something she couldn’t conceal. They were the unhappy, puzzled eyes of a girl who wasn’t sure of herself, knew she was going the wrong way, and not strong enough to do anything about it.

‘I want to hear this direct from you,’ I said. ‘Are you a party to this kidnapping idea?’

The girl looked swiftly at Rhea and then at me.

‘A party to it?’ She giggled. ‘Isn’t he a doll, darling Rhea? Yes, of course, I’m a party to it. Darling Rhea and me thought it up between us. It’s a great idea, isn’t it?’

‘Is it?’ I stared at her. ‘Your father mightn’t think so.’

‘That’s no concern of yours,’ Rhea snapped. ‘Now, if you are satisfied, perhaps we can discuss this thing.’

‘We can talk about it,’ I said. ‘When does it happen?’

‘As soon as it can be arranged — the day after tomorrow perhaps,’ Rhea said.

‘Miss Malroux disappears — where is she disappearing to?’

‘Call me Odette,’ the girl said, and she pushed her chest out at me. ‘All my friends do…’

Ignoring her, Rhea said, ‘There is a quiet, small hotel at Carmel. She can go there. It will only be for three or four days.’

‘How will she get there?’

Rhea moved impatiently.

‘She has a car.’

‘It’s a honey,’ Odette told me. ‘A T.R.3. It goes like the wind…’

‘You can’t drive a car like that without being recognised,’ I said. ‘You must be a familiar figure to people living here.’

She looked a little startled as she said, ‘I suppose I am.’

I looked across at Rhea.

‘Your idea, of course, is that only you, your stepdaughter and your husband are to know about this kidnapping?’

She frowned at me.

‘Of course.’

‘Is it all that simple for you to disappear?’ I said to Odette. ‘Haven’t you any friends? How about the servants?’

She lifted her slim shoulders.

‘I’m always going away.’

I looked at Rhea.

‘If I were in your husband’s place and someone telephoned me that my daughter had been kidnapped and to get her back I had to pay out five hundred thousand dollars, I wouldn’t be in too great a hurry to pay up. The way you plan it, there is no atmosphere. If I were your husband I might even think it was a hoax.’ I stubbed out my cigarette, then went on, ‘And I would call the police.’

‘A lot depends on how convincing you are when you telephone him,’ Rhea said. ‘That’s what I’m paying you for.’

‘I’ll be convincing,’ I said, ‘but suppose he does call in the police? What are you going to do? Tell him it’s a joke? Admit you two were just having a bit of fun or will you say nothing and hope I’ll get the money and the police won’t find out the truth?’

‘I keep telling you…’ she began angrily.

‘I know what you tell me,’ I said, ‘but I don’t have to believe you. If the police come into this, will you call it off or will you still go ahead?’

‘We go ahead,’ Odette said. ‘We must have the money!’

There was a sudden hard note in her voice that made me look sharply at her. Her face had a bleak expression and she wasn’t looking at me, she was staring at Rhea.

‘Yes,’ Rhea said, ‘we must have the money, but for the hundredth time the police won’t come into it!’

‘It will be a lot safer to assume they will,’ I said. ‘Okay, it is possible your husband will hand over the ransom, but when he gets his daughter back, he is practically certain to tell the police and they will investigate. A man who has made as much money as your husband isn’t a fool. How do you know he won’t arrange to have the money marked? What use would it be to you if you didn’t dare spend it?’

‘I’ll see he doesn’t do that,’ Rhea said. ‘That is something we don’t have to worry about.’

‘Is it? I’d like to share your confidence.’

‘My husband is very ill,’ Rhea said, her voice hard and bleak. ‘He does what I tell him to.’

I felt a chill crawl up my spine as I looked from her to Odette. Both of them were staring at me. The girl had lost her ‘little-girl’ pose. She seemed suddenly as hard and as ruthless as the older woman.

‘I’m going to assume your husband will contact the police,’ I said. ‘If you don’t like the way I’ve planned this thing, say so and I’ll quit.’

Rhea’s hands were fists in her lap. Odette was nibbling at her thumbnail: her eyes intent.

I spoke directly to her.

‘Today is Tuesday. We can be ready by Saturday. I want you to arrange to go to a movie with a girl friend on Saturday evening. Can you fix that?’

I could see the surprise in her eyes as she nodded.

‘I want you to have dinner at home and I want you to tell your father where you are going. I want you to wear something distinctive so you will be noticed and recognised when you go out. You will arrange to meet your friend at eight o’clock, but you won’t meet her. You will drive to the Pirates’ Cabin. It’s a small bar and restaurant about a couple of miles from here. Maybe you know it?’

Again she nodded.

‘You will drive into the parking lot and you’ll go into the bar for a drink. At that time the place will be crowded. I don’t imagine you’re likely to run into any of your friends there. What do you think?’

‘Not a chance,’ she said. ‘It’s not the sort of place my friends would go to.’

‘That’s the way I figured it. I want you to be noticed. Upset your drink or do something to attract attention in an accidental way. You will leave after five minutes. Be careful not to get involved with anyone. I’ll have my car in the parking lot. Make sure no one is watching you, then get into my car.

There will be a change of clothes in the car and a red wig. You’ll put on the clothes and the wig.

‘While you are changing, I will take your car and drive it to Lone Bay parking lot. You’ll follow me.

I’ll leave your car in the parking lot. The chances are it won’t be spotted until we need it again.

‘You’ll pick me up and I’ll drive you to the airport. I’ll have a reservation for you to Los Angeles.

You will go to a hotel where there will be a reservation for you. You will tell the clerk you aren’t well.

You’ll stay in your room, having all your meals sent up until I tell you to come back. I’ll keep in touch with you by telephone. Do you follow all that?’

She nodded. She had stopped nibbling at her thumb. She looked intrigued.

‘All this is entirely unnecessary,’ Rhea said. ‘If she goes to the hotel at Carmel…’

‘Do you want this money or don’t you?’ I broke in.

‘Must I repeat every statement I make to you?’ she said angrily. ‘I have said I want it!’

‘Then you do it my way or you won’t get it!’

‘I think he’s an absolute doll,’ Odette said. ‘I’ll do whatever you say, Harry… I may call you Harry?’

‘You can call me what you like so long as you do what I tell you,’ I said, then to Rhea, I went on,

‘When I’ve seen Odette off on the plane, I will telephone your husband. He is a millionaire. What chance have I got to get to him?’

‘His secretary will answer,’ Rhea said. ‘You tell him you want to talk to my husband about his daughter, his secretary will ask him if he wants to speak to you. I will be there. I’ll see my husband does speak to you.’

‘It will be late. I’m hoping Odette’s girl friend will have telephoned, asking where she has got to.’ I looked at Odette. ‘Do you think she will telephone?’

‘Of course she will.’

‘I want her to. It will create the right atmosphere. You must be missing before I telephone.’