James Chase - Just Another Sucker

‘Let’s go,’ I said, sitting down. ‘There’s a lot to do and we haven’t much time.’

I watched her walk over to the settee and sit down. Her movements were provocative, and I found myself watching her a little too intently. She drew up her legs under her, adjusted her skirts and then looked inquiringly at me. That look made me uneasy. This girl knew her way around. She knew too she was making an impression on me.

‘I think Rhea was very clever to trap you into helping us,’ she said. ‘But you could be even more clever than she is.’

I stiffened.

‘She didn’t trap me into anything — what do you mean?’

‘Oh, but she did. She had been watching you for days, knocking back whisky in that bar. She had picked on you to help us as soon as she had read you had come out of jail. It was her idea to plant her handbag in the telephone booth. She was sure you would take her money. I said you wouldn’t. We bet on it. I lost ten dollars.’

I sat there staring at her, feeling the blood burning my face.

‘I was drunk,’ I said.

She shrugged her shoulders.

‘I’m sure you were. I’m just telling you this so you can be on your guard. Rhea is a snake: don’t trust her further than you can throw her.’

‘Just why do you want all this money?’

She wrinkled her nose at me.

‘That’s not your business. Now tell me, what am I to do? Have you got a story ready for me?’

I stared at her for a long moment, trying to collect my thoughts. This news that Rhea had planted her bag shook me. I told myself I would have to watch her.

I said, ‘Have you fixed the date for Saturday?’

‘Yes. My friend, Mauvis Sheen, and I are going to a movie at the Capital. I’ve arranged to meet her outside at nine.’

‘Have you a boy friend you go around with from time to time? I don’t mean a regular one. I mean someone you see only now and then?’

She looked puzzled.

‘Well, yes. There are a number of them.’

‘One will do — give me a name.’

‘Well, there’s Jerry Williams.’

‘Does he ever telephone you at home?’

‘Yes.’

‘Who answers the telephone when anyone calls?’

‘Sabin — he’s the butler.’

‘Would he know Williams’s voice?’

‘I don’t think so. Jerry hasn’t called me now for a couple of months.’

‘What I’m getting at is this: you will tell your father you are going to the movies with your girl friend.

After dinner, around eighty-forty-five, I’ll telephone and ask for you. I’ll tell your butler it is Jerry Williams calling. I’m doing this entirely to take care of the police in case they come into it. Speaking as Williams, I will tell you that I have met your girl friend and we, with some other kids, are going to have a night out at the Pirates’ Cabin. We want you to join us. You’ll be surprised, but you’ll agree, but you won’t tell anyone where you are going because you will know your father will disapprove of you going to such a joint. You’ll arrive there, you won’t find your friends, and you’ll leave. As you are crossing the dark car park, a rug will be thrown over your head and you will be bundled into a car. Do you follow all this?’

She nodded.

‘My goodness! You are taking this seriously, aren’t you?’

‘I’m taking it seriously because it happens to be serious,’ I said. ‘The police, if they come into it, will check with Williams, but he’ll swear he didn’t telephone you, and they’ll realise it was a trick by the kidnappers to get you to the Pirates’ Cabin. They’ll wonder why you didn’t recognise Williams’s voice.

You’ll say the connection was bad, there was a lot of background noises of music and you never doubted it was Williams talking. That’s the explanation why you went to the Pirates’ Cabin. Okay?’

‘You don’t really think the police will come into it?’

She was nibbling at her thumbnail while she stared at me.

‘I don’t know. Your stepmother said they won’t, but I am going to be prepared. Now concentrate. I’m giving you the story you may have to tell the police. You are now in a car with the rug over you and you are held down by threatening hands. A man, speaking with an Italian accent, warns you if you make a sound, you’ll get hurt. You gather that there are three men in the car. I’ve written down a conversation you overhear. You’ll have to learn it by heart.

‘The car makes a number of turns which leads you to believe you are off the main roads. Finally, after two hours driving, the car stops. You hear a dog barking. You hear the sound of a gate being opened.

The car drives forward and stops again. You must remember all these details. If the Federal Bureau come in on this, they’ll want these details. Many a time they have caught kidnappers because the victim has heard a dog bark or has heard the noise a bucket makes going down into a well — stuff like that, and they’ll probe your memory, so you’ve got to be ready for them.’

Her eyes were very intent as she nodded.

‘I see now why you wanted me here tonight,’ she said. ‘Even if the police don’t come into this, Daddy will ask questions. He is very shrewd. He will ask just those kind of questions.’

‘Yes. You’ll be supposed to be in this place for three days and nights. You’ll be locked in a room. If the police come into this, they’ll be certain to ask you to make a plan of the room and you must be able to do it without hesitation. During the time you’re supposed to be in this room, you will hear the dog barking, you will hear the sound of chickens and cows. You’ll decide this is a rundown farmhouse.

You’ll only see one of the kidnappers and a woman who will take charge of you. I’ve written down a description of both these people, and you’ve got to memorise it. If the police come into it, watch out you stick to your story. Don’t let them trap you into mistakes.’

She was interested and very tense.

‘I understand.’

‘There is a toilet just outside the room you are in. This is just the kind of trap question they might spring on you, and you must be prepared for it. You’re allowed to go there when you want. The woman takes you. I have another plan to show you the part of the house you will see when you go to the toilet.

It’s not much: a short passage and three doors that are shut. The toilet has a cracked basin and a string instead of a chain for the flush. Remember these details. They’ll help to make your story convincing.

I’ve written down all the meals you are supposed to eat during the three days you are in this farmhouse.

You must memorise them too. Make no mistake about it, the Federal Agents will really turn you inside out if they come into this, and you’ve got to be ready for them.’

She touched her lips with the tip of her tongue.

‘You’re beginning to make me feel as if I’m really going to be kidnapped,’ she said.

‘That’s the way you’ve got to feel,’ I told her. ‘I’ve drafted a letter you must write which I will mail to your father. You’d better do it now.’

I got up and went over to the briefcase I had brought with me. Before touching the sheets of cheap notepaper I had bought at a store, I put on a pair of gloves.

She came over to the table and sat down. I stood over her and watched her copy out the letter and finally address the envelope. I made her fold the letter and put it into the envelope and then put the envelope into my briefcase.

I then handed her the sheets of paper containing all the details I had prepared for her.

‘Take this away and really memorise it,’ I told her. ‘Come here at nine o’clock the night after this, and I’ll check you, then we’re ready to go.’