James Chase - Just Another Sucker

The inter-com buzzed at this moment. I flicked down the switch.

‘I want you,’ Meadows bawled. ‘Come on in.’

‘His Master’s Voice,’ Cowley said, grinning.

I got to my feet.

‘See you, Tim,’ I said. ‘Anything I can do, just let me know.’

Glad to escape from his quizzing eyes, I left the office at a run.

By midday, the organised search for Odette Malroux had swung into its stride and it was on a scale that had me scared. Every road out of town was blocked. Army personnel from a nearby camp had been called in to help. More than a thousand men, police and troops, were allotted territory in the needle-in-a-haystack hunt for the missing girl. Three helicopters buzzed over Palm Bay and Palm City with a direct radio link to Meadow’s headquarters.

Meadows told the newspaper men who still hung around, waiting hopefully. ‘We’re playing a hunch that she’s in the district. We reckon she’s dead, but we could be wrong. If she’s dead, then it’s my guess her body has been dumped somewhere and we are going to find it. If she’s still alive, then she could be hidden somewhere close and we are going to find her. Every house, every apartment and farm will be checked. We have plenty of men. It’ll take time, but if she’s within fifty miles of this office, sooner or later we’ll find her.’

Later, when the newspaper men had gone, Renick came in. He had been down to the hospital to talk again to Walter Kerby in the hope Kerby had remembered now something that would give a clue to the kidnapper.

Meadows looked searchingly at him.

‘Anything?’

‘No. At least he is sure the man was tall and broad-shouldered. It doesn’t help much, but it is something. We know we are looking for a tall, broad-shouldered man who smokes Luckies, who owns a pretty wackey car, and weighs around one hundred and eighty pounds.’

‘How did you get his weight?’ Meadows asked.

‘From the heel print. Barty experimented. The impression came right when one of his men weighing one hundred and eighty-five pounds trod down on the soil.’

Meadows looked pleased.

‘A little more information like that, and we’ll be able to put out a composite picture.’

I listened to all this with a tension that made my muscles ache.

Then the door jerked open and Police Captain Reiger came in. His broad fleshy face was alight with excitement.

‘We’ve gotta break!’ he said. ‘A guy living out at West Beach has reported an accident. His name is Herbert Carey. He owns a drug store at West Beach. Last night, he and his wife were visiting relatives at Lone Bay. He parked his car at Lone Bay parking lot. As he was leaving the parking lot a T.R.3 came into the lot and Carey collided with it.’

While he was talking, I went over to the window and lit a cigarette. I kept my back turned to the room. I knew I had lost colour. I was sure they would see something wrong if they got a look at my face.

‘It was the Malroux girl’s car. Carey took the number. He admits the accident was his fault. And listen — a man was driving!’ As Reiger talked in his hard cop voice, every word he said stabbed into me.

‘This guy must have been one of the kidnappers. Although it was Carey’s fault, the guy wouldn’t stop.

He drove to the end of the lot, parked the car and ran off.’

Meadows demanded, ‘Why the hell didn’t Carey report the accident right away?’

‘He does what his wife tells him. It was his fault, and she wouldn’t let him admit it. He only made up his mind this morning to report it.’

Renick said, ‘I want to talk to him.’

‘He’s on his way down now. I sent a squad car to pick him up. He’ll be here any minute.’

‘Did he get a good look at this guy?’

‘I think so. The park was dark, but at least he talked to him.’

By now I had control of my nerves. I didn’t dare meet Carey. I came away from the window.

‘I guess I’ll get back to my desk. I’ve a whale of a lot of work to do,’ I said and made for the door.

‘Hey!’ Renick said. ‘Stick around. I want you to hear what this guy says.’

Would Carey recognise me? Would he walk into this office, stare at me and then say, ‘This is the man!’

I went over to an empty desk and sat down. The next twenty minutes were the worst minutes I have ever lived through.

Reiger, who had been studying the wall map, said suddenly, ‘You know that old silver mine off Highway Seven? Could be a place to dump a body. I’d better check it,’ and he picked up the telephone receiver and began to give orders.

These guys are professionals, I thought. Where was I going to hide Odette’s body? With road blocks in operation, with over a thousand men already in action, searching, checking house after house, apartment after apartment, how was I going to get rid of the body?

While we waited, the telephone bell kept ringing. Every five minutes or so we got a report of progress. These guys were really working. Already a quarter of the map had been checked. I saw the search was drawing closer to my street. Would they think to check the garage? Would they think to check the car?

There came a sudden knock on the door and in came Herbert Carey and his wife.

They made an odd looking couple. She towered above him. His bald head glistened with sweat and he was twisting his hat nervously as he followed his wife in. Looking at him, not having seen his face in the darkness of the car park, I looked curiously at him. He was one of those weak nondescript characters who always got imposed upon, and who live in nervous bewilderment, never quite sure if he is doing the right thing at the wrong moment or the wrong thing at the right moment.

The woman was big and blowsy with small, hard eyes and an aggressive chin. She was the boss.

Anyone could see that. She sailed in as if she owned the place and selecting Meadows as her target, she went into the attack.

The accident, she declared, was not her husband’s fault. The fact the man had run away proved it.

What was the idea of bringing them down here? They had their store to look after. Did Meadows imagine an eighteen-year-old chit of a girl could handle the store while they wasted time with the police, and so on and so on with Meadows trying to stem the flood.

I sat there, frozen with panic while I stared at Carey.

Maybe that was the wrong thing to have done. My concentrated stare attracted his attention and he turned suddenly and looked at me.

I felt my heart contract as I saw him stiffen. He looked away, then looked again at me. Our eyes met.

I had a horrible feeling that he recognised me. For a long moment we stared at each other, then he turned away, hunching his shoulders, back into his role of bewilderment.

Meadows was explaining to the woman about the kidnapping and she was quietening down.

‘I’m not interested in the accident,’ he told her. ‘I want a description of this man.’ He side-stepped her and went over to Carey. ‘You talked to him?’

The little man nodded nervously.

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Tell me what he was like.’

Carey looked at his wife, then back at Meadows. He dropped his hat, picked it up, flushing.

‘Well, he was a big fellow, sir. It was dark. I didn’t get a good look at him.’

‘Big and broad?’

‘That’s right.’

‘I wouldn’t say that,’ Mrs. Carey said. ‘He was broad all right, but he wasn’t tall. He was like you,’ and she pointed at Meadows.

He scowled at her.

‘I’m talking to your husband,’ he said. ‘I’ll talk to you later.’

‘My husband never notices anything,’ the woman said. ‘It’s no good asking him. His brother’s the same. You can no more rely on anything my husband says than you can rely on anything his brother says. I should know. I’ve been married to him now for twenty-six years.’