James Chase - Just Another Sucker

The fear, the cold flat tone in her voice shook me.

‘I’ll be right over,’ I said and hung up. ‘Nina wants me to have lunch with her. Something’s come up.

One of the usual domestic things,’ I said. ‘I’ll be back by two o’clock.’

‘Sure, go ahead,’ Renick said. He was reading a file and didn’t even look up. ‘Take a car, Harry. I want you back here at two o’clock.’

As soon as I left his office, I ran down the passage and down the stairs. I got in a police car and drove home fast. I knew something had happened. I couldn’t imagine what, but I knew from the tone of her voice it was bad.

I parked the car outside the bungalow and walked fast up the path, took out my key and pushed open the front door.

‘Nina?’

‘I’m here, Harry,’ she said from the lounge.

I crossed the hall, pushed open the lounge door and entered. Then I stopped short.

Nina sat in a chair, facing me. She looked small and scared and very white.

Seated near her, his legs crossed was O’Reilly. He had changed out of his chauffeur’s uniform and he had on a sports shirt and bottle green slacks. He was picking his teeth with a match splinter and he grinned at me as our eyes met.

In his right hand, he held a .38 police automatic. Its blunt blue nose was pointing at me.

‘Come on in, buster, and join the party,’ O’Reilly said. ‘Your wife doesn’t seem to appreciate my company.’

I moved into the room and over to Nina. I was quickly over the shock of finding this man in my home, and a cold fury was taking the place of my first pang of fear.

‘You’d better get out before I throw you out,’ I said.

He grinned, showing even white teeth.

‘Look, buster,’ he said, ‘you may be a good guy in your own class, but you’re not in my class. I could take two like you and think nothing of it.’

Nina put her hand on my arm. Her fingers telegraphed a warning for caution.

‘What do you want?’ I demanded.

‘What do you think? Those tapes and I’m going to have them!’

‘So you did kill her!’

He rubbed the side of his jaw as his grin widened.

‘Did I? The evidence shows you are the guy who did it. Brother! What a sucker you are! You talk too much. If you had kept your trap shut about those tapes, Rhea and me would have imagined we were sitting pretty, but you had to sound off. Those tapes put Rhea out on a limb. They don’t bother me, but she and I are working together on this thing, so I promised her I’d get the tapes.’

‘Too bad,’ I said. ‘You’re not getting them. If anyone gets them it’ll be Renick.’

He glanced at the gun in his hand and then at me.

‘Suppose I aim this rod at your wife’s left leg,’ he said. ‘Suppose I pull the trigger? I could do it if you don’t hand over the tapes.’

Nina said quietly, ‘Don’t listen to him. Harry. I’m not frightened of him.’

I said, ‘You fire that gun, and we’ll have at least ten people at the door before you can get away. That kind of cheap bluff won’t work. Now get out!’

He leaned back in his chair and laughed.

‘Well, it was worth a try,’ he said. ‘You’re right. I wouldn’t shoot either of you.’ He slid the gun into his hip pocket. ‘Okay, let’s get down to business. I want the tapes and you’re going to hand them over to me. Where are they?’

‘In my bank where you can’t get at them’

‘Come on, sucker. We’ll go to the bank and you’ll hand them over. Let’s go.’

‘You’re not having them! That’s final. Now get out!’

He stared at me for a long moment.

‘Well, okay, if that’s the way it has to be,’ he said, not moving. ‘Now I’ll convince you you’re going to part with them. There are millions of dollars involved in this thing. Those tapes could unstick a plan I’ve really worked at, and that’s not going to happen. I don’t give a damn what happens so long as this plan of mine sticks. I have all the money I need to back up the right kind of action to get the tapes. Now, I’ll show you something.’ He took from his pocket a small bottle of blue glass. He removed the cork and very gently poured liquid from the bottle onto the occasional table at his side. The liquid seemed alive. It hissed as it made a tiny puddle in the middle of the table. I could see it stripping off the varnish and stain. ‘This is sulphuric acid,’ he went on. ‘It’s the stuff you throw in people’s faces who don’t co-operate.’ His expression suddenly turned vicious as he stared at me. ‘I know a mob who would arrange to throw this stuff at your wife, Barber, for less than a hundred bucks. They are a tough mob. Don’t kid yourself you could protect her. They would bust in here when you weren’t expecting them and give it to her and take care of you. I either get the tapes right now or within twelve hours your wife will be blind and her flesh will be burned off her face. What’s it to be?’

I felt Nina’s fingers gripping my arm. We both stared at the bubbling, hissing liquid on the table. I looked at O’Reilly. The expression in those small grey eyes convinced me he wasn’t bluffing. He would do this thing. It wasn’t possible for me to protect Nina.

I was licked, and I knew it.

I stood up.

‘Okay, let’s go.’

Nina caught hold of my arm.

‘No! You’re not to! He wouldn’t dare do it! Harry, please…’

I shook her off.

‘This is my mess — not yours.’

I went to the door while she sat motionless, wide-eyed, staring at me.

O’Reilly got to his feet.

‘He’s right, baby. You keep quiet. Watch out how you clear up that mess. You don’t want to burn your pretty hands.’

‘Harry!’ Nina exclaimed, jumping up. ‘Don’t do it! Don’t let him have them!’

I went out of the bungalow and down to the car with O’Reilly following me. He got in the car beside me.

‘Tough luck, sucker,’ he said, ‘but you should keep your trap shut. Now you’re right on your own.

How’s Renick getting on? Hasn’t he got onto you yet?’

‘Not yet.’ I pulled away from the kerb. I hated this man with a cold vicious fury that almost stifled me. I realised too late how stupid I had been to have taunted Rhea with the threat of the tapes. Once I had parted with them, as O’Reilly had said, I was on my own. It would be my word against hers, and she could afford to hire the best attorney in the country to make mincemeat of my story.

‘When you’re picked up, sucker,’ O’Reilly said, ‘don’t try to involve Rhea nor me. We both have cast iron alibis.’

‘That’s nice for you,’ I said.

We looked at each other. There was a puzzled expression in his eyes.

‘You’re a pretty cool punk considering the jam you’re in,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think you had so much nerve.’

‘I walked into this mess,’ I said, ‘and I’m prepared to take what is coming to me. Everything looks perfect right now, but you’re going to come unstuck because you don’t know a damn thing about women.’

That hit him. He twisted around to stare at me.

‘What the hell do you mean?’

‘You’ll find out. I’ve been a newspaper man for years. I’ve had plenty of experience with show girls.

I know their mentality. This I do know: Rhea Malroux isn’t planning to spend the rest of her days with an Irish roughneck. You’re not kidding yourself you’re anything better than an Irish ex-cop with as much polish as a sheet of sandpaper, are you? When Malroux dies and she comes into the money, she’ll suddenly lose interest in you. You’ll find you’ll be eased out. She’ll know how to do it. You won’t realise what’s happening until you are just another ex-cop in search of another job.’