James Chase - Just Another Sucker

I went out and walked down the passage to my office.

Standing at the head of the stairs, the only exit to the street, were a couple of detectives, talking together. They glanced at me casually and then away.

I went into my office and shut the door.

Were these two guarding the stairs? Making sure I wouldn’t bolt?

I sat down at my desk aware of a little spark of panic in my mind. Was I already trapped? Had Renick guessed I was involved in this mess?

I tried to work, but concentration was impossible. I paced up and down, smoking cigarettes, trying to think of a way to trap O’Reilly, but I just couldn’t think of one.

After an hour, I left the office and went into the washroom. The two detectives still stood at the head of the stairs.

On my return, the telephone bell rang.

‘Come in, will you?’ Renick said.

My nerves were now really on the jump. If it hadn’t been for those two guarding the stairs, I might even have bolted.

I braced myself and walked down the passage to Renick’s office. He was just coming out as I arrived.

‘Meadows wants us,’ he said and leading the way, he went to Meadows’s office.

Meadows was at work at his desk. He looked up as we came in.

‘Well? What’s cooking?’ he asked, reaching for a cigar. ‘What’s it all about, John?’

Renick sat down. I went over to an empty desk away from them and sat down.

‘I’m satisfied now, sir, the girl was never kidnapped,’ Renick said.

Meadows paused as he was about to bite off the end of his cigar and stared.

‘Never kidnapped!’

‘It was a faked kidnapping. She and this guy in the sports suit planned it together. It’s my guess he was after the money and persuaded her to help him get it. The only possible way to get it from her father was to pretend she had been kidnapped.’

Meadows blew out his cheeks. He looked stunned.

‘You’d better be sure about this, John.’

‘I’m sure enough,’ Renick said, and went on to tell Meadows about the new evidence that had come in about Ann Harcourt. ‘We got her fingerprints ten minutes ago. She was Odette Malroux — no mistake about that. We know she went to Los Angeles on her own and came back on her own. That means she did the trip of her own free will. She certainly wasn’t kidnapped.’

‘Well, I’ll be damned!’ Meadows muttered. ‘How did she get murdered?’

‘Her partner collected the ransom and these two agreed to meet somewhere. He probably wanted all the money, so to silence her, he knocked her on the head and strangled her.’

My hands were in fists and my nails dug into my palms as Renick talked.

‘Who is he? Have you got a line on him yet?’ Meadows asked.

‘I have several lines on him,’ Renick said quietly, ‘but not enough to book him. Doc tells me there was sand in the dead girl’s shoes — beach sand. The lab boys are trying to locate where the sand comes from. They think they can do it. It’s my bet Odette arranged to meet her killer at one of the beach centres along the coast.’

Meadows got to his feet and began to prowl around his office.

‘We’d better not release any of this to the Press, Barber,’ he said. ‘This could be dynamite.’

‘Yes,’ I said.

He looked at Renick.

‘You really think this girl tried to gyp her father out of five hundred grand?’

‘I think the killer talked her into it,’ Renick said. ‘He was probably her lover. She fell for his talk and then got herself murdered.’

I had to say something I just couldn’t sit there like a dummy.

‘If he collected the ransom,’ I said, hoping my voice was steadier than it sounded, ‘why didn’t he skip? He didn’t have to meet and kill her.’

Renick glanced at me, then away. He lit a cigarette.

‘Suppose he had skipped with the money? The girl might have told her father. The killer probably guessed she would be dangerous if he double-crossed her. It was safer to silence her.’

The telephone bell rang.

Renick answered it.

He listened for a moment, then said, ‘You have? That’s fine. You’re sure? Okay,’ and he hung up.

Turning to Meadows, he went on, ‘The lab boys say the sand in her shoes comes from East Beach. It is an artificial beach there and they are absolutely sure the sand comes from East Beach, and nowhere else.

There’s a bathing station there with cabins. That’s where they must have met. I’ll get down there now.’

He looked at me. ‘You’d better come with me, Harry.’

That’s just what I didn’t want to do. Bill Holden would recognise me. Then with a sudden prickle of fear, I remembered I hadn’t paid him the last week’s rent on the cabin.

‘I’d better get on with my work, John. I’m getting way behind,’ I said, aware my voice sounded breathless.

‘Never mind the routine stuff,’ Renick said curtly. ‘That can look after itself. I want you with me.’

‘And listen, Barber, no more information for the Press,’ Meadows said. ‘Let them know we’re still working on the case, of course, but that we’ve struck a slow patch. Start playing it down. If it gets out this girl faked her own kidnapping to get money for her lover from her father — phew! what a stink!’

I said I understood.

While he was talking, Renick was on the telephone, alerting his team.

‘Let’s go,’ he said, hanging up. To Meadows, he went on, ‘I’ll report to you, sir, as soon as I get back.’

As I walked behind Renick out of the office, I wondered if I could borrow money from him to pay Holden. I decided not to try. I couldn’t imagine he would have fifty dollars on him anyway. I just hoped that Holden wouldn’t mention that I hadn’t paid him. It wasn’t much of a hope, but there was nothing I could do about it.

As we reached the head of the stairs, I saw Renick give a quick signal to the two waiting detectives.

They followed us down the stairs to where two cars were waiting. Renick and I got in the back of one, the two detectives got in the front with the driver. The car shot away, followed by the second car with the technical men.

We reached East Beach around six o’clock. The beach was still crowded.

Renick told his men to remain in the cars. Nodding to me, he walked to the entrance of the bathing station. I plodded behind him, feeling the way a steer probably feels when going to be slaughtered.

Bill Holden was in his office. He looked up as Renick and I came in.

‘Why, hello, Mr. Barber,’ he said, getting to his feet. He looked inquiringly at Renick.

‘This is Lieutenant Renick, City Police, Bill,’ I said. ‘He wants to ask you a few questions.’

Holden looked startled.

‘Why, sure, Lieutenant. Go right ahead.’

Here it comes, I thought. This is something, if I can’t lie myself out of, that’ll sink me.

Renick said, ‘We’re trying to trace a girl: she’s around twenty, pretty, with red hair and wearing a blue and white cotton dress. She wore big sun goggles and ballet type shoes. Mean anything to you?’

Holden didn’t hesitate. He shook his head.

‘I’m sorry, Lieutenant, it’s no good asking me a thing like that. I see thousands of girls here during the season. To me, they’re like so many grains of sand. I never even see them.’

‘We have reason to believe this girl was here around midnight on Saturday. Were you here Saturday night?’

‘No. I went off duty at eight.’ Holden looked at me, ‘but you were here, weren’t you, Mr. Barber?’

Somehow I managed to look a lot calmer than I felt.

‘Not Saturday, Bill. I was at home.’

Renick was staring at me.

‘Well, then I guess I can’t help you, Lieutenant,’ Holden said.

‘What makes you think Mr. Barber was here on Saturday night?’ Renick asked in a deceptively mild voice.