James Chase - Just Another Sucker

I knew sooner or later the axe would fall, but when I saw him my blood ran cold.

He came straight up to me.

‘Mr. Barber?’

‘That’s right.’

‘You’re wanted at headquarters. We have a car right here.’

‘Why, sure,’ I said, and as we walked together from the store to the waiting car, I thought of Nina.

The detective and I got in the back of the car. The other detective who had been waiting by the car, slid under the driving wheel.

‘What’s it all about?’ I asked as the car shot away. ‘Has something come up?’

‘I wouldn’t know,’ the detective said in a bored flat voice. ‘They just told me to fetch you, and I’m fetching you.’

There was nothing now I could do. I had played a King and now everything depended on whether O’Reilly held the Ace or only the Queen. If he held the Ace, I was sunk.

Renick was working at his desk. The one light in the room came from his green shaded lamp. It made a pool of hard light on his blotter.

The two detectives shepherded me into the office as if they were handling something fragile, then as soon as I was safely delivered, they stepped back into the passage and closed the door.

I walked to a chair and sat down, glad of the heavy shadows in the room.

Renick was smoking. He tossed his pack of cigarettes and his lighter into my lap. There was a short silence as I lit a cigarette.

‘What’s up?’ I asked as I put the lighter and the cigarettes on the desk. ‘I was just going to bed,’

‘Let’s cut out the bluff, Harry,’ he said quietly. ‘You’re in bad trouble and you must know it.’

‘Am I under arrest?’

‘Not yet. I thought I’d have a talk with you first. This is off the record. I could lose my job handling it this way, but I’ve known you, come rain, come sunshine for the past twenty years. You and Nina are real people to me so I’m giving you a break. I want you to tell me the truth. If you’re in the kind of trouble I think you are, I’m handing you over to Reiger. I’m not going to work on you. Let’s have the truth and it’s strictly off the record: did you kill Odette Malroux?’

I looked directly at him.

‘No, but I don’t expect you to believe me.’

‘There are no microphones in this office, and no witnesses. I’m asking you, not as a police officer, but as your friend.’

‘The answer is still the same: I didn’t kill her.’

He leaned forward to crush out his cigarette. The white light from the desk lamp lit up his face. He looked as if he hadn’t had any sleep for a couple of days.

‘Well, at least that’s something,’ he said. ‘You’re mixed up in this business, aren’t you?’

‘I certainly am. I’m in such a jam, even having you as a friend, isn’t going to do me any good.’

He lit another cigarette.

‘Suppose you tell me the whole story.’

‘Sure — how did you get on to me, John?’

‘Tim Cowley told me he had seen you at the bus stop on the night of the murder with a redhead, wearing a blue and white dress. I kept checking on you, and everything I turned up pointed to you.’

‘I thought maybe Cowley would give me away,’ I said wearily. ‘I was nuts to have got myself mixed up with these two women, but I wanted the money. They offered me fifty thousand dollars for what looked a pretty simple job. I wanted that money to get out of town and make a fresh start.’

‘Let’s have the story.’

So I told him. I told him everything except that Nina had helped me move Odette’s body. I kept her out of it.

‘I thought I was playing safe by having those tapes,’ I concluded, ‘but O’Reilly beat me to it. Now I have nothing — not one thing to support my story.’

All the time I had been talking, Renick had sat motionless, staring at me. Now he drew in a long, slow breath.

‘Well — for the love of Mike! What a story!’ he exclaimed. ‘There’s one thing that doesn’t seem to add up — how was it Odette co-operated in this kidnapping plan?’

‘Yes, that had me guessing, but I’ve thought about it and it’s not all that hard to figure out. It’s my guess she fell for O’Reilly. He probably made a terrific play at her. She must have known her father wouldn’t let her marry the guy. She wanted money to hold O’Reilly. What she didn’t realise was that he had fallen for Rhea. The two of them planned to lead the girl on. One of the two suggested the kidnapping plan — the only possible hope for Odette to lay her hands on a substantial sum of money. She fell for it. The other two used the faked kidnapping to murder her and to make me the fall guy. It could have happened that way.’

‘Yes.’ Renick brooded for some moments. ‘But all this doesn’t help you, Harry. We’ve no proof your story is true. Meadows wouldn’t touch it.’

‘I know.’ I looked at my watch. The time was fifteen minutes after ten. ‘This is where you can help me. I’ve set a trap for O’Reilly. There’s a chance he’ll lead me to where he’s hidden the money. I want you to come with me. It’s my one chance of licking this thing. I must have police witnesses.’

Renick hesitated.

‘I can’t imagine O’Reilly leading you to where he’s hidden the ransom. What makes you think he will?’

‘It’s a gamble, but there’s no other way out for me. I’m not going to try to get away, John. I just want your help. If this trick of mine fails, then I’m sunk.’

‘Well, all right, but I warn you, Harry, I’ve got to report this and it’s my bet Meadows will have you arrested. I’ve kept it from him up to now, but he’s got to be told.’

‘Give me an hour. If I can’t swing it by then, then I’ll take what’s coming to me.’

‘Well, okay.’

‘Can I telephone Nina? She’ll be wondering where I am.’ He waved to the telephone.

I called Nina. I told her I was with Renick and said I was going after O’Reilly.

‘Keep your fingers crossed for me,’ I said, ‘and don’t worry.’ I hung up. To Renick, I said, ‘Let’s go.’

‘Go where?’

‘Malroux’s place.’

Renick made for the door and I followed him.

The two detectives waiting outside looked inquiringly at Renick.

‘I want them along too,’ I said.

The four of us walked down to the police car. During the drive out to Malroux’s place no one spoke.

When we reached the gates, I said, ‘We’ll walk up. I don’t want him to know we’re here.’

We reached the house at ten minutes to eleven. The lights were on in three of the ground floor rooms.

It was a hot night and all the french windows stood open.

‘I’ll go first,’ I said, ‘then you follow on.’

Moving silently, I mounted the steps leading to the terrace. Then keeping close to the wall, I walked to the open french windows and cautiously peered in.

They were there.

O’Reilly in a sports shirt and slacks, was sprawling in a lounging chair, a highball in his hand. Rhea was lying on the settee. She was smoking and she looked far from relaxed.

Renick joined me silently. The two detectives hovered in the shadows behind us.

O’Reilly was saying, ‘He’s bluffing. You’ll see. I bet you it’s so much hot air.’

‘It’s nearly eleven. Turn it on.’

Their voices came clearly to us.

O’Reilly got out of the chair and turned on the big TV set that stood in a corner. He returned to his chair and drank half the highball at a swallow.

There was a gangster film showing. Two men, guns in hand, were stalking each other in the half dark.

Rhea swung her long, slim legs off the settee and stared at the screen. The two of them sat there, waiting.

At eleven o’clock, the picture faded and Fred Hickson appeared on the screen.