James Chase - A Can of Worms

“Jones took her in the trunk of his car?”

She nodded.

That made sense. Lucia, posing as Nancy, must have alerted O’Flagherty by telephone that Jones was coming. There would be no problem at the barrier.

“Nancy and Lucia are identical twins?” I asked.

She made an impatient movement.

“They are like two peas in a pod. I caught a glimpse of Lucia. I wouldn’t have known the difference. Now, I’ll tell you something else. I heard Alphonso talking to that nigger about me. He said I could make trouble. As Russ’s ex I would want a share when they got their hands on Russ’s money. He told Jones to get rid of me: knock me on my head and dump me in the sea. My dear, sweet, boyfriend! Can you imagine?” She smiled, an icy, vicious smile. “So I fixed Alphonso before he fixed me.”

I stared at her.

“What’s that mean?”

“I knew Alphonso had had those two Indian kids murdered. So I found Joey and gave him one of Alphonso’s guns. All Joey wanted was a gun.” Again she smiled. “That kid did a real fixing job.”

“Jesus!” I said.

“Now, I’m leaving for Frisco. I have always known where that snake Alphonso kept his smuggling cache. I have it. I haven’t a care in the world.”

I pointed like a gun dog.

“How much did you get?”

“Plenty.” She gave a hard laugh. “That’s not your business. I’ve come here because those jerks are going to murder Nancy after she has been forced to sign a batch of cheques. They haven’t the know-how to forge her signature. When they have the signed cheques, she goes into the sea.”

I was scarcely listening. I was wondering how much loot she had filched from Diaz.

“Baby, I have a great idea,” I said, giving her my sexy smile. “How about us going away together? What’s wrong with us setting up a beautiful partnership?”

She gave me a look that would curdle milk.

“Did you hear what I said? They will kill that ninny as soon as they have forced her to sign a batch of cheques! Do you want her death on your conscience?”

“Look, baby, how much loot did you get from Diaz?” She swept out of the chair.

“Is that all you can think about — money?”

I blinked at her.

“What else is there to think about except a doll like you?”

“If I didn’t want to tangle with the Fuzz, I’d tell them myself. You won’t sleep with yourself if you let them kill that girl!”

“I don’t want to sleep with myself! I want to sleep with you, baby. How much did you get?”

She glared at me.

“I thought I had seen every creep in the world, but you take the Oscar.”

She stamped out, slamming the door.

I blew out my cheeks, then lit a cigarette. I listened to her car roar away.

Baby, I said to myself, you just can’t win. I sat for a while, being sorry for myself, then my mind switched to Nancy.

If you let them kill that girl.

Well, okay, I would have to do something, but I was not going to the cops. Then I thought of Lu Coldwell. He could handle this and keep me covered. The FBI always protected their informers.

I hunted up Coldwell’s home number and dialled. After a wait, Coldwell came on the line.

“Lu, this is Bart Anderson,” I said. “Come to my place, pronto! It’s an emergency.”

“For God’s sake!” Coldwell said crossly. “I was going to bed. What’s so urgent?”

“Not over the phone, Lu. Get your ass over here fast! It’s to do with an Italian,” and I hung up.

I looked at my watch. The time was 23.45. I called the Herschenheimer house. Carl answered.

“This is Bart,” I said. “I’ll be late: maybe an hour. Stick around until I arrive with a bottle of Scotch,” and I hung up before he began to squeal.

It took Coldwell twenty minutes to come ringing on my doorbell. I let him in.

“What’s all this?” he demanded.

I told him the information I was about to give him came from an informer. Before I talked, I wanted his guarantee I was kept under cover.

“I could lose my job, Lu. I came on this thing when I should have been working for the Agency. If you don’t give me your word to keep me covered, I’m not talking.”

“Pofferi?”

“Yes. I know where he is right now, but no cover, no talk.”

“You’re covered. Where is he?”

I waved him to a chair, then sitting down myself, I told him the story. I was careful to keep myself out of it, saying my informer had been the guy who had discovered Pofferi on the island. Watching Coldwell, as I talked, I could see he didn’t believe me, but he had said he would cover me, and when Coldwell said anything like that, I could rely on him.

When I had finished, he sat back and stared at me.

“You are sure about this?”

“I’m sure. Pofferi and his wife, Lucia, are in Hamel’s house right now. They have Nancy there. When the estate is settled, they will force Nancy to sign a batch of cheques, then they will murder her. They will then bleed the estate white and take off. They have Hamel’s yacht. It’s not far to Cuba. From there, they will move the money to Italy.”

He thought for some moments, then he nodded.

“I’ll get it organized. Don’t worry. I’ll keep you under cover. I’ll talk to Terrell. I’ll need some of his men to stake out the house until we are ready to move in.”

“You have all the time in the world,” I said. “They’ll stay still until the estate is settled. They couldn’t have a safer hideout.”

“Yeah. We’ll move in tomorrow.”

“Watch it, Lu. Those three are dangerous. You’ll have a shootout.”

He grinned wolfishly.

“That’ll save the expense of a trial.”

When he had gone, I went down to the garage and got into the Maser.

As I drove fast to Paradise Largo, I thought of Nancy Hamel. A bright idea came into my fertile mind. When she was free and inherited all those lovely millions, I could go to her, explain how I had saved her life, give her my respectful smile and hint she should reward me.

That, I thought, was the least she could do.

I sat up in the tree and looked down at the ranch house. There was a light behind the curtain windows of the living room. From time to time, a shadow passed: Pofferi, then Jones. The rest of the house was in darkness. There was no action, but I waited until the light went out and a light went on in two of the bedrooms. I waited until those lights went out, then I climbed down and walked to the cottage.

While I watched, I had been using my brains. I decided that my first idea about going to Nancy, after she had been rescued and claiming that I had saved her, and how about some financial reward, was hasty thinking. I reminded myself that I had already tried to put the squeeze on her. She would be hostile when the time came for me to give her my respectful smile.

Bart, baby, I said to myself, you’ll have to find a different approach. You need help to swing this. You need to give this a lot more thought.

I settled on the couch in the living room of the cottage, ate the beef sandwiches Jarvis had left me, and I worked at it until my brain began to creak. Around 02.15, I had a workable solution. I took a long look at this solution, decided it would hold together, patted myself on the back, then I went to sleep.

I woke as the sun came through the curtains. The time was 07.30. I roused myself, took a shower, shaved, dressed, then stepped out into the warm air, looking hopefully for Jarvis to bring breakfast.

When he did arrive, I was looking like an alert guard who had been on the job throughout the night.

I asked after the old nut.

“He is still very upset, Mr. Anderson,” Jarvis said as he placed the loaded tray on the table. “I am keeping him under sedation.”