Quintin Jardine - Alarm Call

‘What did you do with the diamonds?’

‘They’re in a safe deposit box in Los Angeles.’

‘And the money? It never was out of your control, was it?’

She laughed at me. ‘Oh, come on, Oz, of course it wasn’t. You don’t think I’d be that bloody stupid, do you?’

‘So what’s in it for your partner?’

‘One third.’

‘One third of what?’

‘You’ll find out.’ I was sure that I would, and even in my still slightly dazed condition, I could guess how.

‘Why not an even split?’

She gazed at me as if I was simple. ‘Because it was all my idea, my brainchild. I even put up the expenses. One third’s quite generous, all things considered.’

‘And all of it done just to get even with me? That’s what it was all about?’

‘You and that bitch Susie. You don’t think I ever forgave her either, do you?’

‘But why wait so long?’

‘I wanted you to be really big-time, so that when I did get even it would hurt all the more. . as it’s going to. When I saw how well Red Leather had done, I knew it was time. You’re a big star now.’

‘Kind of you to say so, but that’s not what I meant. Why drag me all across America?’

‘To be truthful …’

‘That’ll be a novelty for you.’

‘Very funny. . We were going to do it that first night in Minneapolis, but when you signed up for Las Vegas, I decided to spin it out for a while. I was hoping I wouldn’t need the drug to set you up. I gave you all the inducements I could, but no, Oz, you really have gone straight, haven’t you?’

‘So what made you pick today?’

‘I asked the concierge if she knew where you’d gone, and she told me. I knew it wasn’t to any film set, because I followed you downstairs this morning and saw you get into a car with Hawkins Air on the side.’

‘So you knew where the real Paul was?’

‘Oh, yes.’

Until then, I’d been fascinated; for the first time I was repelled. ‘In that case, setting his mother up like that was pretty cruel.’ I was tired of her, and I’d heard almost enough. ‘What makes you think we haven’t caught your partner, the phoney Paul?’ I asked.

‘If you had, you wouldn’t be in here talking to me like this, would you?’

‘In that case, are you going to save me some time by telling me who he is?’

‘Why the hell should I?’ she retorted, her eyes spitting fire at me now, not lust. ‘This isn’t going to make any difference, you know. You’re done, Oz. You just don’t know how badly yet.’

My wicked side smiled. ‘Don’t underrate yourself, baby. I thought I was pretty spectacularly done, actually.’ I closed the wardrobe door on her and went back to the boys.

‘What’s happened?’ Everett asked. He was worried, and although he’s a good friend, I knew it wasn’t just my welfare that was on his mind. He had a lot of money sunk in the Serious Impact project, and I was an integral part of it.

‘Remember all that stuff I told you, about Prim’s problem?’ I told him. ‘It’s all a front; she fooled me every step of the way. I shouldn’t be in your movie, she should. What a fucking actress she is! I’ve known her for a good chunk of my life now, I’ve been married to her, and yet she fooled me. What a performance!’

I took my palm-top pocket PC from the pocket of my gaudy new Paul Smith shirt. It’s top-of-the-range, an amazing piece of kit; it’ll play you music, it’ll show you pictures, it’ll let you go online and it’ll even record sound. I switched it to playback and let them hear everything that Prim had said.

‘Jaysus,’ Liam gasped, when it was done, reverting to his Irish accent. ‘I hope nobody ever gets as mad with me as she is with you.’

‘What happens now?’ asked Everett.

‘In a very short time, I’m going to get a message. Going by past performance it’ll be an e-mail.’

I went over to the laptop and booted it up, then logged on to AOL; my mailbox was empty, but I left it open. For safety’s sake, I linked up the pocket machine and put a copy of Prim’s voice file on the laptop’s hard drive. For even greater insurance, I opened it and edited out my last two sentences.

I’d only just finished when the AOL lady told me I had mail. ‘That was bloody quick,’ I exclaimed. Everett and Liam both looked up. I clicked the box open and verified that the new message was from Paul Wallinger Mark Two. ‘It’s him,’ I told them. ‘He’s got to be close by.’

‘He could have had a car in the hotel park,’ Liam suggested. ‘He could be miles away.’

‘Then why did he run away from it?’

‘He could have grabbed a cab on the Strip.’

‘That shows how often you’ve been outside. Las Vegas taxis aren’t allowed to pick up passengers on the street, only from hotels. With you on his tail he wouldn’t have gone and stood in the queue across at Bally’s. He’s got a bolt-hole, and it’s not far from here.’

I turned back to the laptop and clicked open the message. It went straight to the point:

You take an excellent picture, Mr Blackstone, but then we’ve always known that. These should go down well with certain newspapers in every part of the English speaking world, and in Europe too. They’ll take you from Class A status to Class Z in an instant; you may get work as a porn star but that will be it.

If you want to avoid this, and keep your career into the bargain, it will cost you five million pounds sterling. I realise that it may take a couple of days to raise that sort of cash, so that’s what you’ve got: two days. During that time, you will transfer that amount into P. Phillips account Number 2 in Fairmile and Company, Vancouver, British Columbia. If the money isn’t there next Thursday morning, you will be as notorious world-wide as you were famous in San Francisco last week, only much more so.

Don’t be naive enough to believe that by paying this money you’ll get the photographs back. We’ll retain them in order to protect our interests, and ourselves. Arrangements will be made so that, should anything happen to Prim or me in the future, they will automatically go global.

Mrs Blackstone, you may not want to go along with this for your husband’s sake, but for that of your children we recommend that you do.

I looked at the address strip again. Yup, he’d sent it to Susie too.

I took a deep breath and opened the attachments; they took a while to download, but they were what I had expected, and feared. Under the influence of the drug, I looked as if I was on Planet Ecstasy, putting on the performance of a lifetime. You couldn’t see Prim’s face, of course: the pixels had been scrambled. Mine, however, was all too clear, and not just my face. The tabloids would go mental. . but not nearly as crazy as Susie.

I closed the images and deleted them, then went back to the message and sent a reply.

Okay. Sit tight .

When that was done, I sent Susie a mail; no text, just an attachment. Then I turned back to my friends. Liam had his impish look about him, but Everett was stone-faced: he could see his movie, his investment, and much of his business reputation heading up in smoke.

‘Give me a minute,’ I asked them. ‘I have to speak to my wife.’

I left them there, went into my bedroom and phoned Susie. I reckoned it was about four in the morning, even she would be asleep. Let her be anywhere, I thought, except sitting staring at her computer .

My small prayer was answered. She was awake, but she’d been in the toilet. ‘What is it?’ she asked, abruptly. ‘Wouldn’t your dad call me this time?’

‘Love,’ I told her. ‘After “Will you marry me?”, this is the second most important thing I’ll ever ask you. Do you love me, with all your heart, as I love you?’