Brett Halliday - Murder Takes No Holiday

He continued in a moment, “I see your position. There is a large sum of money involved, and you want to make your calculations. If you return to the plane, what horrible thing, after all, can happen?” His voice climbed shrilly. “You will not see her again, Slater! You have been quarrelling. This is a small island, news travels quickly. I know all about it. You have behaved foolishly with another woman. Perhaps it will not matter to you that your wife is dead. Perhaps you will be pleased. This is a chance I must take.”

He listened again. “I would not? You are wrong, dead wrong. If I promise you something and you pay no attention to me, I would have to do it, or no one would be impressed with me from that time on. Every petty thief in the islands would think he can rob Alvarez and have nothing to fear. I do not care to sound melodramatic, but this is what I will do. I will take her out in my boat. Sometime later, I will return alone, minus your lovely wife, minus my oyster knife, minus my anchor.”

He paused, and Shayne heard the faint note of relief in his voice when he spoke again. “I was sure you would look on it sensibly, Paul. We will be at the country place. You know the way. Get a taxi. Half an hour should do it easily. If you are delayed by a flat tire, or anything of that nature, be sure to phone me. I wouldn’t want anything to happen I would regret.”

He hung up. Shayne swallowed the last of the cognac and went over to the doorway. Alvarez still had his hand on the phone. He winked at Shayne, pleased with his own cleverness. Signalling the operator again, he gave her another number.

When the connection was open he said abruptly, “Who is this, Al?… I want three men and a car. In a hurry. Try Jose first. His brother, if you can get him. Offer six pounds apiece for the night, go to ten if you have to. Tell them to meet at the Half Moon. I will be waiting there in the Minx. Have you got that?”

Shayne could see the ugly outline of the. 45 in the Venezuelan’s right coat pocket. He waited until the bartender had repeated the instructions and hung up. Then he stepped around the foot of the bed. Reaching down, he took the Camel’s right wrist and yanked him forward.

“Don’t try to reach the gun,” Shayne told him gently, “or you’ll be in worse shape than you are now. I heard some of that. You’ve worked up quite a crowded schedule. And where do I fit in? You made a deal with me, and I’d like to see some action on it.”

“Things have changed. I-”

Shayne took a quick backward step, jerking Alvarez to his feet. Without putting pressure anywhere except on the wrist, Shayne walked him backward until he slammed against the wall. The man’s face, gray to begin with, had turned a disagreeable shade of off-white.

“You seem to have problems,” Shayne said. “So long as you don’t forget that I’m one of them. I’m beginning to wonder if you’re figuring on dumping me. I wouldn’t like that.”

“Talk about it!” Alvarez gasped.

“Sure. But let’s talk about it now. Let’s not wait till three or four guys show up.”

“If you will let go-”

Shayne looked into his eyes for a moment longer, his own hard and unfriendly, then threw the wrist away in disgust. Alvarez swayed, but made it to the foot of the bed before he fell. Shayne didn’t help him. Little by little his strength came back, and he pulled himself into a sitting position, rubbing the wrist and looking at Shayne with hatred.

“You swine.”

“Never mind the compliments,” Shayne told him. “What’s on the program? I don’t want to be put off till everything else is out of the way. I think I heard you mention dropping somebody off a boat. That boat is going to be busy, because I’m going to be on it.”

“I said things have changed. The boat is out of the question. Thanks to your blundering, the boat’s captain is in jail.”

Shayne made a threatening gesture, and Alvarez said shrilly, “Do not hit me, Shayne!”

A moment passed, during which they did nothing but look at each other.

“I have had another idea, if you will control yourself,” Alvarez said. “Believe me, you are much on my mind. I am trying to keep six knives in the air at one time. This man I just talked to-he has a chartered plane waiting at the airport. He has been cleared for departure. We will persuade him to let you use his credentials. Give the pilot a hundred pounds additional, and he will put you down wherever you please in Florida.”

“How do you persuade the guy?” Shayne said doubtfully.

“That will not be difficult, I think,” Alvarez said. “When we straighten out another matter, he will no longer be in a hurry to leave. I do not concern myself about his feelings, in any case. I am in his debt for a bad knock on the head.”

Shayne pulled at his earlobe. “I don’t like it. What makes you think he’ll fall for that crap you were handing out on the phone.-Yeah, I heard it. What did you want me to do, put my fingers in my ears? You told him you had his wife.”

“I will have her,” Alvarez said calmly. “We will stop at her hotel and pick her up. It is on our way.”

“I don’t like that word we,” Shayne said. “I don’t give a damn how many people you kidnap, so long as you don’t take all night. But leave me out of it.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. I will need your help. But do not excite yourself-it will be simple.”

Shayne snorted. “This other thing was supposed to be simple. Just drive a car in a garage. No trouble at all. And if you’d set it up so I was driving the car, I would have been skulled with a monkey wrench. Let’s talk some sense, goddamn it. Too many people know what I look like by now. Why stick my neck out when I don’t have to? When you get the guy’s papers, come back and pick me up. I’ll be here.”

Alvarez was shaking his head. “It cannot be done that way. We are wasting time, but I see I must explain. I caught Slater off-balance. I persuaded him to do what I said because he has a strong guilty feeling-the details are unimportant. His brain was frozen, but after some minutes it will unfreeze and he will wonder if I am merely bluffing, if the woman is actually with me. If this is true, the safest thing for him will be to return to the airport and leave by plane with the utmost speed. He will wish to make sure. He will phone me and insist on speaking to her. I must be able to let him hear her voice. Now do you understand?”

“It still has nothing to do with me,” Shayne said. “Send your boys out to meet him at the airport.”

“No. No. It is much too public, also much too chancy. I do not wish to call attention to myself at the moment, my position is delicate. If they missed connections, the plane would depart and you would still be here, Mr. Shayne, surrounded by police who have seen your picture.”

Shayne swore under his breath. Then he said grudgingly, “I guess you know more about it than I do. What am I supposed to do this time?”

“She lives in a second-rate beach hotel. It would be most unwise for us to break in and try to take her by force. We would arouse the hotel, the police would be summoned. It must be handled discreetly. She must walk out quietly, of her own will. She would not come with me, or with one of my men. But you are a fellow-American. We will invent a plausible story, and she will come like a lamb.”

Shayne continued to tug at his earlobe. Alvarez added, “The plane will be already paid for by Slater, and I will put you safely aboard without charging you a shilling.”

Making up his mind, Shayne shook a cigarette out of a pack. “All right, but don’t try to work any more switches.”

“I have promised.”

“And I hope you keep your promise,” Shayne said, “for your sake. What’s this doll like? What do I say to her?”