Джеймс Чейз - There’s Always A Price Tag

‘I can imagine.’

She smiled, then as I started across the lounge, she opened her book again and bent her glossy head over it. I paused in the doorway to look at her. It crossed my mind that the difference between her and Helen was the difference between a pearl and a diamond. Helen had all the hard, glossy glamour of a diamond; this kid had the soft, smooth beauty of the pearl.

She looked up and caught me staring at her and she blushed. That knocked me. No girl I had ever been around with knew how to blush. I grinned at her, turned and went up the stairs, three at a time.

Helen was in her bedroom, smoking, and going through a stack of documents, bills and letters that she had spread out on the bed. She looked up as I came in.

‘Going over old love letters?’ I asked, closing the door and leaning against it.

‘I thought you said we weren’t to be alone together when she was in the house?’

‘That’s right, but right now she and Gibbons are keeping each other company, and I told her I was going to sit with Dester. What’s all the junk?’

‘What do you think? I’m trying to find out how much he owes.’

‘You’ve got a sweet job. Did you start the list with Hammerstock’s four thousand?’

‘I’ve got up to twenty-two thousand and there are still more.’

‘You don’t have to worry. If we get the insurance money, we’ll still have something left. What’s been happening?’

‘Burnett is coming to see me at three o’clock tomorrow. Four newspaper men have been here. Luckily Marian arrived before they did and I let her handle them.’

‘You let her handle them?’

‘Yes. She told them Dester was out of town and I was out. They didn’t get anything out of her. I was listening in the lounge. She was good.’

‘I’m not sure if you’ve picked the right one. That girl’s got brains.’

‘I had no choice. She was the only one the agency sent. I had to take her. Anyway, she may have brains, but she’s only a kid.’

I went over and sat in a lounging chair. ‘How about the sanatorium?’

‘They can take him any time. I said I would call back.’

‘Tell them he’ll arrive around eleven next Sunday night.’

She stared at me. ‘Sunday night? Why not before?’

‘I won’t be ready before.’

‘What are you planning to do?’

‘Maybe we’d better not talk here.’ I looked at my strap watch. ‘Come over to my place when she’s gone to bed. It’s after ten-thirty now. She won’t stay down there much longer. Have you got a good road map of the district that takes in Santa Barbara?’

‘I think so.’

‘Bring it with you. Don’t forget to take a meal up to Dester’s room before you go to bed. He’s got to eat or she’ll begin to wonder what it’s all about.’

‘I’ve already done that.’

That was one of the important things about her. She wasn’t dumb.

‘What did you do? Eat it yourself?’

‘I flushed it down the toilet.’

‘Well, okay, just so long as she doesn’t think you are starving him.’ I moved to the door. ‘Did you tell her about the deep-freeze?’

‘Not yet. I’ll tell her when I show her the kitchen tomorrow.’

‘I’ll be waiting for you.’

I half opened the door, listened, then hearing no sound I stepped out into the corridor and walked to the head of the stairs. As I began to descend them, Marian came out of the lounge. She looked up at me.

‘Mrs. Dester has gone to bed.’ I said. ‘You going too?’

‘Yes.’

I came down and stood beside her.

‘You and Gibbons?’

She blushed a little and then smiled.

‘Well, I don’t think I’ll read in bed.’

‘I’ll turn off the lights. Good night.’

She said good night and ran up the stairs. I turned slowly and watched her. She had lovely, slim legs, boyish hips and square shoulders. She didn’t look back as she went along the corridor to her room. I was still standing there, seeing her in my mind, when I heard her door close.

I went into the lounge, took a bottle of Scotch from the rack behind the bar, turned off the lights and walked over to the apartment above the garage. Some kid, I was thinking. She and Gibbons. Some kid.

Around twelve-thirty, Helen came into my bedroom. I had changed into pyjamas and I was lying on the bed, smoking. She came to the foot of the bed.

‘Now, tell me,’ she said.

I looked at her. There are moments when a diamond can look a lot more exciting than a pearl. This was one of them.

‘Come here,’ I said and stretched out my hand.

She came around the side of the bed and sat down near me.

‘Okay,’ I said, ‘now let me explain the setup to you. Between now and Sunday the rumour that Dester is once more in the money is going to strengthen. The columnists won’t want to be left out in the cold. Even if they don’t get any confirmation, they’ll hint that Dester is after a big job. That’s just the situation we want. No one knows where he is, but they have an idea he is back in the money again. If it doesn’t work out that way, I’ll have to fan the flames. There are two reasons why we must create the idea he is back in the money: one is to hold off his creditors and the other is that he is going to be kidnapped.’

She stiffened. ‘Kidnapped?’

‘That’s right. No one would kidnap him unless he was back in the money, would they?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Relax: I’ll explain it to you. We want to create the impression that Dester is still alive. We want it known when the showdown comes that Dester left this house on next Sunday night around ten o’clock in the evening with you to take a cure at the Belle View sanatorium. That’s where Marian comes in: she’s going to be our witness. She’ll think she’ll see Dester leave this house, but it won’t be Dester, it’ll be me, impersonating him. I’ll wear that camel-hair coat and the big hat he has in his closet. We’ll go into details later, but this is the plan. Marian must see me as I go out to the Rolls. We’ve got to fix it so she only sees my back. We drive down to the gates. You stop and I take off the hat and coat. You wait there while I rush back to the house, making out to Marian that I’ve arrived just too late to say good-bye to Dester. I’ll talk to her for a few minutes, then I’ll tell her I’m going back to my apartment. You’ll have told her you’ll be back soon after midnight, but she is not to wait up for you. I’ll go over to my apartment, turn on the fights and the radio loud enough for her to hear from her bedroom. Then I’ll leave the apartment and join you. We’ll go to a place I’ve found. The idea we want the police and Maddux to get hold of is that while you are driving Dester to the sanatorium, two hoods hold up the car, take you both to this place, tie you up and then kidnap Dester.’

Helen stared at me.

‘Tie me up — what do you mean?’

‘What I say,’ I said impatiently. ‘How much plainer have I got to make this before the nickel drops? You can’t expect to get your hands on three-quarters of a million and not work for it.’

‘I still don’t follow what you mean. Where is this place you’re talking about?’

‘Did you bring the map?’

She gave me the map and I found the forestry station and showed it to her.

‘It’s the ideal place,’ I said. ‘There’s not a soul around on a Sunday. You can stay in one of the huts and you’ll be found first thing on Monday morning. You’ll spend an uncomfortable night, but so what?’

‘But why should I?’ she demanded, frowning at me.

‘For the love of mike! We’ve got to create the impression that Dester has been kidnapped!’ I exclaimed, raising my voice. ‘Can’t you get that into your thick skull? Look, there has been no major kidnapping in Hollywood for years. When the news breaks every cop will be on his toes. The heat will be on. Now just suppose he had really been kidnapped by two hoods. They find the cops closing in. What do they do? Turn Dester loose so he can give the police a description of them? No, they lose their heads. They kill him and dump him somewhere and vanish. This is the only angle I can figure to make his murder make sense. Otherwise the police will look for a motive, and you and I are the only two who have a motive. To make us safe, this has to be a motiveless murder, and kidnapping supplies the answer.’