Джеймс Чейз - There’s Always A Price Tag

‘Lieutenant Bromwich,’ the fat detective said, stabbing himself in the chest with his thumb. ‘Sergeant Lewis.’ He jerked his thumb in the direction of the younger man. ‘Who are you?’

‘I’m Glyn Nash.’ I found my voice was a little husky. ‘I’m Mr. Dester’s majordomo.’

Bromwich screwed up his eyes. ‘Major — who?’

‘I look after Mr. Dester’s affairs, drive his car, help him dress: that sort of thing.’

Bromwich gave me a suspicious stare, then walked past me into the lounge. Lewis remained in the hall. I followed Bromwich, who sat down in a lounging chair, pushed his pork-pie hat to the back of his head and stared around the room, a little grimace on his red face.

‘How the rich live,’ he said as if speaking to himself. He pulled out a notebook, thumbed it to a blank page, produced a stub of pencil and then stared at me. ‘Let’s have it. What time did they leave?’

I told him; then I went on to tell him where they were going, how I happened to be out and got back just after they had gone, how I had to return to the Buick to fix it, how I had come back and waited for Mrs. Dester to return. I explained that I had dozed off and didn’t waken until Marian telephoned me. Then as soon as I realized the time and that Mrs. Dester hadn’t come back and that Dester hadn’t arrived at the sanatorium, I had called the police.

Bromwich sat listening, his face blank. He made no attempt to write anything in his notebook.

‘Where’s the girl?’ he asked when I had finished.

‘You mean Miss Temple?’

‘That’s who I mean.’

‘She’ll be down in a moment. She’s getting dressed.’

He crossed one fat leg over the other.

‘This guy Dester’s supposed to be in New York, isn’t he? I read somewhere he’s now in television or something.’

I explained about that. I said I had no idea how the rumour started, but Dester was pretty ill and as far as I knew he wasn’t going into television.

‘He’s a drunk, isn’t he?’ Bromwich asked.

‘That’s how you could describe him.’

‘How is he off financially?’

‘He owes money.’

‘Much?’

I hesitated.

‘Come on, come on,’ Bromwich said. ‘You don’t have to be coy with me.’

‘Around twenty thousand.’

Bromwich made a face.

‘These rich.’ He let it hang, then went on, ‘Did they take any luggage?’

‘Mr. Dester had a suitcase.’

‘I’ve seen that Rolls. That’s worth something.’

‘I guess so.’

‘Mrs. Dester take anything with her?’

I very nearly walked into that one.

‘I don’t know. I know Mr. Dester took a case with him because I packed it.’

Just then Marian came in.

Bromwich screwed his bullet head around and stared at her.

‘This is Miss Temple,’ I said. ‘This is Lieutenant Bromwich,’ I went on to Marian.

Bromwich waved Marian to a chair. He didn’t bother to get up.

‘Did Mrs. Dester take any luggage with her?’ he asked. Marian looked startled. ‘Why, no. Mr. Dester had a suitcase, but Mrs. Dester...’

‘Okay, okay, just answer the questions.’

He got her to describe exactly what had happened when she saw Helen and me leave the house. It was a little eerie to hear her account of the departure.

‘Mrs. Dester seemed to be having trouble with him,’ Marian said. ‘He knocked something over and there was a smash. He seemed very unsteady. He wanted the light in the hall turned off because it hurt his eyes. He came down the stairs very slowly, holding on to her arm.’

‘What was he wearing?’ Bromwich asked in a bored, flat voice.

‘A dark brown, wide-brimmed hat, a camel-haired, belted coat, dark grey trousers and nigger brown reverse calf shoes,’ Marian said promptly.

Bromwich looked up. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes.’

‘You’ve got pretty good eyes, haven’t you?’

‘I was curious. I hadn’t seen him before. He took some time to cross the hall.’

‘How long have you been here?’

‘Exactly a week.’

‘And this was the first-time you set eyes on him?’

‘Yes.’

I felt my hands go clammy. Was she going to say she didn’t think he had been in the room all that time?

‘So he stayed in his room for a week?’

‘Mr. Dester stayed in bed,’ I put in. ‘He was pretty bad, and he slept most of the time.’

Bromwich swivelled his bullet head and stared at me.

‘Who was his doctor?’

I felt my heart give a little kick, but I managed to keep my face expressionless. A doctor was something Helen and I had overlooked.

‘He refused to have a doctor.’

‘Who suggested he should go to a sanatorium?’

‘Mrs. Dester. He was glad to agree.’

Bromwich turned back to Marian.

‘So for a whole week you didn’t see Dester? The first time you saw him was when he was leaving for the sanatorium — right?’

‘Yes.’

He brooded for a moment that seemed like an hour to me, then asked how Mrs. Dester was dressed. This time he made notes.

‘Did they have any ready cash in the house?’ he asked me when he had finished writing.

‘Not more than a couple of hundred dollars.’

‘Know what Dester’s bank account is worth?’

‘About three or four thousand.’

‘Mrs. Dester own an account?’

‘Not to my knowledge.’

He scratched the side of his face while he stared blankly in front of him. Then he looked over at Marian and came out with a fast one that jolted me.

‘Would you say from what you saw of him walking to the car that he was a sick man or would you say he was faking?’

Marian looked startled.

‘He... he was very shaky. He looked as if he had been in bed some time and was unsteady on his legs.’

‘Yeah, but that’d be easy to fake. How did he look?’

‘I didn’t see his face. His hat was pulled down and his collar was turned up.’

I felt a trickle of sweat run down the side of my neck, but I didn’t dare wipe it away.

‘Hey, Lewis...’ Bromwich called, raising his voice.

The other detective came to the door.

‘Take him up to Dester’s room,’ Bromwich said to Marian. ‘Let him see Mrs. Dester’s room also.’ He looked at Lewis. ‘Check to see what clothes they’ve got, personal stuff. I want to know if they’ve skipped.’

Lewis nodded and followed Marian up the stairs.

Bromwich turned to me.

‘There’s been no accident reported for the past eight hours,’ he said, ‘so that rules out a smash. If they had had a breakdown, we should have heard by now. It looks to me that as he can’t pay his debts, he has skipped.’

‘I can’t see him doing that,’ I said. ‘He was pretty ill. Besides, he’s well-known. He couldn’t go to any place and remain long without being recognized.’

‘She might have persuaded him,’ Bromwich said. ‘If they haven’t skipped, then why have they disappeared? Any ideas?’

I wasn’t going to walk into that kind of trap.

‘I thought they must have met with an accident.’

‘Well, they haven’t. Any more ideas?’

‘No, unless he was taken ill on the road and they’ve stopped somewhere not on the telephone.’

He gave me a long stare of disgust and shrugged his fat shoulders. We sat for a few minutes in silence, then we heard Lewis and Marian coming downstairs. Bromwich heaved himself out of his chair and walked into the hall.

Lewis shook his head.

‘Doesn’t seem to be anything missing. She has a stack of clothes and jewellery up there. They certainly haven’t packed and run.’

Bromwich scratched his nose. He didn’t look convinced.

‘Well, okay. I’ll notify all patrols to look out for them,’ he said to me. ‘If I hear anything I’ll call on you. If you hear anything you call me — right?’