Джеймс Чейз - Have a Change of Scene

She stared at me as if she didn’t believe what I was saying.

‘It would be quite a trip,’ I went on. ‘South Africa, India, Ceylon, Hong Kong and Australia. What do you say?’

‘You really mean it?’

‘Of course I mean it.’

‘Oh, Larry. I would love it!’ She was so excited she clapped her hands and I remembered how excited she had been when I had taken her to dinner at Luceville.

‘You’ll have to get busy. I should be ready to leave in about four weeks. Buy yourself all the clothes you want and don’t forget I’m very rich. Charge everything to my bank. See Tom Luce. He’ll fix credit for you. Go to the Outward Bound... they are my travel agents. Get them to prepare a schedule and we’ll go through it together. First class, of course: a stateroom and a single cabin for you. Will you do that?’

‘I’ll see Mr. Luce and the travel agents this afternoon.’

After more talk, her face flushed, her eyes sparkling, Jenny left me.

I relaxed back on my pillow and for the first time since I had been in this hospital I felt reasonably safe and reasonably happy... but not for long.

In the afternoon Sergeant Hess and Lepski visited me.

‘Just a question or two, Mr. Carr, if you feel like it,’ Hess said, sitting by my bedside.

I braced myself. What was coming?

‘There’s a question I want to ask you, sergeant,’ I said. ‘I’ve been reading the papers. There’s no mention of the Plessington necklace... any reason?’

‘Sure... if we gave out the necklace had been stolen, Mr. Carr,’ Hess said, ‘we would have to say it was a fake. So long as the thieves imagine they have a genuine necklace they will try to sell it. We have alerted every big fence in the country. If they try to sell it we’ll have them.’

‘I see.’

I thought of Rhea’s greed. Would she be reckless enough to take such a risk?

Hess shifted in his chair.

‘I understand, Mr. Carr, you did welfare work for a few weeks in Luceville. Is that correct?’

I regarded him, my heart beginning to thump.

‘Yes. It’s in the papers, Sergeant, there’s no mystery about it. Dr. Melish advised me to have a change of scene after my accident and sent me to work with his niece, Miss Baxter. Why do you ask?’

‘Does the name Rhea Morgan mean anything to you?’

Somehow I met his steady stare. Somehow I managed to keep my face expressionless.

‘Yes... Miss Baxter will tell you more about her than I can.’

‘You had something to do with this woman?’

‘Yes. When Miss Baxter was in hospital, I volunteered to meet Rhea Morgan when she was released from prison and drive her home... you could call it a welfare service.’

‘Did she know who you are?’

‘She knew my name.’

‘Did she know you were working for Luce & Fremlin... did you mention that to her?’

‘No. I didn’t like the woman. We scarcely said anything to each other.’

‘But she could have found out who you were?’

‘I suppose so. But why should she?’

‘I’m trying to fill in blank spaces, Mr. Carr.’

‘Has Rhea Morgan anything to do with this — this investigation?’ I was now aware my hands had turned moist.

‘We’re beginning to think so. The Luceville police received information from an attendant working at the Caltex gas station, just outside Luceville. He had seen the reports in the papers giving a description of the two killers. He called up Sergeant O’Halloran of the city police and told him that the previous week he had been held up by a man wearing a Beatle wig, silver goggles and a red jacket with black patch pockets. This man had a toy gun and was nervous. The attendant told him to scram which he did. The attendant thought no more about it until he read in the papers that a man answering the description of this hold-up phoney was wanted for murder. O’Halloran called me and I went up to Luceville. This seemed to me, Mr. Carr, an odd coincidence. Here was a man matching the description of the killer in Luceville and you had been in Luceville. So O’Halloran and I looked around for someone with a record who had contacted you. This was a long shot, but police work is mostly long shots, and we came up with Rhea Morgan. It didn’t look such a long shot when we found out she lived with her brother. Have you met her brother?’

I had to moisten my lips before saying, ‘Yes. He was there when I brought her home.’

‘At no time, Mr. Carr, did you mention you were in the diamond trade to these two?’

‘I’m sure of that.’

Hess brooded for a moment.

‘You had a car?’

‘Yes.’

‘If they wanted to know more about you, they could have checked your licence, couldn’t they?’

‘But why should they? After all, I was just a welfare worker to them, bringing the woman home.’

‘Yeah.’ He paused, then asked, ‘Could these two have been the two who killed Fremlin?’

I paused as if thinking, then I said, ‘I don’t know. It happened so quickly. I couldn’t possibly say.’

‘Would you say Morgan was the same build at the man who burst into the apartment?’

‘I don’t think so... I told you. I... I was under the impression the man was short and heavily built. Morgan is tall and thin.’

Hess nodded.

‘Yeah.’ He rubbed his ear, frowning. ‘O’Halloran and I went to Morgan’s place... little better than a shack. We found the place shut up... no one there. We asked around. The Morgans haven’t been seen since two days before the murder. It would take them that time to drive down here. We’ve been checking all the hotels and motels and we’ve come up with something.’ Again he stroked his nose. ‘They stayed at the Pyramid Motel and checked out on the night of the killing. The clerk there identified Rhea’s photo. Tell me something: you met and talked to her. Would you say she was a killer?’

I thought of Rhea’s reflection in the glass she set herself to hit me. A killer? Yes... she was a killer.

‘I can’t answer that, Sergeant,’ I said, my voice husky. ‘How could I possibly know?’

‘Yeah... but she has a hell of a record. I like these two for the job. If Morgan’s got a wounded arm and if his blood group jells, I guess we’ve got them.’ He got to his feet. ‘There’s an alarm out for them right now. It’s only a matter of time before we pick them up.’ He jerked his head at Lepski who made for the door. ‘Okay, Mr. Carr, I don’t think I’ll have to worry you much longer. You take it easy.’

He followed Lepski out of the room.

I had dug my own grave, I told myself.

How could I have been so brainless and stupid to have given Fel that disguise, having used it myself on that spineless hold-up attempt? I had been so confident, warning them to use gloves and providing them with an alibi, but it had never occurred to me that the fat gas service attendant would hook them to Luceville because of the Beade wig, the goggles and the jacket!

So within only a few days, when I had felt so sure they couldn’t be identified unless they tried to sell the necklace, the police were on to them!

Now they were being hunted. How long would they survive? When they were caught, they would talk!

Radio Paradise put out a news broadcast every three hours. I became a compulsive listener. Every time the commentator said, ‘and here is the news.’ I would stiffen, my heart would begin to thump while I waited to hear if they were caught.

During the three hour wait, I was scarcely civil to my nurse. I went off my food. I could only watch the hands of my watch crawling around to the next news broadcast.

I realised the two month sea trip must be cancelled. The idea of being on a ship, cut off from the news, wondering all the time if they had been caught, expecting to find detectives at any port waiting to arrest me would drive me crazy.