“Come on!” Tregor yelled. “Let’s get off this damned island.”
The three began to signal with their flashlights. An answering signal came from just off the edge of the island, and a giant searchlight was snapped on. Then I saw that instead of a boat, it was a seaplane that would be taking them away. It had taxied in near the rocks and was waiting there, bobbing up and down on the water. As the men began to make their way down to the plane, I heard them speculate about me.
“Where do you think that fellow and Georges disappeared to?”
“He probably forced Georges to take him down to one of the rafts so he could get back to the mainland.”
I stayed where I was, watching until they reached the edge of the island, got into one of the rafts there, and paddled out to the plane. I didn’t feel safe until they were aboard, and the plane had taken off and disappeared to the north.
I hoped they wouldn’t discover that almost all the money was missing until they had reached their destination. By that point, it would be dangerous for them to return since they couldn’t be sure I hadn’t reached the mainland to bring back the authorities. I was still no closer to solving the case, but at least, I had managed to thwart their plans.
Twelve
The moon set soon after the plane left. It was now so dark that I could scarcely see my hand in front of my face. I tried to find the croupiers body where I had left it in the brush, but that proved to be an impossible task in the darkness. As much as I disliked die idea of spending die night on that island infested with rats, I knew it would be too risky in the darkness to try to make my way to the edge of the shore to look for one of the rubber rafts. I decided to return to the cave where a couple of the torches that the men had set up were still burning.
As I returned to die cave, I gathered up an armful of dry brush along the way and carried it back with me. I fed the dry brush into the flaming torches until there was a low flame as I sat huddled up at die entrance. It was the only way I could keep the swarming rats at bay, but I could still see their eyes gleaming in the firelight beyond the cave. I kept my Luger in my hand, and although I was tired, I didn’t dare doze off for fear that the rats would grow bold and attack.
It seemed like an endless time before dawn finally came. I was up on my feet and preparing to make my way down to the water with the first light. I checked to make sure the money was still safely buttoned up inside my shirt, and then, carrying a burning torch to keep the rats away, I set out. Before I started down the side of the island, however, I checked in the brush to find the croupier’s body. I didn’t find the corpse. There was only his skeleton with the bones picked clean. The rats had been at work in the dark.
I turned hastily away and hurried down through the brush while the rats scurried out of my way before me. I had just reached the edge of the island and had started to search for one of the rafts when I heard a humming sound from the water. When I looked, I saw a large white cruiser circling about a quarter of a mile away. At first I thought the men from the night before had returned to try to find me and the money, but when I took a closer cool, I saw that the cruiser was the police boat from Monaco. I quickly fired several shots into the air from the Luger.
The cruiser heard my signal and immediately veered toward the shore. When it dropped anchor, three men lowered a dinghy and rowed in to get me. I was surprised to see that one of the men was Chiclet. How had he known where to look for me?
“Well,” Chiclet greeted me, “you’ve turned up alive after all. We had almost given you up for lost. Tell me, what happened?”
I gave him a quick summary of the events and showed him the money I recovered. Before we left the island, we went back up the rocks and brought the croupier’s skeleton down to the dinghy. Then we cast off, leaving Satane Roc to the rodent colony.
When we were aboard the cruiser, headed back to Monaco, Chiclet told me how he had found me. “Before you and Marcel took off in the helicopter yesterday,” he said, “I placed a beeper on the copter’s tail. I’ve been receiving a signal ever since you took off. When you didn’t return by nightfall, I alerted the police and asked to have the boat standing by at dawn. We followed the signal from the beeper, and it led us to this point just off the island where we found the helicopter underwater. The beeper still works. But I must say I was afraid you were dead when I realized the helicopter had gone into the sea.”
“I’m sorry about Marcel,” I told Chiclet. “He was a good pilot and a brave man.”
Chiclet nodded. “I’m sorry, too. But he knew the risks just as we all do.”
When we reached Monte Carlo, Chiclet made arrangements to return the money to the casino while I made another overseas call to Hawk on a scrambled wire from his office. I told Hawk what had happened and how I had recovered the money.
“Well,” Hawk said more heartily than I think he felt, “at least everything didn’t go against us. If the pattern continues as it has in the past, it probably won’t be long before there’s a new development. And Nick—”
“Yes sir?” I asked.
“I want you to take it easy for a day or two, get some rest.” He paused and added gruffly, “That’s an order. I’ll be in touch with you.”
Before I could answer, he hung up.
The police had already transferred the croupier’s remains to the local morgue and the money was on its way back to the casino. There was nothing more for me to do at the AXE office. I told Chiclet that I was going back to the hotel to sleep.
Elsa was waiting for me in my suite when I arrived. At first she pretended to be angry with me, but when she noticed how exhausted I looked, her mock petulance turned to sympathetic concern.
“Poor Dumplink,” she cooed, “you look a terrible sight. What have you been doing?”
“It was an all-night business session,” I told her, as I removed my jacket and tie. “And now I need a good hot shower and a long sleep.”
“Of course, Dumplink,” she said. “You get undressed. I’ll start the shower for you.”
Before I could protest, she had disappeared into the bath and turned on the shower.
By the time I had changed into my robe the bathroom was full of steam. Elsa emerged, pink-cheeked, pushed me in the shower, and closed the door.
I scrubbed every inch of my skin and hair under the stinging hot water and then rinsed off with an ice cold shower. Afterwards I tied a fresh towel around my waist and went back to the bedroom. Elsa had pulled the spread down on the bed and was standing beside it.
“Sretch out, face-down,” she ordered, patting the bed. When I hesitated, she gave me a light push. As I sprawled on the bed on my stomach, she whisked the towel away, saying, “Relax now, I give you a massage.”
She produced a small bottle of lotion that she had brought from her suite, with a pungent lemon odor. Then she slipped off her robe, straddled my body, and began to apply the lotion to my back and shoulder blades. It was an astringent solution that first made my skin tingle and then sent a deep, soothing warmth into my muscles.
“What’s that stuff you’re using?” I asked, turning my head to look at Elsa as she leaned forward over me.
“It’s an old Von Alden home remedy,” she answered. “Guaranteed to give beneficial results.”
Her caressing hands kneaded my flesh like a healing balm, moving up and down as lightly as a warm, sweet breath over the length of my body. Then Elsa raised to her knees and ordered me to roll over.
I faced her and lay between her spread legs. She began to lubricate the front of my body, her lightly tracing fingers circling, moving from my chest to my stomach, to my groin, down the sides of my legs to my toes. When she leaned close over me, her soft hair brushed against my bare flesh, and my nostrils were filled with its perfumed scent. For a long time, she seemed to work with an intense concentration that was almost hypnotic, but soon I became aware that her breathing was more rapid and her flesh had become moist and was quivering.