She started to say something, then stopped. She remained motionless, staring at me, her eyes glittering, her fists clenched.
‘If you don’t want to come with me, then stay here,’ I said. ‘I’m going- I’ve had enough of this. One thing I’m damned sure about is I’m not going to be blackmailed by you! If you’re bluffing, then I’m going to call your bluff.’
I walked across the lounge, leaving her staring after me, walked into the hall and opened the front door.
‘Ches… please…’
She came running from the lounge and caught hold of me.
‘No… please…’
I looked down at her.
‘What a fool I’ve been,’ I said evenly. ‘What a mug I was to have fallen in love with you. Get away from me! If you want it the hard way, you can have it the hard way!’
‘I didn’t mean it,’ she said tearfully. ‘I’m sorry, Ches. You don’t know how frightened I am. I’m not going to tell Roger. I’m willing to leave it to you. I do trust you. I just don’t know what I’m saying or doing.’
I stared down at her.
‘Don’t you? I think you do. You keep shifting your attitude: first, you’re going to trust me, then you’re threatening me, then you’re going to run to your husband, then you’re trusting me again. Let’s get this straight, once and for alclass="underline" do you want your husband in on this or don’t you?’
She shook her head.
‘No, Ches.’
‘You’re sure? You’re not going to change your mind and wave him in my face again?’
‘No, Ches.’
‘Are you willing to let me handle it?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘Of course? You change your mind pretty easily, don’t you?
It wasn’t of course five minutes ago.’
‘Ches, please don’t be angry with me,’ she pleaded. ‘I honestly don’t know what I’m saying or doing. I’m so frightened.’
‘You’re saying a lot and you are doing nothing. Come back into the lounge. It’s time we really talked this thing out.’
She turned around and went back into the lounge and sat down. She put her elbows on her knees and rested her face in her hands. She made a dramatic picture, but I was beyond being impressed by dramatic pictures.
I sat down and lit a cigarette.
‘Have you thought about this business, Lucille?’ I asked, abruptly. ‘Has it occurred to you that there are one or two odd things about it?’
She stiffened, looked up, her eyes question-marks.
‘What do you mean?’
‘For one thing I can’t understand what this speed cop was doing on that road. It’s no better than a dirt track and it is scarcely ever used. Why should he be down there?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘He must have been there for some reason. I can’t imagine he expected to catch any speeding motorist down there. Haven’t you any suggestions to make why he should have been there?’
‘No. I don’t see that it matters.’
‘Don’t you? I do. Well, all right, let’s leave it for now. It’s something I intend to look into. Let’s go over the whole thing together. After our swim, you returned to the car, changed and left your swimsuit on the floor of the car. Right?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you see anyone while you were doing this?’
‘No, of course not. There wasn’t anyone there.’
‘But there must have been. This man who telephoned just now must have been watching us. How else could he have known we swam together? As far as I can remember there was absolutely no cover anywhere except that clump of palm trees where we sat, and yet he must have been there.’
‘I didn’t see anyone.’
‘Yet he must have been there. I think I’ll go down and take a look at the ground in daylight. He must have hidden somewhere there. It beats me where he could have been, though. There’s no cover as far as I can remember.’ I paused, then went on: ‘Has it occurred to you that after you had left the swim-suit in the car, this man might have turned up and taken it.’
She stared at me.
‘No, it hadn’t.’
‘If he took it while we were quarrelling, it could mean, of course, that he doesn’t know the car is damaged.’
‘But the garage door was forced—that was when he took it.’
‘Yes, I was forgetting that. All right, let’s go on: what happened when you returned to the car and drove away?’
‘I was upset. I drove up the road. After I had gone about a mile I heard a man shout…’
‘Don’t let’s rush this, Lucille. How fast were you driving?’
‘Fast. I don’t exactly know how fast.’
‘Seventy—eighty? It’s important.’
‘Perhaps seventy. I don’t know.’
‘You didn’t see O’Brien? You had no idea you had passed him?’
‘No.’
‘You had driven a mile, then you heard him shouting?’
‘Yes.’
‘You must have passed him on the road, then. He must have been waiting there with his headlamp off, and as you went past, he came after you.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Then what happened?’
She moved restlessly.
‘I told you. I heard him shout and I swerved. I heard a bang against the side of the car.’
‘You didn’t hear the motor-cycle engine?’
‘I think I did.’
‘You slackened speed?’
‘I lost control of the car. I was startled. I think I must have increased speed.’
‘He came up beside you. Did he come up on your on-side or on your off-side?’
She hesitated, frowning.
‘I don’t remember.’
‘Did you see him as he came alongside you?’
‘I saw the light from his headlamp, that startled me and made me swerve.’
‘Now think: was the light on your off-side?’
Again she hesitated, then she said: ‘Yes. He came up and shouted through the window. Yes, I remember now.’
I stared at her. She sat forward, looking away from me, her hands gripped tightly between her knees.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes, of course I am.’
‘But you weren’t a moment ago.’
‘I am now. It was on my off-side. I am sure of it.’
Was she deliberately lying or was she sincerely making a mistake? The damage to the car had been on the on-side. O’Brien couldn’t have come up on her off-side.
‘You can’t be right, Lucille. The on-side lamp was smashed. He must have been on your on-side, and besides, he just wouldn’t have come up behind you on your off-side. It would be inviting an accident.’
Blood flowed into her face, and then as quickly, went away, leaving her white and taut.
‘Then why did you ask me if you knew all the time?’ she said angrily. ‘I don’t remember which side it was.’
I studied her, then shrugged.
‘Okay, let it go. You hit him anyway. What happened after you heard the bang?’
She looked away, her face sullen.
‘I drove on.’
‘It was a pretty violent collision?’
‘Yes.’
‘You had no doubt that you had hit him?’
‘Of course I knew I had hit him.’
‘You lost your head, accelerated and drove on without stopping to see if he was hurt?’
She lifted her hair off her shoulders with an exasperated movement.
‘Do you have to keep on and on like this? I’ve told you what happened.’
‘I must get this straight, Lucille. You kept on and reached the main road. Then what did you do?’