‘You mean he lives in Palm Bay? I thought he lived in Paris.’
‘He bought a place here about two years ago. He came here for his health.’
I was now aware that my heart was thumping, and I had trouble in keeping and looking calm.
‘We are talking about the same man? Malroux: the zinc and copper millionaire? He must be one of the richest men in the world.’
Marshall nodded.
‘He is. He’s a pretty sick man from what I hear. I wouldn’t swop places with him for all his dough.’
‘What’s the matter with him?’
Marshall grimaced.
‘He’s a lung cancer case. There’s nothing anyone can do for him.’
I looked at my cigarette, then stubbed it out.
‘That’s tough. So he’s bought a place here?’
‘Yep. He’s bought East Shore: Ira Cranleigh’s place. He’s had it practically rebuilt. It’s a wonderful situation: own harbour, own beach, own bathing pool, own everything.’
I well remembered Ira Cranleigh’s house. He had been a big oil operator and had built the house at the far end of the bay. He had got into a financial mess and had had to sell. The sale was being negotiated at the time of my trial. I never had heard who had bought it.
I lit another cigarette while my brain jumped over hurdles and darted through hoops.
‘So the Rolls is his?’
‘Just one of about ten cars he owns.’
‘It’s a beaut. I’d like to own it myself.’
Marshall nodded his balding head.
‘Me too.’
‘Who would be the woman, driving it? I couldn’t see much of her. She was a blonde, wearing big sun goggles.’
‘That’d be Mrs. Malroux.’
‘His wife? She didn’t look old… I’d say she was around thirty-two or three. Malroux must be getting on. I seem to have been hearing about him ever since I was a kid. He must be pushing seventy or more.’
‘About that. He married again: some woman he fell for in Paris. I forget who she was: a movie star or something. There was quite a write up about her in the Herald.’
‘What happened to his first wife?’
‘She had a car accident about three years ago.’
‘So Malroux’s here for his health?’
‘That’s it. His wife and daughter like living in California anyway, and the climate is supposed to be good for his health. That’s the way the quacks talk: from what I hear, nothing now will be any good for him.’
‘So he has a daughter?’
Marshall flicked his thumb, then stuck it in the air.
‘He certainly has. From the first marriage: she’s only a kid: eighteen, but some chicken.’ He winked at me. ‘I’d rather have her than the Rolls.’
‘Hey! Hey! I thought you were a respectably married man.’
‘So I am, but you want to see Odette Malroux. She’d make a corpse have wicked thoughts.’
‘So long as you keep it to thoughts,’ I said and slid off the desk. ‘I’d better get moving. I’m late as it is.’ ‘What’s the interest in Malroux, Harry?’
‘You know me: I saw the car and the woman. I was just curious.’
I could see I hadn’t convinced him, but he didn’t press it.
‘If you happen to want a temporary job, Harry,’ he said awkwardly, ‘we’re hiring guys to take a traffic count, starting from tomorrow. It pays fifty a week and lasts ten days. Any good to you?’
I didn’t hesitate one second.
‘That’s nice of you, Ed, but I’ve got something lined up.’ I grinned at him. ‘Thanks all the same.’
In the bus, on the way home, I turned over in my mind the information I had got from Marshall. It excited me.
The wife of one of the richest men in the world had a job for me. I had no doubt about it. She would telephone tomorrow. An element of risk, she had said. Well, okay, I was willing to take risks if the money was big enough, and it would be.
As the bus carried me along the beach road, I whistled under my breath.
This was the first time since I had gone to jail that I had felt like whistling.
Life was coming alive again.
II
Soon after nine o’clock the following morning, I went down to the offices of the Herald.
Nina had told me that she had some pots to deliver and she wouldn’t be back until midday. This suited me. If Malroux’s wife did telephone, I would have the place to myself. I certainly wasn’t telling Nina what had happened until I knew what the job was going to be.
I walked into the reference room of the Herald’s offices. There were two girls in charge. I had never seen them before, and they didn’t know me. I asked one of them to let me have the back files of the Herald from January, two years back.
It didn’t take me long to dig out the information I was looking for. I learned that Felix Malroux had married Rhea Passary five months after the death of his first wife. Rhea Passary had been a show girl at the Lido, Paris. After a whirlwind courtship that lasted scarcely a week, Malroux proposed and she accepted him. It was pretty obvious she wasn’t accepting him, but his money.
I returned home and sat down to wait. Exactly at eleven o’clock the telephone bell rang. I knew it was her before I lifted the receiver. My heart was beating fast and my hand as I reached for the receiver, was shaking.
‘Mr. Barber?’
There was no mistaking that clear, hard voice.
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘We met yesterday.’
I decided this was the time to slip in a fast one.
‘Why, sure, Mrs. Malroux, at Joe’s bar.’
It was a good one. There was a pause. I wasn’t sure but I thought I heard her catch her breath sharply, but it could have been imagination.
‘Do you know East Beach where the bathing cabins are?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’
‘I want you to hire a cabin: the last cabin on the left. I meet you there at nine o’clock tonight.’
‘I’ll hire the cabin, and I’ll be there,’ I said.
There was a pause while I listened to her breathing, then she said, ‘Tonight then at nine,’ and she cut the connection.
I replaced the receiver and lit a cigarette. I was excited. The situation intrigued me. An element of risk. It would be interesting to learn what she wanted. Maybe she was in some kind of jam — blackmail.
Maybe she wanted me to help her get rid of an unwanted lover. I shrugged. It was no use speculating.
I looked at my wrist watch. The time was ten minutes past eleven. I would have time to take a bus out to East Beach, book the cabin and get back before Nina returned.
I went out there. The man in charge of the cabins was Bill Holden: a large muscular hunk of meat who was a life-saver as well as the cabin attendant.
The cabins at East Beach were the luxury kind. You could sleep there if you wanted to. They stood in a long row, facing the sea, and I could see at this hour most of them were occupied.
Holden knew me, and when he saw me, he grinned.
‘Hello, Mr. Barber, glad to see you again.’
‘Thanks.’ I shook hands with him. ‘I want to hire a cabin. The last one on the left. I’ll need it tonight at nine. Can you fix it?’
‘We shut at eight, Mr. Barber,’ he said. ‘There won’t be anyone here, but you can have it. I’ve got no all-night customers this week so I’m not staying on. Okay?’
‘That’s all right. Leave the key under the mat. I’ll settle with you tomorrow.’
‘Anything you say, Mr. Barber.’
I looked along the crowded beach. The sand was covered with near naked bodies.
‘Looks as if you’re doing all right,’ I said.