‘I survive, although the season’s not what it should be. The all-night let is a flop. If it doesn’t pick up soon, I’m going to drop the idea. No point hanging around here after eight if I’ve got no customers. Are you doing all right, Mr. Barber?’
‘I’m not grumbling. Well, I’ll be along tonight. See you in the morning.’
On my way back home, I puzzled my brains to know what to tell Nina. I had to give her a reason why I would be out this night. Finally, I decided to tell her I was working for Ed Marshall, doing night work, counting cars in the A.A.A. traffic check up.
When I did tell her, I felt a bit of a heel to see how pleased she was.
‘I might as well pick up fifty a week,’ I said, ‘as sit around here doing nothing.’
At half past eight that evening, I left the bungalow and went around to the garage. We owned an ancient Packard that was pretty well on its last legs. As I coaxed the engine to start, I told myself if this job paid off, the first thing I’d do would be to buy a new car.
I reached East Beach at three minutes to nine o’clock. It was deserted. I found the key of the cabin under the mat and I unlocked the door.
There was a lounging room, a bedroom, a shower room and a kitchenette. The cabin was air conditioned. It had a TV and radio set, a telephone and a bar. There was even a bottle of whisky and charge water on one of the shelves behind the bar. It was all very lush and plush.
I turned the air-conditioner off and opened the windows and the door. I sat on the veranda in one of the cane lounging chairs.
It was lonely and quiet. The only sound came from the gentle movement of the sea. I was pretty tense, wondering what this woman wanted me to do, wondering too how much she was willing to pay for what she wanted done.
I waited for twenty-five minutes. Then just as I was beginning to think she wasn’t coming, she materialised out of the darkness. I didn’t see her arrive. I was sitting there, just about to light a third cigarette, when I saw a movement. I looked up, and there she was: standing quite close to me.
‘Good evening, Mr. Barber,’ she said, and before I could move, she sat down in a lounging chair close to mine.
I could see little of her. She had a silk scarf over her head that partially concealed her face. She was wearing a dark red summer dress. Around her right wrist was a heavy gold bracelet.
‘I know quite a lot about you,’ she said. ‘A man who will turn down a ten thousand dollar bribe and refuse to work with gangsters must have a nerve. I’m looking for a man with nerve.’
I didn’t say anything.
She lit a cigarette. I was aware she was staring at me. She was sitting in the shadows. I would have liked to have been able to see the expression in her eyes.
‘You take risks, don’t you, Mr. Barber?’
‘Do I?’
‘When you took my money, you risked going to jail for at least six years.’
‘I was drunk.’
‘Are you willing to take a risk?’
‘It depends on the money,’ I said. ‘I want money. I don’t make any bones about it. I want it, I need it, and I’m willing to earn it, but it has to be money, not chick feed.’
‘If you’ll do what I want you to do, I will pay you fifty thousand dollars.’
It was like taking a hard punch under the heart.
‘Fifty thousand. Did you say fifty thousand dollars?’
‘Yes. It’s a lot of money, isn’t it? I’ll pay you that if you will do what I want you to do.’
I drew in a long slow breath.
Fifty thousand dollars! My heart began to thump at the thought of so much money.
‘And what’s that?’
‘You sound interested, Mr. Barber. Would you take risks for such a sum?’
‘I’d take a lot of risk.’
I was thinking what I could do with all that money. Nina and I could leave Palm City. We could start a new life together.
‘Before we go any further, Mr. Barber,’ she said, ‘it’s only fair to tell you I haven’t any money except the allowance my husband makes me. My husband believes that his daughter and I should be able to manage on the allowance he provides. I admit they are generous allowances for reasonable people, but it so happens neither my stepdaughter nor I are reasonable people.’
‘If you haven’t the money, why offer me fifty thousand dollars?’ I said impatiently.
‘I can show you how you can make it.’
I stared at her and she stared at me.
‘Tell me — how do I make it?’
‘My stepdaughter and I need four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. We must have this money within two weeks. I am hoping you will help us get it, and if you do, you will be paid fifty thousand dollars.’
I studied her and decided she wasn’t crazy. On the contrary, I had never seen a woman who looked more sane.
‘But how do I do it?’ I asked.
But she wasn’t to be hurried.
‘Of course my husband could provide the money without any difficulty,’ she said. ‘Naturally, he would want to know why we wanted such a sum, and that is something neither of us can tell him.’ She paused to tap ash off her cigarette. ‘But with your help, we could get the money from my husband without having to answer awkward questions.’
My first surge of excitement was waning. This sounded like a confidence trick. I was now very alert.
‘Why do you want all this money?’ I asked.
‘You were clever to find out who I am.’
‘An idiot child could have found that out. If you want to remain anonymous, don’t drive that Rolls.
Are you being blackmailed?’
‘That doesn’t concern you. I have an idea to get this money, but I need your help, and I’m willing to pay you fifty thousand dollars.’
‘Which you don’t have.’
‘But with your help, I shall have.’
I was liking this less and less.
‘Let’s get to the point. What is this idea of yours?’
‘My stepdaughter is going to be kidnapped,’ she told me coolly. ‘The ransom money will be five hundred thousand dollars. You will get ten per cent of that. My stepdaughter and I divide what is left.’
‘Who will do the kidnapping?’
‘Why, no one. Odette will go away somewhere, and you will make the ransom demand. That is why I need your help. You will be the threatening voice on the telephone. It is simple enough, but it will have to be well done. For making the telephone call, and for collecting the ransom, I am offering you fifty thousand dollars.’
Well, the cat was out of the bag now. I felt my mouth turn dry.
Kidnapping was a capital offence. If I was going to touch this job, I would have to be more than careful. A kidnapper went to the gas chamber if he was caught.
This idea of hers could be as dangerous as murder — it carried the death sentence.
CHAPTER THREE
I
A small dark cloud drifted across the face of the moon. For the space of a minute or so, the sea looked suddenly cold and the beach dark and uninviting, then the cloud passed, and once more there was silver on the water and brightness on the beach.
Rhea Malroux was looking at me.
‘There is no other way of raising such a sum,’ she said. ‘It will have to be kidnapping. It’s the only way to make my husband part with the money. It is easy enough. It’s just a matter of working out the details.’
‘Kidnapping carries the death sentence,’ I said. ‘Have you thought of that?’
‘But no one is being kidnapped,’ she returned, and stretched out her long, beautiful legs. ‘Just supposing something went wrong, then I will tell my husband the truth, and that will be that.’