To me, she was as convincing as a carpet salesman trying to sell me a fake Persian rug.
But at the back of my mind was the thought of fifty thousand dollars. Maybe, I told myself, if I handled the set-up, worked out all the details myself, I could sink a hook into that money.
‘You mean your husband will just laugh and tell you you and your stepdaughter are naughty girls and do nothing more about it? The fact that I have telephoned him, telling him his daughter has been kidnapped and demanding money, won’t mean a thing — he’ll treat it as a joke? You think he’ll tell the Federal Agents this is just some fun dreamed up by his wife to rook him out of five hundred thousand dollars?’
There was a long pause, then she said, ‘I don’t like your tone, Mr. Barber. You are being impertinent.’
‘So sorry, but I once was a newspaper man,’ I said. ‘I know, perhaps a lot better than you do, that if the daughter of Felix Malroux is kidnapped, it will make headline news all over the world. It could turn out to be another Lindberg case.’
She shifted in her chair and I saw her hands turn into fists.
‘You’re exaggerating. I won’t allow my husband to call in the police.’ Her voice was sharp and impatient. ‘The situation will be this: Odette will disappear. You will telephone my husband and tell him she has been kidnapped. She will be returned if my husband will pay five hundred thousand dollars. My husband will pay the money. You will collect it and Odette returns. That’s all there is to it.’
‘You mean that’s all you hope there is to it,’ I said.
She made an impatient movement.
‘I know that’s all there is to it, Mr. Barber. You tell me you are prepared to take a risk if you are well paid. I am offering you fifty thousand dollars. If that isn’t enough, say so and I’ll find someone else.’
‘Will you?’ I said. ‘Don’t kid yourself. You would have quite a time to find anyone to take on a job like this. I don’t like any of it. There are all kinds of snags. Suppose your husband calls in the police, in spite of what you say? Once you have the police in your hair you have them there until someone gets arrested, and that someone could be me.’
‘The police won’t come into it. I’ve told you: I can handle my husband.’
I thought of an ageing millionaire, dying slowly of cancer. Maybe he had lost his grip on life. Maybe she was right. Maybe she had the power to persuade him to part with five hundred thousand dollars without a fight. Maybe…
But against this sudden prick of conscience was the thought that if this worked, I would own fifty thousand dollars.
‘Your stepdaughter agrees to this idea?’
‘Of course. She needs the money as much as I do.’
I flicked my cigarette butt into the darkness.
‘I’m warning you,’ I said, ‘if the Federal Agents get onto it, we’ll all be in trouble.’
‘I’m coming to the conclusion you’re not the man I am looking for,’ she said. ‘I think we are wasting each other’s time.’
I should have agreed with her and let her walk away into the darkness as silently as she had come, but there was this nagging thought in my mind of the fifty thousand dollars she was offering me. The amount fascinated me. I realised, as I sat there in the moonlight, that if the Police Commissioner had put on his desk fifty thousand dollars in new crisp bills I would have fallen for his bribe. I realised, with a sense of shock, that my integrity was proof against a bribe of ten thousand dollars, but not against an offer of fifty thousand dollars.
‘I’m just warning you,’ I said. ‘You and your stepdaughter and I would feel pretty sick if we landed behind bars.’
‘How many more times do I have to tell you? There is no question of that.’ Her voice was stifled with irritated impatience. ‘Can I rely on you or can’t I?’
‘You’ve given me the bare outlines of your idea. Suppose you tell me exactly what you want me to do,’ I said, ‘then I’ll be able to decide.’
‘Odette will disappear; you will telephone my husband.’ Her voice was exasperated. ‘You will tell him she has been kidnapped, and she will be returned on payment of five hundred thousand dollars. You will make my husband believe that if he doesn’t pay the ransom, Odette won’t be returned. You will have to be convincing, but I am relying on you for that.’
‘Does your husband scare easily?’ I asked.
‘He is very fond of his daughter,’ she said quietly. ‘In these circumstances, he will scare easily.’
‘Then what do I do?’
‘You arrange how he is to pay the money. You collect it, you take your share and give the rest to me.’
‘And your stepdaughter, of course.’
She paused before she said, ‘Yes, of course.’
‘It sounds pretty simple,’ I said. ‘The one snag is you may not know your husband as well as you imagine you do. He may not scare easily. He may call in the police. A man who has made the fortune he has must have plenty of what it takes. Have you considered that?’
‘I told you: I can handle him.’ She drew on her cigarette so the glowing tip lit up her glistening red mouth. ‘He is ill. Two or three years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible. A very sick man, Mr.
Barber, hasn’t much resistance when someone he loves seems to be in danger.’
I had a slightly sick feeling to imagine that but for the grace of God this woman could have been my wife.
‘You probably know more about that than I do,’ I said.
Again there was a pause. I could feel her hostility as she stared towards me out of the darkness.
‘Well? Are you going to do it or aren’t you?’
Again I thought of the fifty thousand dollars. This wasn’t something to rush into, but given thought, given a detailed plan, it might possibly work.
‘I want to think about it,’ I said. ‘I’ll give you my decision tomorrow. Suppose you telephone me here at eleven?’
‘Can’t you say yes or no now?’
‘I want to think about it. I’ll give you a definite decision tomorrow.’
She got to her feet. Opening her bag, she took out a small roll of bills and dropped them on the table that stood between us.
‘This should cover the cost of the cabin and any other expenses you may have. I’ll telephone tomorrow.’
She went away as silently as she had come, disappearing into the darkness like a ghost.
I picked up the money she had left on the table. There were ten ten-dollar bills. I slid them through my fingers, multiplying them in my mind five hundred times.
The time was now ten minutes after ten. I had a couple of hours yet before I need return home. I sat there in the moonlight, staring at the sea and I considered her proposal. I considered it from every angle: particularly the risk involved.
A few minutes after midnight, I made my decision. It wasn’t an easy one to make, but I was influenced by the money she was offering me. With that sum I could make a new life for Nina and myself.
On my terms, and my terms only, I decided to do what she wanted me to do.
The following morning, I went down to the cabin early. I told Bill Holden I wanted to keep the cabin on for at least another day, possibly longer, and I paid him the rent for two days.
I sat in the sun outside the cabin until a few minutes to eleven, then I went in and sat by the telephone.
Exactly at eleven o’clock the telephone bell rang. I picked up the receiver.
‘Barber here,’ I said.
‘Is it yes or no?’
‘It’s yes,’ I said, ‘but there are conditions. I want to talk to you and the other party. Come here with her at nine o’clock tonight.’
I didn’t give her a chance to argue. I hung up. I wanted her to realise that the initiative had passed from her to me now, and it was going to stay that way.