‘What happens if you drop dead or go to jail for life, Mr. Lucas?’
‘Brannigan knows where the cassette is.’
He stared down at his hands while he thought. I lit a cigarette and waited.
‘The L.A. end seems to me to be difficult,’ he said.
‘To you, yes, but not to me. I can handle that. I can get your people into the vault, but getting away with the loot is next to impossible.’
He shrugged.
‘That is your problem, Mr. Lucas. In return for a million dollars, and for all the incriminating evidence I have against you which I will give you, I would have thought, with your expertise, you would find a solution.’
‘So, under duress, you are leaving the entire operation to me?’
‘That is the situation. I will finance the operation, and supply men to carry out the operation, but you will be responsible for the plan.’
This was my moment to bluff. I had spent the past five nights thinking how I could outwit this man, and I had arrived at a possible solution.
‘I accept on certain conditions.’
The mad light flashed up in his slate-grey eyes.
‘You are in no position to make conditions!’
‘There you make a mistake. Because Brannigan exposed you as a small-time embezzler, you want revenge. By stripping out the vault of his “safest bank in the world,” you know you will hit him where he lives. To do this, you haven’t hesitated to have Marsh murdered so you can force me to get your people into the vault. That you can kill a man tells me that you have set your mind on cutting Brannigan down to size. The weakness of this plan of yours is that you could have underestimated me, and I could elect to stand trial for a murder I didn’t commit. You have a criminal record, and you are known to the police. If you hadn’t a record, I wouldn’t be in the strong position that I am. If I elect to stand trial, I would talk. I would tell Brannigan and the police the story. The fact that I saved his safest bank in the world, and also his reputation, would put Brannigan very much on my side. With his enormous influence, I could just be found not guilty, but make no mistake about it, Brannigan would come after you, and so would the police. You could go back to jail.’ I paused, then went on, ‘So don’t say I am not in a position to make conditions.’
We stared at each other for a long moment. Klaus then nodded, his mouth twitching.
‘You have a point, Mr. Lucas. I see I have underestimated you. What are your conditions?’
Keeping my face expressionless, but with a surge of triumph running through me as I realized my bluff was working, I leaned forward and stubbed out my cigarette.
‘You talk glibly of paying me a million dollars. Do you imagine I am that much of a sucker to take your word? Do you imagine I don’t realize that once I have got your people into the vault and have shown them how to get the loot away, you won’t have me murdered as you had Marsh murdered?’
Klaus studied me, then his bleak face relaxed into a false smile.
‘How very suspicious you are, Mr. Lucas. So what do you propose?’
‘I can get your people into the vault, and with a little thinking, I can tell them how to get the loot out,’ I said, ‘but first you will give me bearer bonds for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. A million dollars is a nice sum, but I am sure, after the operation, I wouldn’t get it, so I am prepared to settle; for a quarter. If you are not prepared to give me these bonds, then we both call each other’s bluff. I’ll have to face trial for a murder I didn’t commit, and you won’t get your revenge, but you will get Brannigan and the police after you. In six days’ time, I will come to you with a complete plan: how to get into the vault and get away with the loot. It’ll then be up to you. You either have the bonds for me or I don’t handle the operation.’
‘And how do I know, Mr. Lucas, that once I give you the bonds, you don’t disappear?’
‘I’m not likely to do that while you hold Glenda hostage.’ I got to my feet. ‘Think it over. On Thursday night at nine o’clock, I will be waiting for Joe to bring me to you. I’ll have my side of the deal set up. You have yours.’
Feeling much more in control of this nightmare situation, I walked out of the room, and into the lobby.
Benny was leaning against the wall, picking his teeth. He straightened when he saw me. I walked by him, opened the front door and walked into the hot night.
Joe was sitting in the Chevy, playing his harmonica. I got in the car.
‘Let’s go, Joe,’ I said, ‘and don’t spare the horses.’
He giggled and set the car in motion.
Chapter Five
As I walked into the outer office on Monday morning, my secretary, Mary Oldham, at her desk, looked up.
‘Good morning, Mr. Lucas.’
‘Hi, Mary! What’s the mail like?’
‘Lots of it. It’s on your desk.’ A pause, then she said, ‘That’s a terrible thing about Sheriff Thomson, isn’t it?’
I stopped as if I had walked into a brick wall.
‘Thomson?’ I turned and stared at her. ‘What happened?
‘It was on the radio, Mr. Lucas. Didn’t you catch it?’
‘What happened?’ I was aware my voice was shrill.
‘Late last night: a hit-and-run driver. The poor man was walking to his car when this car deliberately hit him. Three people say they saw the car mount the sidewalk. Sheriff Thomson hadn’t a chance.’
The Siberian wind blew over me.
‘Is he — is he dead?’
‘He’s very bad. He’s in hospital. They say he is m a serious condition.’
I heard Klaus’s dry voice saying: Never mind about the sheriff. I have already anticipated trouble from him, and I will take care of him.
So he had taken care of him. I stood there, feeling the blood leaving my face, then pulling myself together, I mumbled I was sorry and walked into my office. I sat down at my desk. I hadn’t time even to think before Bill Dixon breezed in.
‘I’m off to ‘Frisco, Larry,’ he said, and put a pile of papers on my desk. ‘More work for you. Lowson wants us to equip them with their office furniture. It’s the usual rush job. The details are all here.’ He looked at me. ‘Did Brannigan give us credit?’
‘I didn’t get around to seeing him again,’ I said, ‘but he will. Don’t worry about that.’
He grinned.
‘That’s your worry.’ He looked at his watch. ‘I must get off. Tough about Thomson. I liked the guy. He was a dedicated cop.’
I turned ice cold.
‘Have you more news? I heard he was knocked down.’
‘Heard it on the radio as I drove in,’ Bill said. ‘He died half an hour ago. What kills me is that three jerks actually saw this driver run him down, and none of them got his licence number nor even a description of the car. Some goddamn drunk. Thomson really had crime under control here. Maclain, his deputy, is less than useless. Well, I’m off. See you, Larry,’ and he left.
I sat still, staring into space.
I’ll take care of him.
First Marsh, now Thomson. Two men dead to achieve a vicious revenge. I remembered what Glenda had said: He is a devil. I also remembered that both she and I were equally in the shadow of a violent end.
Then the telephone bell rang, and from then on, I was caught up for the rest of the day in non-stop work.
At 18.00, our small factory at the back of the office block closed for the day. Having cleared my desk, I went down and walked into the big room that housed our setup for repairs, for experiments and for new machines. My three engineers were on the point of leaving. Frank Dodge, my chief engineer, looked inquiringly at me.