He giggled. “I don’t suppose you’d think it to look at me, baby,” he
said softly, “but one of my side-lines is blackmail. I’m here to
blackmail you.” He giggled again.
“What makes you think I’d be a good subject to blackmail?” I
asked, suddenly wary.
“No one’s a good subject to blackmail,” he returned, pouting.
“Sometimes I wonder if the game is worth the risk.” He fingered his
tie with slender, grubby fingers. His finger-nails were black crescents.
“It’s a big risk, you know. I have to be very careful how I select my
victim. Even then I have made mistakes.”
“Chalk this up as your biggest mistake yet,” I said grimly. “I don’t
believe in blackmail; never did.”
He stroked his clipped hair, smiled. “But then no one ever does,
baby,” he pointed out. “It depends entirely on the force of
circumstances. In your case, I don’t see how you can help yourself.”
“By ramming my foot into your fat carcass,” I said, eyeing him
with distaste.
He flicked ash on to the carpet, shook his head. “So many people
have wanted to do that. I’ve always taken care to convince them it
wouldn’t pay.”
“Tell me,” I said.
“I heard what you and Corridan said to each other,” he said,
giggled. “I was listening outside the door. I could get you hanged.
That’s not bad, is it?”
“I don’t think you could,” l said, shaken.
“Don’t be obstinate, baby,” he pleaded. “I wouldn’t risk coming to
London, coming here, unless I was sure it’d pay dividends. It was my
luck that I heard what Corridan said. He wants me and he suspects I
saw what happened in Madge Kennitt’s flat. Well, I wouldn’t
disappoint him. I’d tell him.”
“You saw nothing,” I said.
“I know, but he doesn’t know. I’ll tell him you were in love with
Netta. That Madge told you Netta and Peter French murdered Anne.
You didn’t want Madge to tel the police, so you tried to bribe her. She
wouldn’t play, and you lost your head and killed her. I saw you do it.”
I drummed with my fingers on the chair arm. “You didn’t, Cole,” I
said. “And you know it.”
He nodded. “Of course I didn’t, but that doesn’t matter. Corridan
expects me to say something like that and I will if you force me to.”
“They’ll want to know why you didn’t tell them before,” I said.
“Of course, I shall get into trouble, but then I don’t anticipate it’ll
come to that. I was also watching you when you went to Selma
Jacobi’s flat. I saw Littlejohns enter after you had arrived, but I didn’t
see him come out.”
“You get around, don’t you?” I said.
“I’ve never even seen Selma’s place, but I can tell Corridan that,
can’t I? He wants to get someone for these murders, and he’ll jump at
my evidence.”
I knew Corridan would.
There was a long pause, then I said, “Corridan wouldn’t be so
pleased to learn you made a monkey out of him when you identified
Anne as Netta. He’d give you a stretch for that.”
Cole smirked. “Yes, baby,” he said; “I’ve taken that into account
too. But they’d stretch your neck, so I’m not really anticipating
trouble. I don’t think I shall have to go to Corridan because you’ll pay
me to keep quiet.”
I lit a cigarette, smoked for a moment, thinking.
“You see, there’s Netta to be considered too,” Cole said in his soft,
lisping voice. “She’ll get into trouble too. Corridan will bring a murder
charge against her. He’s a hard man.” He removed a hair from his coat
and put it on the window seat with exaggerated care. “You must
admit I have a strong hand. But you needn’t worry. I’m not asking for
much. I’m always modest in my demands. What do you say to a single
payment of five hundred pounds? That’s reasonable, isn’t it?”
“But you’ll be back in a week or so for more. I know the kind of
louse you are.”
He shook his head. “Don’t call me names, baby. It’s not kind. I
don’t do business that way. Give me five hundred pounds, and you’re
free to leave the country as soon as you like. Five hundred pounds
would keep me going for a long time. I’m not extravagant, baby. I
have simple tastes.”
“I’d like a little time to think this over,” I said. “Suppose you come
back this afternoon?”
“What’s there to think about?” he asked, wagging his head from
side to side.
“It’s just that I have to get used to the idea of being blackmailed,”
I returned, wanting to sink my fist in his fat, flabby face. “I also want
to think of a way to get out of this. Right now, I don’t see a way.”
Cole giggled. “There isn’t one, baby,” he said. “Corridan would
love to get his hooks into you. Besides, what’s five hundred pounds to
you? It’s nothing.” His grey-green eyes wandered around the room.
“You’re used to the good things of life. You wouldn’t like to spend
weeks in a cell. That’s what it’d mean, even if they didn’t prove you
guilty: Weeks in a cell.”
“You’re quite a salesman,” I said, getting to my feet. “Come back
at three-thirty this afternoon. I’ll either tell you to go to hell or I’ll
have the dough for you.”
Cole shifted his fat carcass out of my reach. “All right, baby,” he
said, watching me. “Have the money in pound notes.” He looked once
more around the room, wagged his head. “It’s nice. I might even book
a room here. It’d make a change after that beastly flat of mine.”
“I shouldn’t,” I said. “Not in that suit, anyway. They’re fussy here.”
A faint flush stained his pasty face. “That’s not kind, baby,” he
said.
I watched him go, the frame and build of a truck-driver,
sauntering along softly, insolently, like a dancer.
When he had rounded the bend in the corridor, I returned to my
room, poured out a stiff shot of whisky, sat down by the window.
Things were breaking a little too fast for me. I was being crowded. If I
was going to solve this puzzle outside a cell, I’d have to move fast.
I thought for a few seconds, finished my drink, decided I’d have to
see Netta. I jumped up, grabbed my hat, made for the door.
The telephone rang.
I hesitated, picked up the receiver.
“Harmas?”
I recognized Bradley’s voice, wondered what he wanted.
“How are your front teeth, Bradley?” I asked. “I’m still
undertaking painful extractions. If you have any left, let me know. I’ll
fix it for you.”
I expected him to blow his top, but he didn’t. He sounded almost
mild.
“All right, Harmas,” he said. “Never mind that stuff. We’re quits
now. I gave you a bad time, you gave me one. Let’s forget it.” I could
scarcely believe my ears.
“So what,” I asked.
“But I want my rings back. Harmas. They’re worth two thousand
pounds. Maybe you did take them for a joke. I’m not saying you stole
them, but I want them back.”
That was reasonable enough, I thought, but how was I going to
give them back?
“Corridan’s got them,” I said. “You’d better ask him for them.”
“I’m not interested in who’s got them,” he snapped. “I’m only