Jay leaned back in his chair.
“That doesn’t seem odd to me. I’d be surprised if she had been wearing one on the beach.”
Devereaux drew in a deep breath.
“You said, monsieur, that you had seen the necklace. You said you didn’t see her after she had left the beach. Then how could you have seen the necklace if she wasn’t wearing it?”
This is the moment, Jay thought. I’ve got to convince him or this could be dangerous.
For several seconds he stared at the Inspector, a look of astonishment on his face.
“Do you mean to tell me you have made me break an appointment for such a trivial thing as that?” he said. “I never said she was wearing the necklace. I described it because it happened to fall out of her beach bag while we were talking and I picked it up and returned it to her. I remember I said I thought it was a pretty thing. Does that answer your question?”
Devereaux ran his fingers through his hair, frowning, then he gave an irritable shrug. The explanation was so simple and so obvious it made him feel foolish.
“Thank you, monsieur. You must excuse me. I’m afraid I have bothered you for nothing, but every statement I get has to be checked. I hope you understand.”
Jay kept his face expressionless with an effort, but inside himself he felt a surge of triumph. He had done it! He had fooled this man! It had been so easy! Again it had been due to his ingenuity and nerve and now — he was safe!
“That’s all right,” he said. “Of course, I understand. Well... ” He got to his feet. “Is there anything else?”
Devereaux also got to his feet.
“No, monsieur. Only my regrets... ”
“It’s nothing,” Jay said. “I’m only too happy to help.” He paused, then went on: “You have no suspect yet?”
Devereaux shrugged his shoulders.
“We are only just beginning the investigation, monsieur. I have been working on murder cases now for thirty years and in my experience, very few murderers escape. There is always the unexpected factor that brings about their downfall. It is usually at the moment when they are quite sure they are safe that they get caught. I am a patient man. I ask questions. I write down answers. I check statements. That is all I do. It is the murderer who usually gives himself away. Solving a murder case is merely a matter of patience.”
Well, this time, Jay thought, you will be disappointed, my friend. You can have all the patience in the world, but you won’t catch me in a mistake.
At this moment the telephone bell rang and Devereaux reached for the receiver.
“Excuse me, monsieur,” he said. “Don’t let me detain you any longer.”
“Thank you,” Jay said and nodding, he went out of the room.
It was Guidet calling on the telephone and he sounded excited. He told Devereaux that they had found Joe Kerr at the Beau Rivage hotel.
“And about time too,” Devereaux growled. “Well, bring him to headquarters. I’ll be right over. Has he made a statement?”
“It would be better for you to come here, Inspector,” Guidet said, unable to resist the drama of the situation. “He is dead.”
Devereaux stiffened.
“Dead?”
“Yes. He’s our man all right. I found one of the blue beads in his pocket. He hanged himself with a red curtain cord — the cord that is missing from the hotel.”
Devereaux refused to give him the satisfaction of appearing startled.
“I’ll be right over,” he said and hung up.
II
As Jay crossed the lobby to the elevator, he saw Sophia come in with his father and four other men. The men paused to say good night to Sophia before going with his father towards the bar.
Sophia saw Jay and joined him as the elevator doors opened. They rode up to the second floor without exchanging a word, conscious of the attendant who kept looking at Sophia with furtive admiration.
It wasn’t until they had left the elevator and while Jay was unlocking the door to their suite that Sophia said in a tense, low voice, “Well? What have you been doing?”
“Arranging things,” Jay said, opening the door and standing aside. “As I said I would.”
Sophia entered the lounge, crossed over to the cocktail cabinet and poured a brandy to which she added a lump of ice and some soda water.
While she was making a drink, Jay closed the door and moved over to sit in one of the armchairs.
She turned and faced him.
“Well? For heaven’s sake! Don’t try to be mysterious! What have you done?”
How tense she looked! he thought. Smart as she is, she wouldn’t have been able to have handled this thing the way I did. She would either have paid those two blackmailers for the rest of her days or she would have given up and weakly submitted to being arrested. It would never have crossed her mind to have silenced them.
“I have arranged things, Sophia,” he said. “Everything is now all right.”
His smug little smile made her want to slap his face, but she controlled herself.
“Don’t talk like a fool!” she said angrily. “How can everything possibly be all right? Those two... ”
He held up his hand.
“I said I would arrange things and I have arranged them. The photographs and the negatives are destroyed. I destroyed them myself.”
She stared at him.
There was something about him she hadn’t ever seen before. There was this smug little smile, but his cocky air of confidence disturbed her.
She sipped her brandy, then she sat down, frowning at him.
“You’ve destroyed them? But how?”
“I went to the hotel,” he said airily. “I talked to the woman. She was difficult, of course, but I went prepared. Blackmailers are always cowards. I frightened her and I frightened Kerr. They gave me the photographs and the negatives and I burned them.”
“You? You frightened that woman! I don’t believe it!” Sophia’s scorn made Jay flush angrily. “A callow boy like you couldn’t frighten such a woman!”
“Don’t you think so?” Jay’s lips were in a tight smile. “I’m not saying it was easy, but I did it.” He put his hand into his hip pocket and took out the razor. He opened it and let the light from the reading lamp glitter on its blade.
Sophia caught her breath sharply.
“You see? It even frightens you,” Jay said softly. “It’s odd — people have a horror of sharp steel. I threatened them with this. It had the required effect.”
Sophia felt a little sick as she stared at him. Sitting there, his face pale, his eyes hidden by the dark glasses, a cruel smile on his lips and the razor in his hand, he looked horribly dangerous.
“Put that thing away!” she said her voice was husky.
Jay closed the razor and began to tap his knee with it.
“So you have nothing to worry about, Sophia. You can forget the whole thing.”
“You insane fool! Even if they gave you the photographs and the negatives that won’t stop them going to the police and telling them!” Sophia burst out angrily.
He flinched.
“Of course, you are still thinking of yourself, Sophia,” he said, “but I assure you it is going to be all right. They won’t say anything. I can promise you that.”
“But why are you so sure?”
“I just know.” He paused and cocked his head a little on one side. “You can forget the whole thing. You do understand, don’t you? It would be better if you forgot all about it.”
She stiffened. The note in his voice was distinctly hostile.
“Is it my turn now to be threatened?” she asked.
His meaningless smile moved into place.
“After all, Sophia, you are now the only person who can do anything about this business. The other two won’t and you are the only other one who knows about it. If you hadn’t returned when you did, everything would have worked out very well, so it does make it a little difficult between us, doesn’t it?”
“I would like to get this quite clear, Jay,” Sophia said. “Are you threatening me?”