Val felt cold. She sat for a long moment staring at Terrell, then she said, “I gave this man the money because I want him to do certain very confidential work for me. There is no question of blackmail.” She got to her feet. “Thank you for your offer of help, but it is quite unnecessary. Please accept my apologies for my foolishness.”
Terrell shrugged and stood up.
“All right, Mrs. Burnett, but if you change your mind, you know where to find me. If I can be of help let me know.” He moved to the door, then pausing, he said, “I’m sorry, but this isn’t the end of the matter. Hardy is coming up on a manslaughter charge. He could call you as a witness. I’m not satisfied you have told me the truth. Think about it. People have found it is better to have me on their side than against them.”
He went out and shut the door quietly behind him.
The time was seven-fifteen. Homer Hare, Sam Karsh and Lucille were in conference. Sam Karsh had just got back from hospital where he had been treated for bruises and shock. It had taken him more than seven hours to recover enough from the police beating to get back to the office. Even now, he held an ice-bag to his aching eye and he moaned now and then. Neither Hare, who was munching chicken sandwiches, nor Lucille paid any attention to him.
“I said from the beginning I didn’t like it,” Lucille said, “and now this.”
“Terrell’s bluffing,” Hare said, his mouth full. “He can’t prove the money isn’t a retainer. The Burnett woman won’t talk. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah?” Karsh whined. “How’s about me? Look at the way those Nazis beat me up! Know what they said? They said every time they see me in the car, they will frame me for a traffic violation and they’ll do it! Look at my eye!”
“Oh shut up about your damned eye!” Lucille exclaimed shrilly. “Who cares? I think...”
The buzzer sounded in the outer office. The three of them looked uneasily at each other. Then Lucille got to her feet and was moving to the door when it opened. Even Hare was startled to see Val standing in the doorway. With an effort, he switched on his oily smile and got to his feet. He bowed elaborately.
“Mrs. Burnett: I am honoured. Please come in.”
Val looked from him to Lucille and then to Karsh who hurriedly hid the ice-bag behind him and stared at her uneasily.
“All right, children,” Hare said smoothly. “Run along. Mrs. Burnett doesn’t want you here.”
“But I do,” Val said with quiet determination. She moved further into the office and closed the door. She was pale but there was an expression in her eyes and a hardness around her mouth that made Hare look sharply at her. “I think your two assistants know you are blackmailing me.”
Karsh flinched and turned a putty white. Even Lucille, her eyes glittering, stiffened.
“Now, Mrs. Burnett, we mustn’t have that kind of talk here,” Hare said, his voice suddenly harsh.
“That is exactly the kind of talk we are going to have,” Val said. She walked to the chair opposite Hare’s desk and sat down. “I have been talking to the Chief of Police. He tells me he wants to send you to prison for fourteen years. He seemed quite serious about it.”
Hare lowered his bulk bark into his chair.
“What he would like to do, Mrs. Burnett and what he can do are two very different things.”
Val gazed steadily at him.
“But he can do it. I have only to tell him you and your assistants blackmailed me for you and your assistants to go to prison for fourteen years.”
Karsh said hurriedly, “Don’t bring me into this...”
Hare glared at him.
“Shut up!” To Val he said, “Surely, Mrs. Burnett, I don’t I have to remind you of the consequences if you confide in Terrell. I admit we would get into trouble, but Terrell could not overlook the fact that your husband is a murderer. I was under the impression that you paid the money to keep that fact quiet.”
Val shook her head.
“Oh no, I didn’t,” she said. “I gave you the money to establish the fact that you were blackmailing me. The police and my bank have the numbers of all the bills. The police know I gave you the money. They would have no difficulty in proving you did blackmail me and your assistants had a part in it.”
“Now, wait...” Karsh began, sweat breaking out on his face.
“Will you shut up!” Hare barked. “I think you are bluffing, Mrs. Burnett. Am I to understand you don’t mind your husband being tried for murder?”
“Oh, yes, I mind,” Val said quietly, “but I am not submitting to blackmail. I’ve thought about it. It is better for my husband to stand trial than to pay blackmail. You hold the only evidence against him: the police will want to know why you didn’t give them this evidence: that, coupled with the fact they know I paid you all this money will send you to prison almost as long as the sentence my husband would get.”
Hare began to feel uneasy.
“I still think you are bluffing,” he said. “Your husband will spend the rest of his days in a criminal asylum.”
“It is possible, but we will hire very clever attorneys,” Val said. “He could get off sooner than that. I’m not bluffing.” She reached across the desk and picked up the telephone receiver. “If you think I am, then I’m calling the Chief of Police.”
Karsh shouted, “Stop! Don’t do it!”
Val replaced the receiver and looked at Karsh who was glaring at Hare.
“You fat old fool! I warned you! She’s got us! Now you shut up for a change. I’m going to handle this!”
Hare, livid, started to say something, but Lucille cut in. “Let him handle it. I said all along I didn’t like it.”
Hare hesitated, then swung his chair around so his back was to Val. He looked like a man about to have a stroke.
Karsh said, “Mrs. Burnett, I want you to believe neither my wife nor me wanted anything to do with this. Look, we’ll give you back the money and the evidence. If we do that, will you forget it? We don’t want trouble with the police and you don’t want trouble for your husband. That’s right, isn’t it?”
Hare snarled. “You bird brain! She’s bluffing!”
Val looked at Karsh.
“Give me the jacket and the lighter and the money.” Her heart was pounding, but she managed to look straight at Karsh although she was a lot more frightened than he. “And I’ll forget I’ve ever been here.”
Karsh hurried to the safe. He took out the parcel containing the jacket. To this he added the gold cigarette lighter. Then picking up the brief-case containing the twenty thousand dollars, he handed the three articles to Val.
When she had gone, Hare threw the remains of his chicken sandwich across the office.
“Fools! Couldn’t you see she was bluffing? You’ve let half a million dollars walk out of here!”
“Yeah?” Karsh sneered, pressing the ice-bag against his aching eye, “then why are you wasting good food? If we’re going to be all that poor, you’ll need every crumb you can find.”
Chapter Eleven
Moe had remained in the cupboard recess at Fris-Fris’s bar until nine o’clock. In the meantime, Fris-Fris had alerted the boys along the waterfront to report on the activities of the police.
A telephone call at a few minutes to nine assured Fris-Fris the search for Moe had moved on and the immediate district was now clear of police.
He hurried to let Moe out of his hiding place.
“They’ve gone for the moment,” he said as he led Moe into a back room furnished only with a table and four chairs. “So what are you going to do now?”