`There I do not agree,' Gregory said quietly. `Even a chance to better the lot of a whole people, or at least a proportion of them, is infinitely preferable to allowing the money to fall into the hands of a small group of unscrupulous adventurers.'
Lacost's light blue eyes took on a stony look and, with a sudden change of manner, he cried harshly, `Then you refuse to back out of your understanding with the Ratu?'
`I do.' Gregory's eyes were equally hard, as he went on `And now I'll give you a warning. In my time many people have found me a very dangerous enemy. In fact I've killed more men than I care to remember, and I'd not scruple to kill again. So it is you and your friends who would be wise to throw in your hand. Given cause and opportunity, I'd not hesitate to stick a knife in you and throw you to the sharks. Good night, Monsieur Lacost.'
For a moment Lacost glared at him, then, without another word, turned on his heel and left the room, slamming the door behind him.
Switching off the light, Gregory replaced his little pistol under his pillow, and for a while lay contemplating this new development. From his early twenties he had lived dangerously, so he found the situation far from upsetting. It titillated his lifelong craving for excitement and offered an opportunity to pit his wits against an unscrupulous enemy. He decided now that, even should the Antigua records provide no evidence that the sunken ship had a cargo of treasure, he would back James just for the fun of the thing.
Meanwhile, Pierre Lacost had silently slipped into Manon's room. She had been expecting him and at once switched on her light. `Well,' she asked, `I take it you have had a talk with him? How did things go?'
He shook his head, with its crop of straight fair hair. `Not well. He is a tough one, and I fear we will have trouble with him unless you can persuade him to change his mind.'
`I doubt if he will. As I told you in my cable, I tried several times while we were in Rio, but failed. The, trouble is that, since his wife died, he has become foot loose. He is his own master, has any amount of money and has been an adventurer all his life. The Ratu James's proposal intrigued him because it offered him a temporary escape from doing nothing and simply travelling here and there while brooding about his loss.'
`We must rid ourselves of him somehow, and the sooner the better.'
Manon remained silent for a moment, then she said, `I am not prepared to stand for that. By all means stall him off if you can. But I won't have him harmed. He is as rich as Croesus and he has fallen for me. Given a little luck, I'll hook him. Then I'll be able to live in the luxury that I've always longed for.'
Lacost's pale blue eyes narrowed. `So that is your game. Good luck to you then, but only provided that you can keep him out of this present business. Until we get the gold you will continue to take your orders from me. Understand?'
Sitting up in bed, she gave him an angry look. `Why should I? You couldn't even start the job until I had half ruined myself to provide you with the money to hire your salvaging equipment. I am still with you as far as getting the gold for ourselves goes. But I'm not such a fool as to allow you to do him. some injury that might sabotage my chances of his marrying me.'
With a toothy smile, Lacost replied, 'Mon petit chou, be pleased to remember that I still have that bottle. So long as I hold it, you remain in my power, and should I require your help to eliminate him, you will give it.'
His words caused Manon's mind to flash back to that fatal, sweltering afternoon when, maddened by the heat, boredom and years of frustration, she had snatched from her husband the bottle containing the drops that would have nullified his heart attack, flung it from the window, then watched him die.
It had been bad luck for her that Pierre Lacost had happened to be outside on the veranda and had picked up the bottle when it landed at his feet. He was Georges' estate manager, and for some months past Manon had been having an affaire with him. Their secret meetings had been infrequent and fraught with danger, owing to her husband's argus eyed jealousy. But, since his first heart attack, Georges had frightened himself into impotence. Manon's sexual craving had led her into letting Pierre have her from time to time in odd corners of the estate, outhouses, where the risk of their being surprised was small. As he had been aware how boredom with her husband had grown into hatred and a longing to be rid of him, no sooner had Pierre read the label on the bottle than he felt sure of the way in which it had come into his hands, and one glance through the window confirmed his belief.
After Georges' funeral Pierre had confronted Manon with his knowledge of her deed. She could produce no other explanation for the sudden arrival of the bottle of drops on the veranda and after a while sullenly admitted her guilt. Had he disclosed his knowledge to the authorities it could have led to her being charged with murder. As the price of his silence, Pierre had demanded that she should marry him. At that she had rebelled. She liked him well enough, and was even strongly attracted by his animal sexual vigour, but Algeria had become anathema to her. The idea of remaining on that isolated estate tied to another husband when she had rid herself of Georges was, to her, unthinkable. Neither cajolery nor threats could persuade her. In the end Pierre had given way and they had struck a bargain. She made over the estate to him and he left her free to leave Algeria.
As the state of the country had by then rendered the property almost valueless, except to a man long used to running it, Manon had considered parting with it a cheap price to pay for securing her freedom. In consequence, she had felt no rancour against Pierre for getting what he could out of her. On the contrary, her instinct as a Frenchwoman was rather to admire him for playing well the cards that had fallen into his hands; so before she left they again slept together several times and when they did take leave of each other they had parted as good friends.
She had never expected to see him again, but eighteen months later he had turned up in Tahiti. As at that time she had another lover, they had not resumed their affaire, but had met on friendly terms and he was one of the many people to whom, for old times' sake, she had lent money.
By then she was already planning her move to Fiji, and when she left Tahiti Pierre again passed out of her life for a while. It was not until a few months before that he had re-entered it. Knowing that she still had considerable capital, he had sought her out in her remote island home and put to her the project of salvaging the gold from the sunken ship off Tujoa. Already worried by the inroads that the cost of building her house had made in her small fortune, she had fallen for the possibility of recovering her outlay, and had agreed to gamble a sum to finance Pierre 's venture that was greatly in excess of what caution demanded.
One disadvantage to her island retreat that Manon had soon discovered was that while living there the chances of coming into contact with an acceptable lover were almost negligible; and, from her late teens onward, after a few months of chastity she had always been beset by a craving to have a man in her bed again. It was not, therefore, to be wondered at that when the virile Pierre had re appeared on her scene he had found no difficulty in persuading her once more to become his mistress; and during the visits he paid her while making preparations to retrieve the treasure they had enjoyed some very pleasant times together.
Now she cursed her folly in having renewed her association with him. Not only had be glibly persuaded her to jeopardise her financial security but, if she had turned down his proposition the odds were that she would have seen no more of him; so he would not be there in her room threatening to wreck her chances of securing Gregory as a husband. But then, had Pierre not induced her, for the protection of her gamble, to go to Rio, she would not have met Gregory; so he could not altogether be blamed for the situation in which she found herself, or the attitude he had taken up. Swiftly she decided that, while continuing to humour him, she must not allow him to believe that he could browbeat her into doing anything he wished.