‘Has the Press been on to you yet?’
‘Not yet.’
‘If they do, refer them to me. I’ll handle them.’
That was a weight off my mind. I said I’d do it and hung up.
As I was moving to the stairs to warn Marian not to talk to the Press if they arrived, I heard a car pull up and I went to the front door.
Bromwich and Lewis were getting out.
I felt my mouth turn dry. Why hadn’t they brought Helen with them? Had they arrested her? Somehow I kept my face expressionless; somehow I forced myself to stand still and not to give way to the impulse to turn and bolt out of the house.
They came up the steps. Bromwich looked tired, as if he had been up all night. He nodded to me, then walked into the lounge and sat down. Lewis remained out in the hall.
‘This is a puzzler,’ Bromwich said, stretching out his short, thick legs as he stared up at me. ‘These two are playing some sort of game and I’ll be damned if I know what it is.’
‘What do you mean?’ My voice sounded off-key.
‘We’ve found the Rolls. It was ditched in West 9th Street. He’s taken the suitcase. There’s no sign of them.’
There’s no sign of them!
That must mean the staff at the forestry station hadn’t reported finding Helen. I crossed over to the bar for the cigarette-box, not wanting him to see my face. Could it be possible that the hut I had left Helen in wasn’t often used? Was she still lying on the floor, bound hand and foot, waiting for someone to find her? I felt sweat start out on my face at the thought. It wasn’t likely. There were offices in the hut. She had only to bang on the floor with her feet to attract attention. Had she lost her nerve and asked whoever found her not to call the police? If that was the case, then where was she?
‘They were seen by a State trooper around half past ten,’ Bromwich went on, ‘on Highway 101, heading towards the sanatorium. He passed the car which was travelling slowly. He saw Mrs. Dester at the wheel and Dester beside her. For some reason, they must have turned around and come back to Hollywood, ditched the car and made off. It looks to me as if they are running out on their debts.’
I heard myself say, ‘But Dester was a sick man. He couldn’t have walked far. If he had taken a bus or a train, he would have been noticed.’
‘We’re checking the bus stations and trains now,’ Bromwich said. He took out a cigar and lit it. ‘I’m wondering just how sick this guy was. Did you visit him when he was in bed?’
‘Why, yes. That is I looked in from time to time. He was usually asleep.’
Bromwich looked sharply at me, frowned and shifted his position in the chair.
‘Well, he could have faked he was worse than he was if he was planning a runout.’
‘Miss Temple suggested just now that they have been kidnapped,’ I said. I knew it was dangerous to bring this up. It would have been safer to wait until they found Helen, but all this talk about Dester running away from his creditors had to be checked.
Bromwich screwed up his eyes.
‘Kidnapped? What makes her think that?’
‘Well, they have both disappeared. ‘
‘There’s no ransom note.’
I could see he didn’t like this idea. He got to his feet and began to pace up and down.
‘Edwin Burnett, the attorney who acts for Mr. Dester, is having a word with the Chief of Police,’ I said. ‘He’s calling for action.’
Bromwich stopped short as if he had walked into a brick wall. ‘Having a word with the Chief?’
‘Yes. Apparently he’s a friend of his.’
‘Sweet grief! So it’s going to be one of those cases! Look, tell that girl to keep her mouth shut about kidnapping. If the Press get hold of that idea.’ He broke off, snapping his fingers. ‘My luck that Burnett’s a friend of the Chiefs. I’m going to get run ragged. I can see that.’ He started to pace up and down again. Then he paused to look at me, ‘Has Dester any relations or friends he would visit?’
‘He has no relations. I don’t know about his friends.’
‘That could be it, you know. He might have changed his mind about going to the sanatorium.’ Then he stopped short and cursed under his breath. ‘No. There’s the car. Why the hell did he ditch the car?’ He turned and began to pace up and down again. ‘Yeah, this could be a snatch. The car points to it. I’d better report to the Chief before he yells for me.’
He went out of the lounge, jerking his head at Lewis as he passed him. Together they hurried down to the car and drove off.
I went over to the bar and gave myself a Scotch. Where was Helen? What had happened to her? The whole of our plan depended on her. I thought of Dester lying in the deep-freeze. If Helen didn’t show up soon I would have the job of getting him out of the cabinet on my own. The thought turned me sick.
I had just finished my drink and was mixing myself another when two newspaper men arrived. I had trouble getting rid of them. They didn’t seem to be interested in talking to Burnett. They wanted first-hand information from me, but I wouldn’t let them in the house, telling them my instructions were to refer all inquiries to Burnett. They went off finally. They hadn’t been gone ten minutes before four others turned up complete with a Press photographer. I got rid of them after a struggle, but not before the photographer had taken my photograph.
By this time it was after twelve, and there was still no news of Helen. I was by now fit to walk up a wall, and when Marian came down to ask me to carry her suitcases over to the garage apartment it was as much as I could do to be civil to her.
She offered to get me lunch, but I said I had to go out. I took the Buick and headed out towards Highway 101, but I didn’t get far. I realized that if I were seen, it would be a complete give away. I had to let the police find Helen. I didn’t dare look for her myself. I drove over to Burnett’s office in the hope of getting some news from him, but I was told he was in court.
I returned to the house. There was still no news of Helen. There could now be three explanations for her silence: the police were holding her, waiting for me to make a wrong move; she hadn’t been found yet, or she had lost her nerve, got free and bolted, leaving me to hold the bag.
I decided I had to go out to the forestry station after dark. I had to find out if she was still there.
The evening newspapers carried the story of Dester’s disappearance under a banner headline.
There was a photograph of me talking to the reporters on the front page of the Hollywood Monitor. The caption under the photograph read: Glyn Nash, Erle Dester’s secretary, holds off reporters in their attempt to learn the truth of Dester’s disappearance.
There was no mention of Dester’s debts. The Chief of Police, in an interview with the Press, said that it looked as if Dester had been kidnapped although no ransom note had as yet been received. He said that he was organizing an intensive search for the missing couple.
And yet even with all this publicity, there was still no news of Helen.
Around seven o’clock, Burnett telephoned.
‘We’re coming out to the house at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning, Nash,’ he told me. ‘It looks as if they have been kidnapped, and we’ll want to talk to you and Miss Temple. I shall want to go through Mr. Dester’s papers. You might have everything ready for me. If you have a list of what he owes.’
I said I would have everything ready for him.
‘There’s no news then?’ I asked.
‘Nothing. It’s extraordinary. Stay by the telephone, Nash. You may get a ransom call. Notify the police and myself if you do.’
I said I would and hung up. But I knew there would be no ransom call. I had to go out to the forestry station, but first I had to get rid of Marian.