Just Another Sucker

‘Of course she agrees to it,’ she said curtly. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I want to hear her say it herself,’ I said and sat down. Then speaking entirely for the benefit of the tape recorder, I went on, ‘It’s not an unreasonable request. You tell me you and your stepdaughter have concocted a plan where your stepdaughter pretends to be kidnapped. You two are urgently in need of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The only way you can get this sum from your husband is to fake a kidnapping. If I help you, you will pay me fifty thousand dollars.’ I paused, then went on, ‘Kidnapping is a capital offence. I want to be absolutely sure your stepdaughter knows what she is doing.’

Rhea said impatiently, ‘Of course she knows what she is doing… she isn’t a child.’

‘And you are satisfied your husband won’t call in the police?’ I said.

She began to drum on the arm of her chair.

‘You seem to have a natural talent for wasting time,’ she said. ‘We’ve been all over this before, haven’t we?’

I was satisfied. With that short conversation on tape, she now couldn’t deny being implicated if we hit trouble.

I looked at my watch: the time was half past nine.

‘I’m not discussing this job nor am I touching it until I can talk to your stepdaughter,’ I said.

Rhea lit a cigarette.

‘I told her to come,’ she said, ‘but she seldom does what she is told. You don’t expect me to drag her here, do you?’

I heard the sound of someone moving about outside.

‘Maybe this is her now,’ I said. ‘I’ll see.’

I went to the door and opened it.

A girl stood on the bottom of the steps, looking up at me.

For a long moment, we stared at each other.

‘Hello,’ she said and she smiled at me.

Odette Malroux was small and finely made. She was wearing a feather-weight cashmere white sweater and a pair of leopard skin patterned jeans. Her outfit was calculated to show off the shape of her body. She had raven black hair, like Nina’s, which was parted in the centre and fell to her shoulders in a careless but effective way. Her face was heart shaped and her complexion pallid. She could be any age from sixteen to twenty-five. Her eyes were slate grey. Her nose was pinched and small. Her mouth was a careless crimson gash of lipstick. She gave out an over-all picture of corrupt youth. You can find girls exactly like her in any juvenile court: defiant, rebellious, frustrated, sexually blasé, heading nowhere: one of the legion of the young lost.

‘Miss Malroux?’

She giggled, then came up the steps, slowly.

‘You must be Ali Baba – how are all the thieves?’

‘Oh, come on in, Odette,’ Rhea called impatiently. ‘Save your wit for your moronic friends.’

The girl wrinkled her nose, making a grimace, then she winked at me. She moved past me into the cabin. She had a deliberately cultivated duck-tail walk. Her neat little behind moved as if on a swivel.

I closed the door.

I was thinking of the recorder. The tape had about forty minutes to run. I would have to hurry this up if I was to get the whole conversation recorded.

‘Hello, darling Rhea,’ Odette said, dropping into a lounging chair near the chair where I had been sitting. ‘Isn’t he gorgeous?’

‘Oh, shut up!’ Rhea snapped. ‘Be quiet and listen. Mr. Barber wants to talk to you.’

The girl looked at me and fluttered her eyelids. She drew up her legs under her, put one hand on her hip and the other to support her face and became mockingly grave.

‘Please do talk to me. Mr. Baba.’

I looked into the slate grey eyes. The juvenile pose didn’t kid me for a moment. Those eyes were a complete give away – something she couldn’t conceal. They were the unhappy, puzzled eyes of a girl who wasn’t sure of herself, knew she was going the wrong way, and not strong enough to do anything about it.

‘I want to hear this direct from you,’ I said. ‘Are you a party to this kidnapping idea?’

The girl looked swiftly at Rhea and then at me.

‘A party to it?’ She giggled. ‘Isn’t he a doll, darling Rhea? Yes, of course, I’m a party to it. Darling Rhea and me thought it up between us. It’s a great idea, isn’t it?’

‘Is it?’ I stared at her. ‘Your father mightn’t think so.’

‘That’s no concern of yours,’ Rhea snapped. ‘Now, if you are satisfied, perhaps we can discuss this thing.’

‘We can talk about it,’ I said. ‘When does it happen?’

‘As soon as it can be arranged – the day after tomorrow perhaps,’ Rhea said.

‘Miss Malroux disappears – where is she disappearing to?’

‘Call me Odette,’ the girl said, and she pushed her chest out at me. ‘All my friends do…’

Ignoring her, Rhea said, ‘There is a quiet, small hotel at Carmel. She can go there. It will only be for three or four days.’

‘How will she get there?’

Rhea moved impatiently.

‘She has a car.’

‘It’s a honey,’ Odette told me. ‘A T.R.3. It goes like the wind…’

‘You can’t drive a car like that without being recognised,’ I said. ‘You must be a familiar figure to people living here.’

She looked a little startled as she said, ‘I suppose I am.’

I looked across at Rhea.