Just Another Sucker

I lit a cigarette with a shaky hand. I was in such a panic I could scarcely breathe. When I got the car into my garage, what was I going to do? There was Nina to think of. How was I going to move Odette’s body without being certain Nina wouldn’t suddenly walk into the garage just when I was doing it? I couldn’t do it in daylight. Nina never went out at night. I was in such a jam, I couldn’t think straight. My mind was seething with panic.

After a ten-minute wait, the breakdown truck arrived. The garage man was a little guy, thin as a bean stick and Irish to his backbone. He was in such a rage, he didn’t speak to me but got in the Packard, tested the gears, got out and spat in the street.

‘Busted gearbox,’ he said. ‘A two-week job, and it’ll cost plenty.’

‘I want you to tow me home,’ I said.

He stared at me.

‘Don’t you want me to repair the goddam thing?’

‘No. I want you to tow me home.’

His face worked convulsively.

‘You mean you got me out of bed at this hour and I don’t get the repair job?’

I had had enough of Irishmen for one night.

‘I work for the District Attorney,’ I said. ‘Stop yakkiting and tow me home.’

I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel, but somehow he managed to swallow his anger.

Muttering under his breath, he fixed the tow cable. I told him where to go, and I got in beside him in the truck.

Neither of us said a word during the four-mile drive home. As we pulled up outside the bungalow, I looked anxiously at the windows, but no lights showed. Nina was in bed and asleep.

He cast off the tow line.

‘We’ll shove her into the garage,’ I said.

He didn’t help much, but the approach to the garage was on a gentle incline, and after a slight struggle, we got the car in.

‘How much?’ I asked.

Scowling at me, he said, ‘Fifteen bucks.’

I hadn’t got fifteen bucks. I took out my wallet. The most I could scrape together was eleven dollars. I gave him ten.

‘That’s plenty for a job like this.’

He took the bills, glared at me, then got in the truck and drove off.

I closed the garage doors and locked them.

Already the faint light of dawn was showing in the sky. In another hour the sun would come up.

There was nothing I could do now. I still had no idea what I was going to do.

In the meantime, all during the day, the body would have to remain in the trunk. The thought turned me sick.

I walked up the path, unlocked the front door and entered the lounge. I caught sight of myself in the wall mirror. I looked like a man in a nightmare.

On the table was Nina’s handbag. I opened it and took from it the duplicate set of keys of the car and dropped them into my pocket. I didn’t dare risk her opening the trunk while I was at the office.

I turned off the light and went silently into my dressing-room and stripped off my clothes. I took a shower. My mind was still too paralysed with fear for me to begin to think what my next move was to be.

I was reaching for my pyjamas when I heard the telephone bell ring. The sound made my heart contract. I pulled on my pyjama trousers and bolted into the lounge and snatched up the receiver.

‘Is that you, Harry?’ I recognised Renick’s voice. ‘Malroux has just phoned. She has been kidnapped!

Come on down to headquarters right away!’

I stood there, shaking, gripping the telephone, feeling wave after wave of panic run through me.

‘You hear me, Harry?’

I got control of myself.

‘Yes, I hear you. My goddam car has broken down. I’ve got a bust gearbox.’

‘Okay. I’ll send a squad car. It’ll be with you in ten minutes,’ and he hung up.

‘Harry… what is it?’

Nina was standing in the doorway, half asleep.

‘It’s an emergency. That girl has been kidnapped,’ I said, moving past her. ‘You go back to bed. They are picking me up right away.’

I was dressing hurriedly as I spoke.

‘Can I get you some coffee?’

‘Not a thing. Go back to bed.’

‘Well, if you’re sure…’

‘Go back to bed.’

I was struggling into my coat when I heard a car pull up.

‘Here they are now.’

I put my arm around her, kissed her, then I ran out to the waiting police car.

CHAPTER EIGHT

I

Renick was waiting for me in the Operations Room at police headquarters. He, Barty, the Federal Agent, and Captain of Police Reiger were studying a large wall map of the district as I came in.

Renick moved away from the map and joined me.

‘Well, here we go. Malroux paid the ransom and, of course, his daughter hasn’t been returned. We’re going over to talk to him now. I want you along, Harry.’

‘What happened then?’

‘The kidnappers told him his daughter would be at Lone Bay parking lot. She didn’t show, so he called us.’ He turned to Reiger. ‘Captain, can you collect her car and get it photographed? I’ll need prints when I get back.’ To me, he went on, ‘You’ll have to get the picture of the car in every newspaper: we want a complete local coverage.’

Reiger said, ‘I’ll fix it, and I’ll get the road blocks organised. In an hour, this district will be sewn up so tight a fly won’t get out of it.’