The Soft Centre

‘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 that 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.’