1968-An Ear to the Ground Page 10

  That night when Lisa had gone to bed, Harry met Tania at the corner of the street.

  ‘No, we won’t go to the apartment,’ he said, sitting beside her in the little car. ‘Just listen. . . this is important. . .’

  He told her he had to go with Lisa to the Bahamas and they would be away for six weeks. Tania caught her breath in anguish.

  ‘But don’t worry, it’s not going to be six weeks for me,’ Harry said, holding her hand. ‘I want you to send a telegram to the yacht on September 3rd.’ He took from his wallet a folded sheet of paper ‘The address and the message is written down here I shall be back by the 4th and we can have three whole days and nights together before I have to return to the yacht.’

  Two weeks later while the yacht was at anchor in the harbour of Andros Island before making the crossing of the Exuma Sound to Nassau, the telegram arrived.

  Harry had had a gruesome fourteen days. At least, Lisa had been in a better mood but being cooped up with the Van Johnsons had nearly driven him crazy. The four of them were sitting in the sun, drinking midday cocktails, when one of the crew came up to Harry with the telegram. Harry was aware that Lisa was watching him while he read it. Then he passed it over to her.

  Golden Arrow Yacht Andros Island.

  Have had second thoughts. Please meet on site on 5th.

  Hal Garrard.

  Lisa stared suspiciously at him.

  ‘What does this mean?’

  ‘He’s the guy I nearly sold. The Texan who’s been after that parcel of land,’ Harry explained. ‘It’s a three hundred thousand deal, Lisa.’

  ‘How did he know where to contact you?’

  ‘I’ve never ceased to contact him.’

  ‘Well, Miss Bernstein can handle it.’

  ‘No. . . he hates the sight of her. I’ll have to go back.’

  Sam Van Johnson, a big, puffy, balding man, helped him.

  ‘For Pete’s sake, Harry! Three hundred thousand! Boy! That’s money! How will you get back?’

  Harry was still looking directly at Lisa who was glaring angrily at the telegram.

  ‘Your father wanted to sell this land, darling,’ he said quietly, aware his heart was thumping. ‘Do you want me to go or don’t you?’

  ‘Oh, go! But it doesn’t mean he will buy!’ Lisa looked at him. ‘Where will you stay?’

  ‘Oh, some motel. I doubt if I’ll get into the Majestic. It’s bound to be full.’

  ‘So I won’t know where you are?’

  ‘But, darling, I’ll be on the site most of the time.’

  ‘I can’t contact you there.’

  ‘I’ll keep in touch, and I’ll meet you at Nassau.’

  Harry flew back to Paradise City. An hour after arriving, he was with Tania in her apartment.

  Their lovemaking was long, tender and passionate. Knowing they dared not be seen together in the City, Tania had arranged for meals to be sent in. The meals arrived from the Saigon restaurant, brought by a smiling Vietnamese waiter.

  This suited Harry. He was enchanted with Tania and when he wasn’t making physical love with her, he liked nothing better than to lie on the divan and watch her move around the room, prepare his meals or sit on the floor while she talked to him.

  On the morning of the second day together, she said suddenly, ‘ Harry. . . I would so very much like to see your home. It is your chance to show it to me. Will you?’

  The house had been shut up. Helgar was on the yacht. ToTo and the rest of the staff had gone off for their annual holiday. The elaborate burglar alarms, wired direct to police headquarters, satisfied Lisa the house was safe to be left unoccupied.

  Tania’s request startled Harry.

  ‘I’m afraid not. That’s taking too big a risk. My God! If Lisa. . .’

  ‘But couldn’t we go late tonight? No one would know. I do so want to see your home.’

  But the thought scared Harry.

  ‘I’m sorry . . . no, Tania.’

  When you want anything, you have to fight for it, Dong Tho had said so often to her.

  ‘All right then!’ For the first time since he had known her, her beautiful little face became set and hard. ‘I have done so much for you. I give myself to you whenever you want me. I had hoped you would have done something for me.’

  Harry hesitated. From her expression he guessed she would now sulk for the rest of the evening if not for his remaining day, and time was running out.

  ‘All right, we’ll go.’

  She gave a squeal of delight and threw herself in his arms.

  Soon after midnight, he led her up the drive and around to the patio door. Here, he turned off the concealed switch that disconnected the burglar alarm.

  ‘What are you doing, Harry?’

  ‘Turning the switch off. If I didn’t, we would have a lot of policemen here in three minutes. The whole house is wired direct to the police headquarters. By turning this switch, the alarm is cut off.’

  He groped under a flower pot containing yellow begonias and took from under it the key to the patio door.

  ‘I always leave it here,’ he explained as he unlocked the door. ‘If I lost it and couldn’t get back to my bedroom after seeing you, I’d be sunk.’

  He led her into the house.

  The shutters were closed and the curtains drawn. It was safe to turn on the lights.

  She walked with him through the rooms. She stood for nearly three minutes staring at the fitted kitchen, her almond-shaped eyes wide. The bathrooms fascinated her. Harry had not got over his scare and was enjoying seeing her utter bewilderment at such luxury.

  ‘But those taps are solid gold!’ she exclaimed, staring at Lisa’s bath.

  ‘That’s right,’ Harry said. ‘All the fittings in here are gold.’

  ‘But how can one be so rich!’

  ‘Lisa just is.’

  She stood in the doorway of the enormous lounge, her hands against her breasts. Watching her in her white trousers and her pale blue tunic, Harry thought how lovely she looked. She examined everything, but touched nothing. She stared at the fully-equipped bar, the big colour TV set, the stereo radiogram and the rack of L.P. records, the furniture, the decor and the hangings. She moved as if she were in a dream.

  ‘All this belongs to you, Harry?’

  ‘Nothing belongs to me . . . I just live here.’

  He showed her his bedroom.

  ‘And you sleep in this beautiful room all alone?’

  ‘Yes, but I dream of you.’

  She looked at him, smiling.

  ‘Do you . . . really?’

  ‘Really . . . come on, let’s go.’

  Her black eyes became appealing.

  ‘Please, Harry, may I see the Esmaldi necklace?’

  Harry hesitated. Then seeing the longing expression in her eyes, he hadn’t the heart to refuse.

  He took her into Lisa’s bedroom. Tania caught her breath as he switched on the lights. The room was the acme of luxury, comfort and taste. The beauty and magnificence of it still impressed Harry.

  ‘But this is truly wonderland,’ Tania whispered, moving into the room. ‘It’s the most beautiful room I have ever seen.’

  ‘Isn’t it!’

  Harry went over to one of the hidden buttons concealed under the edge of Lisa’s dressing table.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Tania asked curiously, joining him.

  ‘Opening the safe. There are two buttons: one here . . . the other across the room. This one cuts the alarm. The other opens the safe.’ He crossed the room and located the second button cunningly hidden in the ornate woodwork that surrounded the radiator. As he pressed the button, the safe door, set in the wall, slid open.

  ‘But that’s wonderful! Oh, Harry, please let me do it! Please!’

  So Harry reclosed the safe and let her touch the first button and then the second. She clapped her hands like an excited child as the door of the safe slid open.

  ‘Oh, to be able to live like this!’ she exclaimed.
‘This is the most wonderful night of my life!’

  ‘Wait,’ Harry said. He was now getting a big bang out of her excitement. He reached into the safe and took out a long, flat jewel case. ‘Take your clothes off, Tania.’

  She stared at him.

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Go on . . . take them off.’

  With trembling fingers, she slid out of her clothes and stood before him. He opened the case and drew out the Esmaldi necklace that glittered like three ropes of stars.

  ‘Don’t move,’ he went on as Tina gasped at the sight of the diamonds.

  He fastened the necklace around her slim throat, then moved her to the full length mirror and stood away. Her ivory, satin-smooth skin was the perfect background for the three strands of glittering diamonds.

  She stood hypnotised, staring at her reflection.

  ‘I knew it,’ Harry said a little huskily. ‘They were created for you.’

  She said nothing. She looked and she looked and she looked. After she had remained motionless for some five minutes, Harry gently undid the clasp and returned the necklace to its case.

  ‘And no one will ever wear them but her?’ Tania said quietly as she dressed.

  ‘That’s right. They’ll be behind armoured glass in a museum.’

  Tania was strangely quiet as they drove back to the little apartment. She looked around the small, simply furnished room as she entered, her face expressionless.

  ‘What it is to have money, Harry,’ she said, then she shrugged and smiled. ‘Now let us make beautiful love.’

  For the first time since they had lain together, Harry had an uneasy idea that Tania wasn’t with him. He felt her thoughts were far away.

  The following day, he had to catch the eleven-forty plane to Nassau. They woke late and while he was drinking coffee, Tania said suddenly, ‘Harry . . . if anything happened to her, would that wonderful house be yours? Would you have all her money?’

  ‘Yes. When we married, she made a will leaving everything to me, but she will live for years. Her doctor told me.’

  ‘Oh.’ Tania walked her long, slim fingers along the edge of the table. ‘But one never knows, does one? She could die, then you would be free. Please tell me something truthfully, Harry, if you were free would you want to marry me?’

  Harry looked up sharply. Would he? He had never considered marrying Tania. But seeing her beauty and the anxiety in her eyes, he smiled, nodding.

  ‘Of course. But look, darling, she’s not going to die for years and years. She could even outlive me. Let’s forget it.’

  Tania studied him.

  ‘But if you were free, you would really marry me?’ Harry felt suddenly uneasy. There was a tension about Tania that was foreign to her.

  ‘Yes, Tania, but I’m not free and I won’t be free.’ He got up from the table. ‘I must hurry. Time’s getting on.’

  When he had gone, Tania sat on the bed, staring down at her slim hands.

  She was thinking of the necklace, the house . . . she also thought of Lisa.

  Five

  Martha, Henry, Gilda and Johnny sat around the table on the terrace and regarded Mrs. Lowenstein’s jewels. Gilda wanted to try on a ring. She wanted to try on one of the magnificent diamond and gold bracelets, but Martha scooped up the jewels and returned them to the wash-leather bag.

  ‘Here, Henry, you take them,’ she said and handed the bag across the table to Henry who dropped the bag into his pocket.

  Martha sat back and surveyed the other three.

  ‘Now for the second one. Mrs. Warren Crail. The take is six hundred and fifty thousand. She leaves on this fishing trip the day after tomorrow. We work the same carpet cleaning gag. We must know who has been left in the house.’

  Two days later, Gilda, wearing her black wig, her prim dress and sun-goggles, called on the Crails’ sumptuous residence. The door was opened by the resident housekeeper, a thin, hard-faced woman who regarded Gilda suspiciously.

  Gilda told her story, but she could see this woman wasn’t going to be convinced.

  ‘Mrs. Crail has said nothing to me about it,’ the woman said curtly. ‘Before I let you in, I must have it in writing from Mrs. Crail herself,’ and she shut the door in Gilda’s face.

  Gilda realised this could be dangerous. The woman had only to look in the telephone book to find the Acme Carpet Cleaning Co. didn’t exist. She drove rapidly back to the villa.

  Martha listened to her recital, her fat face dark. She looked at Henry, ‘What do you think?’

  ‘It’s worth the risk,’ Henry said, gnawing his moustache. ‘We know where the safe is. These two stand a good chance of breaking in. Yes, I think we should do it tonight. The prize is worthwhile.’

  ‘Who’s taking the risk?’ Johnny demanded, sitting forward. ‘Not you! I’m not breaking into a house I know nothing about. No . . . we’ll let this one cool off and try somewhere else. Let me look at that list.’

  Henry passed the list over to him and exchanged looks with Martha. Johnny studied the list.

  ‘How about the Lewis’s? This diamond necklace? How about grabbing that?’ he asked.

  ‘That’s out!’ Martha snapped.

  Johnny stared at her.

  ‘What’s the matter with it. . . three hundred and fifty grand! That’s money!’

  Martha had no intention of telling him that the necklace was insured by the National Fidelity and that Maddox of the Claims Department had got her a five year stretch. She kept her prison sentence to herself: only Henry knew about it.

  ‘I tell you it’s out. . . so it’s out!’

  Johnny shrugged.

  ‘Don’t get worked up. Okay. How about Mrs. Alec Johnson? She’s on a yacht off Miami according to this. She has four hundred thousand dollars’ worth of stuff. Suppose we take a look at her place?’

  ‘I still can’t see why we don’t do the Crail job,’ Martha grumbled.

  ‘You do it. . . I’m not going to. Let it cool off. How about the Jacksons?’

  ‘All right, then we’ll do that.’

  This time Gilda had no difficulty in getting into the house. The caretaker was an old man who had an eye for a pretty girl. He accepted Gilda’s story, took her over the house, let her measure the carpet in the main bedroom and gossiped.

  He told Gilda he was alone in the house and he gave her time to locate the safe and study the window locks.

  On her return to the villa, she told them how easy it was. She described the locks on the windows picked up five hundred thousand dollars’ worth of stuff: with little effort and no trouble. ‘The owners don’t even know the stuffs gone. The cops don’t know we exist. That’s smart.’

  ‘But we haven’t the money,’ Gilda pointed out. ‘That’s what is worrying me. We couldn’t sell the stuff ourselves. It is worthless to us as it is.’

  Johnny frowned, his eyes narrowing. This hadn’t occurred to him.

  ‘You’ve got something. Okay, we’ll do something about that. It’s time we had some cash. I’ll talk to the Colonel.’

  They found Martha and Henry waiting anxiously for their return. After the jewels had been examined and put back in the bag, Johnny said, ‘Let’s see Abe tomorrow, Colonel, and get some cash on this lot and the other lot.’

  Henry looked startled.

  ‘That isn’t the arrangement. When we have the Crails’ collection, then we see Abe . . . and Martha and I see him . . . not you and I, Johnny’

  Johnny smiled at him. He reached out and picked up the bag, holding it in his big fist as he stared levelly at Henry.

  ‘You and me, Colonel,’ he said quietly. ‘Tomorrow.’

  ‘Now listen to me . . .’ Martha began, her face turning purple.

  ‘Quiet!’ Johnny said. ‘I’m talking to the Colonel.’ He continued to stare at Henry. ‘I want some money. . . not this stuff. I’m not waiting. You and me either go and see Abe tomorrow morning together or I go alone.’

  Henry knew when he was licked. He
knew this powerfully built young man could brush him aside as if he were a fly.

  Johnny could go to Henry’s bedroom, find the other jewels and walk out on them. None of them could stop him.

  ‘All right, Johnny,’ Henry said mildly. ‘Then we’ll see Abe together tomorrow.’

  Johnny put the bag of jewels back on the table, nodded, stood up and went to his room.

  Martha waited until she heard his bedroom door shut, then looking at Gilda, she said viciously, ‘Maybe you’d better start loving up this sonofabitch. Someone’s got to control him!’

  Gilda stared stonily at her, then got up and left them.

  ‘So you think you can handle him!’ Martha turned on Henry ‘When Abe pays out, that punk will take his share and we’ll never get our hands on it!’

  Henry stroked his moustache.

  ‘I must think about it.’

  Martha snorted. She stumped off to bed. She was so furious she forgot to visit the refrigerator and only remembered when she was in bed.

  ‘Oh, the hell with it!’ she said to herself and turned off the light.

  The following morning, Abe Schulman was sitting at his desk jotting down figures on a sheet of paper. He had had an unsatisfactory week. Although the season was in full swing, nothing of any account had passed through his hands.

  Police security had been drastically tightened up in Miami and the boys had been scared off. There hadn’t been one decent jewel robbery all the week.

  He was surprised when Henry and Johnny walked into his office.

  ‘Hello, Colonel. . . Johnny . . . what brings you here?’

  ‘Money’ Johnny said, putting a briefcase on the desk. Abe smiled bitterly.

  ‘Who doesn’t want money?’ His little eyes rested on the briefcase. ‘You got something for me?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Wait.’ Abe got up and locked the office door.

  Johnny unzipped the case, took from it three small wash-leather bags and a parcel done up in tissue paper. He undid the tape around the bags and poured the contents of the bags in separate piles on Abe’s blotter. At the sight of the diamonds, emeralds and rubies and four splendid ropes of pearls Abe sucked in his breath. This was the finest haul he had seen in years.

  ‘The gold, silver and platinum settings are in the parcel, Abe,’ Henry said.