1951 - In a Vain Shadow Page 11

  I had her dangling on the hook. I knew it. I could feel it.

  She believed every word I was saying.

  chapter eleven

  Among the tricks I learned when serving with the Commandos was to make an effective booby-trap, and it crossed my mind that such a booby trap could be used to sock the fear of death into Sarek.

  Now I had convinced her I was going to murder him, I had to pretend to put the first move of the plan into operation, and the first move was to frighten him so badly he would want to run for his life.

  So the following morning I decided to go to London and collect for my booby-trap a gadget I had lifted from the Army stores before getting my ticket. This gadget was used extensively during the war to hand out death by remote control, and I had snaffled it, as I had snaffled a lot of other bits of Army property, as a souvenir of the best years of my life.

  I remembered this gadget was in a suitcase of junk I had left with Netta, and the thought of seeing Netta again excited me. An hour or two of her company would make a quiet change from Rita’s sultry violence.

  I was sitting before the fire, thinking about Netta in the way men think about women, while I waited for Rita to finish making the bed, when the telephone bell rang. With my mind still on Netta I automatically picked up the receiver and said.

  ‘Hello.’

  Except for the faint humming on the line I heard nothing for a second or so, then Emmie’s voice said ‘Is that Mitchell?’

  All right, I admit it. The sound of that whining voice stopped my heart for a second. It congealed my blood too.

  I was supposed to be miles away from Four Winds, and yet here I was at nine o’clock in the morning, having obviously spent the night in the house alone with Sarek’s wife, and answering the telephone with Emmie of all people on the line. I could see my whole plan blowing up in my face.

  ‘Hello? Is that you, Mitchell?’

  My brain went scurrying around in my skull like a frightened mouse. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even move. I was in such a panic I could scarcely breathe.

  ‘Hello? Hello?’

  Rita came flying into the room. One look at my white, sweating face told her what was happening.

  ‘Tell her it’s a wrong number, you fool!’ she hissed at me.

  ‘What number do you want?’

  I didn’t recognize my voice; it sounded like the croak of a frog.

  ‘Topham 229. Is that you, Mitchell?’

  ‘Sorry; wrong number,’ and I hung up.

  ‘You fool! You stupid fool!’

  ‘All right, all right. Don’t shout at me!’

  ‘If she tells him...’

  ‘Oh, shut up! She couldn’t have recognized my voice.’

  The bell rang again.

  She pushed me away and picked up the receiver. I’ll say this for her: she was as steady and as cool as a block of ice.

  ‘Hello? Yes, Mrs. Sarek speaking. Oh, hello. Miss Pearl. Oh is he? I’d better meet him then. Yes, I will.’

  We looked at each other while the whining voice droned on.

  ‘Who? Mitchell? Why, no. I haven’t seen him since Henry went away. No, I can’t tell you. Yes. Thanks for letting me know.’

  She hung up.

  ‘You careless fool! You talk about making it safe, and the first chance you get of slipping up, you slip up. How could you be so stupid as to answer the phone? If she tells him, he’ll clear you out of here in seconds, and then what will we do?’

  I was getting my nerve back now.

  ‘She won’t tell him. Now, shut up about it. Is he coming back?’

  ‘He’ll be on the nine forty-five plane. I’ve got to meet him.’

  I went over to the sideboard and poured myself out a whisky. I was still feeling wobbly in the legs.

  ‘Tonight?’

  ‘Yes.’

  I swallowed the whisky at a gulp.

  ‘What did she say about me?’

  ‘She wanted to know if I had seen you. She wants to let you know he’s coming back, but she doesn’t know where to find you.’

  ‘Think she smells a rat?’

  ‘How do I know? If this is the way you’re going to handle it...’

  ‘Shut up about it! It won’t happen again.’

  ‘It’d better not. I thought you had more nerve than that.’

  ‘My nerve’s all right. She caught me on the wrong foot.’

  ‘Do you think I’m blind? You looked like a frightened rabbit.’

  ‘Never mind how I looked. Now, let it alone. I’ve had enough of it, so shut up about it.’

  She went to the window, stiff with rage, I was still sweating, but the whisky was beginning to hit me and the wobble went out of my legs.

  ‘I’m going up to London right away. I’ll look in and see Emmie. I’ll know if she’s smelt a rat, and I’ll handle her. Besides, I’ve got to be the one to drive him home.’

  She turned.

  ‘What are you collecting?’

  ‘A little gadget that’ll scare the life out of him. The less you know about it the better.’

  She watched me closely, her green eyes alert.

  ‘And where are you collecting it from?’

  I put a dumb look on my face. I knew what she was thinking.

  ‘A bloke who’s keeping my old junk for me - why?’

  ‘It wouldn’t be Netta, would it?’

  I shook my head.

  ‘No, it’s not Netta. Get her out of your mind the way I’ve got Boris out of mine. I haven’t seen her for years and I don’t want to see her again. Satisfied?’

  We studied each other for a moment or so. If I’m not good at anything else I’m good at lying. I saw the suspicion leave her eyes. ‘I can’t believe he’s coming back.’

  ‘You will when you see him, and don’t forget, from now on I’m going to work on him. Don’t be surprised at anything that happens.’

  ‘So long as you make a good job of it, Frank.’

  I climbed the four flights of stairs, keeping my hand off the banister rail. Before I reached the door I heard the typewriter rattling away like a machine-gun.

  I put my head around the door and smiled at her.

  ‘Hello, Pearl of Great Price, how are you?’

  She stopped typing and started as if someone had stuck a pin in her fat hide, her gooseberry eyes behind the thick lenses bulged.

  ‘I thought I’d better look in to see if there was any news of him.’

  ‘I’ve been trying to find you.’

  I entered the office, closed the door and leaned my back against it.

  ‘Well, that’s nice. You don’t mean you’re beginning to care, surely?’

  A faint red spread over fat, spotty face.

  ‘Did Mrs. Sarek tell you?’

  ‘Did she tell me - what?’

  I watched the quick change of expression, and grinned.

  ‘You were there this morning, weren’t you?’

  I was ready for her this time.

  ‘Where’s there?’

  ‘It was you who answered the telephone. I recognized your voice.’

  ‘Would you mind explaining what you are drivelling about?’

  The red turned to crimson.

  ‘You were at Four Winds this morning.’

  ‘Was I? Now that’s interesting. I had an idea I was in a flat in Lannox Street. What time this morning?’

  She was watching me the way a cat watches a mouser ‘Nine o’clock.’

  ‘Oddly enough I was in bed with a beautiful blonde at nine this morning. What makes you think I was at Four Winds, or are you just trying to make mischief?’

  She stared at me and I stared right back at her. She didn’t get a blink out of me.

  ‘Mr. Sarek is coming back tonight on the nine forty-five plane.’

  ‘Look, my spotty friend, you’ve just hinted in your grubby little way that I’ve been sleeping with Mrs. Sarek. I don’t give a damn what goes on in your cesspit of a mind, but I�
��m sure Mr. Sarek would. If you don’t withdraw that remark of yours and apologize at once, I shall tell him what you said and I’ll tell Mrs. Sarek too, and then they can take it up with you.’

  She sat glaring at me, looking like an infuriated pig.

  ‘I - I didn’t mean ft.’

  ‘Then be careful what you’re saying. Did I hear you say you’re sorry.’

  She gulped twice, and her face went the colour of an overripe plum, but she said it.

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  I was loving every second of this. She had given me the fright of my life, at least, I was getting my own back. I had her over a barrel, and she knew it.

  ‘That’s fine. The next time you get those ideas in that thing you call your mind, keep them to yourself.’

  She didn’t say anything, but the hate on her face was something to see.

  ‘So he’s coming back tonight, is he? That’s fine. I’ll be there to meet him.’

  Still she said nothing.

  I gave her a jeering little grin and opened the door.

  ‘Well, so long. Pearl of Great Price, it has been a beautiful experience seeing you again.’

  Still grinning, I sauntered into the corridor, leaving the door open. When I was halfway down the stairs, I heard the door slam.

  I arrived at Netta’s flat in Lannox Street a few minutes after eleven. I didn’t expect to find her up and she wasn’t. She answered the door in a silk wrap over a pair of crimson pyjamas. Even without makeup she looked good enough to eat.

  ‘Oh! Frankie, darling!’

  ‘I said I’d be haunting you before long, didn’t I?’

  I closed the door with my heel and grabbed her. ‘Oh, Frankie! This is wonderful! Do be careful, darling, you’re hurting me a little.’

  I carried her into her bedroom and dumped her on the bed. Then I sat on the bed beside her and ran my fingers through her short, golden curls, ‘Well, how’s it been, baby? Did you miss me?’

  ‘I missed you terribly. Why did you run of like that? It wasn’t very nice, was it?’

  ‘You didn’t want to see me in tears, did you? I was scared I’d break down if I didn’t get away from you fast.’

  Her big blue eyes widened; just for a moment she believed it, then she made a face at me.

  ‘You were horrid, and you know it. A girl doesn’t like being treated that way.’

  ‘I’ll remember next time; if there is a next time.’

  ‘Have you come to - to stay, Frankie?’

  ‘A couple of hours; no more. I’m a busy man these days, baby.’

  ‘Oh. I was hoping...’ She checked herself. ‘Are you getting on all right? You’re not getting into trouble, are you, Frankie?’

  I wondered how she would have looked if I had told her the kind of trouble I was getting into.

  ‘I was all wrong about Sarek. I told you I thought he was a crook, but he isn’t. He’s a genuine, one hundred percent diamond merchant. Now, what do you think of that?’

  ‘Diamonds?’

  ‘That’s right. The reason why he wants a bodyguard is because he’s always carrying diamonds around with him: diamonds worth thousands.’

  Her eyes widened.

  ‘But I thought he had threatening letters.’

  ‘He was kidding. He had to make some excuse for hiring me. He couldn’t tell me about the diamonds until he knew he could trust me. So he made up that tripe about the letters. Now he and I are almost partners. He just wants me around to guard the diamonds.’

  ‘I’ve read about people like that. They deal in Hatton Garden, don’t they?’

  Who said she was a dope?

  I patted her under the chin.

  ‘That’s pretty smart, baby, you mean you read that all on your own: big words and all?’

  ‘Oh, Frankie, don’t start being nasty again.’

  ‘I was only kidding. That’s exactly what he does do.’

  ‘And I suppose that’s why he wears that awful coat you were telling me about. He keeps the diamonds hidden in the coat, knowing no one would steal it. Is that it?’

  I stared at her, feeling a tingle creep up my spine.

  ‘What was that?’

  ‘Why, I only said... What’s the matter, Frankie? Don’t look like that. I’m sorry if I-’

  ‘Shut up!’

  I got up and went to the window, turning my back on her so she shouldn’t see my face.

  He keeps the diamonds hidden in the coat, knowing no one would steal it.

  And I had been racking my brain for hours wondering where he kept them. For hours! And Netta the brainless, the pinhead, the girl who could scarcely read drops it into my lap without any more brain effort than a sneeze. What a thickheaded, dimwitted fool I was! I should have been on to that coat the moment I had seen him in it. He had practically told me that was where he hid his diamonds when we first met.

  ‘Frankie, darling, what’s the matter?’

  ‘Hold everything; just keep quiet a moment.’

  I still didn’t tum. I was scared she would see what was going on in my mind. I was so excited I began to shake.

  Now I knew! In that awful coat all the time! That was why he even took it to bed with him. Now I came to think of it, he never let it out of his sight. And no wonder: that coat was worth thousands, if Rita wasn’t lying. Why, even I would wear a coat like that if it was worth all that money.

  I got myself under control, turned and went to her.

  She was still lying on the bed; her big blue eyes were worried and she looked up at me, not knowing if I was going to hit her or kiss her.

  ‘I don’t know what I’ve said wrong but I’m sorry Frankie...’

  ‘What are you sorry about?’ I caught hold of her and shook her. ‘Why should you be sorry?’

  ‘Don’t be angry with me, Frankie.’

  ‘Angry? You’re the loveliest, cleverest, brightest, most perfect woman in the world!’

  ‘Oh, Frankie!’

  I raised my head and squinted at the bedside clock. The hands showed a quarter to three.

  Netta stirred, opened her eyes and smiled at me.

  ‘Hey! Shake a leg, will you? I’m hungry. Look at the time.’

  ‘I’ll get you something, darling. I wish I’d known you were coming. I would have got you a steak. There’s some cold chicken. I could heat it up in a wine sauce if you would like that.’

  ‘Sounds swell. Go and heat it up, and hurry.’

  I watched her scramble into her wrap and bolt into the kitchen.

  I couldn’t imagine Rita jumping to it at the word of command. There was a lot to be said having a girl like Netta around. She was completely unselfish, aching to do things for me, looked good, and although when I was broke she could be tiresome, I didn’t think she would be when I was in the money.

  And I was going to be in the money! I was certain of that now. The coat clinched it. It was so obvious I could have kicked myself for never tumbling to it. He had to pay cash wherever he went. Therefore he had to carry big sums around with him.

  He did more than that. He carried his diamonds around with him as well.

  The smell of cooking was sending me frantic.

  When I went into the kitchen I found her making a dry martini, the way I like dry martinis: three-quarters gin, a dash of French vermouth, a squeeze of lemon and ice. She had filled a pint cocktail shaker and as I came in she gave it to me.

  ‘Shake it, darling, while I serve up.’

  I shook it and poured.

  ‘Netta.’

  She looked up, surprised. I don’t usually call her that: it was generally baby or dopey or pinhead or something like that.

  ‘How would you like to go to America?’

  ‘America?’

  ‘With me, I mean.’

  She turned red, then white.

  ‘With you? America? Oh, darling, I’d love it! I’d love it more than anything else in the world. You - you don’t mean it, do you?’

  I caught hold of her.


  ‘And another thing: how would you like to marry me?’

  ‘Oh, Frankie...’

  I finally levered her arms of my neck.

  ‘Steady on; you’re strangling me.’

  ‘Frankie, you wouldn’t say that if you didn’t mean it, would you?’

  ‘I mean it all right. Now listen, Sarek and I are doing a deal together. If it comes of I’ll be in the money. I introduced him to a fella who wants his diamonds, and he’s going to pay me commission. This is a big deal, and if it comes of, I’ll be really in the money: thousands. Then we’ll get married and go and look at America. How do you like that?’

  She looked anxiously at me.

  ‘It’s honest, isn’t it, Frankie?’

  ‘Of course it is, pinhead!’

  ‘But suppose it doesn’t come off?’

  ‘It will.’

  ‘Couldn’t we get married even if it doesn’t come of? I - I wouldn’t mind not having a lot of money or even going to America. I’d - I’d rather have you.’

  I have her a little shake.

  ‘It’s going to come of. Make no mistake about that. It’s damn well got to come off!’

  chapter twelve

  As I pulled up outside the farm gate, she came running out of the house to open it. It was a few minutes after five o’clock, and the light was going. There was a smell of rain in the air and heavy black clouds were building up in the west and moving slowly across the sky.

  ‘Did you see her?’

  I got out of the car and slammed the door.

  ‘Yes; and I made her eat her words. I wish you could have seen her ugly face. I made her apologize.’

  She was looking closely at me, peering at my face.

  ‘You’ve been long enough.’

  ‘The fella I had to see was out. I had to hang around for three hours. I nearly went nuts.’

  I was feeling very sure of myself. I had spent ten minutes in the Charing Cross lavatory checking up that there was no lipstick or powder on me. I couldn’t afford to make a slip now.

  ‘I have a job to do.’

  She followed me into the bam, and while I collected the tool chest and some lengths of wood, she stood by me, watching.

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘You’ll see.’

  I cut two three-foot lengths of wood and joined them together at right angles, making a little shelf. Then I bored two holes close together in the upright length of the wood.