‘I wouldn’t trust you with a nickel!’ Rhea said, her eyes glittering. ‘He’s to give it to me!’
‘Do you imagine I trust you?’ Odette said, her voice hard and vicious. ‘Once you get your claws into that money…’
‘All right, all right, cut it out!’ I broke in. ‘We’re wasting time. Here’s a better way. I’ll draft a letter for Odette to write to her father. It’ll be more convincing that way and will save me a third telephone call. She will tell him how to deliver the ransom. She will say, after he has delivered it, for him to drive on to Lone Bay parking lot where she will be waiting for him. It’s a good half hour’s drive. That’ll give you both time to be here and collect the money. How’s that?’
‘But if Daddy finds I’m not at the parking lot, he might go to the police,’ Odette said.
That was the first sensible thing either of them had volunteered since they had entered the cabin.
‘That’s right. Then in the letter, he will be told there is a note waiting for him at Lone Bay, telling him where to find you. I’ll put the note in your car. When he gets it, he’ll be told you have returned home. That fix it?’
Rhea was staring at me.
‘We shall, of course, have to trust you with all that money, Mr. Barber.’
I grinned at her.
‘If that’s going to worry you then you shouldn’t have picked on me. If you have a better idea, now’s the time to trot it out.’
The two women looked at each other, then Rhea, hesitating for a moment, said, ‘So long as I am here when you hand over the money, I have no better suggestion.’
‘That’s another way of saying she trusts you and not me,’ Odette said. ‘Isn’t she a lovely stepmother?’
‘She has to trust me,’ I said. ‘Now you tell me something: what happened to you? Why didn’t you meet your friend at the movies? Why did you go to the Pirates’ Cabin? Who kidnapped you?’
She stared blankly at me.
‘I wouldn’t know. Why ask me? It’s your story.’
‘Don’t you think you’d better know? Your father will question you. You can bet he will call in the police after he has got you back, and they will question you. Those boys are professionals. If they once suspect you’re lying, they’ll rip into you until they get the truth out of you.’
She lost a lot of her poise then and she looked uneasily at Rhea.
‘But I’m not going to be questioned by the police! Rhea says I’m not!’
‘Of course she isn’t!’ Rhea broke in.
‘You both seem pretty certain of that,’ I said. ‘I’m not so sure.’
‘My husband has a horror of publicity,’ Rhea said. ‘He would rather lose the money than get newspaper reporters worrying him.’
‘Sorry, I’m still not convinced. I wouldn’t be earning what you’re going to pay me,’ I said, ‘if I didn’t take the police into consideration. She must have a story ready in case the police move in. I’ll fix it for her.’ To Odette, I went on, ‘Can you come out here tomorrow night so I can coach you? You’ll need a lot of coaching if you want to keep that money.’
‘It’s not necessary,’ Rhea said. ‘How many more times do I have to tell you: my husband won’t call in the police!’
‘I told you I’d take this job on my own terms. You either do what I say or I’ll quit,’ I said.
‘I’ll be here tomorrow night at nine,’ Odette said and smiled at me.
‘That’s that then.’ I got to my feet. ‘Just one more thing.’ I was speaking to Rhea. ‘You’re to get her a dress. Get it from a cheap store: something a college girl would wear, and you’ve got to get her a red wig. Be careful how you get it. Don’t get it at a local shop. Maybe it would be better if you went into Dayton for it. It mustn’t be traced back to you. She’s got to disappear completely at the Pirates’ Cabin.
She’ll be seen there, and she’ll be seen leaving, but after that there must be no trace of her until she returns home.’
Rhea shrugged.
‘If you think this is really necessary, I’ll do it.’
‘Bring the dress and the wig with you tomorrow night,’ I said to Odette. ‘By then I’ll have a story ready for you, and the letter.’ I went to the door, opened it and looked out. The beach was deserted. ‘See you tomorrow night.’
Rhea went first, not looking at me. Odette followed her. As she passed me, she gave me a half smile and fluttered her eyelids at me.
I watched them walk away into the darkness, then I went into the bedroom and turned off the tape recorder.
CHAPTER FOUR
I
At a few minutes after nine o’clock the next evening, Odette came out of the darkness and paused at the foot of the steps to look up at me.
There was a big moon and I could see her clearly.
She was wearing a simple, full skirted white frock. She carried a suitcase. She looked very attractive as she stood there, looking up at me.
