There was a delay while I prowled around the room, then the bedroom door opened and she came out.
The red wig made a startling difference to her appearance. I scarcely recognised her. She was holding the front of her dress up with her hands.
‘The damn thing has a zipper.’ She turned, showing me her naked back down to her waist. ‘Zip me up, will you? I can’t reach it.’
I took hold of the zipper. My hand was unsteady. My fingers touched the cool flesh of her back. She looked over her shoulder at me. There was that thing in her eyes. I pulled up the zipper. My heart was beginning to thump. She turned and moved against me, sliding her arms around my neck.
Just for a brief moment I surrendered to the pressure of her body against mine, then with a conscious effort, I shoved her away.
‘That’s something we don’t do,’ I said. ‘Let’s keep this strictly business.’
She put her head on one side as she stared at me.
‘Don’t you like me then?’
‘I think you’re cute. Let’s leave it at that.’
She made a little grimace, then moved under the light.
‘Well? Do I pass?’
‘Yes. If you wear a pair of sun goggles, no one would know you.’ I took out my handkerchief and wiped my sweating hands. ‘Okay, get changed. Leave the dress and wig here. We’ll meet again the night after next at nine.’
She nodded and went into the bedroom, leaving the door ajar.
I lit a cigarette and sat on the edge of the table. I was still pretty worked up.
Then she called, ‘Harry… I can’t get this zipper undone.’
I hesitated for a brief moment, then I mashed out my cigarette. I didn’t move, but I was aware my heart was pounding.
‘Harry…’
I stood up, silently crossed to the cabin door and turned the key. Then I turned off the light and went into the bedroom.
II
John Renick’s Buick stood outside my bungalow as I swung the Packard through the open gates and into my garage.
The sight of the Buick gave me a hell of a jolt. I hadn’t seen nor heard from Renick since he had picked me up outside the jail gates, weeks ago, and I had forgotten about him.
What was he doing here?
My mind was suddenly flustered. Nina would have told him that I had this traffic censor job. If it crossed his mind, he could easily find out I was lying about the job. Contact with anyone connected with the police was the last thing I wanted, now I was about to swing this fake kidnapping.
Besides, I was suffering from a guilty conscience. I was regretting this lapse of mine with Odette. I was now sure she had given herself to me to show me her power and her contempt of men. Our love-making – if you can call it that – had been nothing but an explosion of physical violence. She had slid away from me, and dressed hurriedly in the dark, humming a jazz tune under her breath, ignoring me.
‘I’ll see you the night after tomorrow,’ she had said out of the darkness. ‘’Bye for now,’ and she had gone, leaving me still on the bed, ashamed and angry with myself, and hating her.
When I heard the cabin door slam shut after her, I got off the bed and turned off the recorder. I had taken the tape and put it in its container. Then I had taken a shower and then had gone into the sitting-room and had drunk two stiff whiskies, one quickly after the other. But neither the shower nor the whiskies had done anything to dent this soiled feeling I had nor lessen the feeling of guilt that I had betrayed Nina who was slaving all day to keep us going.
I walked slowly up the path from the garage, took out my key and opened the front door. The clock in the hall told me it was ten minutes after eleven o’clock. From the lounge, I could hear Renick’s voice and Nina’s sudden laugh.
I stood hesitating.
Renick and I had been close friends for twenty years. We had gone to school together. He had been a good, straight cop, and now he was the D.A.’s special officer, a position of importance in this city, carrying a good salary. If this kidnapping idea turned sour, he would be the first to be involved in the investigation, and I knew he was no fool. He was one of the brightest and shrewdest investigators of the whole bunch. In my newspaper work I had met them all: Renick topped the lot. If he handled the investigation I could be in trouble.
I braced myself, crossed to the lounge door and pushed it open.
Nina was working on a large garden pot that stood on her work bench. Renick lounged in an armchair, watching her, a cigarette burning between his fingers.
As soon as Nina saw me, she dropped her paint brush and ran over to me. She slid her arms around my neck and kissed me. The touch of her lips against mine gave me a sick feeling. I was still remembering Odette’s hot, animal caresses. I pushed her away gently and with my arm around her, I forced a smile as Renick got to his feet.
‘Hello there, John,’ I said and shook hands. ‘You’re a stranger.’
Once a cop, always a cop. I could see by his steady, puzzled stare, he knew something was wrong. He gripped my hand and his grin was as lop-sided as mine.
‘That’s not my fault, Harry,’ he said. ‘I’ve been in Washington for the past month. I’ve only just got back. How are you? I hear you have a job.’
‘Well, call it that,’ I said. ‘It’s better than nothing.’
