A tall, thin man, very sun tanned, wearing a pair of white slacks and a blue and red sweat shirt sat in another lounging chair. This must be Malroux, I thought. He was handsome. His thick hair was steel grey. His steady blue eyes were very alive. It was impossible to believe that he was fatally ill.
‘Mr. Malroux?’ Renick said, pausing.
‘That’s right, Lieutenant. Sit down. What can I do for you?’ The voice was impersonal and quiet. The steady blue eyes didn’t encourage a spate of words.
‘This is Harry Barber,’ Renick said, waving to me. ‘He works with me.’ He didn’t sit down.
Malroux’s voice and expression gave him the hint he wasn’t wanted. ‘I hoped to see Miss Malroux. I hear she isn’t here, sir.’
‘That is right. What is it?’
‘I’m sorry to bother you with this, Mr. Malroux,’ Renick said in his smoothest manner, ‘but I’m investigating a hit and run case. Late last night a woman was knocked down and fatally injured and the driver of the car didn’t stop. We have been checking cars all day. We have found your daughter’s car in Lone Bay parking lot. The car has a badly damaged wing. We would like to know how the accident happened.’
I watched Malroux and I sweated. Would he tell Renick his daughter had been kidnapped? His face was expressionless. He regarded Renick thoughtfully and with no apparent interest.
‘If my daughter had knocked anyone down, she wouldn’t run away. She is staying with friends I believe. I don’t know who they are. Young people, these days, don’t tell their parents anything.’
I glanced at Rhea. She had gone back to leafing through her magazine. She appeared to be paying no attention to what was being said.
‘When will she return?’ Renick asked.
‘In a few days. When she does return, I will speak to her. I am quite sure she has nothing to do with this accident.’
‘Can you explain, sir, why her car should be left at Lone Bay parking lot?’
Malroux moved restlessly.
‘No. What my daughter does with her car is no concern of mine.’ He reached out and picked up a book that was lying on the table. ‘When my daughter returns, I will arrange for you to see her if it is still necessary. I am sure by then you will have traced the person responsible for the accident. I am satisfied my daughter has nothing to do with it. Good day to you, Lieutenant.’
‘Well, that’s that,’ Renick said as we walked back to the Packard. ‘He’s a cool old bird, isn’t he?’
I was feeling limp.
‘We don’t know for certain she has been kidnapped,’ I said. ‘He could have wanted that money for a business deal.’
Renick shook his head.
‘I don’t think so. Even a millionaire doesn’t make a bank manager open his bank on a Sunday unless it is a life and death matter. I’m willing to bet she’s been kidnapped. We’d better report to Meadows.’
The District Attorney was pacing his office and chewing a dead cigar when we walked in.
Renick told him about finding the car, about the bashed wing and of his interview with Malroux.
‘He’s not talking,’ he concluded. ‘I can’t say I blame him. Do you think we should put a call out for the girl?’
Meadows threw his cigar into the trash basket.
‘No. We’ll wait. I’m not sticking my neck out. Malroux’s got plenty of influence. If we move in now and make trouble for the girl, I’m the guy who’ll hear about it. We’ll wait.’
Renick shrugged.
‘Okay, sir.’ He turned to me. ‘Keep near a telephone, Harry. I may need you in a hurry. Are you going home?’
‘Yes. If I go out I’ll leave a telephone number with Nina where you can get me.’
‘Do that.’
I drove home.
Nina was working in the lounge on a garden pot. She put down her paint brush as I came in.
‘Darling… I’m so excited.’ She put her arms around me. ‘Is it going to be all right?’
I swung her up in my arms and sat down with her on my lap.
‘It’s going to be all right. I’m working again and it’s a job I’m going to like.’
She asked me why John had wanted me so urgently and on a Sunday. I told her about Malroux.
‘John thinks the girl has been kidnapped, but I’m not worrying my brains until we know for certain.
Personally, I think Malroux could have wanted the money for a big business deal.’ I steered the conversation away from Malroux by asking her if she still planned to go on with her art work now I had a steady job.
‘We can afford it if you want to drop it,’ I said.
‘I think I’ll go on. Anyway, until the end of the season.’
After dinner, I said I would go down to police headquarters to if there was any news.
‘I won’t be long. I think it’s an idea to show myself.’
I drove to the nearest drug store and called Odette.
