feeling.
I had said nothing about how Odette had been murdered neither to Rhea nor to O’Reilly. Her body had only just been discovered. Not even the newspaper men were in on it yet – then how did O’Reilly know she had been strangled?
The cigarette slipped out of my fingers.
Here was my man! The lover! The ex-cop who had Renick’s confidence, who had the opportunity of knowing all what was going oh and of living in this house within a few yards of Rhea’s bedroom.
O’Reilly!
How else could he know Odette had been strangled unless he had strangled her himself?
II
Five or six minutes later, O’Reilly came through the swing doors and joined me on the patio.
During those minutes I had got over the shock of my discovery. I had had time to consider more fully the likelihood that he was Odette’s killer. He seemed fitted for the job. I told myself I would have to be careful not to give him any idea that I had spotted his slip and was suspicious of him. By now, Rhea would have warned him that I had the tapes. This should jolt him as much as it had jolted her, but it didn’t incriminate him. Somehow I had to pin Odette’s murder on him before the police pinned it on me.
As he came towards me, silently and smoothly, the way a boxer moves, I had to make an effort to keep my face expressionless.
‘All set?’
‘Yeah.’
He gave no sign that he knew I had the tapes. His hard fleshy face was a little thoughtful, but that was all.
We went together out of the house and down to the police car.
‘Has Mr. Malroux been told?’ I asked as I slid under the driving wheel.
‘Yeah.’ He settled himself in beside me. ‘Tough on him – his only daughter.’
‘Mrs. Malroux took it in her stride,’ I said as I drove down the carriageway, ‘Did she and the girl get along together?’
‘They got along fine,’ O’Reilly said, his voice sharpening a little. ‘She’s not the demonstrative type.’
I decided to stick the knife in hard and turn it.
‘The Lieutenant was saying Mrs. Malroux now comes into all her husband’s money. The girl’s death is pretty convenient for her. The girl would have collected half Malroux’s fortune if she had lived: now the wife grabs the lot.’
He shifted his solid, muscular body. I didn’t risk looking at him.
‘There was enough for the two of them, I guess,’ he said. I couldn’t be sure but I had an idea there was a sudden uneasy note in his voice.
‘Some women are never content with the half of anything. Mrs. Malroux strikes me as the type who wouldn’t share a breath of air with anyone.’
I felt him stare at me. I didn’t look his way.
‘The Lieutenant thinks that?’
‘I haven’t asked him.’
There was a pause, then he said, ‘That was a smart idea of his to print that photograph. The guy in the photograph looked a lot like you.’
That counter-attack didn’t faz me.
‘It was me,’ I said. ‘We had a description of a man who was seen with the girl at the Pirates’ Cabin.
His build matched mine. I volunteered to act as a model.’
That held him.
‘Come to think of it,’ I went on, ‘you’re the same build too.’
He didn’t say anything to that one.
We drove two blocks in silence, then I said, ‘They found the briefcase. It was in the stolen car with the body.’
His big, powerful hand was lying on his knee. I saw it give a little jump.
‘You mean they recovered the ransom?’
‘I didn’t say that: they have found the briefcase: it was full of old newspapers. Did you know there were two briefcases – exactly alike?’
Again I felt him look at me.
‘Yeah.’
‘Know what I think? I think someone switched the cases before Malroux left to deliver the ransom. It could easily have been done.’
That really hit him. He dropped his cigarette.
‘What are you getting at? Who would switch the cases?’
