me. Who wouldn’t want to bed with the richest man in the world? John was never such a good lover as you, Jerry, but I fell for him and he for me. He offered marriage. He meant it, but he was so busy there was no time to arrange the elaborate wedding he wanted. Then his dreadful illness began attacking him. He kept telling me that as soon as his deal was completed, we would marry and go on a world cruise. He brought me here. He told everyone, his mother, Durant, the staff, I was now his wife, and we had married secretly. I was and am, accepted as his wife. I am in name, but not in fact. I kept asking him, even begging him to legalize our union, but the illness was now too far advanced and he just made promises.’ She stared at me. ‘So you see, Jerry, if he dies, my life, as I know it now, comes to an end. His mother hates me. She suspects we aren’t married. She is a greedy, wicked old woman, and when John dies she will easily prove he didn’t marry me.’ She lay back and stared up at the ceiling. ‘All this luxury, all this money will be snatched away. I don’t know what will happen to me.’ She looked towards me. ‘There it is, Jerry. I am now asking you to help me.’
I stood up and walked around the big bedroom. I wanted to get away from her caressing fingers. Red lights were now flashing in my mind. I thought of Larry Edwards. Had Loretta told him what she had told me? Had he refused to help her? Had she turned down her thumb, and he had died?
I felt cold sweat on my body. I was a prisoner in this opulent house! I had seen the tough looking bodyguards patrolling the grounds.
‘Help you?’ I tried to steady my voice. ‘How can I help you? Look, I was hired to impersonate your . . . Ferguson. I am doing that. That’s all I’m paid to do.’
She got off the bed and walked to where she had thrown her wrap. Slowly, she put it on.
‘We are lovers, Jerry. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?’ she asked, looking directly at me. Her face could have been chiseled out of marble.
I was scared. I thought of Larry Edwards, of Charles Duvine. Play the wrong card, I told myself, and you too can finish up dead.
Because I knew I was helpless to stop them murdering me if I refused to cooperate, I decided to play for time.
‘If I can,’ I said. ‘I will help you.’
As she regarded me, I could see she knew I was scared witless. Her face lit up with a sardonic little grin.
‘I knew you would say that.’ She went over to a lounging chair and sat down. ‘I knew I could rely on you.’ She smiled. ‘You are going to marry me.’
This was so unexpected, I just gaped at her.
‘It’s the only solution.’ Again the sardonic little grin. ‘Oh, sit down! I’ll explain, now I have your promise to help me.’
So, unsteadily, I sat down, facing her.
‘How would you like to own two million dollars, Jerry?’
No words came. I continued to stare at her.
‘Jerry! How would you like to earn two million dollars?’
I pulled myself together.
‘That’s quite a lump of money,’ I said huskily. ‘Yes, who wouldn’t?’
‘You are to marry me in your disguise as John, and in return, I will give you two million dollars.’
She must be out of her mind! I reached for a cigarette, lit it while she watched me.
‘It wouldn’t work,’ I said finally. ‘This is crazy thinking. If there’s a probe, and there will be, the marriage wouldn’t stand up. The certificate will be dated. His mother will know that John is beyond marriage. You and I would get into real trouble. No, it just wouldn’t work.’
‘It is going to work!’ There was a whiplash snap in her voice that made my heart skip a beat.
‘But how?’
‘You know nothing about the power of big money. With money, anything can be arranged. When Durant told me you could forge John’s signature perfectly, I saw the solution. I made inquiries in Las Vegas. There is an elderly priest who retired two years ago, around the time I met John. He has a marriage register. I flew down there yesterday and talked to him. He needs money. His wife has cancer. His son is on drugs. We did a deal.’ She smiled her sardonic smile. ‘The day after tomorrow Durant goes to Washington. I have arranged for this priest to come here. He will give me a marriage certificate, dated two years back, when I met John. You will sign the register in John’s name, and hey, presto! I am married to John.’
I thought, then said, ‘Have you really fixed it? There should be witnesses.’
Her eyes like granite, she made an impatient gesture.
‘Jerry! It is all arranged. This supposed marriage was secret. Two witnesses were supposed to have been taken off the street. I found two poor blacks who, for a few dollars, signed the register. All that is necessary is for you to sign the register, and John and I are married.’
I could see the danger.
‘Wait a moment. You do realize that you are leaving yourself wide open to blackmail? This priest, these two witnesses, could come back again and again, and bleed you.’
She smiled. I have never seen such a cold, evil smile.
‘No one blackmails a Ferguson, Jerry.’
My mind switched to Larry Edwards and Charles Duvine. I was suddenly horribly sure that this priest and these two poor blacks would have fatal accidents.
‘Then there is another important thing you have to do,’ she said. ‘It is only the signature. The will.’
‘The will?’
‘Of course. When John married me two years ago, he made a will leaving me all his possessions.’
‘But you told me he hasn’t made a will.’
‘He hasn’t, but I have. I have a watertight, legal will completely protecting me. All it needs is his signature.’
Again the evil little smile. ‘Your forged signature, Jerry.’
I grabbed at straws.
‘A will has to be witnessed.’
She made an impatient movement.
‘When we were married in Las Vegas two years ago, the two poor blacks also witnessed the will. I have their signatures on the will. That has been arranged.’
I sat there staring at her.
‘For your cooperation and for your future silence, Jerry, I will pay you two million dollars. What do you say?’
‘You haven’t two million dollars,’ I said huskily.
Again the evil little smile.
‘I will have. You and I will have to wait until John dies, but don’t worry. Two million is worth waiting for, isn’t it? John could die within a month or so. I told you, he is getting rapidly worse.’
Was she now planning to murder John Merrill Ferguson? Looking at her, seeing that smile, I felt sure she was. I felt sure also that she would never pay me two million dollars. Once she had the forged signatures, I would cease to exist.
I had to play for time.
‘Durant? Does he know what you are planning?’
‘Don’t worry about Durant. He has his future to consider. He goes the way the wind blows.’
‘The mother?’
‘There is nothing she can do once I can prove I am John’s wife. Don’t worry about her. I am asking you, for two million dollars, will you cooperate?’ Her voice was like steel.
Because I knew I was in a trap, and for the moment, I could see no way out, and because I knew if I refused, it would be the end of me, I said, ‘You can rely on me to cooperate.’
She stared at me for a long moment, her violet eyes glittering, then she smiled, got up and left me.
* * *
Four hours later, I was still sitting in the chair when Mazzo wheeled in the breakfast trolley.
‘Sleep well, Mr. Ferguson?’ he asked as he poured coffee. He gave me a sly little grin.
