I had been pacing up and down, sitting on the settee, staring tout of the window and chainsmoking during those five long hours. I had seen Wadlock for a few minutes when he had brought me dinner on a wheel wagon, but he hadn’t had anything to say and left me to serve myself.
I had been out just after eight o’clock to have a word with Kerman and to drop him a cold breast of chicken through the car window. I didn’t stay more than a minute or so. I was scared anyone who might be watching the house would hear his flow of bad language.
Now at last something was going to happen. Although Dedrick meant nothing to me, I was nervy after the long wait. I could imagine what Serena must be feeling like. She was probably fit to walk up a wall.
A few minutes later I heard movements outside and I walked into the hall.
Serena, in black slacks and a short, dark fur coat, came hurrying down the stairs, followed by Wadlock, who was carrying three oilskin-wrapped packages.
She looked white and ill; there was a pinched, drawn look about her that told more clearly than words how she had suffered during those long hours of waiting.
‘Monte Verde Mining Camp. Do you know it?’ she said in a low, unsteady voice.
‘Yes. It’s on San Diego Highway. It’ll take us about twenty minutes to get there if the traffic is light.’
Franklin Marshland appeared silently.
‘Where is it?’ he asked.
‘Monte Verde Mining Camp. It’s an old worked-out silver mine on San Diego Highway,’ I told him. ‘It’s a good spot for them.’ I looked at Serena’s white face. Her lips were trembling ‘Any news of your husband, Mrs. Dedrick?’
‘He—he is to be set free three hours after the money has be delivered. They will telephone us here where we will find him.
Marshland and I exchanged glances.
Serena caught hold of my arm.
‘Do you think they’re lying? If we let them have the money, we’ll have no hold on them at all.’
‘You haven’t a hold on them, anyway, Mrs. Dedrick. That’s what makes kidnapping such a filthy business. You’re entirely in their hands, and you just have to trust them.’
Wouldn’t it be better, my dear, if you let Mr. Malloy delivers the money, and you wait here for the second message?’ Marshland asked.
‘No!’
She didn’t look at him.
‘Serena, do be sensible. There’s always a chance they might be tempted to kidnap you. I’m sure Mr. Malloy is quite capable…’
She turned on him, distraught with misery and hysteria.
‘I’m going with him, and nothing you say will stop me!’ she cried wildly. ‘Oh, you needn’t pretend any more. I know you don’t want Lee to come out of this alive! I know you hate him! I know you’ve been gloating with joy that this has happened to him! But I’m bringing him back! Do you hear? I’m bringing him back!’
‘You’re being absurd…’ Marshland said, a faint flush coming to his face. His eyes looked hard and bitter.
She turned away from him to me.
‘Are you coming with me?’
‘Whenever you’re ready, Mrs. Dedrick.’
‘Then bring the money and come!’
She ran to the front door, jerked it open and went out on to the terrace.
Wadlock gave me the three packages.
‘You’ll take care of her, sir,’ he said.
I gave him a crooked grin.
‘You bet.’
Marshland walked away without looking at me.
‘She’s very upset, sir,’ Wadlock murmured. He looked upset himself.
I ran along the terrace, down the steps to the Cadillac.
‘I’ll drive,’ I said and tossed the packages into the back of the car. ‘I won’t be a moment. I want my gun.’
I left her getting into the Cad. and ran over to the Buick.
‘Monte Verde Mine,’ I said. ‘Give us five minutes, then come on—and watch out, Jack.’
A soft moan came from under the rug, but I didn’t wait. I went back to the Cadillac and climbed under the steering wheel. Serena sat huddled up in a corner. She was crying.
I sent the car shooting down the drive.
‘Don’t let it get you down.’
She went on crying quietly. I decided perhaps it was the best thing for her, and drove as fast as I could without taking risks, and ignored her.
As we drove along Orchid Boulevard I said, ‘Better get hold of yourself now. You haven’t told me yet what was said. If we make one false move, we may spoil his chance of getting back to you. These guys will be a lot more scared than we are. Now, come on, pull yourself together, and tell me. What did they say?’
It took her some minutes to control herself, and it wasn’t until we were shooting up Monte Verde Avenue that she told me.
The money is to be left on the roof of a shed standing before the old shaft. I don’t know if you know it?’
‘I know it. What else?’
‘Each parcel is to be placed at least a foot apart and in a row. After we have placed the parcels we must leave immediately.’
‘That the lot?’
She gave a little shiver.
‘Except for the usual threats about setting a trap.’
They didn’t bring your husband to the ‘phone?’
‘No. Why should they?’
‘Sometimes they do.’
The fact they hadn’t made it look bad for Dedrick, but I didn’t tell her so.
‘Was it the same man who spoke to you before?’
‘I think so.’
‘The same muffled voice?’
‘Yes.’
‘All right. Now this is what we do. I’ll stop the car at the entrance to the mine. You stay in the car. I’ll take the money and put it on the roof. You’ll be able to see every move I make. I’ll come straight back and get into the car. You will drive. At the beginning of Venture Avenue you’ll slow down and I’ll drop off. You carry on and get back to the house.’
‘Why are you dropping off?’
‘I may catch sight of them.’
‘No!’ She caught hold of my arm. ‘Do you want them to kill him? We’re leaving the money and doing what they tell us. You’ve got to promise.’
‘Well, all right; it’s your money. If they double-cross you, you’ll stand no chance of catching up with them. I’ll guarantee they won’t see me.’
‘No!’ she repeated. ‘I’m not going to give them any opportunity to go back on the bargain.’
I swung the long black nose of the Cad into San Diego High-way.
‘All right, but it’s the wrong way to play it.’
She didn’t answer.
There was a lot of traffic belting along the Highway, and it took me some minutes before I could swing the car across to the dirt track leading to the mine. We went bumping over the uneven surface of the track. It was dark and forlorn up there, and the headlamps bounced off great clumps of scrub and dumps of rubbish. Although only a few hundred yards or so off the main Highway, once on this track it was as lonely and as dark as the inside of a tomb.
