you want it.’
I wondered why she couldn’t have waited until the morning, but then the Dedricks seemed to specialize in out-of-office hours. It didn’t worry me. I wanted her custom.
‘Certainly, Mrs. Dedrick. I’ll be right over. Do I ask at the desk for you?’
‘I’ll be in my car in the parking lot. It’s a black Cad. Will you be long?’
‘A quarter of an hour.’
‘I will wait that long, but no longer.’ The drawl had sharpened
‘I’m on my way…’ I began, but she had hung up.
I went into the bathroom to inspect myself in the mirror, and decided I looked neat enough without being gaudy. As I straightened my tie, I wondered what she wanted: probably some first-hand information about the kidnapping. From the pictures I had seen of her and from the sound of her voice, she wouldn’t be satisfied with anything second-hand.
I got the Buick out of the garage and drove fast up Ross-more Avenue that skirts the golfcourse, where a couple of cranks were trying to play golf in the moonlight with the aid of luminous balls, turned left up Glendora Avenue and arrived I at the imposing entrance of the Country Club with four I minutes of the quarter of an hour in hand.
The wooded gardens were ablaze with lights, and as I drove up the drive I could see a bunch of half-naked men and women clustered around the swimming pool, while Glyn Boos’s Serenaders played under the arclights in a flower-decked alcove nearby.
The car park was around the back of the clubhouse. I edged my way in, and parked in what seemed to be the only vacant space left. I got out, looked up and down the long rows of cars, and decided it would be easier to pick the needle out of the haystack than find one particular black Cad. from this collection of luxury cars. There must have been over three hundred of them, and probably a third of that number were Cadillacs.
Parking lights flickered on and off, away to my left. I set off hopefully towards them. They continued to go on and off until I drew close enough to see they were attached to the glittering black car I had seen outside Ocean End two nights ago. I walked up to the car and looked in at the window. She was sitting behind the wheel, smoking a cigarette. The cold, hard light of the moon fell directly on her, and the first thing I noticed was the string of diamonds that flashed and sparkled like fire-flies in her hair. The moonlight gave her a sculptured-in-alabaster effect. She was wearing a low-cull strapless creation in gold lame, and she looked exactly what she was: the fourth richest woman in the world, from the diamonds in her hair to the cold, haughty expression on her rather long but distinctly lovely face.
While I was looking at her and thinking she had the largest eyes I have ever seen and that her long and silky eyelashes were probably her own, she was looking at me. In the few second of silence that followed we sized each other up with frank curiosity.
‘I have about a couple of minutes in hand, Mrs. Dedrick, I said. ‘But even at that I seemed to have kept you waiting. I’m sorry. Do you want to talk here or somewhere else?’
‘Where else is there?’
‘Well there’s a river view near the golf-course that isn’t bad. At least it’s quiet.’
‘All right. We’ll go there.’ She moved along the bench seat. Perhaps you’ll drive.’
I got in under the steering wheel, switched on and trod on the starter. As I manoeuvred the car out of the lot into the drive-way, I gave her a quick glance. She was looking away from me, remote and thoughtful, her face as expressionless and as smooth as an ivory mask.
I drove through the entrance gates, turned right, continued up the brilliantly lit avenue to the bridge, then swung the car on to the bridle path that led along the river. A few minutes’ more driving brought me to the spot I had in mind. I slowed down, turned the nose of the car to face the glittering moonlit river and parked. Except for the occasional croak of bullfrogs in the reeds farther up the river and the lap-lap-lap of water against the bank, there was no sound to disturb us.
‘Do you want to get out?’ I asked, breaking the silence that had brooded over us since we had driven from the club.
She roused herself, as if her thoughts had been miles away, tossed her cigarette end into the river and shook her head.
‘No; we can talk here. It was you who found Souki, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes. Have you any news of your husband?’
‘They ‘phoned tonight. They want five hundred thousand. They told me he was well and was looking forward to seeing me again.’ She spoke in a cold, flat voice that didn’t quite conceal a frightened anxiety. ‘The money is to be paid the night after next, and he will be released as soon as they have it.’
I didn’t say anything. After a long pause, she turned to look intently at me. ’
‘Someone has to deliver the money. I want you to do it. I’ll pay you well.’
I was afraid she was going to say that. Dealing with kidnappers could be a dangerous business. More often than not the stooge who hands over the ransom money gets himself knocked off.
‘Have you made any arrangements with them yet?’
She shook her head.
‘This is only the opening move. The money is to be in used twenty-dollar bills. It is to be made up into three parcels, wrapped in oilskin. I shall get last-minute instructions where the money is to be delivered.’ She turned to look at me. ‘You’re not frightened of the job, are you?’ ‘I’ll tell you that when I’ve heard what the arrangements are.’ Then you think it could be dangerous?’
‘It could be.’
She opened her handbag and took out a cigarette case. As she offered it, she said, her voice a little unsteady, ‘Do you think they’ll send him back?’
I took the cigarette, tapped it absently on my thumb-nail before saying, ‘The possibilities are that they will.’
I lit her cigarette, and for some moments we smoked in silence. ‘I want you to tell me the truth,’ she said suddenly. ‘Will they send him back?’
‘I don’t know. It depends if he’s seen them. If he hasn’t, then there’s no point in not sending him back.’ ‘But if he has see them?’
‘It depends on them. Kidnappers are about as ruthless as blackmailers, Mrs Dedrick. Kidnapping carries the death penalty. They won’t take chances.’
‘There’s nothing I wouldn’t do or pay to get him back. It’s all my fault this has happened. If it wasn’t for my money, he wouldn’t have been worth kidnapping. He’s got to come back!’
There was nothing I could think of to say to that. My own feeling was she had seen the last of him: anyway, alive. With all that money at stake they were pretty certain to get rid of him. Most kidnappers prefer to kill rather than return. It is a lot safer for them. Too many kidnapped people in the past have given clues to the police that have led to the kidnappers being caught.
‘Have you consulted the police about this development?’ I asked.
‘No; and I’m not going to! This man tonight said every move I make is being watched, and if I communicate with the police, Lee would be murdered. Besides, the police are useless. They haven’t done a thing.’
‘We have time to set a trap. The money could be marked in a way no one would spot it. At least, it would give the police a chance to catch them after your husband’s safe.’
‘No!’ she said emphatically. ‘I gave them my word not to try any tricks. If I did that, and they found out, and Lee suffered, I’d never forgive myself. I don’t care a damn about the money. It’s Lee I want.’
‘Who ‘phoned you? Did you get an idea from his voice what kind of man he was? I mean was he educated? Did he have an accent? Was there anything about his voice that you would recognize if you ever met him?’
‘I think he was talking through a handkerchief. His voice was very muffled. He didn’t have an accent, but that’s all I can tell you.’
‘Did he talk tough?’
‘Oh no. In fact, he was horribly polite.’
I stared thoughtfully at the river. Probably they had killed Dedrick as soon as they got him out of the house. They hadn’t hesitated to kill his chauffeur, and they wouldn’t hesitate to wipe me out after they had the money. It was a job I didn’t want.
