She let her hand fall back against the back of the chair and she shut her eyes.
‘I thought it was you who called me on the telephone morning,’ she said. ‘I thought you were trying to frighten me. It sounded like your voice.’
I stiffened.
‘What do you mean? Who telephoned you?’
‘This morning, around nine o’clock, the telephone rang. I answered it. A man asked if it was Mrs. Lucille Aitken speaking. I had an idea it was you. I said it was. Then he said, 'I hope you enjoyed your swim last night,' and then he hung up.’
I stubbed out my cigarette, feeling suddenly cold.
‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’
‘I thought it was you. That’s why I was so anxious to go with you to get my swim-suit.’
‘It wasn’t me.’
She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
‘That’s why I say I think we’re going to be blackmailed.’
‘But there was no one on the beach. We couldn’t have been seen,’ I said.
‘Whoever it was knew I had been in for a swim.’
‘And you think this man is the one who has taken the swim-suit?’
‘Yes.’
I got slowly to my feet and walked over to the liquor cabinet.
‘Will you have a drink?’
‘Well, all right.’
‘Whisky or gin?’
‘Oh, whisky.’
I poured two stiff drinks into glasses and dropped in ice cubes. As I picked them up to carry them across the room the telephone bell started to ring.
I felt my muscles stiffen. Slowly I put the glasses down.
Lucille was upright in her chair, her hands on her knees, her knuckles white.
We stared at each other as the bell created a strident clamour in the silent room.
‘Aren’t you going to answer it?’ she said, her voice a husky whisper.
I moved slowly across the room and took up the receiver.
‘Hello?’ I said and my voice didn’t sound like my own.
‘Is that Mr. Chester Scott?’
A man’s voice. I had the impression the tone was frivolous. It was like listening to a man who has a secret joke he is reluctant to share with anyone.
‘Yes. Who is it?’
‘You should have made love to her, Mr. Scott. You should never have let her run away. After all, that is what women are given to us for.’
The words were spoken slowly and distinctly. There was no possibility of mistaking them.
‘What do you mean?’ I said, feeling cold sweat on my face. ‘Who is that?’
The steady humming sound in my ear told me I was talking over a dead line.
CHAPTER SIX
I
THE sound the telephone receiver made as I dropped it back on to its cradle was like a minor explosion in the tight silence of the room.
I turned slowly and looked at Lucille.
She was sitting upright, tense and frightened, her hands gripping her knees.
‘Who was it?’ she asked breathlessly.
‘I don’t know,’ I said, moving back to my chair. I sat down. ‘But I can make a guess, I think it was the same man who telephoned you this morning.’
I told her exactly what the man had said.
She hid her face in her hands.
I was feeling pretty bad myself. This had been a shock, and stared out of the window, trying to control my shaking hands.
She said: ‘Oh, Ches! What are we going to do?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘This is a complication.’
‘You see, I was right. He is going to blackmail us.’
‘He said nothing about blackmail and until he does there’s point in assuming he’s going to blackmail us.’
‘Of course he is going to blackmail us! He has the swim-suit, he knows you and I were on the beach together, he knows it was my fault the policeman was killed! Of course he is going blackmail us!’
‘Now wait a moment. We don’t know he has the swim-suit and we don’t know he knows you killed O’Brien. All we doknow for certain is that he saw us on the beach.’
‘Of course he has the swim-suit and he’s seen the damaged car!’
‘We don’t know that for certain, Lucille!’ I said sharply, ‘If these two telephone calls are a preliminary softening-up process for blackmail, we may find he is going to threaten to tell your husband he saw us on the beach together. He may know nothing about the accident.’
She made an impatient movement.
‘What does it matter? Even if he doesn’t know about the accident, we’ll still lave to pay him if you don’t want to lose your job and I don’t want to lose Roger.’
‘Don’t be so sure about it,’ I said, staring at her. ‘We could go to the police. They know how to deal with a blackmailer, and they would keep us out of it.’
‘How can you talk like that?’ she said angrily. ‘He’s seen the car!’
‘We don’t know that. He might not have noticed it in the darkness. He might have searched the inside of the car, found your swim-suit and not noticed the damage.’
‘You’re talking for the sake of talking! I’m sure he knows about the accident!’
‘Then why didn’t he mention it? That would be a far more powerful lever for blackmail.’
She lay back as if suddenly exhausted, her hands dropping limply in her lap.
‘Have it your own way. I know you are wrong, but have it your own way. What are you going to do?’
‘Nothing about him for the moment. I admit he’s a complication, but he isn’t the main danger. The real danger comes from the police. Even if this fella does know about the accident, and he does try to blackmail us, we’ll probably be able to buy him off, but we won’t be able to buy off the police. They are the real danger.’
‘You said you would take the blame,’ she said sullenly. ‘The real danger for me is this man—not the police.’
‘I promised to keep you out of it, but I can’t guarantee to do it,’ I said quietly. ‘You were careless enough to leave your suim-suit in the car; if someone has taken it to the police, then I can’t keep you out of it. All I do is to swear I was driving, but it still makes you an accessory to manslaughter.’
She stared angrily at me.
‘I am sure this man has my swim-suit! I’m certain of it! I am certain he is going to blackmail us! What I want to know is are you going to pay him or must I go to Roger?’
‘Are you threatening me, Lucille?’ I asked quietly. ‘That sounded too like blackmail to me.’
She pounded her fists on her knees and cried: ‘I don’t care what it sounds like! I want to know what you intend to do when he makes his demand!’
