She realised he was now hiding himself behind a smoke screen of unreality.?‘People say so many disgusting things about other people. I don’t want to hear anything like that.’
On a sudden impulse, she opened her handbag and took out the gold cigarette lighter. She put it into his hand.
‘I found this, Chris.’
He stared at the lighter, holding it for a brief second. Then he gave a shudder, and with a movement of revulsion, he threw the lighter from him the way a man who finds some loathsome insect on him, gets rid of it.
Then he looked up at her. The expression on his face terrified her. He wasn’t Chris any more. He wasn’t human any more. He began to move out of his chair as she began to back away from him. His breath came through his clenched teeth in a soft, hissing sound. His hands, his fingers hooked, moved upwards as he got to his feet.
‘Chris!’
Her voice was sharp and terrified.?‘I’ve had enough of you,’ he said, his voice a soft, frightening whisper. ‘I’m going to kill you the way I killed her!’
Then the nurse was behind him. Her hands gripping his wrists, and with speed and strength, locking them behind him in a Judo grip. She held him powerless while he glared at Val, his mouth working and the awful twitch moving under his skin like the flickering of a snake’s tongue.
‘Go!’ the nurse said urgently. ‘Tell Dr. Gustave! Hurry! I can manage him!’
Val turned and ran blindly back towards the house. At the end of the path she met one of the male attendants who turned as he heard her quick footfalls.
She gasped out what was happening, then as he ran to the nurse’s help, she dropped on her knees on the grass and hid her face in her hands.
CHAPTER TWELVE
At the time Val was burning her husband’s jacket, Terrell was finishing his favourite breakfast of eggs and grilled ham.
A few minutes before he had sat down, Jacobs had driven Mrs. Prescott, Angel and her Teddy Bear from Terrell’s bungalow, back to the Park Motel.
Both Terrell and his wife were relieved to see them go. The child had been too much even for Terrell’s patience.
As he ate, Terrell looked back on the previous day. Jacko and Moe were now accounted for. He thought with regret of the officer whom Moe had killed. Lee Hardy was dead. Terrell had no regrets about him. With Jacko and Moe out of the way, Henekey’s murder could be considered closed. There still remained Sue Parnell’s murder to be solved. So far there was not a single clue that might lead him to the killer. Then there was this odd business of Val Burnett paying Homer Hare twenty thousand dollars. Terrell was sure Hare was blackmailing Val Burnett, but there was nothing he could do about that, he told himself, unless she was willing to co-operate.
It was while he was finishing his second cup of coffee that he heard a car pull up outside the bungalow. Glancing through the open window, he saw Joe Beigler and Fred Hess get out of a police car and come striding up his garden path.
‘More trouble,’ he said to Carrie. ‘Now what do they want this time?’
He left the morning-room and opening the front door let Beigler and Hess in.?‘What’s up now?’ he asked as he led the way into the lounge.?‘I took Hardy’s prints when they dumped him in the morgue,’ Hess said. ‘I’ve been checking all the prints I found in the cabin where the Parnell woman was knocked off. Hardy’s prints are on the list. He was definitely in the cabin at some time. While I was at it, I checked Henekey’s office. Hardy’s prints are also on Henckcy’s desk.’
Terrell moved around the room, puffing at his pipe.
Finally, he said, ‘This could be the answer. That alibi the Lang girl gave Hardy never jelled with me. Could be Hardy did the job. Let’s go talk to her.’
‘I guessed you’d want to do that,’ Beigler said. ‘I have a search warrant. If we tear the place apart, we might even turn up the motive.’
The three police officers arrived outside Lee Hardy’s penthouse front door at a few minutes to nine. Beigler dug his thumb into the bell push and held it there for several seconds, then the three men waited. More seconds dragged past and Beigler again thumbed the bell push.
The front door was suddenly jerked open by Gina, her face like a stone mask and dark smudges under her eyes. She was wearing a flower patterned wrap and her feet were bare. She looked as if she had just got out of bed. By the way she screwed up her eyes as if trying to focus the police officers, Terrell could see she was drunk.
‘I want to talk to you,’ Terrell said and riding her back, he moved into the lobby.
She shrugged indifferently and then walked unsteadily into the lounge. She seemed glad to flop into one of the big comfortable Lounging chairs. She rubbed her eyes, yawned and then stared at Terrell without seeing him.
‘Make some coffee,’ Terrell said to Beigler. ‘She’s plastered.’
Beigler went out of the room in search of the kitchen. Hess took a chair behind Terrell and fiddled with a notebook while Terrell slowly filled his pipe.
Gina said abruptly, ‘What is it? If you’ve just come to stare at me, then get the hell out of here?’
‘You told me Hardy spent the evening here with you the evening Sue Parnell was murdered. I’m asking you again: was Hardy here or were you lying?’
‘Lee didn’t murder her,’ Gina said.?‘I didn’t ask you that. I asked if you gave him a false alibi. This is serious. I have reason to believe he was in this woman’s cabin at the motel on the night she died.’
‘What’s it matter where he was now? He’s dead, isn’t he?’ Gina, said, lighting a cigarette. ‘Did you or did you not lie when you said he was with you on that night?’ Terrell demanded, his voice hardening.
‘Oh, go to hell! What does it matter? He’s dead! He was the only man I ever cared for! He’s dead! Get the hell out of here!’ She got unsteadily to her feet and started towards the door as Beigler came in, a jug of coffee in one hand, a cup in the other.
‘And you… clear out too!’ Gina screamed at him. She gave him a violent push so that the jug of coffee flew out of his hand, smashing against the wall. The coffee streamed down the wall as Gina, dodging around Beigler, ran into her bedroom and slammed the door.
Beigler smothered an expletive and then put the cup on the occasional table. He looked at Terrell.
‘Leave her be for the moment,’ Terrell said. ‘Let’s look around and see if we can find a motive for the killing.’
Methodically, the three men began to search the penthouse, avoiding Gina’s room. It was Hess, a couple of hours later, searching Hardy’s bedroom who found what they were looking for. In a large envelope, tucked behind a reproduction of a Picasso designed, above Hardy’s bed, was a thin leather-bound diary, a folded letter addressed to Gina, and two cancelled cheques of five thousand dollars each made out to ‘Bearer’.
Terrell sat on the bed and read the letter.
Dear Pekie,?If anything should happen to me, turn the contents of this envelope over to the police. Sue found out about the reefer racket I’m snarled up in, and she’s been squeezing me ever since I threw her out. She got hold of the duplicates of the records and she has enough to put me away for ten years. She is set to squeeze me dry, but if I walk under a car or something, I want her to pay for the merry hell she’s cooked up for me. Give Terrell the diary and the cheques. If he can’t fix her, no one can.
Lee
Terrell spent some time going through the diary, then he looked over at Beigler who was smoking and sipping coffee he had made while Terrell was occupied.
‘Here’s the motive. He got tired of paying, so he knocked her off. He ripped her to make it look like a sex killing,’ Terrell said. ‘Now, I’ll talk to her.’
‘You’re welcome,’ Beigler said. ‘Want me along?’?‘What do you think?’ Terrell got to his feet, and followed by Beigler, he walked from the lounge and into Gina’s bedroom.
