“You killed the Swede. You might decide to kill Carrie Cromwell. If you got caught, I might be implicated. The risk is worth more than five thousand."
“Why should I kill Carrie Cromwell?”
“Why did you kill the Swede?”
She had me there. Why had Stevkovsky killed the Swede?
“When you wangled me into taking you there," Gretchen continued, “you never said anything about murder. That wasn’t in the deal.”
“Maybe you’d better refresh my memory about the deal,” I suggested.
“Well,” she admitted, “I guess it wasn’t exactly a deal. You just said something kiddingly about how this O. R. G. Y. outfit of yours was going to catch up with the times and do a survey of sex in outer space. And I told you about this fellow Hajstrom who might be just the one for you to talk to because he was some kind of space scientist from Sweden and a swinger besides. You wanted to know what I meant by a swinger, so I told you about ‘Friends of Sweden,’ and how the first time I went there was because I was a model and this Swedish photographer friend of mine took me there. I said it was a gas, and you said how you’d like to go there and maybe meet this scientist. So we arranged to meet after you ditched your wife, and I took you up there and introduced you to Hajstrom. I never should have left you alone with him. I never figured to be fingering him so you could kill him. But I’m not going to make the same mistake about Carrie Cromwell. If you want to know where she is to kill her, the price has gone up to ten grand.”
“It might be worth it,” I fenced with Gretchen, “if I had some assurance that her husband was with her.”
“Husband? I didn’t even know she had one.” Gretchen got to her feet. “Well, take it or leave it,” she said firmly.
“I think that Mr. Victor will leave it.”
Fear stamped itself on Gretchen’s face as she stared at the doorway from which the voice had spoken. I whirled around to look at the intruder. I had no trouble identifying him immediately. Bald, a scar on his cheek, monocle -—it all matched Hortense’s description of Von Koerner.
“What are you doing here?” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“One of my--ahh—servants overheard Gretchen speaking to you on the telephone,” he informed us as he closed the door firmly behind him. “I feared that she might be interfering with my plans for negotiating with you. Now, from what I have just heard, I see that my fears were well founded. You have been very naughty and disloyal, Gretchen. I shall really have to discipline you.”
He was carrying a sleek black walking stick with a silver knob. Now he raised it so that it was parallel with his hip. A split second later, a sharp blade, about three inches long, sprang from its tip.
“Yes, you must learn your lesson, Gretchen.” The cane was a quick blur slashing at her body with two quick strokes. The red resss parted horizontally at the very tips of her bosom. Blood, a darker red, immediately covered the exposed portion of her flesh. “Now do you see why you must remain loyal, Gretchen?” Von Koemer asked in a calm voice.
It happened so fast that she didn’t even scream. She just moaned her anguish as she sank to her knees, her hands clutching at herself to stem the bleeding. Between her fingertips, I could see that he had neatly pierced the tips of both breasts. But, like Gretchen, I was so stunned by the suddenness of it that it was a moment before I reacted.
Then I did react. I was outraged, and I moved unthinkingly. “You dirty-—!” I dived for Von Koerner.
He took one step to the side, and the cane flashed out again. I braked to a halt with the blade nicking at my throat. It stayed there, pricking me as I backed away. Finally it forced me to sit down in a chair. Then it still hovered a scant quarter inch from my jugular.
“Now answer the phone, Mr. Victor.”
It must have been ringing for a while. I hadn’t heard it. I’d been too busy trying to keep my head on my shoulders. Now, automatically, I reached for it.
“Act natural. Be very careful what you say,” Von Koerner instructed, twirling the blade a little to drive home his point.
I gulped and nodded to show I understood. I picked up the phone. “Hello.”
“Hello, Steve, darling?” It was Hortense. “I know it’s awful of me to call you in the middle of the night like this, but I just had to tell you.”
“Tell me what?” I was getting cross-eyed from focusing on the blade’s tip.
“About our wedding. You’ll never guess who I've persuaded to give me away.”
“Give you away?” My voice squeaked. Von Koerner didn’t want it to squeak. The blade scratched me slightly. I cleared my throat.
“I mean give away the bride, silly.” Hortense sounded very bubbly. “Guess who’s going to do it?”
“Who?”
“None other than Senator Alvin K. Leander himself. What do you think of that?”
“Fine. That’s fine.” Von Koerner was getting impatient. I tried to suck in my throat.
“It wasn’t easy to get him to agree, but I reminded him of a few things, and asked very sweetly after his wife, and he said he’d be delighted. He was really very chivalrous about it.”
“That’s nice.”
“Well, you could be more enthusiastic. I did it for you, darling. I want you to be proud of your bride.”
“I’m very proud.” Von Koerner’s impatience had him on the verge of performing a tracheotomy.
“I knew you would be. And, Steve, darling, I wanted to ask you about your mother. I respect her religious convictions. I want you to know that. But don’t you think with the Senator coming and all she might be a little tolerant. It's bound to look funny if she isn’t there. I thought maybe if I called her -”
“End it! ” Von Koerner hissed. The blade drew blood.
“You do that,” I told Hortense. “Let me know how you make out.”
“Wait! Don’t hang up yet, darling!” she said.
“Hang up! ” Von Koerner insisted.
“You’d better do as he says,” Gretchen moaned. “He’d think nothing of killing you.”
“Steve! What’s that voice? Do you have a woman in your room?”
“I won’t. I will. Yes. No,” I answered confusedly.
“Steve! Another woman! With the wedding only a few days off! How could you?”
“Just lucky, I guess,” I said weakly.
“Steve!”
“Hang up! ”
“He’ll kill you!”
The voices assailed me. The blade pierced my flesh, hungry for my blood. Crazily, a bizarre solution to all my troubles flashed across my mind. I’d ask Von Koerner to be my best man! And Gretchen could be a bridesmaid!
chapter NINE
“Look,” I told Hortense. “There’s no woman here. I_just left the radio on. That’s all. And I’m awfully sleepy right now. Can’t we talk about the wedding arrangements In the morning, my pet?”
“Look,” I hissed at Gretchen. “Just shut up, will you?
“Look,” I pleaded with Von Koerner. “If you’ll stop trying to skewer my Adam’s apple, I’ll get off the phone right away.”
“All right,” Hortense agreed.
“All right,” Gretchen agreed.
“All right,” Von Koerner agreed—and released the pressure on the blade at my throat.
Hortense hung up— finally. Gretchen cowered in a corner. Von Koerner smiled a humorless smile and kept the cane poised. “And now to business, Mr. Victor. It was really very foolish of you to bother with Gretchen here, he told me. “She isn’t even aware of the existence of the one you really seek. She would have arranged for you to meet Carrie Cromwell, but you would have thrown your money away. In the first place, I had already made arrangements for you to meet her free of charge.”
“Then it was you who had her call Barry tonight to make sure I’d come tomorrow evening,” I guessed.
“Correct. So you see, you should thank me. I have saved you ten thousand dollars. Or was it only five? No matter. In any case it would have been a dead end for you. It isn’t Carrie Cromwell you want. It’s her husband. I know that. And only I am in a position to help you.”