“There’s the railway down to Montreux. You could get a train to Geneva, but I suppose they will be watching the station, won’t they?” She thought for a moment, then asked, “Can you ski?”
Cade nodded.
“I’m not good, but I can manage.”
“We could get to Aigle by ski-paths. I know the way. I have often done it. From Aigle we could get a bus to the lake and then a steamer to Geneva.”
Cade thought about this. Taking the girl with him worried him.
“I can’t expect you...” He stopped and shrugged. “Anyway, we have no skis.”
“I can get them. A friend of mine has a villa not far from here. He’s in Paris at the moment. He has skis... if we can get to the villa.”
“This is dangerous.” Cade said. “I can’t drag you into it. Tell me where the villa is... I’ll find it.”
“You wouldn’t” She got briskly to her feet “I’ll go down and see what’s happening. If the police have gone, we can go through the garden. If they are still in the hotel, we’ll have to wait.”
She was gone before he could stop her. He looked around for the whisky bottle. He found it on the dressing-table and poured a stiff drink. Fortified, he lit a cigarette and began to pace up and down.
In about ten minutes, she returned.
“They have left the hotel,” she told him. “There is a policeman outside the hotel, but we can go by the back way. There’s no one there.”
“My three friends who were arrested? What’s happened to them?” Cade asked.
She shook her head.
“Mr. Tanz... he owns the hotel... told me they were driven away in a police car.”
Cade grimaced. He watched Ginette go to a closet and take out a short, wool-lined coat.
As she struggled into it, she said, “Come on, let’s go.”
He went up to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
“Just why are you doing this?” he asked. “I have told you I have killed a man. If the police find me, they will probably kill me. They wouldn’t want me to talk. If they find you with me God knows what they will do to you. Why are you doing it?”
She looked up at him, her blue eyes sparkling.
“Because I am an infatuated, sexually aroused fan of yours,” she said softly. “Do you want it plainer than that? This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me.” Then putting her hand to his face, she pressed her soft, yielding lips to his.
For a brief moment, Cade held her close to him, then he pushed her gently away. He was depressed that the feel of her lips against his raised no desire in him.
“All right,” he said. “If that’s the way you feel, then let’s go.”
She gave him an intent stare and then smiled ruefully.
“You are not madly romantic, are you?” she said and moved to the door.
Cade dropped the half empty bottle of whisky into his pocket. He followed her out into the corridor, then walked with her to the stairs. Half way down the final flight, she lifted her hand and he stopped. She went on, looked into the deserted lobby, beckoned and he joined her.
She led the way past the crowded dining-room, down a corridor to a glass door that led onto the terrace.
They walked onto the thick, frost hard snow. It was very cold, and the moon drifted in dark clouds. Cade could feel the frost nipping his face.
He followed the girl who seemed to know the way. She went down snow covered steps and along a path that led through fir trees to a head-high wall.
“There’s a path the other side,” she said. “It leads to the villa.” She rested her hands on top of the wall. “Help me over.”
He took her foot in his mitten-covered hands and lifted her. She swung over the wall and dropped the other side. He quickly joined her.
It was dark there under the trees, but the fitful moon lit the snow-covered open ground beyond the forest.
As they started off, Cade looked back over his shoulder. Their trail of footprints made sinister black marks in the snow: an easily read escape route, and it worried him.
A ten minute walk through the forest brought them to the back entrance of the villa: a small two-storey wooden building with a big terrace facing the view of the slopes.
He followed her up the wooden steps, standing close to her as she groped along one of the rafters supporting the sloping roof over the front door.
“I have it,” she said and thrust a key into the front door lock, turned the key, and together, they moved into a cold, dark hall. As he shut the door, she turned on the light.
“The shutters are closed. No one can see the light from outside.”
“We had better hurry,” he said, worried. “If Hardenburg’s men see our prints out there, they’ll investigate.”
“I’ll get the skis,” she said. “Wait here.”
“Let me help you.”
“It’s all right.” There was a note of impatience in her voice, “They are downstairs. We don’t want to make a mess all over the place. Look at your boots.”
As he looked down at his snow-covered boots, she opened a door leading to the stairs, turned on the light and went quickly out of sight.
Cade needed another drink, but he resisted the urge. As he waited nervously, he put his hand in his coat pocket. Then he stiffened, his heart skipping a beat. He groped feverishly, snatched out the bottle of whisky, dropping it on the floor and groped in that pocket. Both pockets were empty. The film cartridges had gone!
For an agonising moment, he stood motionless, then his heart racing, he moved swiftly to the head of the stairs and peered down into a corridor.
“Ginette!” His voice was off-key and frantic.
She called from somewhere out of sight. “I won’t be a minute. Wait...”
He blundered down the stairs and along the corridor which led to an empty garage. Standing by a rack on which were hung a number of skis, Ginette looked towards him, her eyes startled.
“What is it?” she demanded.
“The films have gone! They were in my pocket in the hotel bedroom... they have gone!”
“Oh! No!” She came towards him. “Are you sure? Have you looked in all your pockets?”
He snatched off his gloves and went frantically through his pockets. Then with a gesture of despair, he slammed his fists together.
“Every goddamn thing I do goes wrong!” he said, his voice shaking.
“You could have dropped them. When you climbed the wall... they could have fallen out of your pocket.”
“I don’t know... they have gone!”
“If they did, they will be there now. I’ll go back and look. They weigh nothing... they wouldn’t sink in the snow. They are probably right by the wall.”
Her words gave him hope.
“They could be. I’ll come with you. Come on... let’s go.”
He turned and ran along the corridor and up the stairs.
“Val! Please! Wait!”
She came hurrying after him. He turned impatiently. They were now in the hall, his hand on the door latch.
“What is it?”
“You mustn’t go out there! It’s too dangerous. The police may be waiting for you. I can go. I can say I was returning to the hotel by the back way if they spot me. You wait here. I won’t be five minutes.”
“You may have trouble finding them. They’re so small. No, I’ll come with you. Let’s go,” and he began to open the door, but she moved past him and pushed the door shut.
“Do be sensible! Of course I can find them! I’ll bring them right back! Why take risks? I couldn’t bear anything to happen to you.”
Cade looked intently at her, then a ghost of a smile lit up his white face.
“Maybe after all there is still a chance for me,” he said. “Maybe I am not such a drunken sucker as I think I am. Of course! And I nearly fell for it! So you are an infatuated, sexually aroused — that was what you said, wasn’t it? — fan of mine! That kiss! You took my films. You took them from my pocket while you were pretending to swoon in my arms, didn’t you?”