china mask, and as hard. She still had on the blue wrap, and her hands were clasped behind
her head.
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My eyes flickered from her to where he had been lying, but he wasn’t there, and I felt my
heart contract.
“Where is he?”
“In there.” She pointed to the bathroom. “Where have you been?”
“Killing time. Did anyone …?”
“I told you to keep them away from here, didn’t I?” There was suppressed fury in her voice.
“I did.”
“They phoned three times, and Louis came rapping on the door. Do you call that keeping
them away?”
“I told them you weren’t to be disturbed.”
“That was at half-past three. When you left here. What happened after that? At six o’clock
they really began to look for him. That’s when you should have been around. Where were
you?”
I was more scared of her than I was of the dead body in the bathroom. I knew instinctively
she must never find out about Ginny.
“I got lost. I went down to the beach.” The words ran out of my mouth in a blurred stream.
“I took the wrong turning. I got snarled up in a forest.”
She studied me, and I couldn’t meet her eyes.
“You tried to run away, Johnny.”
I didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say.
“You’re lucky I told the guards to stop you. You’d be under arrest by now.”
“I wasn’t trying to get away,” I said. “I was going for a ride. I went instead for a hell of a
long walk, but I came back.”
She stared at me for a moment or so, then shrugged.
“Well, they’re still looking for him. I had to tell them he left me at six. I said I thought he
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was going for a swim.”
“Who’s looking for him?”
“That fat fool Louis and Miss Doering.” She stubbed out her cigarette. “I’ve done my share
in this. You’d better do yours. You know what to do. Be careful. They’re still out there
searching the beach.”
I went over to the liquor cabinet and poured myself a shot of Scotch.
“What do I do?”
“You take him down to the lion’s pit and you throw him in.”
I drank the Scotch. It was like drinking water.
“And what do you do while I’m doing it?”
Her lips moved into a frozen smile.
“I stay here. What do you think I’m going to do?”
“You’d better come with me. If I ran into anyone …”
“I’m staying here, Johnny. You haven’t been much help up to now. Go ahead and make
yourself useful. You killed him, lover. I didn’t.”
The thought of tackling this job alone scared the daylights out of me.
“Now, wait a minute. You’re in this, too. You got his gun. If they’re out there looking for
him …” I stopped, the words freezing in my mouth. A sharp rap had sounded on the door.
I looked at her and she looked at me. Very slowly I put down the half-finished Scotch. I
was as stiff as a statue.
The rap came again.
“Are you there, Mrs. Wertham? This is Hame.”
His voice sounded sharp and impatient.
I was so scared I couldn’t move or even think. I stood there while she slid off the divan.
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“One moment, Captain,” she called, her voice steady and calm, but I could see by her eyes
she was nearly as shaken as I was. “Go in there,” she breathed, pointing to the bathroom.
“Don’t make a sound.”
I opened the door, slid into darkness and closed the door, holding on to the handle so the
catch wouldn’t make a noise.
There was a five-second pause, then Hame said, “Sorry to disturb you, Mrs. Wertham.
You’ve heard Reisner’s missing?”
“Come in,” she said. “Hasn’t he turned up yet?”
“No.” His heavy footfalls creaked across the carpet. “Miss Doering is worried about him.
She phoned me so I thought I’d call up.”
“But there’s nothing to worry about, surely?” Her voice sounded mildly amused. “I expect
he’s over at Bay Street.”
“He hasn’t left the grounds.”
“Do sit down. Won’t you have a drink?”
I stood with my head pressed against the door panels, my heart pounding, and listened.
“I guess not.” His voice was curt. “I’m on duty.”
“Nick’ll be very flattered when he hears you came up here because his secretary was lonely
without him,” Della said, and laughed.
“This may be serious. He was with you all the afternoon, I understand?”
“Why, yes. He left at six. He said he was going for a swim.”
“No one saw him on the beach.” There was a pause, then he asked, “Were you two talking
business?”
Again there was a pause. I could imagine her looking at him: he wasn’t likely to rattle her.
“Perhaps, after all, Captain, I’d better take you into my confidence,” she said. “Please sit
down.”
Once again there was a lengthy pause, and I guessed there was a clash of wills going on.
Then a chair creaked, and I knew she had got her way.
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“And a drink, Captain. I don’t like drinking alone.”
“Looks like you were managing all right before I showed up,” Hame said. “There’s a glass
of Scotch on the cabinet.”
“No wonder you have such a reputation for being a clever police officer,” she said, and
laughed.
“I guess I don’t miss much.”
He sounded mollified.
I heard her splash soda into a glass.
Then he said, “Well, here’s how.” He grunted. “That’s pretty good Scotch. What’s this you
were saying about taking me into your confidence?”
“Perhaps you have wondered why Ricca and I are here,” she said. “Paul sent us. Nick’s
been dipping into the reserve to cover his gambling losses. Ricca had orders from Paul to
heave him out. Well, he’s gone.”
I had to hand it to her. She was ready for any emergency. Her voice, now cool and matter-of-fact, was very convincing.
“You don’t say.” Hame sounded startled. “Much missing?”
“We don’t know for certain - something like ten thousand. We haven’t had time for a
thorough check. He didn’t deny it. He could have been difficult, but as he handed over the
keys and didn’t make trouble, I promised him twelve hours start. I didn’t anticipate that fool
of a girl would bring you into it.”
“So that’s it. Well I’ll be double damned.” There was a pause, then Hame said reluctantly,
“Want me to do anything about him?”
“No. He knows too much. He might talk.”
“I was thinking of that. Where’s he gone?”
“I have no idea. He must have gone by way of the beach. That’s why the guards didn’t see
him.”
“Must have. Funny thing, he hasn’t packed. I checked his room.”
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I held my breath while I waited for her to talk herself out of that one.
“He keeps a lot of stuff with Zoe. He knew this wouldn’t last and was ready to skip.”
There was no hesitation in her voice.
“He was no fool,” Hame said, his voice ponderous. “It’ll be odd not to have him around.”
“It won’t make any difference to you. Ricca and I will be taking charge.”
“Did Wertharn say it wouldn’t make any difference?”
“He said more than that,” Della said coolly. “He left instructions about you. He said we
should do a little more for you.”
“Is that right? What did he mean by that?”
There was a pause, then she said, “We think you’re doing a good job for us, Captain. Paul
had already spoken to Nick about you, but Nick said you were getting enough. Paul wanted to
show his appreciation, but Nick blocked him off. Well, Nick’s gone now. We thought another
two-fifty a week might be useful. Paul said it should be back-dated six months. I’d planned to