“I don’t blame you,” Cat said. “I can feel it coming on now.” He gave a little wave and started jogging up the trail toward the main house. The takeoff sounded pretty hairy, but he was encouraged by one thing. In the map pocket at his feet had been a clipboard with a log sheet attached. And stuck under the clip had been the ignition key. He would not have to hot-wire the airplane.
But that was a moot point. The fuel gauges had read less than a quarter full. He would have to think of something else.
33
Cat stood in Vargas’s office. There was no chair in which to sit, so he stood like a recruit before his commander.
“Our cottage has been burgled,” he said.
Vargas stood up. “What?”
Cat was relieved that Vargas looked astonished, and he seized the advantage. “I thought I would give you the opportunity to explain before I brought the matter to the attention of Mr. Prince.”
“Who?”
“The Anaconda.”
Vargas was squirming now, and Cat was rather enjoying it. “Mr. Ellis, it will not be necessary for you to speak with the Anaconda about this. Please tell me what was taken from your cottage.”
“Only a rather expensive Sony portable radio and a pistol, a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum. I am not terribly concerned about the radio, but I would like to have the pistol returned.”
“Mr. Ellis,” Vargas said fervently, “I will conduct an investigation immediately. You may be sure your property will be returned to you.”
Cat was about to thank him when an Indian in a servant’s uniform rushed into the room and began babbling in Spanish, gesticulating wildly. Vargas was even more upset by this news than he had been by Cat’s report.
“Mr. Ellis, if you will excuse me, I will begin my investigation.”
“What’s wrong?” Cat asked, nodding at the servant.
“There has been a murder,” Vargas said.
Cat felt a stab of panic and hoped his expression passed for surprise. “Oh? Who?”
“One of the staff.”
“Do you think this might be in some way connected with the burglary of our cottage?”
“I have not had time to form an opinion about that,” Vargas said. “Please excuse me now. I have much to do.”
Cat left him issuing orders to the servant. As he left the room he glanced into the adjacent communications center. All that equipment, he thought, and no way to use it. He didn’t suppose the Anaconda would allow him to make a telephone call.
He went back to the cottage to shower and change. Meg was dressing.
“So, are we going to take our chances in the jungle?” she asked.
“I hope we won’t have to. With a few breaks we may be able to fly out of here.”
“I would prefer that to walking, if it is at all possible to arrange it.”
“I reported the burglary to Vargas. He was shocked. I think that if Prince had wanted the place searched and robbed, he would have told Vargas to arrange it, and Vargas seemed genuinely surprised. I don’t think he’s that good an actor.”
“Oh, yeah?” Meg came back. “I seem to remember that he persuaded you that he was a cop back in Bogotá.”
“I don’t think he was acting. I think he is a cop, a bent one. I wish he weren’t.”
“Why do you care?”
“Because they’ve already found Denny’s body, and I’d just as soon not have an experienced policeman in charge of the investigation.”
“I see your point,” Meg said. “Still, if we’re getting out of here tomorrow morning, he doesn’t have much time to play policeman.”
“Maybe not, but then he’s not constrained by police practice, is he? He’s promised that the radio and the pistol will be returned. I wouldn’t be surprised if he simply started beating up the staff until somebody confesses. This place is a sort of medieval barony, after all. What does it matter to Vargas and Prince if a few serfs get roughed up?”
Meg sighed. “You’re depressing me.”
Cat shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I have to add my speculation to the problems we already have. What we have to do is to get through today and tonight as normally as possible.”
“Then what? You still haven’t told me your plan.”
“Well, the pilot who brought us here likes to work on his helicopter early in the morning. I had another idea, about the little Maule airplane, but there’s not enough fuel in it, and I’d much rather old Hank flew us out of here in the chopper. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Did you arrange our tennis date?”
“Not yet; I thought it was too early.”
“If we can get Prince and Jinx out to the courts early tomorrow morning, maybe we can force him down to the helicopter.”
“Prince, too?”
“You, Jinx, Dell, and me. I’d thought of leaving Prince with a bullet in his head.”
“Can you do that?”
“I did it to Denny last night. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble pulling the trigger on Prince.” He shot her a sardonic grin. “It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.”
Cat arrived at his scheduled meeting in time to watch Prince approach the podium.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” the Anaconda said. “I believe you have all been well instructed in the pricing structure of our product, and you have seen how, with our system of direct supply, both your profits and mine will be enhanced, since we have no middleman with whom to share. This morning we are going to talk about what to do with those profits. After you have reinvested in more product and in widening your distribution, you will still be left with considerable cash reserves. Today we have with us Mr. Wiener and Mr. Simpson, who are representatives, respectively, of Swiss and Cayman Island banking firms. They will be talking to you about various deposit and investment arrangements in Europe and South America, and when they are finished you will have an opportunity to open accounts with them, if you have not yourselves already made such arrangements. Mr. Wiener?” He waved a short, bald man in a three-piece suit onto the platform.
As Wiener approached the podium, Cat felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find Vargas standing behind him.
“Will you come with me, please?” Vargas said.
Cat got up and followed the man outside, through the courtyard of the house, then back into the foyer and upstairs. Vargas opened a door and waited for Cat to precede him. Cat walked into a large, handsomely furnished sitting room and was surprised to find Prince waiting for him, sitting on one of a pair of facing sofas. Apparently, he had known a shorter route to the suite. Several yards behind Prince, sitting at an easel, painting in watercolors, was Jinx. Her attention was focused outside the window.
“Please sit down, Bob,” the Anaconda said. His manner was courteous, but cool.
Cat sat down on the sofa facing Prince, and Vargas sat next to him. They were placed so that Cat could not look at both of them at the same time.
“What do you think of our conference so far?” Prince asked.
“I’m very impressed,” Cat said. “You seem to have left nothing to chance.”
Prince smiled slightly. “It is my way to leave nothing to chance,” he said. “Isn’t that right, Mr. Vargas?”
“That is most certainly correct,” Vargas replied.
“Now,” Prince said, “could you please tell me how you spent last evening?”
“I had dinner in the dining room, then I went to the discotheque.”
“Alone?”
“Yes, Miss Garcia was tired and wanted to retire early.”
“And what did you do at the discotheque?”
“I watched the... performance.”
“Please tell me exactly what you did from the time you entered the discotheque until the time you returned to your cottage.”