1953 - The Sucker Punch

by James Hadley Chase

  "Well, I thought I'd tell you. I guess he's looking for a job. I told him Mrs. Winters was driving too fast. The crash must have happened a few seconds after I had passed her. That makes me feel bad. I might have…”

  "You couldn't have done a thing. Well, thanks for calling, Ryan. There's nothing to worry about. You and I know I couldn't have had anything to do with Vestal's death. He'll probably drop the idea now he's talked with you."

  "I hope so. You can rely on me to rally around if you need me."

  I thanked him and hung up.

  I got to my feet and went over to the window and stared down at the long stretch of garden.

  I had been waiting for something to happen and now too much was happening. So Leggit was already wondering if I could have had anything to do with Vestal's death. That was smart of him. I wondered uneasily if I had underestimated him. Well, he might be suspicious, but he would soon run up against a brick wall. After he had talked to Hargis and Eve, he would know he could never get his hooks into me.

  The time now was twenty minutes to twelve. I glanced out of the window and saw a car standing on the tarmac; at the driving wheel was a cop.

  My heart did a somersault.

  Leggit had arrived!

  I waited.

  As the minutes dragged by I got my second wind. This was a matter of life and death. If I couldn't control my nerves, I was sunk. I pushed back my chair and crossed over to the liquor cabinet. I poured myself a shot of whisky and gulped it down. Then I went back to my desk and pulled some papers towards me.

  I tried to settle to work but although my eyes read the typewritten words, the words were meaningless. I sat there, staring at the sheet of paper and waited. I waited for three quarters of an hour before a knock came on the door and Leggit walked in.

  "Good morning, Lieutenant," I said, getting to my feet. "Come on in. Will you have a whisky?"

  I was surprised to hear how steady my voice sounded.

  He gave me a hard, searching stare as he pulled up a chair to my desk and sat down. His great bulk made the chair creak as he settled himself.

  "No, thanks."

  I pushed the box of cigarettes across the desk. I was aware that his eyes were still examining me. I could feel them going over me with a thoroughness that suddenly made me angry.

  Why should I be scared of this big, slow-witted cop! I was now worth sixty million dollars. I owned this palace of a house. I had property all over the country. Only sixteen months ago I was earning less than he was now. Didn't that prove I was smarter than he could ever be?

  I watched him light his cigarette, then I lit mine.

  "Have you found out how the accident happened, Lieutenant?" I asked at length as he made no move to say anything."

  "The on-side front tire burst."

  "I see." I looked down at my hands to hide the look of triumph I knew had jumped into my eyes.

  "I understand you were in the study from nine to ten last night, Mr. Winters?"

  I stiffened and looked up.

  "Why, yes. I was dictating letters, and then my broker and I worked until Mrs. Hennessey telephoned."

  "You were dictating on a tape recorder?"

  "Yes, but what's that got to do with the accident, Lieutenant? I don't follow you."

  His hard eyes stared stonily at me. "It wasn't an accident."

  My heart skipped a beat and then began to race.

  "Not an accident? But surely…”

  He leaned forward.

  "It was murder, Mr. Winters."

  chapter seventeen

  The clock on my desk ticked noisily in the silence that followed.

  My mind darted this way and that like a scared mouse in a trap. How had he found that out so quickly? Had I left some damning clue? Did he know I had done it? Had I made some fatal mistake? Was he going to arrest me?

  Somehow I kept control of my expression. I had to say something believable and at once.

  "Murdered? You can't mean that!"

  "She was murdered."

  "But how do you know?"

  "We'll get around to that in a moment. I want to talk to you about this alibi of yours."

  "Alibi? You—you don't think I had anything to do with Vestal's death, do you?"

  He stubbed out his cigarette before saying, "When any wife gets herself murdered, the husband automatically becomes suspect number one."

  "But this is ridiculous!" I forced anger into my voice. "How do you know it was murder?"

  "Have you got that tape recorder here?"

  "What tape recorder? What are you talking about?"

  "You were dictating letters between nine and ten last night Between nine and ten Mrs. Winters was murdered. The recorder is your alibi, isn't it? I want it."

  "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but it contains a number of business letters. They haven't been typed yet."

  "I'll have a copy made and let you have it. Where is it?"

  I hesitated, then shrugged.

  "You're behaving in a most extraordinary way, but I suppose you better have it if you want it so badly. It's on the machine."

  He got up, crossed over to the tape recorder, lifted the lid and took off the completed spool.

  "Scratch your initials on the end of the tape, will you?" he said. "Just here."

  I picked up a letter opener and scratched my initials on the narrow ribbon.

  He grunted and dropped the spool into his pocket.

  "Right." He sat down again. "I understand you and Hargis don't get on so well together?"

  "No. He dislikes me and I have no use for him. What of it?"

  "He tells me he saw you in this room at ten minutes past nine and again at twenty minutes past nine."

  "He did. He brought coffee, and then later he announced Mr. Blakestone. What does all this mean?"

  "What does it mean?" His face was like flint now. "You know as well as I do! You murdered your wife, and I want to know how you did it!"

  I sat motionless, staring at him. I could feel the blood leaving my face.

  Cold hooks of fear sank into my guts.

  "I didn't kill her!" I heard myself whisper.

  "Oh yes, you did. That's the one thing I'll bet my life on," Leggit said. "I knew she was heading for trouble the moment I saw her with you. I know all about you, Winters! I know what your reputation is with women. You wouldn't have married Vestal Shelley if she hadn't any money. You couldn't get what you wanted out of her so you killed her. How the hell did you do it?"

  I got a grip on myself. He was bluffing. He couldn't prove a thing. I was sure of that. I had only to keep my nerve and call his bluff and he would have to back down.

  "Okay; if you're so damned sure I killed her, go ahead and arrest me," I said, leaning forward to glare at him.

  He stretched out his massive legs, and his big, fleshy face looked suddenly sleepy.

  "You've been smart, Winters, but not quite smart enough. You murdered her all right, but how you were in two places at once beats me. This talk is off the record. Vestal Shelley was a friend of mine. I've known her for years. She had her faults, and sometimes she wasn't too easy to get along with, but I liked her. I was sorry for her too. She didn't get much fun out of her money. She would have given it all away for some looks. I regarded her as a friend, and no one murders a friend of mine, and gets away with it. You may have been smart, Winters, but I'm going to nail you— make no mistake about that!"

  "You're crazy!" I said, banging my fist on the desk. "I was working here all the evening! Ask Hargis and Blakestone: they saw me!" Although I tried to control my voice, it went up into a shout. "You can't pin this on to me, Leggit, and you know it!"

  "You've already made one mistake, and you'll make another. You smart punks always make mistakes. I'm patient, and I'll wait. At the moment, you're sitting pretty. I admit it. I know you killed her, but you've got what seems to be a cast-iron alibi. How you managed to be in two places at once I don't pretend to know, but I'm damn well going to find out, and
when I do, you're as good as dead!"

  I glared at him. What was I to be scared of? He admitted I had beaten him. Suppose he did know I had killed Vestal? What did it matter so long as he couldn't prove it?

  I sat back, trying to relax.

  "What makes you think I killed her?" I said. "Tell me that!"

  "I'll tell you," he said. "You planned the murder to look like an accident. The idea was this: as your wife was driving down the cliff road, the on-side tire was to burst, and the car, out of control, would go over the cliff head. You waited for her in the garage. You hit her over the head. You took her in the car and drove down the cliff road to the first dangerous bend. In the boot, you had a burst tire. You changed a good tire for the burst tire, then you steered the car over the cliff head. That's what you did, didn't you?"

  I had hold of myself by now. One slip and I was finished. I knew that.

  I looked fixedly at him.

  "Go ahead and prove it. I was in this room all the evening!"

  "I'll prove it," he said quietly. "You made a bad mistake, Winters. The burst inner tube contained a quantity of sand. There's no sand where the car lodged. There's no sand on the cliff road. Where did the sand come from? It's my bet the tire burst several days ago—probably on the Eden End road. You changed the wheel and stored the burst tire in the boot, overlooking the sand that had worked into the inner tube. When I checked I found one of the wheel nuts was missing. We searched around and we found it. It was on the cliff road, and it proves you changed the wheel before sending the car over the cliff head. How do you like that?"

  I sat motionless, looking at him. I was sick with fright, but I didn't let him see it.

  "Prove it," I said, "Prove I did it."

  "You couldn't have done it alone." He was leaning forward, staring at me. "You worked some trick with the tape recorder. I'll get around to it, but you couldn't have done it alone. Did Eve Dolan help you? Is she behind this? Was it she who put you up to killing your wife, Winters?"

  I felt sweat start out on my face.

  "Why should she? You're crazy! Neither of us had anything to do with it!"

  "Why should she?" he repeated, and he showed his teeth in a fixed grin. "Haven't you seen your wife's will yet, Winters?"

  That startled me.

  "Of course I haven't. What has her will to do with this?"

  "Plenty. Miss Dolan benefits from the will."

  "So what? Vestal told me. She left Miss Dolan fifty thousand dollars. It's a nice sum, but not big enough to make her commit murder. You know that as well as I do!"

  "Who said it was fifty thousand?" Leggit asked, his bleak eyes searching my face. "Your wife left her thirty million bucks. She's got this house too. You weren't so smart, Winters. All you get out of your murder is three million dollars. That's all your wife left you. Because her secretary is plain and dowdy, she gets the rest. Didn't you know?"

  I felt a cold chill run on my spine.

  "You're lying!" I said, my fists clenching.

  He smiled at me.

  "That's hit you where you live, hasn't it? I've seen the will. You get three million. Eve Dolan gets all your wife's property, this house and thirty million; the rest of the money goes to charities and legacies. Your wife states in the will you never liked taking money from her, and she apologizes for leaving you any at all. Rather overplayed your hand, haven't you?"

  Somehow I kept control of myself, but only just. Had I been Eve's cat's-paw? Had she and Larry between them lured me into murdering Vestal? That could explain her sudden change of attitude towards me. I wouldn't marry you now if you were the last man on earth. Wasn't that proof enough she didn't love me; never had loved me? She had admitted reading the will. She must have known she would come into all that money. She was still in love with Larry. Being heiress to thirty million dollars would give her the power to beckon to him, knowing he would come a running.

  A cold, ferocious knot of rage began to form inside me. I knew Leggit was watching me, and I forced my eyes to meet his.

  "If it is true then Miss Dolan's a very lucky woman," I said, shrugging. "Three million is enough for me. Make what you like out of it, Leggit, but you can't prove anything."

  "Did she help you?" he asked, staring fixedly at me. "Was that the way you worked it? You two somehow managed to hoodwink Hargis and Blakestone into believing they saw you in this room while all the time you were out there on the cliff head murdering your wife!"

  I felt a trickle of sweat run down my face. He was getting too damn near the truth for comfort.

  "Go ahead and dream your pipe dreams. I didn't kill Vestal. I was working here all the evening, and I have witnesses to prove it!"

  He got slowly out of his chair.

  "I'm going to get you for this, Winters. I'll break that alibi of yours if it's the last thing I do. It's going to give me a lot of satisfaction when I come here to collect you. It won't be long. When a killer tries to be as smart as you have been, he usually forgets something, and don't forget— a jury hates a smart killer!"

  "Go on talking," I said, glaring up at him. "It won't get you anywhere!"

  "Wait and see! I'm going to check that alibi until it falls to pieces. Somewhere along the line there's a hole in it, and I'll find it!"

  He walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

  I moved unsteadily across to the window and watched him drive away.

  Later, I took the car and drove out to Eden End where I could be alone. I pulled up near the sand dunes, lit a cigarette and did some solid thinking. I was badly shaken. I knew now everything depended on my alibi. I knew it was cast-iron so far, otherwise Leggit would have taken a risk and arrested me.

  I sat in the sunshine and went over that alibi with a toothcomb, trying to find one flaw in it, and the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that it was unbreakable.

  There was no way to break it. No jury would convict me on Hargis's evidence. They'd quickly find out that he hated me, and it would be obvious to them that he must be speaking the truth if he told them he not only heard me dictating letters, but he had seen me as well.

  My fears receded.

  Leggit was bluffing. His only hope was to act mysteriously in the hope my nerves would crack. Well, he wasn't going to get far with those tactics. Once I had reassured myself that I was safe, I turned my mind to Eve.

  I was sure now she had double-crossed me. She had fooled me into believing she loved me. She had subtly encouraged me to kill Vestal, promising to marry me if I did so. She knew all the time she was coming into Vestal's money, and she was gambling on the fact I wouldn't dare give her away and give myself away too. In that she was right. She might get off with a life sentence, but I had no doubts what would happen to me.

  I suddenly wanted to get my fingers around her lovely white throat.

  In a day or so she would be leaving Cliffside. She might disappear and I'd never find her again. That wouldn't do. I had to take action before she vanished.

  I must have her watched. There was a little guy I knew who did confidential work for the bank. He might be right for the job. I drove back to Little Eden and went to his office.

  His name was Joshua Morgan. His dusty office was on the top floor of a block down a side street off Roosevelt Boulevard.

  He was pint size, fiftyish, with a straggly moustache, a mortician's manner and a huge forehead that made him look like a gnome.

  He seemed pleased to see me.

  "I have a job for you," I said, sitting down by his desk. "I want a woman watched. I don't care how many men you use. Watch her day and night—understand? I want to know where she is every hour of the twenty-four hours. Can you do it?"

  "Certainly, Mr. Winters." The pink-rimmed, grey eyes stared inquisitively at me. "Who is the lady?"

  "Her name's Eve Dolan. At the moment she is living at my house, Cliffside, but I expect her to leave within the next twenty-four hours. She's dark and wears glasses and isn't much to look at. Your me
n can't miss her. She's the only woman, apart from the servants, staying at the house."

  He nodded and scribbled on a pad of paper.

  "You want me to cover this immediately?"

  "That's the idea. If you lose her, Morgan, you've seen the last of me. Do your job well, and it's worth a thousand bucks. Okay?"

  "Leave it to me, Mr. Winters. We won't lose her."

  "And make certain she doesn't suspect she's being watched. That's important."

  I drove back to Cliffside.

  Hargis was in the hall.

  I wasn't giving him the chance to walk out on me.

  "I'm making other arrangements," I said to him. "You can quit whenever you like: the sooner the better."

  "I intend to leave tonight," he said, drawing himself up.

  I grinned at him.

  "Fine. Any of the other staff leaving?"

  "All of them," he said curtly and began to move away.

  I hadn't bargained for that. I felt a spurt of fury run through me.

  "See they leave their addresses and you leave yours. Lieutenant Leggit may still want you. Miss Dolan will settle your wages. Is she in?"

  "No, sir. She said she would be returning some time after six."

  I had a sudden vision of cornering Eve in this great house without anyone to come to her aid. A cold, vicious rage took hold of me when I thought what I would do to her.

  "Then I'll pay you now. I want you and the rest of the staff out of here in an hour."

  He looked fixedly at me.

  "Very well."

  "Have everyone come to my study in a quarter of an hour."

  It wasn't until they had paraded before my desk that I realized how many servants Vestal had employed. There were thirty of them, including five Chinese gardeners.

  It was an embarrassing little ceremony. I had found Eve's wages book in her desk, and I gave each of them two weeks' wages. They filed past my desk, collected their money and went out. None of them met my eyes; none of them spoke.

  Hargis was the last.

  As he picked up the money I shoved across the desk at him, he said in a low voice, "I believe and hope you will suffer for what you did to Miss Vestal, sir. I am quite sure if she had never set eyes on you, she would be alive today."