by Paul Somers
“I don’t think so,” Grant said gently. “I think he’ll understand, too.”
“But he’s bound to want to know where I’m going—I’ll have to tell him something. …”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to think of a convincing story. It’ll be in a good cause.”
“Well, I’ll try,” she said. “I don’t like it much—but I’ll do my best.”
“Good! Then that’s really all, Mrs. Waugh. The vital thing, remember, is not to talk about it to anyone—not a word. Mr. Curtis will be getting in touch with you, probably on Monday morning, to tell you what the arrangements are.…” Grant smiled. “All right?”
“Of course—and thank you so much again, Mr. Grant, for everything you’re doing. I’m deeply grateful.”
“Let’s hope we pull it off,” Grant said.
Chapter Six
We’d been right not to count on keeping secret the significance of the letter we’d received. By noon next day, every newspaper in Fleet Street was taking it for granted we’d had a reply from the kidnappers. The assumptions didn’t stop there, either. Everyone at the Record was speculating about the next step, and the chain of logic was simple. The kidnappers must have sent their instructions about the handing over of the money. Someone would have to take it to them on behalf of the Record. I’d been on the story—and I’d been called into the office on a Saturday to see the Editor. Conclusion—I was going to be the courier. The gossip soon spread through the Street—but no one really knew for certain, and in any case it didn’t matter. All the other papers had suddenly developed a discreet inactivity over the story—so much so that I felt sure Grant had been phoning around and arranging a truce with their editors on grounds of public interest. That meant I wasn’t going to be troubled at all by rival sleuths. At the Record itself I came in for a good deal of light banter, but I didn’t admit anything. I said brazenly that my call to the Editor on Saturday had been about quite a different aspect of the Landon case, and that if any reporter was sent with the money it would probably be Hunt, since he was the chief reporter and a man of great experience—or else Lawson, because he was the crime reporter and was used to associating with crooks! That started a minor flap. They must have known I was kidding, but I’d managed to sow a tiny seed of doubt, all the same. Hunt said he’d been suffering from rheumatism in his right leg all week, and by the end of the day he was noticeably limping. Lawson was still more worried, and not even Parker’s remark that only a lunatic would trust Lawson with thirty thousand pounds set his mind completely at rest. One way and another, it was quite an amusing morning.
The afternoon passed quietly. There were no preparations that I needed to make until the next day, and to all outward appearances I did a normal spell of duty. Blair played up by giving me a routine job or two. He must have been told I’d been earmarked to take the money, but no one would have guessed it from his manner.
Then, just after six, I was called to the phone. It was Clara on the line. She said, “Oh, Mr. Curtis, I’m so glad you’re there.… I tried to get Mr. Grant, but they couldn’t find him.…” She sounded on the verge of tears. “Is it all right to talk?”
I thought of the switchboard girls. “No,” I said, “I don’t think it is … Are you at home?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’d better hang up, and I’ll call you back straight away.”
She said, “All right,” and put the receiver down. I went out into the corridor, where there was a public call-box, and dialled her number, and she answered at once.
“Okay,” I said, “now we can talk freely. What’s the trouble?”
“I’m afraid Ronald’s found out—about the meeting. He’s in a furious temper about it—he’s on his way to see Mr. Grant now. He says it’s too dangerous. I thought I’d better warn you.…”
“I don’t get it,” I said. “You mean you told him?”
“No, of course not … It all happened because that man phoned me this afternoon—the kidnapper. He started to warn me about not telling anyone … Ronald was here with me. I told the man he’d got the wrong number and rang off but he called again and it was all terribly awkward and Ronald got suspicious. I’d already said I thought it might be a good idea if I went to stay with a girl friend for a day or two and he’d seemed hurt and puzzled—and this just finished it. He began to ask me a lot of questions and—well, in the end he just guessed I was involved with the Record over the money, and we had a frightful row, and he said he was going to have it out with Mr. Grant right away … I’m terribly sorry—I did my best.”
“How much does he know?”
“Oh, no details at all. I didn’t tell him a thing—I wouldn’t even admit that I was going. That was what made him so angry.”
“Well, it doesn’t sound as though there’s much harm done,” I said. “As long as you’re still game to come with me.”
“But of course. Wild horses wouldn’t stop me.”
“Then we’ll sort things out here, and I’ll ring you later.”
I hung up, and went straight along to tell Grant. He was back in his room from wherever he’d been and was sitting with his long legs up on the desk, reading a galley proof. I’d rushed in without much ceremony and he looked a bit surprised. “Something wrong, Curtis?”
I told him about the kidnapper’s call, and what had happened.
His legs came down with a crash. “Damn!” he said. “The idiots! Why on earth couldn’t they leave well alone …?”
“They must be more nervous than we thought.”
“They certainly must …!”
“The thing is,” I said, “what are we going to do about Barr? I gather he may be here any minute.”
“There’s only one thing we can do, now—admit that Clara’s going with you, and try to make him see reason. Otherwise he may give endless trouble. Don’t you agree?”
“Well, yes, I do.”
“Right.…” Grant got up and began to pace about the room. “You know, I had a feeling something like this might happen. Clara didn’t look as though deceit was going to come easy to her.”
“She’s supposed to be an actress,” I said. “I’m disappointed in her.”
“Ah, well, it can’t be so easy putting on an act when you’re involved yourself.…”
At that moment the phone rang in the ante-room. Miss Wharton, Grant’s secretary, popped her head in. “There’s a Mr. Barr asking if he can see you, Mr. Grant.”
Grant nodded. “Have him brought up right away.… You’d better sit in on this interview, Curtis.”
In a couple of minutes Barr was shown in. He ignored Grant’s hand. He didn’t appear to recognise me at all. Grant introduced me, and he gave a curt nod. He looked pretty formidable, with his cold blue eyes and his craggy chin. He was obviously in a foul temper. “I’ve come to see you,” he began, “because——”
Grant interrupted him. “I know, Mr. Barr. Mrs. Waugh has been on the phone to us. It’ll probably simplify things if I tell you right away that Mrs. Waugh has undertaken to be present when the money is handed over to Landon’s kidnappers. That’s what she’s going to do to-morrow. She’s agreed to accompany Mr. Curtis to the rendezvous.”
“I thought that was it …! Well, I can tell you here and now that it’s out of the question.”
Grant said quietly, “Wouldn’t it be better if we discussed this like reasonable people …? Why not have a chair?”
“No thank you.”
“As you please.… The position is this, Mr. Barr. The kidnappers have made Mrs. Waugh’s presence a condition of releasing Landon. From their point of view it’s an understandable safeguard, and we have to accept it. If she doesn’t go, there’ll be no deal.… I assume you want her father to be freed?”
“A good deal more than you do, I dare say.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Just that I don’t believe Landon’s your first consideration—or anyone else’s, except Clara’s. For you, this
is just a publicity stunt, and for the police, it’s a way of trying to catch the kidnappers. I wasn’t born yesterday! You don’t suppose anyone really believes you’re going to hand over thirty thousand pounds, just like that, and trust to luck that Landon will be freed afterwards? It’s a trap, of course, and if the kidnappers find out before they’re caught it could be a damned dangerous one for all concerned. I’m just not standing for it.”
Grant sighed. “I give you my personal assurance, Mr. Barr, my word of honour, that what you’ve just said is not true. We are not co-operating with the police, and there’s no trap. As far as we’re concerned, the whole thing is strictly on the level.”
Barr stared at him. “You can’t really mean that?”
“It’s the truth. Good heavens, man, do you suppose Mrs. Waugh would have agreed to come in with us if she’d thought we were merely interested in catching the kidnappers? It’s her father she’s thinking about.”
“Of course, but she could be deceived. She doesn’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.”
“She’ll know before the meeting takes place. A trap means people around, a lot of people. The fact couldn’t possibly be hidden from her. And as the kidnappers have sworn to kill her father at the first sign of any tricks, she obviously wouldn’t carry on. I repeat, there is going to be no trap, either now or later. We’re not even going to try and trace the money. We’re going to play fair, and hope the kidnappers will too.”
Barr said, “Oh!” and dropped into a chair. Grant followed up his advantage. “Our only interest is to get Landon set free,” he said, “and the simple fact is that if Mrs. Waugh doesn’t help us we haven’t a chance.”
“I doubt if you’ve a chance anyway,” Barr said.
“That remains to be seen. We think we have.”
“If you have, it’s so slim that you’re not justified in risking Clara’s safety over it. Even if this thing is on the level, there’s bound to be danger.”
“There shouldn’t be any serious danger.”
“You can’t possibly know that. The men you’re dealing with sound like the kind that don’t draw the line anywhere. I’d say they’re quite capable of taking your money, and then shooting Clara and Curtis and Landon as well. From their point of view, what could be better than a nice tidy silence behind them?”
“I understand your feelings …” Grant said.
“So you should,” Barr said with heat. “Damn it, I’m in love with Clara—we’re going to be married directly this business is over. She means everything to me. Would you let your wife go off with thirty thousand pounds for a quiet meeting with a couple of desperadoes?”
“I say again that you’re exaggerating the danger.…” Grant’s manner had become a little stiff. “In any case, I feel bound to point out that Mrs. Waugh isn’t a child—nor yet even your wife. She’s an adult, independent woman who’s more concerned at this moment about getting her father back alive than about anything else on earth. She’s upset about your attitude, but our information is that her own hasn’t changed, and I frankly doubt if anything would persuade her to abandon this undertaking now. All you’re doing, if you’ll forgive my saying so, is to make things more difficult for her. I don’t think you’ll change her decision. And if you can’t change hers, you certainly won’t change ours.”
It was a forceful speech, and Barr looked a bit abashed. Grant continued:
“As I see it, Mr. Barr, your fiancée’s future happiness depends to a very large extent on the success of this enterprise. If she abandoned it out of fear, and these men killed her father, I doubt if she’d ever forgive herself—or you. Surely you can see that? It’s a tough situation—worse for you than for her, I agree—but it’s a situation where you ought to look ahead and weigh all the risks, not just the immediate ones.”
Barr was silent for a while. Presently he said, in a more conciliatory tone, “Where is this meeting going to take place?”
“That I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you anything about it at all. I’ve been specifically warned not to. The details are known, literally, only to Mr. Curtis—who’s the acceptable representative of the paper—to Mrs. Waugh, and to myself. And that, I’m afraid, is how it must remain.”
“You surely don’t suppose I’d talk?”
“I shouldn’t think so for a moment—but a secret is a secret.”
“All right,” Barr said, “keep your secret.… But is there any reason why I shouldn’t be taken along at the time? I’d feel very different about the thing if I was there too.”
“It’s impossible, Mr. Barr. The conditions are that Mrs. Waugh should go with a Record reporter, and that there should be no one else there at all.”
“But would the kidnappers know? Surely this meeting isn’t to take place in daylight?”
“I can’t tell you when the meeting’s to take place.”
“Well, it must be after dark unless they’re crazy. And if it’s after dark they wouldn’t even see me. I’d keep well back, right out of the way, as long as I wasn’t needed.”
Grant shook his head. “It’s far, far too risky. We’ve no idea what the circumstances will be at the meeting. We don’t know where, or how, these men will be watching. We don’t know when the watching may start. Our only safe course, if we want results, is to follow our instructions to the letter—and that’s what we’re going to do.”
I said, “May I say something?”
“Sure—go ahead.”
I turned to Barr. “I just wanted to tell you that I’ll look after Mrs. Waugh as though she were my own girl. I can’t promise absolute safety for either of us—but you can rely on me to do everything I can.”
Barr looked me up and down, and what he saw must have been reasonably reassuring. The hard glint went out of his eyes, and he gave a little nod.
“You certainly look tough enough,” he said. He swung round to Grant. “Well, I don’t seem to have much choice, do I? I still don’t like the idea—I just hate the thought of Clara going off without me. I hate the whole thing—and I’ll be very surprised if it works. But you’re probably right that I couldn’t dissuade her now.… And I certainly wouldn’t want her to think I was responsible if anything happened to her father. So—okay!”
“Good man!” Grant said. “I don’t believe you’ll regret it.… Will you tell Mrs. Waugh yourself, or shall we?”
“I’ll tell her.” Barr got up, and held out his hand to me. “The best of luck, then, Curtis.… I do rely on you. Clara’s had a pretty tough time already—I don’t think she can stand much more.… Good-bye, sir.” He shook hands with Grant, and left.
There was a little silence after he’d gone. Then Grant said, “Obstinate chap …! Still, I must say I’d have behaved just the same in his place.”
Chapter Seven
Before I left the office that evening I had another session with Grant and we made final plans for the next day. I said I thought Clara and I ought to aim at reaching Castleton an hour or so before dusk so that we could locate Mam Tor and take a preliminary look at the approaches while there was still fight enough to see—which meant arriving about a quarter to six. It was roughly a four-hour drive, so an early lunch and a start around half-past one seemed indicated. Grant agreed. It was decided that I should make all the arrangements with Clara, including fixing the place where I would pick her up. Grant confirmed that our rivals had agreed to call off their reporters until the results of our efforts were known, so we shouldn’t have any difficulty in making an unnoticed departure, but he thought it would be wise for me to avoid Palmers Road all the same. Grant himself was going to attend to the money side. It seemed he’d had a talk that day with the Governor of the Bank, who had promised to have six thousand used five-pound notes discreetly packed in a strong suitcase and ready for collection at 12.30 p.m. the next day. Grant would pick up the case himself and would drive with it to a place called Henley’s Corner, where the North Circular Road crossed my route out of town. He would be parked there fr
om one-thirty onwards. I would pull up for a moment in front of him, take over the bag, and continue on my way.
Everything else was to be left entirely to me. Grant said he’d expect a call from me after the transfer, and that if he hadn’t heard from me by midnight he’d assume something had gone seriously wrong and get the police on the job—though he didn’t for a moment expect it would be necessary. He repeated that my sole task was to hand over the money and withdraw in good order with Clara. He warned me to be careful how I flashed my torch around in the presence of the kidnappers, so that they’d have no cause for alarm about identification. At the same time he said that anything I could pick up at the meeting might be useful afterwards, and that of course if I could get a line on where Landon would be released that would be a good thing, because though we were doing all this as a national service it was costing us thirty thousand pounds and he thought we were entitled to the exclusive story! At least he said it with a grin.
When I got home I rang Clara again. She’d had a talk with Barr and I gathered everything had been smoothed out and that she was now all set to leave. I told her I’d pick her up at the Marble Arch exit from Hyde Park at one-thirty precisely next day and that she’d better bring an overnight bag with her as we’d probably have to stay up north till the following morning. I said she’d better wear strong walking shoes, if she’d got any, as we might have to cover some rough ground. I also suggested it would be a good idea if she could make herself up to look as little like Clara Waugh as possible, since her face was now so well known to everyone, and she said she’d do her best. She sounded very excited.
By now I was beginning to feel pretty excited myself, and I had a restless night. I woke early, and by eight I’d dressed and breakfasted and packed everything I thought I’d need for the trip, including a powerful torch and a pair of binoculars. I was just going out to get the Riley filled up with petrol and oil when the phone rang. It was a bit early for calls and I thought it was probably Clara or Grant about the arrangements. But it wasn’t. A cool voice said, “Hallo, Hugh—it’s Mollie.”