“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” Clare said. “Are you sure Stanley didn’t see you?”
“Stanley has just belted himself out of this world and I doubt he’ll wake up until tomorrow afternoon. Anyway, it wouldn’t make much difference if he had seen me leave the house. As far as he knows I just went for my evening stroll on the beach.”
“Still, I’m a little worried that someone may spot us from the house.”
“Not with the lights behind us. The only way we could be seen would be from the seaward side and I don’t imagine there’s anyone out there. By the way, I had a visit from your boyfriend this morning.”
“What boyfriend?”
“Dino.”
Her silence seemed an affirmation of what Dino had said. So it was true that he had been making the best of both worlds. Quite a lad.
“What did he want?” she asked at last.
“I’m not absolutely sure but I think what he really came for was to tell me to keep hands off your cousin.”
“Gwen?”
“Isn’t she your cousin?”
“Yes. Are you interested in her?”
“No. I’m not interested in anybody.”
“That’s good.”
“Why is it good?”
“Because she’s the one I want to get rid of.”
“If you called me out here to make jokes I think we can both find something better to do with our time,” Robinson said.
“If you think I’m joking why don’t you leave?”
She must be serious at that, he decided. Whatever else she might be she was no practical joker. Her voice could cut like a knife when she wanted it to and it was honed to an extra fine edge tonight.
“What have you got against her?” he asked.
“That’s my business.”
“The hell it is. If you’re going to get me involved in this then I intend to be involved all the way. Or did you think I was going to stick my neck out without any idea of what was going on?”
“I really don’t see how the motives concern you.”
“Don’t you? We are under British law here, lady, and murder is punishable on the gallows. My neck happens to concern me quite a bit. Unless you’re willing to let me in on the whole deal we can forget it right now.” Listen to the boy, he thought admiringly. A regular Humphrey Bogart. Where is your belted raincoat tonight, Augustus, it may come on to shower.
“Gwen’s father is a rich man. He is also a sick man. When he dies, which may be soon, he will leave her quite a lot of money.”
“So?”
“I want that money.”
“And how does disposing of Gwen get you the money?”
“There’s no one else. As long as Gwen doesn’t marry I am her closest surviving relative. I went to the trouble of becoming a rather dear friend of the attorney who drew up the will—so dear, in fact, that he was willing to do something unethical. He told me the terms of the will. As it now stands I am next in line of inheritance after Gwen.”
“No trust funds in between?”
“A few bequests to charity but the major portion goes to me. Henry Leacock has a strong sense of family.”
“So do you.”
“You can spare me your feeble moralizing, Gus. When I need that I’ll go to a priest or an analyst. Let’s stick to the point. Are you still with me?”
“I’m still listening.”
“Then this is what I have in mind. It all ties in beautifully because you’ve already taken her out sailing. You’ll take her out again in that silly boat and when you come back you’ll be alone.”
“Just like that, eh?”
“Why not? Accidents do happen. Couldn’t she be hit on the head by the what-do-you-call-it?”
“The boom.”
“Yes, the boom. She is hit on the head and falls overboard. You dive in after her but she has disappeared. You swim around until you’re exhausted but apparently she has gone straight to the bottom. At last you give up the search and come in. How can anything ever be proved against you? You had no motive, in fact you hardly knew her. It’s all very sad, of course, but still it’s a perfectly feasible accident. As long as there are no witnesses you are safe. We’re the only two people in the world who will ever know anything about it and for obvious reasons neither of us will ever do any talking.”
In a way you had to admire her, he thought. The Ilse Koch of Spanish Cay. I wonder if her lampshades are tattooed. For sheer cold-blooded murderous efficiency he had never seen anything like her. For that matter he wasn’t doing so badly himself. He was sitting here taking it all in as calmly as though he knocked off beautiful young girls every day of the week. She had sized him up pretty well at that. Yes, she was the Devil all right and he would sell her his soul for twenty thousand dollars, but before she collected he would give her a run for her money. A plan had already began to take shape in his mind.
“The only way it would be safe would be to do it out of sight of land,” he said. “Do you expect me to take her offshore in that damned little day-sailer?”
“Why not? That’s your business, isn’t it?”
He sat there looking out to sea and saying nothing. Finally she said, “Well?”
“I’m thinking.”
A full five minutes of silence lay between them before he said, “How do I get paid?”
“C.O.D.”
“No, that won’t do. I’ll take half in advance.”
Clare laughed and said, “Why should I trust you with ten thousand dollars? What’s to keep you from taking the money and getting on the next plane out of here?”
“That would be just too bad. And you could hardly complain to the commissioner, could you? Of course, I can always sign a contract specifying that for twenty thousand dollars I agree to murder your cousin. That way the law will be on your side.”
“You’re a scream, Gus.”
“I know. That’s one of the nice things about doing business with me. I keep it light. You’d be surprised how many paid killers have no sense of humor at all. Look, Clare, you have to trust me and I have to trust you. It cuts both ways. Suppose after I do the job you refuse to pay up and tell me to go fly a kite? What do I do then? Do I go crying to the FBI? No, the only way is like I say. Half and half. Half in advance and half when it’s over. You can figure I won’t run out because I want that other ten, and that’s the truth of it. So let’s leave it that way. Half in advance and the rest when it’s over. And you had better pick up a plane ticket for me too.”
“Plane ticket to where?”
“Miami. After it’s done I want to get off this island muy rapido.”
“But won’t that make them suspicious?”
“Maybe. But what of it? What can they prove? It’s like you say, I had no motive. I hardly knew her. And if they do come looking for me they’ll have a hell of a time finding me in twenty thousand square miles of the Caribbean. I’ll stay at sea for a long time after this.”
“I still think it would be better to wait here until the investigation is completed.”
“Honey, when this is over you go your way and I’ll go mine. And my way is out.”
“But don’t you see, you fool? If you run away they’ll know there was something wrong.”
“I don’t agree. The worst they can say is that I was bowled over by the tragedy and that I panicked and lost my head. They may want to ask me some questions but by the time they find me I’ll have all the answers under control.”
“No, Gus, it doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well it does to me and that’s the way it will have to be. I’m not so damned cold-blooded that I can sit around here and go through an investigation without batting an eye. We agreed that this thing had to be foolproof. Well it won’t be foolproof until I’m out of the picture.”
She hesitated and then said, “When will you do it?”
Look how we edge around it, he thought. Even now we don’t want to use the word murder. We refer to it only as “it.” �
�It” is a nice clean word. What a lovely pair of cutthroats we are.
“The sooner the better,” he said. “Let’s get it over with. I’ll get in touch with her tomorrow and make a date to take her sailing. It will either be tomorrow or the next day.”
“How will I know?”
“I’ll run an ad in the local paper.”
“Goddamn you, Gus,” she flared, “save your filthy humor for some other time! Do you think this is a joke?”
“No,” he said. “Whatever else it is, it’s certainly no joke. All right then, I’ll call you.”
“Calls can be traced.”
“How? Do you think I’m stupid enough to blab the whole thing over the phone? I won’t use my name. I’ll just say something like ‘Tomorrow is a good day for sailing.’”
“There’s still one big trouble.”
“I can see a lot of big troubles but which one did you have in mind?”
“How will I know that you’ve really done the job? I won’t pay you the balance until you prove it.”
“Why don’t you come along and watch?”
“Are you being funny again?”
“I told you that as killers go I’m a card. I’ll tell you what. I can lop off one of her ears and bring it back. Will that satisfy you?”
“Oh shut up; I’m thinking.” After a moment she said, “Where will you take her?”
“There’s only one place. Out there,” he said pointing to seaward. “Out of sight of land.”
“Then you’ll have to come through the channel and sail past the beach, won’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“If I’m on my terrace watching you through binoculars I’ll be able to see you going out and coming back.”
“Will that answer your question?”
“Of course. All right, Gus. How do you want to be paid?”
“In cash, and like we said. No, wait a minute. I’ll take the half in advance in cash and you can wire the rest to a yacht broker in Miami. Naturally I’ll want to check with him first before I leave the island. The name of the outfit is Florida Yacht Sales in Miami.”
“All right.” She shivered and crossed her arms over her breast and said, “I’m cold.”
He did not answer. To hell with her, he thought. Let her sit there and think about the old man’s will. That ought to keep her warm.
The breakers made a long mournful drumming on the beach. “I hate the sea,” she said.
“I know. You told me.”
“Why are you so hostile, Gus?”
“What am I supposed to be? It’s a business proposition, isn’t it?”
“Is there anything else we have to discuss then?”
“Just the money. When do I get it?”
“Surely you don’t think I keep that kind of money in the house.”
“Well, is it someplace you can get it in a hurry and where it can’t be traced?”
“It’s in a private vault in the local bank. I can get it tomorrow after the bank opens. There is no way it can be traced because no one knows how much I have in there.”
“Then we’ll do it this way. I’ll make the date with Gwen for the day after tomorrow. You meet me here tomorrow night at this same time with the money.”
She rose to her feet and hesitated a moment before asking lightly, “Do you want to walk back with me?”
“No.”
“The house is empty and the girl won’t be back until morning. No one will see us.”
“Let’s stick to business,” he said.
When she was gone he sat there in the dark. In his mind he went over and over again the details of the plan, trying to think where it might go wrong. There were any number of places where it could fail. The plan itself was all right but it was dependent on weather and timing and, most of all, on an intangible human element. Still, with any luck he could pull it off. Twenty thousand. A lot of money. Would she really pay up? He didn’t trust her any farther than he could throw her but he thought she would pay up all right. When he came back without the girl she would be happy to pay up just to get rid of him. Even an icicle like Clare Loomis wouldn’t try to pull a fast one in the face of murder.
CHAPTER SIX
Robinson had his breakfast early and left the house while Walker was still asleep. He went first to the airline office and made a reservation on the flight to Miami for the following day. Then he went to the small combination hardware and grocery store and bought a tarp, a flashlight, a blanket, several yards of mosquito netting, a five-gallon jeep can for gasoline and a dozen cans of various kinds of food. He instructed the clerk to hold the purchases until they were picked up and then he walked down to the dock and borrowed a Bahamas chart from one of the charter boat skippers and spent twenty minutes studying the various shoal depths around Spanish Cay. When he had completed these preparations he called Gwen and arranged to take her sailing the following day.
After his call to Gwen he returned to the house and spent much of the afternoon walking on the beach. Walker had gone out to dinner with friends, which made it easier for Robinson to leave the house after dark in time for his appointment with Clare.
He waited for her at the wreck. She was late. When she finally did come there were no greetings exchanged between them.
“Well?” she asked. “Is it tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“What time?”
“She’s picking me up at around ten. I’ll sail close to the beach so that you can see us clearly from your terrace. I’ll probably even wave at you just to prove how sociable I am.”
“And when will you come back?”
He shrugged. “Who knows? It may be late in the afternoon or even after dark. You’ll just have to keep your eyes peeled for the boat.”
“Why do you think it will take so long?”
“I don’t know how long it will take. I’ll pick my own time and place and I don’t want to be bound by any schedule.”
“All right, Gus. All right. You don’t have to be so tough about it.”
“Don’t I? Do you think you hire boy scouts for this kind of work?”
“So you’re no boy scout,” she said with a conciliatory gesture. “What will you do with her boat?”
“I’ll leave it on the beach. Have you got the money?”
She thrust a bulky envelope at him. He took it and put it into his pocket.
“Don’t you want to count it, Gus?”
“I trust you.”
She laughed and said, “You’re a poor fool if you do. You won’t find any ten thousand dollars there. Did you think I’d be idiotic enough to hand over that kind of money in advance? No, I’m willing to risk a thousand but no more. Take it or leave it.”
To her surprise he did not argue. All he said was, “Okay. We’ll play it your way. I’ll take the thousand.”
“And that brings up something else. You wanted me to send the rest of it on to Florida but that’s absolutely out. There’s no way that can be done without a record of the transaction showing up somewhere and I won’t go for that. I don’t want my name connected with yours in any way. There’s got to be no way in the world anybody can ever prove I gave you a dime.”
“What do you want to do then?”
“I’ll give you the nineteen thousand in cash right here on the beach when you’re finished.”
“I just hope you don’t get any bright ideas like having me arrested at the airport for stealing your money.”
“Do you really think I want to get mixed up in a murder investigation for a miserable twenty thousand dollars? You underestimate me, Mr. Robinson. I assure you that when this is over the last thing in the world I would want would be to detain you at Spanish Cay. But that brings up another point. You can’t just ditch the boat and take off. They’ll be after you like a shot. No one can get away with a thing like that. They’ll have the FBI waiting for you at the Miami airport. No, there’s got to be some other way.”
“There is another way,” he said. �
��I’ve been thinking about it and you’re right. That would be too messy. But how does it sound if no one knows I was ever in the boat with her. That way when she fails to come back they’ll simply assume she had an accident at sea, which can happen anytime to somebody sailing alone. And they won’t have a reason in the world to connect me with her disappearance. How does that sound?”
“It’s a neat trick if you can do it but I’m damned if I see how you can get her out in the boat with you without anybody else knowing.”
“She’ll go out alone. I’ll meet her later where no one can see us. And the way I’ll manage that is to rent a skiff and tell them I’m going out to hunt for the wreck of the Charee.”
“I can shoot holes in that one easily enough,” she said. “All she has to do is to mention to someone that she’s meeting you out there and your goose will be cooked when she doesn’t come back.”
“She won’t mention it to anyone. That’s where your pretty boy Dino comes in handy.”
“What has Dino got to do with it?”
“He’s having an affair with her and if he thinks she’s out sailing alone with me he’ll raise the devil of a row. He has already paid me a visit to tell me in an indirect way to keep hands off her. All I have to do is to point out to her that it will be much better for her love life if nobody knows she was out with me. It’s a little secret we’ll keep between the two of us.”
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