‘Seen any of my movies?’
‘Every one of them! They’re like you . . . marvellous!’
No gush here, Elliot thought. This was straight from the heart.
‘Are you on vacation?’
‘That’s right.’
‘On your own?’
‘I’m with my father.’
Elliot looked at his wristwatch.
‘I’m hungry. Will you lunch with me or is your father expecting you?’
Joey and Vin were, of course, expecting her, but she didn’t hesitate. There was half a cold chicken in the refrig and they could manage without her.
‘I’d love to.’
He took her to his villa.
* * *
Barney began to attack the second tier of his hamburger.
‘I want to keep this story moving along, Mr. Campbell,’ he said, his mouth full. ‘There are bits I can skip, but there are bits I have to fill in . . . to give you the atmosphere so don’t think I’m talking for the sake of talking.’
I said for him to go right on ahead.
He nodded.
‘Well, Elliot’s villa made a tremendous impact on Cindy. She just couldn’t believe anyone could live in such luxury. They had lunch on the terrace, overlooking the harbour and the sea, surrounded with banks of flowering shrubs and orchid trees. The lunch was as impeccable as the service: baby shrimps, peppered and served hot, sole fillets in a cheese sauce and iced passion fruit. There was champagne that made Cindy a little light headed.
‘Because she was so intrigued with everything she saw, Elliot took her over the villa. She walked by his side, her hands clasped, her eyes round, her breathing fast and uneven. Everything she saw thrilled her.
‘When he finally brought her back to the living room she said the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him.’
* * *
‘It’s the loveliest house I have ever seen,’ she said, ‘and you deserve it because you have given so much happiness and pleasure to so many people.’
Looking at her, savouring her beauty, Elliot had a surge of desire for her he hadn’t had in months. He wanted to lead her into his bedroom, undress her gently and lay her on the bed. He wanted to take her as only he knew how to take a woman, slowly, spreading the pleasure, until the climax came.
Just for the moment, he felt sure she would give herself to him, then he remembered his tin foot and his desire turned to sourness.
And while he stood looking at her, his desire leaving him, the nagging, grinding pain in a foot that was ashes in the furnace of an expensive clinic started up.
All he now wanted was to be rid of her. It had been a happy few hours, now the pain was back and also his worries.
‘Your father will be wondering where you’ve got to,’ he said, his voice suddenly curt. ‘I’ll get my man to drive you back.’
Startled by this sudden change in him and a little deflated, Cindy began to thank him, but he waved her thanks away.
‘It’s been my pleasure,’ he said. ‘Toyo won’t be a moment. You must excuse me . . . I have things to do. So long for now,’ and he left her. The three hours she had spent with him were suddenly spoilt by this abrupt dismissal. She felt as if a pail of cold water had been thrown over her.
The Jap chauffeur drove her back to Seaview Boulevard in the Alfa. She wouldn’t let him take her direct to the bungalow. Cindy also resented not being driven back in the Rolls. She just couldn’t understand what had gone wrong - all she knew was that something had gone wrong.
She found Vin in the garden. Joey had gone out to work the buses.
‘Where the hell have you been?’ Vin demanded. ‘What happened to you?’
Cindy told him. As she talked, describing the Rolls and the villa a sudden idea dropped into Vin’s mind.
‘This guy must be loaded,’ he said.
‘Of course. He’s a great movie star. Mustn’t it be wonderful to have all that money and to live like that?’ Cindy sighed. ‘And that Rolls!’
‘Yeah.’ Vin’s eyes narrowed. ‘I wonder how much he’s worth?’
‘Millions. You couldn’t possibly live like that without being worth millions.’
‘Are you seeing him again?’
‘No . . . he suddenly acted strange . . .’ Cindy went on to tell Vin how she and Elliot had parted.
‘Most movie stars are crazy in the head,’ Vin said. ‘Didn’t he try to make a pass at you?’
Cindy flushed.
‘Of course, he didn’t!’
‘What’s the matter with him?’ Vin asked. ‘What did he want to give you a ride for and a meal?’
‘Not everyone thinks the way you do!’ Cindy said sharply and went into the bungalow.
Soon after 17.00 Joey got back from work. He hadn’t had much success and he was a little worried. He had stolen five billfolds and the complete take had amounted to forty dollars.
‘Where’s Cindy?’ he asked, sitting in a deck chair by Vin’s side. He removed his hat and mopped his brow. ‘Did she get anything? I only got forty bucks.’
‘She’s washing her hair or some damn thing,’ Vin said. ‘Yes, she got something. Joey! I think this is the big take!’
Joey stiffened and stared at him.
‘Big take? What do you mean?’
‘You remember I said I wanted to find a job worth fifty thousand bucks and then we would leave here, buy a bungalow somewhere up the coast and we three would settle down and I’d marry Cindy?’
Joey looked fearfully at Vin.
‘Yes . . . but that was all talk, wasn’t it?’
‘We three are going to pick up fifty grand,’ Vin said, his eyes glittering. ‘It’ll be like taking a nickel off a blind man.’
‘But how?’ Joey asked, his heart beginning to pound.
Fifty thousand dollars! he thought. This was the big leagues - something he had always been careful to avoid.
‘Take it easy and listen,’ Vin said. He went on to tell Joey about Cindy’s meeting with Don Elliot. ‘You remember the guy? One time he was top in the movies. Cindy says he’s loaded. He runs a Rolls. That alone must have set him back $30,000. His villa is stuffed with good loot.’
Joey licked his dry lips.
‘Are you thinking of knocking over his place?’
‘Don’t talk wet!’ Vin snapped. ‘Who would take the loot? Besides, I’d have to have a truck to move stuff worth all that money. No, Joey, we’re going to snatch this guy and we’re going to hold him to ransom!’
Joey nearly jumped out of his chair.
‘Oh, no! They can put you in the gas chamber for kidnapping!’ Joey’s eyes grew round with terror. ‘Not me . . . not Cindy! Kidnapping’s out!’
‘This isn’t kidnapping,’ Vin said impatiently. ‘We capture the guy and tell him we want fifty thousand bucks. What’s fifty grand to him . . . peanuts! We keep him until he pays up. No one will even know we have got him. I’ve got all this worked out.’
‘No!’ Joey got to his feet. He was so agitated he began to shake. ‘I don’t care what you call it. This is out!’
Vin looked contemptuously at him, then shrugged.
‘Okay, Joey, if that’s the way you feel about it. We can swing this without you. I can even swing it without Cindy. When I get the dough Cindy and I will leave you. It’s as simple as that.’
‘Cindy won’t have anything to do with this!’ Joey said. ‘She won’t touch it!’
‘Here she comes. Let’s ask her,’ Vin said as Cindy came across the small lawn and joined them.
‘Ask me what?’ she asked. ‘What’s the matter, dad? You look worked up.’
‘He’s planning to kidnap this movie star!’ Joey said. ‘He’s crazy! I told him you wouldn’t have anything to do with it!’
Cindy looked quickly at Vin.
‘Kidnap? Oh, Vin!’
‘So what?’ Vin stretched out his long legs. ‘We don’t hurt the guy. He’s loaded. All we do is to keep him here under lock and key until he parts with
fifty grand. There’s nothing to it. When we get the dough we three will go up the coast; you and me will get married and we’ll settle down to three years or so without doing a thing. What do you say, baby? You with me?’
Cindy stared first at Vin and then at Joey, then back to Vin again.
‘You must be crazy, Vin,’ she said. ‘No . . . I’m not doing it!’
‘There’s nothing crazy about it,’ Vin said, trying to control his impatience. ‘You said this guy is loaded. Okay, so what’s fifty grand to him? He’ll pay. There’s nothing to it. Just imagine we three with fifty grand!’
Cindy hesitated. If Elliot hadn’t dismissed her in the way he had, she wouldn’t have hesitated, but now, thinking what fifty thousand dollars could mean to them all, she did hesitate.
‘But suppose he won’t pay?’
Joey stiffened.
‘Cindy! Listen to me . . .’ Then he stopped because he saw she wasn’t listening.
‘You want to marry me, don’t you?’ Vin said. ‘You want some fun? This way we can do what you want. Come on, Cindy, say you’ll go along with me.’
Cindy was sick of the way she and Joey had been living.
She had never complained, but this small way of life after meeting Vin was becoming unbearable. She thought again of what all that money could mean to them and she made her decision.
‘Yes, Vin. I’ll help you.’
Vin looked at Joey.
‘Looks like the majority has it, Joey. Do you want to come in or do you want to split up?’
‘Cindy.’ Joey put his hand on Cindy’s arm. ‘This is dangerous. It’s kidnapping. We’ll be up against the Feds. We could go away for life. We could even go to the gas chamber. You mustn’t do this, baby.’
‘Fifty grand,’ Vin said softly. ‘No more dipping. No more taking risks in a self-service store. A nice little home . . . and me, but suit yourself, Cindy. I’m going to pull it with you and Joey, or without you and Joey . . . please yourself.’
‘I said I’ll do it, Vin,’ Cindy said quietly.
Vin looked at Joey.
‘Going to change your mind or do we split up?’
‘You really think it’ll work?’ Joey said weakly.
‘You think I’m nuts? Of course it will work.’
Joey hesitated. Looking at the determined expression on Cindy’s face he knew he couldn’t persuade her not to go ahead. He saw there was nothing else for him to do but to throw in with Vin if he wasn’t to lose Cindy.
‘Okay, Vin . . . count me in,’ he said.
Three
The following morning, Barney told me, Elliot sat on his patio in the sun waiting with impatience for Louis de Marney to complete the inventory of his possessions.
Finally, Louis came out on to the patio and Elliot, controlling his eagerness to know the verdict, offered him a drink.
‘Absolutely not, thank you. No drinks . . . no starch! I would never keep my figure if I relaxed for a moment.’ Louis eyed Elliot. ‘Yet you keep in beautiful form.’
Elliot, naked to the waist, wearing a pair of slacks, socks and sandals, shrugged. He hated wearing socks, but without them the glitter of his tin foot in the sun depressed him.
‘I guess I’m okay. Sit down.’ He paused, then went on. ‘Well, what’s the verdict?’
‘You have some very nice things, Mr. Elliot,’ Louis said, sitting down, ‘a little specialized, but very nice.’
‘I know what I’ve got,’ Elliot said impatiently. ‘What I want to know is what the lot’s worth.’
‘Of course.’ Louis waved his hands. ‘I can’t give you a definite figure, Mr. Elliot You understand I will have to consult Claude, but I’d say around seventy-five thousand.’
Elliot stiffened and flushed. He hadn’t expected Louis to be generous but this figure was daylight robbery.
‘Are you kidding?’ he demanded angrily. ‘That’s less than a quarter of what I originally paid!’
Louis looked sad.
‘It does sound dreadful, doesn’t it? Right now, Mr. Elliot, it just isn’t a buyer’s market. If you could wait . . .’ He chewed his under lip, frowning while he appeared to think. ‘Claude might agree to take the jade and the Chagall on a commission basis and display them in the gallery. That way you could get a better price, but it would, of course, take time.’
‘How much better?’
‘That I can’t tell you. Claude would have to decide the price.’
‘How long would I have to wait . . . two or three months?’
Louis shook his head. He looked as if he could burst into tears.
‘Oh no, Mr. Elliot, it could be as long as two years. You see jade . . . but I’m sure jade will come back into fashion and again fetch high prices, but not for a year or two.’
Elliot thumped his knee with his fist.
‘I can’t wait that long! Claude can afford to wait! Talk to him Louis. Tell him he can have the jade and the Chagall but I want immediate cash and a decent price . . . not a crappy offer of seventy-five thousand!’
Louis studied his beautifully manicured fingernails.
‘Of course I will talk to him.’ A pause, then he went on, ‘Claude did mention to me that you wanted quick cash, Mr. Elliot All this is strictly between you, Claude and myself. We could offer you an interesting proposition since you need money badly. This would be interesting money: something like two hundred thousand. That, plus seventy-five for your things would give you a sum that would make life much happier for you.’
Elliot stared at him.
‘Two hundred thousand?’ He sat up. ‘What is this interesting proposition?’
‘You are a friend of Mr. Larrimore, the philatelist?’
Elliot’s eyes narrowed.
‘Is this proposition to do with Larrimore?’
Louis looked at Elliot, then the little eyes shifted.
‘That’s right’
‘Claude and I have already talked about Larrimore. I told him he hadn’t a hope.’
‘Claude’s thinking has developed further since you talked to him,’ Louis said like a man feeling his way across thin ice. ‘He is now ready to offer you two hundred thousand for your cooperation.’
Elliot drew in a deep breath. He thought what this kind of money could mean to him in his present situation.
‘My cooperation? Look, Louis, will you stop talking like a goddamn politician and explain what you’re getting at?’
‘Mr. Larrimore has some specialized Russian stamps,’ Louis said shifting his eyes back to his fingernails. ‘Claude has a client who wants to buy them. We have already written to Mr. Larrimore offering to buy these stamps, but he ignores our letters. If you could get these stamps for us, Claude would pay you a commission of two hundred thousand.’
‘For God’s sake! How much are they worth?’
‘To you or to me . . . very little, but to a keen collector a great deal.’
‘How much?’
‘I don’t think we need go into that, Mr. Elliot.’ Louis gave Elliot a foxy smile. ‘The point we are discussing is that these stamps if you can get them would be worth two hundred thousand to you.’
Elliot sat back. This could be the way to solve his present problems, he thought, but could he persuade Larrimore to sell?
‘If I’m going to talk to Larrimore I must have a figure,’ he said. ‘That’s obvious, isn’t it? I have to tell him the sum your man wants to pay. How else can I persuade him to sell?’
Louis ran his fingers through his sable tinted hair.
‘I don’t think you would get anywhere with Mr. Larrimore whatever sum you offered. Our client has already written to him and Mr. Larrimore won’t sell. No, approaching Mr. Larrimore would only end in disaster.’
Elliot frowned.
‘So just what are you getting at?’
Louis again studied his fingernails as if he found them fascinating.
‘We felt that as you are on friendly terms with Mr. Larrimore and have access to his house, you might s
ee a way to get hold of these stamps. If you did, we would pay you immediately - two hundred thousand in cash.’ Louis got to his feet as Elliot stared at him as if he didn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘And, of course, there would be no questions asked.’
Elliot remained still for a long moment, then he said, a grating note in his voice, ‘Are you suggesting I should steal these stamps for Claude?’
Louis waved his hands, not looking at Elliot.
‘We’re not suggesting anything, Mr. Elliot You happen to have the opportunity of getting the stamps - how you get them is no business of ours - we will accept them from you, ask no questions and give you two hundred thousand dollars.’
Elliot got to his feet. The look in his eyes made Louis take a hurried step back.
‘Get out!’ The anger in Elliot’s voice made Louis retreat still further. ‘Tell Claude I don’t deal with crooks! I’ll find someone to buy my stuff! Tell him he’s seen the last of me!’
Louis lifted his shoulders in a resigned shrug.
‘I did warn him you might not go along with his thinking, but Claude is a complete optimist. No hard feelings, Mr. Elliot. Of course the offer stands should you change your mind.’
‘Get out!’
Louis sighed and turning, he weaved his way down the path that led to the car park. He drove back to the gallery and went immediately to Claude’s room.
‘The sonofabitch won’t play,’ he said as he shut the door. ‘He called you a crook and said he never wanted to see you again. I warned you, Claude. Now what are we going to do?’
Kendrick took off his wig and laid it on the desk while he thought.
‘It was a chance and it still could remain a good chance. I will bring a little pressure to bear on dear Don.’ He brooded, then opening his desk drawer he took from it a leather bound address book. ‘Who would you say is Elliot’s biggest creditor?’
‘Luce & Fremlin,’ Louis said promptly. ‘He has given every tramp he’s laid a piece of jewellery. The last one got a diamond and ruby ring that must have cost the earth.’
Kendrick consulted his book, then called Luce & Fremlin, the best and most expensive jewellers in the City. He asked to be connected with Mr. Fremlin, the junior partner and a raving homosexual.
1972 - You're Dead Without Money Page 5