1956 - There's Always a Price Tag

by James Hadley Chase

  'That's not the same thing.'

  'Did Dester want to go to the sanatorium?' Maddux broke in impatiently.

  'Yes. Mrs. Dester said he was glad she had arranged for him to go,' Burnett said.

  'I'm asking Nash. Never mind what Mrs. Dester said,' Maddux snapped.

  'I don't know,' I said. 'Whenever I went into his room, he was either asleep or in a kind of coma. I never mentioned the sanatorium to him.'

  Maddux lifted his shoulders. He nodded at Bromwich.

  'Go on,' he said, and took a pipe out of his pocket and began to fill it from a much-worn leather pouch.

  'I thought as Dester owed a whale of a lot of money,' Bromwich began when Maddux interrupted.

  'How much money?'

  Burnett looked at me.

  'I haven't had time to complete a statement,' I said, 'but at a rough guess it would be around twenty-seven thousand, but it's probably more than that.'

  'I thought at first he had skipped,' Bromwich went on. 'I notified the patrols to look out for the car: it was unmistakable: a blue-and-cream convertible Rolls. It was found abandoned on West 9th Street. We've checked the airport, the station and the bus depots, but no one has seen Dester. It looked at first that, after passing through Ventura, they had turned back to Hollywood, or at least Dester had. Either that or they were held up by kidnappers who later ditched the car. Anyway, the car was brought back to Hollywood after passing through Ventura.'

  I knew sooner or later he would get around to Helen's death, and I was in an agony of suspense to learn how she had died. It was as much as I could do to sit still.

  'We continued the search for Dester,' Bromwich went on. 'We concentrated our search between Ventura, Glendale and West 9th Street. We got no leads. No one had seen the Rolls on the return journey. A few motorists and the State trooper had seen it on the outward journey. The State trooper had come close enough to it to see there were only two people in it: Mrs. Dester; he identified her by her white hat, and Dester.'

  'How did he identify him?' Maddux asked from behind a cloud of blue-white tobacco smoke.

  I felt my heart give a little kick, and to cover my tension, I took out my cigarette-case and lit a cigarette.

  'He saw Dester was wearing a camel-hair coat. We have a description from Miss Temple how Dester was dressed when he left the house.'

  Maddux turned his eyes on Marian. He seemed to be noticing her for the first time. 'You saw Dester leave?'

  'Yes.'

  'You know Dester by sight?'

  'No. It was the first time I saw him.'

  'He was supposed to be a sick man. Did he look sick to you?'

  'He was very unsteady. His eyes seemed to hurt him.'

  'How do you know that?'

  'I heard him ask for the hall light to be turned out.'

  Maddux scratched the side of his jaw with the stem of his pipe.

  'You mean he came down the stairs in the dark?'

  My heart was banging so violently I was scared they would hear it.

  'It wasn't really dark. There were four wall lights on, but the light was very dim.'

  'So you couldn't see his face?'

  'No.'

  'Were you supposed to be watching him?'

  'Mrs. Dester asked me to be ready in case she needed help with him. She asked me to keep out of sight as Mr. Dester was sensitive.'

  'Did he need help?'

  'No.'

  Maddux turned to Bromwich. 'Go ahead.'

  It was obvious that Bromwich didn't like all these interruptions. His fiery face was taking on a deeper shade.

  'We had a report from a motorist that he had seen the lights of a car out at Newmark's forestry station. It wasn't until the motorist had read of Dester's disappearance that he thought of reporting what he had seen. Newmark's station has been up for sale these past five weeks and the motorist happened to know no one was working there. I went up there and found Mrs. Dester. She was dead.'

  I leaned forward to tap off the ash of my cigarette, partly turning my face so they couldn't see it. I felt I was losing colour.

  'A window of one of the huts had been broken; the lock on the door had been removed. She was in one of the rooms, tied hand and foot and gagged. She had been dead about twenty-six hours. I reckon she died within an hour after the State trooper had seen her on the highway.'

  Maddux asked the question I had been waiting for.

  'Was she murdered?'

  'I guess so,' Bromwich said. 'She had received a very violent blow on the jaw and she had taken a heavy fall, landing on the back of her head. The spinal cord at the base of the skull was fractured by the blow and the fall completed the fatal injuries. The M.O. says she must have died soon after receiving the blow.'

  I was ice cold now. Only by the frantic instinct for self-preservation did I manage to keep my face expressionless.

  'Whoever hit her obviously didn't know he had killed her,' Bromwich went on importantly, 'or he wouldn't have tied her up like that.'

  'If he were smart,' Maddux said quietly, 'that's just what he would do so he could plead to a manslaughter rap if he were caught.'

  'Yeah, sure,' Bromwich said uneasily. He looked across at Madvig, who gave him a cold stare from his close-set eyes. 'I had thought of that too.'

  'Any clues?' Maddux asked.

  'Not a thing. No fingerprints. The gag was a scarf that belonged to her. The ropes came from a crate in the room.' Maddux began to pace up and down before the fireplace.

  'And no sign of Dester?'

  'We're still hunting for him. He can't get away.'

  'What makes you think he's in a position to get away?'

  Madvig spoke for the first time.

  'We're working on the theory that Dester murdered his wife.'

  Maddux paused. He looked at Madvig, then at Bromwich, then at me. It was as much as I could do to meet the hard, staring eyes. Then he looked at Burnett.

  'Do you think Dester would murder his wife?'

  'Dester was an alcoholic. He might do anything,' Burnett said curtly.

  'We know Mrs. Dester and he didn't get on together,' Madvig put in. 'Something went wrong early in their marriage. They had ceased to live together as man and wife for some time. It's been said that Dester took to drink because of this. He was irresponsible. He ran up big debts. I can understand why she wanted him under control. We think Dester realized that once he was in the sanatorium he wouldn't get out for some time. We think he lost his head, tried to persuade Mrs. Dester not to take him to the sanatorium and when she insisted, he hit and killed her. Then he took her to the forestry station, tied her so it looked as if she had been handled by kidnappers and has himself gone into hiding in the hope we'll think he is in the hands of the kidnappers. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't receive a ransom note from him.'

  Maddux moved slowly over to me and stood in front of me. 'And you, Mr. Nash, do you think Dester would murder his wife?'

  'I don't know,' I said through stiff lips. 'He could be pretty quick tempered when he was drinking. He might certainly have hit her if she refused to do what he wanted. It could have been an accident.'

  Well, at least, I had got the accident theory into the setup. But Bromwich wouldn't stand for it.

  'It was no accident,' he said. 'No guy hits a woman that hard unless he meant to finish her.'

  I felt suddenly sick. If they ever got me, they would never believe I hadn't meant to kill her.

  Maddux moved away.

  'Did Mrs. Dester know Dester was insured?' he asked.

  'Not until I told her,' Burnett said. 'Nash will bear that out. He was with us when she asked me if he was insured.'

  'She didn't know then?'

  'She asked me.'

  'Did you tell her the amount of coverage?'

  'I didn't know myself until you told me.'

  'What did she say when you told her he was insured?'

  'She hoped he would borrow on the policy to pay his debts. When I reminded her that i
f he died after borrowing on the policy, there might be nothing left for her, she said she couldn't possibly take the insurance money if it would help him when he was alive. I thought it did her a great deal of credit.'

  Maddux looked at him, then he laughed. The hard, barking sound of his laugh shocked us. Burnett flushed angrily.

  'I can't see there is anything to laugh at.'

  'I can,' Maddux said. He pointed the stem of his pipe at Burnett. 'If you think Helen Dester didn't know her husband was insured for seven hundred and fifty thousand you have another think coming. She knew, and I'll tell you why. She had been already involved in an insurance fraud. I make a practice to keep tabs on anyone who has been mixed up in any shady insurance racket even if that someone hasn't had anything to do with my company. I keep a record of everyone who has made a doubtful claim because you never know if that someone will try something smart with us. I've kept tabs on Helen Dester for a long time. I know her background, and I know what made her tick. Fourteen months ago, she was the mistress of a guy named Van Tomlin. He insured himself in her favour for twenty thousand dollars. Not long after, when he was in her apartment, he fell out of the window. The insurance company wasn't much, but at least they did threaten to fight her claim, but in the end they compromised and she collected seven thousand instead of twenty thousand. I don't have to tell you if her claim had been on the level she would have taken the company to court, but she didn't because she pushed Van Tomlin out of the window and the insurance company knew it!'

  There was a short, electric silence. I was thinking: thank God we weren't able to go ahead with the crack-brained idea of mine. I could see now it would never have worked; not when we would have been up against this guy.

  'Are you telling me that Mrs. Dester was a murderess?' Burnett asked in a stifled voice.

  Maddux showed his small white teeth in a grin.

  'That's what I'm telling you: and I'll tell you something else. Three years ago when she was twenty-four, she was a companion to an old lady who was stupid enough to leave Mrs. Dester five thousand dollars in her will and even more stupid to tell her what she had done. Two months later, the old lady fell downstairs and broke her neck.'

  Madvig turned on Bromwich and glowered at him.

  'Why the hell didn't you find this out?' he snarled.

  'I'm looking for Dester,' Bromwich said, his usual red face now purple. 'I haven't got around to Mrs. Dester yet.'

  Madvig snorted, then turned to Maddux.

  'Well, she didn't kill Dester, did she?'

  'How do you know? Where is Dester? How do you know he isn't dead? How do you know she didn't plan to kill him, fake a kidnapping, and collect the insurance money?'

  'Are you telling me she tied herself up, punched herself in the jaw and broke her goddamn neck?'

  Madvig exclaimed, sitting forward, his purple face congested.

  Maddux fetched out a box of matches and relit his pipe. His movements were deliberate. I felt my heart suddenly slow down. An icy chill crept up my spine. Something was coming. I could see that. I found I was clenching my fists and sitting forward as Madvig was sitting forward.

  'No, she didn't do that,' Maddux said. There was a cold, hard expression on his face that made everyone in the room stare at him. 'But before you pin her death on Dester, you'd better start digging around for the other man.' He paused, looking at Madvig. 'For you can bet your last buck there is another man.'

  chapter twelve

  It was lucky for me that both Madvig and Bromwich resented Maddux's intrusion into the case. I didn't realize this at the time, but subsequent facts were to prove that they were hostile not only to him, but to his ideas.

  Madvig said, 'Oh, I don't know, Mr. Maddux. We don't want to make this case too complicated. As I see it, Dester killed her. That's a straightforward theory. They drive away, she is found dead and he has disappeared. It looks a cinch to me. It's happened thousands of times before, and it will happen thousands of times in the future.'

  Maddux stared at him for a long, uncomfortable moment, then he shrugged his shoulders.

  'Okay. It's not my business to tell you how to run this investigation, but remember what I said when you find Dester's dead body: look for the other man.'

  'What makes you think Dester is dead?' Madvig asked sharply.

  'When a guy is insured for three-quarters of a million and he comes to me to ask me to delete the self-destruction clause in his policy with a lame story that he doesn't want to be tempted to do away with himself, I know there's trouble coming. When I know he is married to a gold-digging murderess I know from which direction the trouble will come. When I hear he's suddenly disappeared and she's been found dead in mysterious circumstances I know a smart idea to defraud my company has been tried and has turned sour. We must find him.'

  'We'll do that,' Madvig said, his purple face turning a deeper shade.

  'And another thing: who inherits what's left of his estate now his wife is dead?' Maddux went on. 'Did he leave a will?'

  Something nudged me into life. Call it a hunch if you like, but I had a sudden feeling that no one must see the will that Marian found until I had had the chance of examining it. For all I knew Dester might just possibly have left me something, and if he had, I would be right out on a limb. So far, there was no motive that could be put down in black and white for me to have murdered him, but a mention in the will would supply the motive.

  'I don't know,' Burnett was saying. 'I don't think he made a will.' He looked over at me. 'You haven't come across a will, have you, Nash?'

  'Not yet, but I have still a lot of papers to go through,' I said. I looked across at Marian, met her surprised eyes and frowned at her. I did this quickly, and then looked back at Burnett. He didn't seem to have noticed my signal. 'If I find anything I'll let you know at once.'

  'Has he any relations?' Maddux asked.

  'No, nor has Mrs. Dester.'

  Maddux scratched the side of his jaw.

  'I'd like to know who would benefit if my company had to pay the claim.' He showed his white teeth in a grim smile. 'I may say this: we won't pay out unless we are absolutely convinced there has been no attempt at fraud. All the same, I'd like to know who we have to deal with.'

  'If Nash finds the will, I'll let you know,' Burnett said.

  'Okay. Well, now I've got to get back to San Francisco. I'll be down again.' He turned to Madvig. 'Until Dester is found, alive or dead, I want someone in this house. I can either send one of my own investigators or you can use one of your men. I want this house watched day and night until Dester is found. Will you fix it or shall I?'

  That was nearly the finisher as far as I was concerned. How was I to move Dester's body if there was a policeman guarding the house?'

  'Surely that's not necessary,' Madvig said, frowning. 'You said just now you were convinced Dester is dead.'

  'I want to make certain his ghost doesn't walk,' Maddux said with a hard little grin.

  'Sergeant Lewis can stay,' Bromwich said.

  Madvig shrugged his shoulders.

  'Yes. He's right here now. There's no point in using one of your men.'

  'That's fine,' Maddux said and knocked out his pipe. 'If you find either Dester or his will, let me know at once.' He turned to me. 'What's your position here, Mr. Nash?'

  'I've been paid to the end of the month,' I said. 'I'm at Mr. Burnett's disposal until then.'

  'I don't want to stay,' Marian broke in.

  Maddux looked at her, then at Burnett, who said, 'Couldn't you stay on for a few days, Miss Temple? We shall need you at the inquest. The house will have to be looked after. Naturally I'll see you get paid. I would be glad if you would stay.'

  Marian hesitated. 'Very well, I'll stay until the end of the week, but not after.'

  'Thank you. We shall probably have news of Dester by then.'

  Maddux, Madvig and Bromwich had gone out into the hall. I could hear Madvig talking to Lewis.

  Burnett went on, 'Well, as
I'm here, I may as well look at Mr. Dester's papers. I haven't much time. Have you got them ready for me?'

  'I was going to parcel them up and send them down to you,' I said. 'At the moment they are in rather a mess. If you could give me until tomorrow morning I'll have them all ready for you.'

  He hesitated, then nodded. 'Do that. I can get one of my clerks to go through them.'

  Nodding to Marian and then to me, he went out and joined the other three as they stood by the police car talking.

  Marian came up to me. 'Glyn, why didn't you?'

  I whipped my hand over her mouth, cutting her words off.

  'Lewis is out there,' I breathed. 'Don't say anything.' Then raising my voice, I went on, 'Let's get back to the study. We have a lot of work to get through.'

  Pale, her eyes alarmed, Marian let me lead her into the hall.

  Lewis was prowling around at the foot of the stairs, his hands in his trousers pockets, his thin, hard face scowling.

  We went past him without saying anything, down the passage and into Dester's study. I shut the door and locked it.

  'Glyn! What is happening? Why didn't you tell them we had found the will?'

  'I wanted to look at it first,' I said, moving away from the door and over to the desk. 'I had to look at it first.'

  'But why? You can't do that. It's addressed to Mr. Burnett.'

  I pushed aside the heap of bills and found the long envelope. Then I sat down, holding it in my hand.

  'I can put it in another envelope. Burnett's not to know it's sealed. I've got to look at it first.'

  She came and stood opposite me, her hands resting on the desk, her eyes scared.

  'But why, Glyn? Is there something wrong?'

  'Not yet. You heard what Maddux said about the other man? If I'm named in this will, he may jump to the conclusion that I am the other man.'

  She stared at me, her eyes opening wide.

  'I could be in trouble, Marian, if I don't handle this setup carefully. You may as well know the truth. For a very short time, Helen and I were lovers.'

  Marian turned away and, crossing the room, she sat down. 'I guessed that, Glyn.'

  'Yes. Maddux may guess it too. If Dester is found dead he may think I killed him if I'm named in this will.'