1956 - There's Always a Price Tag (24 page)

'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.'

'Of course he won't, Glyn! How can you say such a thing?'

'Oh, yes, he will. It's a formula the police work to: husband who is insured for a lot of money suddenly dies. The wife has a lover. The wife dies. The lover is found to come into money left by the husband. Q.E.D. The lover has killed the husband and probably the wife. It has happened and will go on happening. All they want now is to find a motive.'

'But the police don't work like that, Glyn. They work on clues,' she began, then stopped as I took out my penknife and slit open the envelope.

'They haven't any clues,' I said as I pulled a single sheet of paper out of the envelope, 'and I'm going to take good care they don't have a motive to pin on me.'

I read the short document. As I read the wording I felt myself turn first hot, then cold. I went so cold it was as if I was standing in the way of a raging arctic wind.

It was a straightforward, simple testament. It said that as I had saved his life, I was to receive any money left over from the estate after the creditors had been paid. In the event of Helen's death, and if the National Fidelity paid the insurance money into the estate, the whole amount should come to me.

Marian said sharply, 'Glyn! What is it?'

I tossed the will across to her.

'Read it,' I said, my voice shaking. 'The crazy, drunken fool has left me everything!'

* * *

The laugh was on me.

If I hadn't been such a smart alec and if I hadn't tried to horn in on the insurance money, it seemed now that I would have had a chance of getting the money anyway. I was sure Helen would have come unstuck against Maddux. If I had kept to the side lines and not interfered and let her get rid of Dester on her own, she would probably have landed herself in the death cell, and the money would have automatically come to me. But I had to be smart. I had manoeuvred myself into a position now where I dared not show Burnett this will. It would put me right under the spot-light. They would not only hang Helen's death on me, but they would go flat out to hang Dester's death on me too. In the state I was in, I knew I would never face up to police examination.

I did my best to explain to Marian that I didn't want the money, and so long as there was a mystery attached to Dester's death, it would be asking for trouble to let anyone see the will.

'I'll keep it for the time being,' I said. 'If Dester turns up, I'll give it back to him and ask him to destroy it. I don't want the money. If he isn't alive, then I'll destroy it myself. I've got to keep out of this, kid. You can see that, can't you?'

'But surely, Glyn, if Mr. Dester wanted you to have the money.' She stopped abruptly and looked at me. 'You didn't have anything to do with his disappearance?'

'You see,' I said, 'the idea suddenly drops into your mind that I might have. Can you imagine how Maddux would react?'

'That doesn't answer my question,' Marian said sharply. 'I wouldn't ask you if you weren't acting so strangely, and you are acting strangely, Glyn.'

'I don't know what has happened to Dester and I have had nothing to do with his disappearance,' I said, forcing myself to meet her eyes. 'I admit I have a guilty conscience. Helen and I were lovers. I acted like a fool, and it could get me into trouble with the police. Surely you can see that?'

'Just because you were lovers.'

'Now look, don't let's waste time. I know what I am doing.' I was losing patience. 'I'm going to put the will in my bank for the time being. I'm going to do it right now. Will you continue to list these bills? I won't be long.'

'Are you quite sure you know what you are doing, Glyn?'

I got up and went over to her and took her in my arms.

'I'm not doing anything wrong. I don't want his money and I don't want Maddux to know he has left me the money. Don't worry and don't tell anyone you know about it.'

I kissed her, and then unlocking the study door, I went out into the hall.

There was no sign of Lewis. I stood hesitating, thinking of the deep-freeze cabinet. Suppose Lewis got inquisitive and looked inside? Somehow I had to get Dester's body out of the house tonight. I had no idea how I was going to do it with Lewis prowling around, but I had to do it.

I went down the passage and into the kitchen, but it was empty. I looked at the bottles on top of the deep-freeze cabinet. They were in place. I crossed over to the cabinet and turned off the switch. The motor gave a little rumble and stopped. I stood for a long moment, my hand resting on the lid of the cabinet. The body in the cabinet would be completely thawed out by tonight. Even with the body in a relaxed state, I knew it was going to be a hell of a job to get it out of the cabinet without help.

I pushed the thought out of my mind, and leaving the kitchen, I hurried over to the garage, got into the Buick and drove to my bank where I picked up the safe key. I then drove over to the safe deposit company. I opened the safe, took out Dester's gun, being careful to drop a handkerchief over it before touching it. I put it in my hip pocket. Then I put the will on top of Dester's suicide note, shut and locked the safe.

By the time I got back to the house, it was just after one o'clock. Marian had laid lunch for three out on the terrace. I went into the kitchen where I found her preparing lunch.

'The motor's stopped running in the freezer,' she said as I came in. 'Is that all right?'

'Yes. We're not likely to use it now so I turned it off.'

I heard a sound behind me and looking over my shoulder I saw Sergeant Lewis. He was looking beyond me at the deep-freeze cabinet and he walked past me and stood before it.

'I've always wanted one of these things,' he said. 'This is a pretty big one, isn't it?'

My heart was pounding as I walked over and joined him.

'You can get smaller ones,' I said. 'The Desters scarcely ever used this monster.'

'It certainly is big,' Lewis said. He shifted his glance to stare at the bottles. 'He carried quite a stock of whisky. Funny place to keep them.'

'I put them there. He had them in his closet.'

'If they sell up here, maybe I could get that cabinet cheap,' Lewis said. 'What's inside? Is it fitted with trays and racks?'

'It has two long trays,' I said, and I had to make an effort to keep my voice steady. 'I don't think you'd get it cheap. One of the hotels is bound to bid for it.'

'Yeah, I guess that's right.'

He stared at the cabinet for a long moment, then shrugged his shoulders and turned away.

Marian said lunch was ready, and we helped carry the dishes out on to the terrace. After a good meal and under the influence of the warm sunshine, Lewis appeared to relax.

'This guy Maddux,' he said, 'may be a ball of fire as a claims assessor, but he certainly has some crummy ideas when it comes to an investigation. It sticks out a mile that Dester knocked his wife off. You can see that, can't you?' He looked over at me.

'I think he lost his head and hit her too hard,' I said carefully. 'I don't think he intended to kill her.'

'Whether he intended to or not, he killed her, and that's murder.' He tilted his basket chair back. 'I wonder where he is now. It's my bet he's in Mexico or someplace where we won't think of looking for him.'

'You don't think he will come back here then?' Marian asked.

'Is it likely? Why should he want to come back here? He must know the house will be watched. He'll get as far away from Hollywood as he can. It's his only hope.' He glanced over at me. 'Did you find a will?'

'No.'

'This guy Maddux is looking for trouble,' Lewis said, shrugging his shoulders. 'Anyway, why should I care? I've got a nice soft job for the moment.'

'That reminds me: if you want to take a nap this afternoon,' I said, 'I'd better show you your room.'

'What the hell do I want to take a nap for?'

'I thought you were going to be up all night.'

He laughed. 'In case Dester comes back? Not a chance. I haven't had a decent sleep since this case broke. I'm not going to miss the chance now Bromwich can't call me out in the middle of the night to hold his hand.'

I pushed back my chair. 'Well, I guess I'd better get to work. Mr. Burnett wants Dester's papers tomorrow morning and there's still a lot to do.'

For the first time since I heard Lewis was going to stay in the house, I lost my sick feeling of fear. If he wasn't going to prowl around the house, I had a chance of getting Dester's body into the garden. It would be risky, but I had to take the risk.

Lewis said to Marian, 'I'll help you with the dishes. My wife says I'm the best dish washer in the district.'

I went into Dester's study, shut the door and sat down. I took the gun from my hip pocket and put it in the top desk drawer. Then I slipped on a pair of gloves I had by me, took a sheet of notepaper from the rack and fed it into the typewriter. I took off the gloves and sat for a moment thinking. Then I typed the following:

I've come back for the gun. This is my finish. I didn't mean to hit her so hard. I thought I might get away with it, but I now know I can't. Anyway I don't want to live any longer. I'm taking the easy way out.

There's no future left for me...

I studied the note for a moment, then putting on the gloves again I took the sheet of paper out of the machine and put it under a stack of typing paper in the top drawer.

I looked at the clock. It was just after half past two. In ten hours or so, if I had any luck, I would be free of the whole nightmare thing.