The footsteps stopped and Max could hear another person breathing, breathless sobs that could only come from a child. ‘Quiet,’ said a man’s voice. ‘Or I’ll give you something to cry about.’ Max felt himself tensing and Sam grasped his wrist in warning. They heard a key going into a lock and then a door opening.
‘Now!’ They burst out of the cupboard and Max saw, as if on a magic lantern, a series of quick freeze-frame photographs. Ruby’s white face by the open door. Marianne sobbing in Sam’s arms. Another girl saying in a trembling voice, ‘What’s going on?’ Then Max was in the room with his arms round Ruby, dimly aware of two other human shapes in the background. Then he turned and found himself looking down the barrel of a gun.
‘Get away from her,’ said the man, presumably Harry Payne, a thin, bloodless individual whose eyes looked almost red in the fluorescent light of the hallway.
Max raised his arms and the man backed out onto the landing, gesturing with the gun for Max to follow. Sam and Marianne were crouching on the top step, Sam protecting the girl with her body.
The man turned his gun on Ruby, still standing in the doorway.
‘Did you let him in? You’ve been more trouble than the rest of them put together.’
‘Drop the gun!’ shouted Max. ‘I’m armed.’ He drew something from his inside pocket and pointed it at the man. Payne swung round and, before he could see what was in Max’s hand, Sam had jumped up and pushed him down the stairs.
‘Get the gun,’ said Max. It was lying on the third step. Sam picked it up and handed it to Max. He descended the stairs. Payne was lying on the twelfth floor landing, winded, his leg twisted under him. Max pointed the gun at him. ‘Stay where you are.’
‘You wouldn’t dare shoot,’ said Payne.
‘Try me.’ Max fixed him with the stare that had made thousands of women believe that their lace handkerchiefs had transformed into doves. Above him he could hear Sam talking to the girls. Thank heaven they all seemed to be unhurt. Where the hell was Edgar? He steadied the gun, still staring at the man on the floor. Then—thank God—there were shouts, heavy footsteps on the stairs, Edgar’s voice yelling, ‘Police!’
Then Emma, like a whirlwind, racing past him. ‘Marianne!’ ‘Mummy!’ Then the tall policewoman loping past. ‘Is everyone all right up here?’ Ruby saying something unintelligible. Other voices. Bob and another man putting handcuffs on Payne.
‘I’ll have the gun,’ said Edgar. Max handed it over.
‘What did you point at Payne earlier?’ asked Sam, who was now standing beside him.
Max reached into his pocket and drew out a piece of wood, hinged in the middle. ‘I think it’s part of a deckchair,’ he said. ‘I found it on the promenade.’
‘I really believed it was a gun for a minute.’
‘First rule of magic. If you tell someone that you’re holding a gun, they see a gun.’
‘Fascinating. You must tell me the other rules some time.’
They turned and walked back up the stairs. Emma was cuddling her daughter on the top step. She looked up as he passed. ‘Thank you, Max.’
‘It was nothing,’ he said. ‘Sam did all the brain work.’
‘That’s true.’ Sam put her hand on Marianne’s head. ‘All right, Mari?’
‘He said that he’d give me a lift home,’ said Marianne. ‘I wanted to ride in his car. It had a flag painted on it. He said we’d just go round the block, so that I could see the mods and rockers.’
‘What did I tell you about getting into cars with strangers?’ said Emma.
‘He wasn’t a stranger,’ said Marianne. ‘He was in our house, taking pictures of you.’
Max left them to it and went into the flat. There, sitting on a stained mattress, were a red-headed girl and a black girl in a nurse’s uniform. The policewoman was kneeling in front of them, talking gently. Ruby was standing by the wall. She came over to Max and he put his arms round her.
‘It’s all right,’ he said, speaking into her hair.
Ruby pulled away, smiling at him. ‘You saved me,’ she said.
‘You saved yourself. I saw your signals.’
‘Did you?’ Ruby looked pleased. Despite being in captivity for a week, her pink suit creased and dirty, her hair in tangles, she still had plenty of her old dash and energy. ‘That was me with the mirror on my compact. I hoped that someone would see it. We could see the seafront and there seemed to be loads of people around. What’s going on?’
‘The mods and rockers trying to kill each other.’
‘Was that what it was? Shame I missed it. I love a good fight.’
‘Thank God you’re safe,’ said Max. ‘I’ve been going mad with worry.’
‘Have you?’ Ruby looked at him with her head on one side. ‘What’s everyone been saying? Has it been in the papers? I was worried that everyone would just think that I’d gone off with a man.’
‘I knew something was wrong when you didn’t turn up for work,’ said Max. ‘I knew you’d never miss a rehearsal. I even went to your flat to look for you.’
‘Did you? How’s Cleopatra? I’ve been really worried about her.’
‘The warden’s looking after her.’
‘Oh, did you meet Celia? I’m surprised you got away with your life.’
He wanted to ask about the mysterious man with the music case but thought that it might not be the right time. Looking back at the landing, he could see Edgar and Emma both with their arms round Marianne. Sam had moved tactfully away and was looking out of the window. Bob now appeared at the top of the steps.
‘We’re taking Payne back to the station. How are the girls? I’ve radioed for an ambulance.’
‘They seem remarkably unscathed,’ said Max.
‘Girls are tougher than you think,’ said Bob solemnly. ‘I’ve learnt that over the years.’
Max looked back into the flat. The two young women were standing now, hand in hand. Ruby went over to them and she, too, linked arms. The policewoman said something and they all laughed. Rather shaky laughter but laughter all the same.
‘I think you’re right, Bob,’ said Max.
Thirty-Two
‘It was just me at first,’ said Louise. ‘Harry told me that I could make lots of money as a model. He seemed so kind and sympathetic. I didn’t want to leave nursing but Matron was so horrible to me and I thought, I’ll get a bit of cash, just enough to be comfortable, then I’ll start training again somewhere else. Serves me right for being so greedy.’
‘No it doesn’t,’ said Meg.
Edgar and Meg were interviewing Louise in the hospital. All three girls had been treated for mild malnutrition and exhaustion but, in general, the doctors agreed with Max: they were in remarkably good shape. Edgar had telephoned Sir Crispian and decided that he wouldn’t interview Rhonda until her father arrived. He felt sorry for Louise, she had no close family and no one to ring, but, halfway through the interview, Pete Chambers arrived and sat holding her hand in a very territorial way.
Louise told them that Harry Payne had taken her to his flat in Rottingdean and had made her a cup of tea. ‘It must have had something in it because I fell asleep and, when I woke up, I was in a tunnel underground. It was awful, freezing and dark. I thought I was going to die. I could only keep track of time by marking the days on the wall with a piece of chalk. Then, after a week or so, he brought Sara in. He’d told her the same thing, about being a model, and she believed him. It was lovely having someone to talk to. Sara was really young and she’d been through a lot but she was so brave, much braver than me. When Rhonda arrived, Harry told us he was moving us, one by one, to a different location. The tunnel was too small for the three of us and he said that he was going to “add to his collection”. He said that he was moving Sara first—because she was the smallest—and so she worked out a plan. She put on Rhonda’s school cloak and she was going to stab him with the pin and then escape. She said that the cloak would prove that we were all together. She said that people would
care more about Rhonda because she was rich and her father was an MP.’
Louise said this without rancour but Pete shot the police officers a reproachful look and Edgar didn’t blame him.
‘Then Harry came back. He brought Sara’s shoes—he was funny about shoes, kept them all together in a separate place—and he said that she was dead. He’d killed her for trying to escape. Rhonda and I were terrified. Harry was more careful when he moved us, he made us drink some of the drugged tea first. I don’t remember it at all, just being in his car, lights flashing and strange noises everywhere, and then walking up loads of stairs. It was better in the flat because at least it was light and we had mattresses and a proper toilet. Then Ruby came and somehow we had hope. She’s famous, we knew people would be looking for her. But it was more than that. Ruby was so alive, she had energy, she had ideas. I think that, after Sara died, Rhonda and I had simply given up. Ruby said we had to fight back, she was full of plans for overpowering Harry. She answered him back. That’s when he started carrying a gun.’
And the gun had been loaded. It looked to Edgar like a relic of the Second World War. Could Payne have served? He looked too young but, then again, he had the kind of face that could be any age. ‘Oldish’ as the Bobby Soxer, Isabel, had put it.
‘Ruby had the idea of signalling with her compact. SOS. Save our souls. And then it seemed like the next minute Max Mephisto and the girl reporter were banging on the door. It was like a miracle.’
Trust Max to make an entrance, thought Edgar. But he didn’t begrudge his old friend the limelight. If he hadn’t timed his trick to perfection, Payne might well have taken Marianne elsewhere, he might even have harmed her. He couldn’t think of it without going hot and cold.
‘I’m going to talk to Rhonda in a minute,’ he said. ‘But did Payne tell her the same thing, about making her a model?’
‘Yes, Rhonda met him outside the Ritz. She used to go there in the holidays to wait for Bobby Hambro, the actor. Harry told her that she could be a model, he said that the magazines liked redheads. He said that, if she was a model, she’d move in fashionable circles and she’d meet Bobby. She loved Bobby.’
Edgar thought of Meg saying: They’d go off with the devil himself if he said he’d introduce them to Bobby Hambro. Once again WPC Connolly had been right. Meg glanced at him as if thinking the same thing and then turned back to Louise. ‘I know,’ she said, ‘I spent some time with those girls and they’re all obsessed with Bobby.’
Louise smiled. ‘Rhonda did talk about him rather a lot. I feel like I could go on Top of the Form with Bobby as my specialist subject. I didn’t mind though. It helped pass the time. Harry persuaded Rhonda to escape from school. That’s how he put it. Escape. I think she loved the adventure of it. She got the keys to a tunnel from the caretaker and got out that way. Harry knew all about tunnels. Rhonda left her hat there to confuse the police.’
‘It did confuse us,’ said Meg.
‘We were both so stupid to believe him,’ said Louise.
‘It wasn’t your fault.’ Pete put an arm round her. ‘Payne was a madman.’ He turned to Edgar. ‘Haven’t you asked enough questions?’
Louise did look very tired, her eyes huge, her hands shaking slightly.
‘We’ll leave it there,’ said Edgar. ‘You’ve been very helpful, Miss Dawkins. If you could just read the statement that WPC Connolly’s been writing out, and then sign it, we’ll let you get some rest.’
As Louise was reading through the pages, a tremendous commotion was heard in the corridor outside.
‘What’s that?’ asked Louise in a rather tremulous voice.
‘I think Sir Crispian has arrived,’ said Edgar.
Ruby refused to go to the hospital. ‘I’ve only been in the flat for a week,’ she said, ‘and I wasn’t in the tunnels at all. I’m all right. Really I am. I just want to go home and wash my hair.’ Max could see Edgar wanting to argue but eventually giving in.
‘I’ll need to take a statement tomorrow,’ he said. Emma had already gone home with Marianne in the panda car. Louise and Rhonda were in the ambulance with WPC Connolly in attendance.
‘I’ll drive Ruby home tonight,’ said Max, ‘and bring her back in the morning.’
‘Oh, Max, would you?’ said Ruby. ‘I really want to sleep in my own bed.’
Max understood that and was glad that he could offer this comfort to Ruby. Even so, his back gave an anticipatory twinge at the thought of a night on the sofa and he felt slightly sad to hear the ‘Max’. When Ruby had called out to him from behind the locked door she had spontaneously called him ‘Dad’.
Edgar summoned another police car to take them to the Grand. Before she got in Ruby went over to Edgar and whispered something in his ear. Max would have given a lot to know what it was.
Max thought it might take a while to hire a car, especially on a bank holiday, but he explained some of the story to the hotel manager and the man immediately offered him ‘something from our fleet’. The car was a Rover, very smooth and luxurious. It reminded Max of his beloved Bentley, the car that had been his pride and joy in the 1930s and had survived the war on a girlfriend’s farm. Selling the Bentley had been one of the hardest things about emigrating to America. He had a Cadillac over there but it wasn’t the same.
‘This is so nice,’ said Ruby, leaning back in her seat. ‘It’s hard to believe that any of it happened.’
They were on the A23, purring through the Brighton gates, occasionally passing little clusters of mopeds as the mods made their way back to London. Otherwise the roads were empty, the Rover eating up the miles.
‘How did it happen?’ said Max. ‘I mean I understand how Payne lured the other girls away. Bob said that he had promised to make them famous models. But you’re famous already. You’re one of the most famous people in the country.’ He knew she’d like this.
‘He told me that he knew where the girls were,’ said Ruby. ‘I recognised him. He’s taken my picture hundreds of times. I trusted him. And, I know this sounds silly, but I wanted to solve the case.’
‘Why? You’re not a detective.’
‘No. But I want to be one.’
‘What?’ Max turned to look at Ruby, the car swerving slightly.
‘Oh, not a real one,’ she said. ‘That would be too dull. But a TV detective. I’ve got this idea for a series about a woman private investigator. That’s what I wanted to see Emma about. I thought she might be able to help with the research. I’m fed up with being Ruby Magic. I want to get into crime.’
Why was everyone so interested in crime? thought Max. He could never see the appeal himself. He remembered Sam saying, ‘We’re both as bored as hell and we both love crime.’ She had smiled when she said it too. He smiled now, remembering.
‘Why are you smiling?’ said Ruby. ‘Why is it funny for a woman to be a detective? Emma was a detective and a good one. I want her to be an advisor on the show.’
Max was suddenly full of admiration for his daughter. She had had some setbacks in her life but she was always looking forward to the next thing, reinventing herself to keep pace with the rapidly changing world.
‘I’m very proud of you,’ he told her now.
‘Are you?’ said Ruby. ‘That’s nice. I can’t wait to see Cleopatra.’
Sir Crispian Miles was red in the face, eyes protruding. Behind him stood two nurses and the PC Edgar had left to guard the ward doors.
‘What’s going on, Stephens?’ bellowed the MP. ‘Where’s my daughter?’
Silently, Edgar opened a door and Rhonda sat up in bed. ‘Daddy!’ It was enough to bring a tear to anyone’s eye, even if you weren’t already perilously close to breaking down. Edgar turned away as Sir Crispian put his arms round his daughter. ‘Sweetheart! Daddy’s little girl. You’re safe.’
Meg wiped her eyes. ‘Isn’t it sweet?’ she said, beaming.
‘Very sweet,’ croaked Edgar.
Crispian turned round. ‘You’ve got some explaining to do,�
� he said to Edgar. ‘At lunchtime today a madman, an escaped criminal, burst into my house and threw a sack at me. A sack with a dog in it.’
‘A dog?’ said Rhonda.
‘Some mangy mutt,’ said Sir Crispian, warming to his theme, though he still kept his arm round Rhonda. ‘It was that nutcase who kidnapped Rhonda before. Ernest Coggins. He had escaped from prison, if you please. I ask you, why do I pay my taxes?’
‘Coggins brought you a dog?’ said Edgar.
‘He’d heard about Rhonda going missing and he had some crazy idea that she’d run away and would only come back if I got her a dog. So the lunatic broke out of prison, went to a pet shop and bought a puppy. Man’s a complete liability. A danger to society. Of course I telephoned the police immediately. You were unavailable, as usual,’ he said to Edgar.
‘I was rescuing your daughter,’ said Edgar, though that wasn’t strictly true. There had been nothing on his mind except his own daughter.
‘Well, the local rozzers came eventually and they took Coggins into custody. He didn’t even try to escape. Had the cheek to wish me well before they carted him away.’
‘And the dog?’ said Rhonda, bouncing on the bed. ‘What about the dog?’
‘It’s a mutt,’ said Sir Crispian, ‘no breeding at all. A scruffy little black and white thing.’
‘Can we keep it?’ said Rhonda. ‘Please, Daddy.’
Sir Crispian looked away. ‘Well, your mother does seem to like the creature.’
Rhonda flung her arms round her father’s neck. ‘I’m going to call him Fluffball.’
‘No you’re not,’ said Sir Crispian. ‘I’ve already named him Caesar.’
By the time that Edgar and Meg returned to the station, Harry Payne had already confessed to the abduction of two women and three children and the murder of Sara Henratty.
‘Did he say why?’ said Edgar, looking through the transcript on Bob’s desk.
Now You See Them Page 24
