Gregory took his time about replying, then he said, 'Lacost may stay on here for a few days, in the hope of eliminating Olinda; but he may equally well do as he said he would sail for Tujoa right away even when he knows that he now has no chance of getting hold of the treasure legally. So, in spite of the fact that we now have the law on our side, we mustn't give him too great a lead say five or six days.'
`We came here to get divers,' James remarked. `We wouldn't be able to get them together in so short a time. We can't get them on Tujoa, and we can do nothing without them. All we can do is to confront Lacost when we reach Tujoa and stall him off. And we dare not leave him there with a free hand long enough for us to return here and get divers, so it would result in a stalemate.'
`We don't have to get divers,' Gregory smiled. `That is why I suggested that we should give Lacost the best part of a week's start. We will let his divers do the job for us. Then we'll turn up unexpectedly and pounce.'
`That sounds all right,' James agreed, a shade dubiously, `but when we get to the point of pouncing what do we pounce with?
'Now we have the licence we can row in with old Elboeuf, whose job it is to see that no one gets hold of the gold illegally and to collect the Government's ten per cent. With his gendarmes and the support of your body guard which you will remember you promised him in such a situation we should have no great difficulty in overcoming half a dozen Colons and taking the treasure from them.'
`Say they have not got it up when we arrive there?' Gregory shrugged. `Providing we don't give them long enough both to get it up and get away with it, we don't have to worry. With the help of Elboeuf gendarmes we'll put Lacost and Co. out of business, then take over his divers. Our man Baker will do the job of directing them.'
There seemed no more to be said. James and Gregory had another long drink while Olinda changed into the only dark coat and skirt she had on board and draped a black scarf over her head. They then went ashore Olinda, escorted by James, to buy a ready made mourning outfit and arrange for Masses to be said for her husband's soul; Gregory to the Grand Pacific.
By then it was a quarter to two. Gregory felt very tired, but not particularly hungry. In the restaurant he made a quick meal off a few giant prawns, then had a bath, went to bed and immediately fell asleep.
Four hours later he woke, feeling both easy in his mind at the turn events had taken, and much refreshed. Putting on his bathing shorts and robe he went down to the garden for an evening dip. Now that May was only a week away it was considerably cooler than when he had been in Suva towards the end of January; but the sun still shone from a bright blue sky and it was as warm as one of those rare, really good days in an English summer. No one was in the pool but several people were scattered about the garden, sunbathing.
After he had had his swim he looked about for a place to lie and sun himself. In the garden there were half a dozen basket work lounge chairs of a type he had seen nowhere else. They were shaped like a big, hollowed out fish mould and on his previous visit he had found them particularly comfortable. Only one, some distance away, was vacant and it was next to another occupied by a woman lying on her face. As he walked over to it, he gave a sudden smile. That dark head of hair and beautifully proportioned bronze body could belong to no one other than Manon.
While still a dozen yards from her, he halted, took his cigarettes from the pocket of his robe, lit one and stood contemplating her. When on the previous day he had been on her island, Joe Joe had given him to believe that she was staying with friends; so he had not expected to find her at the Grand Pacific, and on his arrival that morning he had been too tired to enquire at the office if her whereabouts were known. That she should be there after all, and unaccompanied by a man, he took to be a piece of rare good fortune. But, as he again delighted in the sight of her seductive body, he wondered cynically what explanation she would give to account for having lent her house to Lacost and his murderous gang of Colons.
16 ?The Fire Walkers of Beqa
Throwing away his cigarette, Gregory tiptoed over to Manon, stooped, and kissed her on the back of the neck.
Starting up, she turned over as swiftly as an eel. For a second her big dark eyes glared with offended dignity. Then they grew wide with astonishment and joy.
`Gregory l' she cried. Her arms reached out, closed round his neck and, drawing him down, she gave him a long, luscious kiss on the mouth.
As she released him, he smiled at her and said, `Quite a surprise for you, eh? Anyhow, it's good to know that I still have a place in your affections.'
`Oh, darling!' She was a little breathless. `Of course I still love you. But where have you been all this time? Why didn't you write me? I've been desolate, positively aching for you for months.'
`It's a long story,' he replied, sitting down on the other fish shaped basket lounge. `For most of the time I was in prison and it was impossible to write.'
`In prison?' she repeated. `Whatever for?'
He then gave her a version of the tribulations which had befallen James and him, following James' assault on de Carvalho; but suppressing the facts that on Yuloga they had been prisoners of the Russians, the part that General Ribaud had played, his own knowledge that Lacost and de Carvalho had gone into partnership and that the latter was now dead.
When he had done he added casually, `By the by, hoping to find you there, I went to your island yesterday.'
She could not suppress a start, and her eyes widened. For a moment she was silent, then she said, `I've been away from home for some time. As you know, it is a delightful spot, but if I am there alone for long I do get bored. So I spent a week with friends at the lovely new Fijian Hotel halfway down the south coast, then came on here for a few days to do some shopping before going back.'
Gregory's expression remained quite friendly, but his eyes bored into hers as he said, '.Meanwhile you had either let or lent your island to Lacost.'
Ready for him now, she raised her tapering eyebrows and repeated, 'Lacost?' as though she had never heard the name.
`Yes. The man who tried to kill me when we were in Guatemala.'
`Oh! Yes, of course. For the moment his name didn't ring a bell with me. But how can you possibly suppose that I'd let my island to a man who tried to murder you? I haven't even set eyes on him since we saw him at Mexico City airport.'
`The fact remains that up till two days ago, for a week or more, he and his Colons made your island their headquarters while they went round the Yasawas engaging divers. And Joe Joe told me they were there with your permission.'
`Oh, Colons!' Manon exclaimed, her face suddenly brightening. `Now I understand. One evening while I was at the Fijian I ran into an old acquaintance of mine. His name is Andre Gougon and I knew him both in Algeria and Tahiti. He told me he had come ashore from a boat in which he and a few other men were about to make a trip round the Yasawas. They were all nearly broke and, fed up with Tahiti, where living has become appallingly expensive; so they were going to look for an island where they could settle and perhaps go into the copra trade. I said that if they liked to make my house their headquarters for a week or two while they looked round they were welcome; and I wrote him a note to take to Joe Joe.'
Gregory shook his head. `As it turns out that your Monsieur Gougon is now one of Lacost's gang, I fear having fallen on evil times must have driven him to crime although he probably didn't need much driving. While I was in Tujoa I learned that Lacost had only recently been let out of prison.
Apparently, on his return to Tahiti, the police got him for smuggling. Maybe your friend Gougon was in that racket with him. Anyway, it set their plans back for a couple of months, which was a bit of luck for us.'
With a light laugh, he added, `Still, you weren't to know that Gougon was one of Lacost's pals, so that explains everything. What a joy it is to see you again. You look positively ravishing.'
`Do I?' She preened herself and fluttered her long eyelashes at him.
'Indeed you do. How I wish
that we were on a deserted beach instead of in this garden. I'd have that bikini off you quicker than you could take one sip at a dry martini. As it is, I'll have to make do with a good nibble of your lovely neck.'
As he spoke he took her by the shoulders and brought his face down close to hers.
`Non, je t'en prie!' she cried, squirming away. `Not here! Not here!' Then, as he released her, she gave a happy laugh. 'Mon Dieu, what a man you are! Such ardour. And at your age: You should be ashamed of yourself.'
He grinned at her. `I'm not, my dear, because I can't help myself. It's the old candle flame and moth trouble. Lying about like this with next to no clothes on, you are a public danger.'
`Then let us go in, get dressed, then meet in the lounge for a drink,' she suggested. `Anyhow, it is getting a little chilly.'
`Fine,' he agreed. `And what about dinner afterwards? Or have you an attendant beau who has to drag himself from your side to do some errand for you?'
She shook her head. `No. I am staying here alone, and can think of nothing nicer than to dine with you.'
`I can,' he responded with the suggestion of a quick grin, `but maybe later.'
`About that we'll see,' she said, with mock primness, as they walked towards the hotel entrance. `I have not yet forgiven you for deserting me for so long. Although I suppose I'll have to, as you spent most of the time in prison.' They then agreed to meet in an hour.
Up in her room Manon collapsed upon her bed and lay for a while staring at the ceiling. Her heart beat a little faster as she thought of the narrow escape she had had. It was quite a long time now since she had reluctantly come to the conclusion that, having had his fun with her, Gregory had found some other woman who appealed to him, so she had lost him for good. Her hopes of getting him to marry her having come to an end, no reason remained why she should endeavour to put a check on Pierre Lacost's activities. More than ever in need of money, she had become desperately anxious that he should secure the Maria Amalia's gold, and to help him she had even connived at murder.
He had told her about the partnership that he had entered into with de Carvalho, then that he meant to get rid of him and how. She had agreed to lend her island for the deed, and only over lunch that day Pierre had told her that it had been satisfactorily carried out. Earlier he had wanted her to play hostess to de Carvalho, but, just in case some question about the way in which he had met his end should later be raised, she had refused, and had left her island before the Colons arrived so that, whatever happened, she could never be associated with de Carvalho's death. Now, she had good reason to, thank the gods for that cautious streak in her nature; for, had she remained while the Colons were there, Joe Joe would have told Gregory of it. Then she could not possibly have concealed from him her association with Pierre.
That Gregory had swallowed her story about lending her home to Andre Gougon without the least idea that he had become a crook she had no doubt. And here was this immensely wealthy potential husband back again, within her grasp. He had not met and gone off with some other woman, after all, but had spent the greater part of the time they had been separated immured in prison. He had made it obvious, too, that he was as mad about her as ever. What stupendous luck.
But she was very far from out of the wood yet. Along with his other activities, Pierre had continued as her lover and now, having returned to Suva that morning, he had taken a room at the Grand Pacific. Only her patron saint could have intervened to prevent Gregory from finding them lunching together, and over lunch Pierre had declared with gusto his intention of sleeping with her that night. Gregory obviously meant to also. Somehow a clash must be avoided, but it was going to tax all her ingenuity.
Jumping off the bed, she hastily began to dress, then made up her face. As soon as she had finished, she phoned down to the office and got the number of Pierre 's room. Hurrying along to it, she knocked on the door. To her consternation, there was no reply. Half running, she returned to her own room and swiftly wrote a note:
Sallust is here. You know my intentions towards him. Remember all you owe me. For God's sake keep out of the way and leave this hotel as soon as possible. In no circumstances come to my room tonight.
Putting the note in an envelope she again hastened to Pierre 's room and slipped it under the door. Then, endeavouring to still her agitation, she went downstairs to meet Gregory.
He, in the meantime, while washing and shaving, had been considering what he should do about Manon. Highly conscious that to sleep with she was a woman in a thousand, he was greatly looking forward to the night to come. But what then? He was expecting to leave Fiji for Tujoa in four or five days. That seemed all too short a time in which to enjoy to the full a resumption of their liaison. Should he take her with him? That was the question. After all, why not? Through her connection with the Colons she could be dangerous. But he credited himself with the ability to keep an eye on that.
If he did take her he would have, to some extent, to let her in on what was going on. But how much? Obviously that Olinda now held the licence, so that should Lacost and his pals attempt to salvage the gold they could be legally branded as pirates. Yet they must know that already. So, if he kept her in the dark about his day to day plans, what harm could she do?
When they met in the lounge for drinks it was overtly as old friends lover and mistress who were happy with one another and had not a care in the world. Unaware that Manon already knew that de Carvalho was dead, Gregory related quite casually how, during his visit to her island, he had learned that the Brazilian had accompanied Lacost to it and had been hit on the head by a falling coconut.
Later, over dinner, he referred airily to de Carvalho's death being a stroke of good luck for James, as the handsome young Ratu had for some time been in love with the dead man's widow. He went on to say how well everything was panning out, as Olinda now held the licence and, as she reciprocated James' love, they would in future work together.
Having given Manon this handout of information, he felt that he had put her in the picture as far as was necessary. Then he laid himself out to charm her. While doing so, in fact during the whole of dinner, he had sensed that she was having difficulty in concealing nervous tension. That, he suspected, might well be accounted for by the possibility that, in spite of her having said that she had not got a beau, she was in fact having an affaire with someone in the hotel, or anyway in Suva, and feared that at any moment her new lover might put in an appearance.
It was not until they were having coffee and liqueurs in the lounge that she gave a reason for the nervy state in which she had been all the evening. Hesitantly, she said
`Cheri, you must not come to my room tonight. I could not be sorrier. It is appalling luck when, after all this time, we have just met again. But there is no controlling nature. Fortunately, I am over the worst, so tomorrow I'll be all right. We'll just have to be patient and make up for lost time as soon as I'm well enough to have you love me.'
Naturally, Gregory was disappointed and, while her excuse might have been valid, it tended to deepen his suspicion that she was expecting another lover. To test the situation further, he said:
`Of course I understand. But never mind. It's so long since we have seen each other that we still have lots to talk about, so I'll come to your room anyhow. I'll bring along a bottle of champagne and we'll have a cosy chat. At least I'll be able to enjoy some of your luscious kisses.'
`No!' she protested hastily. `No, please! When I am like this I can't bear to be touched. And I'm feeling rotten. I meant to go to bed early and take a sleeping pill. I promise you that tomorrow I'll make it up to you a hundred fold.'
`That settles it,' he thought, and for a moment his sense of mischief led him to contemplate walking in on her a little after midnight. But he quickly dismissed the idea. Not only could it lead to a most unpleasant scene, as a result of which he might lose her altogether, but it would be a dirty trick to play. She had every right to take another lover. In fact, believing that he had deser
ted her, it would have been surprising if she hadn't. After all, what really mattered was that she had shown real delight at his return; and if she had another lover she obviously meant to get rid of him as soon as possible.
When they had finished their liqueurs she went up to her room and shortly afterwards he also went up to read in bed; so he did not see Lacost when the Colon passed through the lounge soon after ten o'clock on his way upstairs.
On reading the note Manon had left for him, Lacost gave vent to a string of unprintable oaths. He had believed that, having made away with de Carvalho, the treasure was now as good as his. On reaching Tujoa, he had meant to tell Elboeuf that he was acting on behalf of the dead man's widow, hoping that if Elboeuf called on her for verification, she would reply in the affirmative. Then, by the time she arrived in Tujoa, he would have got up the gold and have devised some means of swindling her out of her share of it. Now the accursed Sallust and the young Ratu, of whom he had heard nothing for months, had suddenly appeared on the scene again and threatened to ruin all his plans.
He was made even more furious by the fact that he had taken a room at the Grand Pacific for the night only in order to sleep with Manon; otherwise he would have remained with his friends in the Pigalle. And now that pleasant prospect had also been scotched. It seemed certain that Sallust would want to sleep with her, and now she had been given a second chance to get her claws on his money it was most unlikely that she would refuse him.
Nevertheless he must ignore her forbidding him to go to her room. It was imperative that he should see her, in order to learn whatever she might know about Sallust's plans. As it was still early and unlikely that Sallust would join her much before midnight, he was tempted to go along to her at once. But, on second thoughts, he decided that he dare not risk it. If Sallust did come upon them together their secret association would be blown once and for all, and she was far to valuable as a spy in the enemy camp to be thrown away. Seething with rage, he marched up and down his room then his glance fell on the bedside telephone. Snatching it up, he had the office put him through to her. When she answered he asked gruffly:
The White Witch of the South Seas gs-11 Page 29
