1951 - In a Vain Shadow

by James Hadley Chase

  ‘Nip inside and get the gun, will you? It’s in the bottom drawer of the desk. Don’t throw it about: it’s loaded.’

  While she fetched the gun I screwed the gadget I had brought with me to the upright piece of wood. It was a neat little thing: something like a Meccano clockwork motor, only bigger.

  She returned with the gun and gave it to me. I slid out the clip and jacked the slug out of the breech.

  ‘What are you going to do with it?’

  ‘I’ll show you. You see this gadget? It runs by clockwork. It can either be started by a clock, setting the dial here or it can be started by vibration by setting the dial in the opposite direction. This hook will pull the pin out of Mills bomb or the trigger of a gun. It’s simple enough. Suppose you walked in here when it was set; your footfalls would set the machine working and the bomb would go of. We used this in house-to-house fighting. If things got too hot, all we had to do was to set the time machine and get out. Then every two or three minutes the mechanism would pull at the trigger of a gun and the Hun thought we were still there.’

  She was listening to all this impatiently.

  ‘But what are you going to do with it now?’

  ‘We three are going to be together in the front room, then suddenly a gun goes off and the window gets smashed. Don’t you think that’ll scare the daylights out of him? And he won’t suspect us either. But if I was outside, when the shot was fired then he might suspect us. That’s why I’ve brought this gadget. It’ll give me an alibi.’

  ‘But one of us might get hit.’

  ‘I’ll take damn good care we don’t.’

  ‘It sounds dangerous, Frank. Can’t you use a blank?’

  ‘The window must be smashed. I’ll fix it the gunfires high. It’ll be all right’

  ‘If it hit him...’

  ‘It’s not going to hit him, so shut up!’

  ‘If it hits him, that’ll bring the police, Frank. I don’t like this. Can’t you think of another way of scaring him?’

  ‘It’s not going to hit him! I know how to handle this. He’ll be sitting down when it goes off. It’ll miss him and you and me by four feet. That’s a safe margin, isn’t it?’

  ‘How do you know he’ll be sitting down?’

  I felt the blood rush into my face.

  ‘Because he’ll be playing chess with me! Now, shut up belly aching!’

  I fastened the wooden shelf to the wall of the barn by a bolt and butterfly screw. I made certain I could get the bolt out quickly. After the shooting I would have to hide the booby-trap fast, although I was pretty certain he’d be so shattered he wouldn’t dare come out to investigate. But in case he did come out I had to be sure I could get the thing of the wall and hidden in seconds. I put the gun on the shelf. It was pointing directly at the sitting room window.

  ‘Go in there and turn on the light and stand still in the middle of the room. I want to make sure it’s aimed high enough.’

  ‘It’s not loaded, is it?’

  ‘Of course it isn’t. Didn’t you see me unload it?’

  ‘Let me see the cartridges.’

  I swung round to stare at her. Her face was stony and expressionless.

  ‘You saw me take them out, didn’t you?’

  ‘Let me see them.’

  Even then I didn’t tumble to what she was getting at. I took the slugs out of my pocket and showed them to her.

  ‘Seven; does that satisfy you?’

  ‘No. Let me look at the gun.’

  ‘What the hell’s on your mind?’

  ‘Nothing; I just don’t want to meet with an accident. If I’m going to stand there and let you aim the gun at me I want to be sure I’m not going to get shot.’

  I tried to grin, but it didn’t come off. I felt a cold prickle run up my spine.

  ‘Sounds as if you expect me to murder you.’

  The green eyes were cold and steady.

  ‘I’ll take damn good care you don’t!’

  ***

  He came running down the tarmac, the tails of his comic coat flapping in the wind, one hand holding his big black slouch hat firmly on his head, his bag clutched in the other.

  Miss Robinson trotted at his heels.

  I moved out of the shadows to greet him.

  ‘Mrs. Sarek, she is all right, hey?’

  ‘She seems all right. I only saw her for a moment when I collected the car. How’s the cold?’

  ‘Is all right.’

  He looked happy, and his beaming smile threatened to split his face in half.

  ‘All the time I think of my son.’

  So he was going to start that all over again. I had forgotten about his son.

  ‘Good trip?’

  ‘Is all right. We go home quick, hey? Is Mrs. Sarek I want to see.’

  I took his bag as he climbed into the car. The coat flapped against my arm. The feel of it sent my heart racing.

  ‘I hope we’ll see you soon, Mr. Sarek.’

  Miss Robinson was leaning through the window. I wanted to haul of and plant my shoe in the back of her lap.

  ‘Is possible. Maybe at the end of the month.’

  Don’t count on it. Miss Robinson, I thought as I slid under the wheel. Don’t count on it for one moment.

  She was clutching a brown paper parcel under her arm.

  ‘I hope Mrs. Sarek is doing fine,’ she said.’ And thanks again for the...’

  ‘Is all right.’

  He cut her of short. He knew I was listening I let in the clutch and drove towards the gates.

  ‘Is home quick, hey?’

  ‘I’d like a word first.’

  I pulled into the shadows and stopped.

  ‘Is something wrong?’

  ‘I don’t know. Ever since you’ve been away I’ve been tailed by two tough-looking characters.’

  In the light of the dashlight, his face looked suddenly fine-drawn and white. The little beady eyes shifted.

  ‘What do they want?’

  ‘I don’t know. Something, or they wouldn’t follow me wherever I go. Two big, heavily built men. One wears a cap and the other a grey slouch hat. They’re in trench coats. Dark, swarthy-looking guys, tough-looking.’

  I had him going now. He began to shake.

  ‘What do you think they want - me?’

  ‘I don’t know. I don’t want to frighten you, Mr. Sarek, but it did cross my mind they were looking for you. If they are after me, they would have started on me by now. I have given them every chance, but they’ve kept clear, just tailed along.’ He looked fearfully over his shoulder.

  ‘Is too lonely at the farm. Maybe I move into London: get a flat or something.’

  ‘Don’t let them stampede you. I’m keeping my eyes open. They’re not going to lay their hands on you until they’ve dealt with me.’

  He wiped the sweat of his forehead.

  ‘Can you handle them, Frank?’

  ‘You bet I can handle them.’

  Ten minutes later, I said. ‘There’s a car behind us. Have a look.’

  There was a car. It couldn’t very well be anywhere else but behind us. I was sitting in the middle of the road and it couldn’t get past. I wanted to keep him on the go. The big black shape swung round in his seat and stared through the rear window as I trod on the accelerator. The Austin surged forward, creaking in every bone. The headlights of the car behind lit up the inside of our car.

  ‘Squat on the floor! If they think I’m on my own they may pass us.’

  He scrambled out of his seat on to the floorboards like a frightened hen going home to roost. Grinning, I put my hand on his hat and shoved his head down.

  The car behind blasted its horn. I slowed, pulled over to the left and watched it surge past. A girl was driving. A girl and a man sat at the back. They all glared at me.

  I still kept my hand on Sarek’s head so he couldn’t see anything.

  ‘Hold it! Don’t move.’

  He crouched there like a corpse.

&
nbsp; ‘Okay, they’ve gone.’ I let him up. ‘Those two guys again; the one in the cap and the other one.’

  I could hear his heavy breathing, could feel him shaking, and could smell him sweating.

  It was so easy I nearly laughed aloud.

  ‘You get inside and keep out of sight, Mr. Sarek. I’m going to walk down the lane for a checkup.’

  He scuttled indoors and slammed the front door.

  I put the car away, took a long pull from the bottle of whisky I kept hidden in the garage, and then went for a slow stroll down the lane.

  When I had given them time to greet each other, and for her to listen to all his worries, I went in.

  He was sitting before the fire, still looking green, and sipping whisky. She stood near him, watching him with her stony, hard expression.

  ‘Did Mr. Sarek tell you about our excitement?’

  She looked at me.

  ‘I don’t believe it. He’s frightened of his own shadow.’

  ‘You don’t know what you talk about!’ He sounded cross.

  ‘I shouldn’t have come back so soon. We move out of here, Rita.’

  ‘I don’t want to go!’

  ‘Is all right for you, but for me - do you want to see me dead? Is too lonely out here.’

  ‘I think Mr. Sarek’s right...’

  ‘I didn’t ask you!’

  She walked out of the room and slammed the door.

  ‘Perhaps you’d better hang on a little longer, Mr. Sarek. You don’t want to upset her. Women are a little touchy when they’re in her condition. You’ll be all right here with me. Give her a little time to get used to the idea.’

  He looked pathetically at me.

  ‘You’re a good man, Frank. I don’t want anything to go wrong with my son. If you think it upset her, I stay.’

  ‘You’ll be all right with me.’

  He said he would sleep with her that night.

  I was up in the loft watching through her window when he came into her room, carrying the overcoat over his arm. I watched him hang it on the hook behind the door before he got into bed

  I made a discovery that startled me. I could look at those two together now without a qualm Those few days I had spent with her alone had cured me; like sticking a knife into an abscess and draining it clean. And another thing: I was nervous of her, and you don’t get the urge for a woman if you feel that way about her. That little scene we had about the gun had warned me I would have to watch her. She didn’t trust me an inch, and that meant I couldn’t trust her.

  Anyway, my mind now was fully occupied with the coat.

  I couldn’t make up my mind whether to wait until they were asleep and then sneak into the room and grab it or hang on a little longer and follow my original plan.

  If I had been absolutely sure the diamonds were hidden in the coat I would have grabbed it there and then, but I wasn’t sure. I was willing to bet on it, but betting on a thing isn’t being sure of it. If I took the coat and the diamonds weren’t hidden in it, I was sunk. I wouldn’t get a second chance. I had to be sure.

  Around two o’clock m the morning I got out of bed and pulled my trousers over my pyjama trousers and a sweater over my pyjama jacket. I put on a pair of shoes, collected the gun and the flashlight and walked quietly to their room.

  I opened the door and slid in, shielding the light of the torch with my fingers.

  She woke immediately and half sat up.

  ‘All right; lie down,’ I whispered She lay down, watching me bend over Sarek. He was sleeping heavily, his mouth open, his dark parrot’s face repulsive on the pillow, I put my hand on his shoulder and shook him. He woke with a start that nearly threw him out of bed.

  ‘What is it? Who is it?’

  ‘It’s all right. It’s Frank.’

  She sat up then. I could see the points of her breasts through her thin nightdress. They didn’t even give me a buzz.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘I’m going out. I wanted to warn you. There’s a man creeping about out there.’

  His breath whistled through his nose, ‘You see him, hey?’

  ‘Yes. He was near the barn. You take it easy. I’m going after him.’

  ‘No!’ He grabbed my arm. ‘You stay here. Is your job to keep near me. Lock the door! No one goes out there.’

  He was shaking so much he made the bed rattle.

  ‘I might catch him, and then we’d know who’s behind all this. Better let me go.’

  ‘No! Stay here! Lock the door! Do what I say!’

  I locked the door, grinning in the darkness. I wondered what she was thinking. Then I crossed over to the window and peered out. I stayed like that for some minutes. The silence in the room made me think of a tomb.

  ‘Well, there’s no sign of him now.’

  I moved away from the window and came over to the bed. ‘Better not put the light on yet.’

  ‘Is mad to stay here. We sell the place and go.’

  I didn’t say anything. I was edging towards the door. My hands touched the coat. I began going over it, pressing the cloth between my fingers, hoping to feel something hard ‘What are you doing, Frank?’

  I moved away from the coat, my heart jumping into my mouth.

  ‘I thought I heard something.’

  ‘Sit by the window and watch.’

  I sat by the window. I could see her head on the pillow and his baldhead outlined against the wall as he half sat up.

  I pretended to look out of the window.

  We remained like that for the rest of the night.

  chapter thirteen

  He wouldn’t show his nose outside the house the next morning, but crouched over the fire in the sitting room with the curtains drawn and the electric light on.

  I was beginning to wonder if my booby trap was going to be needed after all. Another night like last night might crack him wide open.

  I sat opposite him, smoking, pretending to be worried, and listening to the frightened thoughts that poured out of him in a continuous stream.

  ‘I don’t see a way out of this, Mr. Sarek,’ I said, when I could get a word in edge-ways. ‘If you don’t face them, they’ll ruin you. The only way to stop them is to trap them into the open so I can get at them. Sitting here behind drawn blinds isn’t going to get you anywhere. You can’t hide here indefinitely, and it doesn’t look as if they’ll get tired of waiting.’

  He licked his thin lips.

  ‘Is better to wait. I don’t take risks.’

  ‘Well, it’s your business, but it seems to me we could wait here for weeks, and you still wouldn’t be sure they don’t start something as soon as you go back to your office.’

  ‘Then maybe I’d better go away.’

  I had been waiting patiently for the past hour for him to say that.

  ‘How do you mean? Where would you go?’

  ‘Leave this country for good. I have all the money I want. I live in Paris. Is what I want: my son and a little peace.’

  ‘I suppose that is the way out, but you’re letting them beat you.’

  He scowled at me.

  ‘I don’t care. I can’t worry, worry, worry, like this. Is no good. It make me ill. Is better perhaps for me to go. I make money in Paris too.’

  ‘Yes, it might be an idea. I can see that.’

  He thought about it for some minutes.

  ‘Is what I do. We sell the house and go.’

  ‘Don’t rush at it. Maybe Mrs. Sarek won’t agree.’

  ‘I have enough. No sleep last night; threats all the time, now men watching the house. Is not worth it. We go.’

  ‘Why go to Paris? What’s the matter with America? You could make a lot of money in New York.’

  He looked a little startled.

  ‘Is idea. But Paris first. Maybe I go to America when my son come. Is good idea.’

  I smoked on, watching him turn the idea over in his mind.

  He sat for a long time, brooding. I could see by the changing expressi
ons on his face the idea was getting hold of him, and when he suddenly got up and went over to the telephone I knew he had made up his mind.

  ‘I’ll have a look around outside while you’re phoning.’

  ‘Tell Mrs. Sarek, Miss Pearl come down for lunch.’

  So he was going to break the news to fat Emmie. I wondered what she would have to say.

  I went into the kitchen and closed the door.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘It’s practically in the bag. He’s going to get out.’

  ‘Did he say so?’

  ‘He not only said so, but he’s getting Emmie down here to break the news to her.’

  ‘She could talk him out of it.’

  ‘She could, but I’ll see she doesn’t. I’ve still got a trick left. A gun shot would settle it.’

  ‘I don’t like that, Frank.’

  ‘I won’t use it unless I have to. Go and see him and work on him before Emmie comes down. Try and get the thing settled, and don’t forget, when he does go, he’s got to go alone. Insist that you sell the house and the furniture. He’ll want Emmie to do it, but you’ve got to have an excuse for not going with him. You understand that, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  She moved close to me, looking up at me.

  ‘Kiss me, Frank.’

  I don’t want to. It was hard to believe but she was almost repulsive to me now.

  ‘Better go to him. He’ll need talking to.’

  She raised her face, so I kissed her. I had no alternative unless I showed my hand. Her lips felt hard and dry against mine. There was no more buzz to that kiss than if I had kissed the lips of my grandmother.

  She pushed away, holding me by my arms.

  ‘Still sure you want me as well as the money, Frank?’

  ‘You bet I’m sure.’

  She touched my cheek, smiling, her eyes like stones.

  ‘You’d better be sure, Frank.’

  Emmie arrived in the local taxi just before noon. I watched her climb out of the taxi from my bedroom window. There was a set, hard expression on her face, and she hurried up the path as if she were spoiling for a fight.

  Rita came in as I turned to the door.

  ‘It’s going to be all right.’

  ‘I hope so. She’s just come. Did you fix it with him?’