1978 - Consider Yourself Dead (13 page)

Shocked, Frost gaped at her.

‘That I can’t believe,’ he said.

‘I’m telling you!’ Again her voice was shrill. ‘My mother killed herself! He didn’t give a damn about her! It was me! You have only to watch him when he is with me! Don’t you think I have enough experience of men to know? That’s why he keeps away from me. He doesn’t trust himself anymore!’

Frost drew in a deep breath.

‘For God’s sake . . .’

‘I had such a happy time in Rome. I knew the way he was, so I was so very careful. It never crossed his sick mind that I needed sex. Then those stupid creeps tried to kidnap me, and then all the publicity. Then my sick father realised what was going on.’ Her face contorted as she fought back her tears. ‘So he put me in this goddamn prison, and he’ll keep me here so no man can enjoy me and he’ll keep me here until he is dead!’

Frost continued to gape at her. He could think of nothing to say.

‘Mike! You must believe me! You are the only one who can help me!’ She slid off the chair, and on to her knees, catching hold of Frost’s wrists. ‘I can’t go on living like this! Listen, Mike, if he died, I would be free, and I would inherit all his money . . . billions of dollars!’

Her nails dug into his wrists. ‘Do you understand what I’m saying, Mike? You are the only one who can set me free!’

She released his wrists, and falling forward between his knees, she rested her face against his chest. ‘Mike! I am begging you to kill him.’

Frost sat for a long moment, motionless: his mind active.

He thought, Jesus! She’s out of her mind! I don’t believe a word she is saying! What the hell have I walked into?

‘Mike!’ Her fingers moved inside his shirt. ‘You can have all the money in the world! Kill him for me! Free me! There’s so much money, Mike. I don’t care for money. All I want is freedom.’

To Frost, her fingers moving over his sweating chest, felt like spider’s legs. Firmly and gently, he pushed her away, shoved back his chair and stood up, looking down at her as she knelt before him.

‘Gina!’ He put a snap in his voice. ‘Pull yourself together! You can’t mean you are asking me to kill your own father!’

She sat back on her heels, and he felt a chill run down his spine as he looked into her eyes. He was now sure she was reefer high.

‘He is old, and utterly sick,’ she said. ‘I am young with my life before me. Kill him for me. Kill him and have whatever you want: all the money in the world.’

Frost moved away, turning his back on her. He had been planning to kidnap her for five million dollars! He needed time to think about this sudden change of scene.

Just suppose Grandi died? Would this half-crazy girl really inherit her father’s enormous fortune? Suppose she did?

Frost felt his heartbeat quicken. His mind switched to Silk. He was a professional killer. He could wipe Grandi out without complications, but he wouldn’t stay still once he knew he (Frost) could get all the money in the world from this girl.

This was something to think about.

Still, looking out of the window, his back to her, he said, ‘How long will your father stay here?’

‘A week.’

Well, in a week, he would have lots of time to think this thing out. He turned.

‘I don’t promise anything, baby,’ he said, ‘but you can hope.’

‘When?’ She got unsteadily to her feet.

‘Soon. Let me think about it. I go on day duty on Sunday. Can you come here next Thursday night?’

She shook her head.

‘Wednesday. My father and Amando are having a business conference with other men at nine. I can come then.’

‘Then Wednesday?’

‘Please, please free me, Mike,’ then turning, she left the cabin.

Frost felt cold sweat run down his face. He stood at the window and watched her dart into the shrubs.

* * *

After two hours on the beach, and after a swim, Frost got in the T.R.7 and drove to the Ace of Spades. He arrived at 17.20, the graveyard time when the staff took time off, the parking lot was empty and activity was down to zero.

As he walked into the deserted restaurant, Ross Umney, sitting at a table, checking the lunch receipts, stood up.

‘Hi, Mike!’ His wide, charming smile was in evidence. ‘Didn’t expect to see you so early.’

‘I’ve things to talk about,’ Frost said curtly. ‘Where’s Silk?’

‘Playing gin with Mitch. Let’s go.’

Umney led Frost to the room above the swimming pool.

Silk and Goble were at the table by the big window.

There was a side table by Goble’s side containing cream buns and a big pot of tea. As Umney and Frost entered, Silk said, ‘Gin,’ and Goble threw down his cards, cursing.

Silk looked up, stared at Frost, and raised his eyebrows.

‘Let’s talk,’ Frost said, and took a lounging chair away from the table.

‘About what?’ Silk gathered up the cards, looked at Goble, said, ‘You owe me fifty bucks.’

‘As if you would forget,’ Goble said and stuffed a cream bun into his mouth.

‘Let’s talk,’ Frost said impatiently. ‘Cut the crap. We’re in business, aren’t we?’

Silk got to his feet, wandered over to an armchair near Frost and sat down.

‘So?’

Goble reached for another cream bun, hesitated, then got up, and sat in a chair by Silk. Umney took the remaining chair.

‘So, okay,’ Frost said. ‘I’ve got the problems fixed, so we snatch the girl.’

Silk smiled.

‘That’s good news.’ He looked at Goble, then at Umney. ‘I told you Mike was smart.’

‘That’s what you told us,’ Goble said, his hard little eyes on Frost. ‘So let’s hear how smart he is.’

Silk turned to Frost.

‘Go ahead. We want to know how you will dope Amando, Marvin and the girl. We want to know how you fix the dogs and neutralise the fence. Go ahead.’

Frost lit a cigarette as he stared at Silk.

‘You talk first. I’m telling you I have these problems fixed, but I’m not telling you until you tell me just how you guarantee me five million dollars. I don’t go further until I know.’

Goble said, ‘A real sonofabitch. I warned you, Lu.’

Frost moved swiftly out of his chair, caught hold of Goble’s shirtfront, heaved him to his feet, then giving him a violent shove, sent him staggering across the room.

‘Call me that again, you fat slob,’ Frost snarled in his cop voice, ‘and I’ll knock your teeth through the back of your larded neck!’

A gun jumped into Goble’s hand.

‘Mitch!’ Silk’s voice was quiet and deadly.

Goble glared at Frost, then put away the gun.

Silk went on, ‘You spoke out of turn, Mitch.’

Goble hesitated, then nodded. He walked slowly back to his chair and sat down.

‘I apologise, Mike,’ he said.

Frost smiled at him.

‘Fine. No problem,’ and he sat down. Then he looked at Silk. ‘Are we in business or do I walk out and forget the whole thing? I’m asking how you can guarantee - I repeat guarantee - that I get my rake off and it remains safe.’

‘If I tell you that,’ Silk said quietly, ‘are you in with us?’

‘I’m in with you if you convince me.’

‘Don’t rush it. I’ll convince you, but once I’ve told you, there is no way out. You come in with us or I’ll kill you.’

Unless I kill you first, Frost thought, his face expressionless. He said, ‘You don’t have to spell it out. You convince me my money is guaranteed, and I’m in.’

Silk nodded

‘Once we get the girl, this is the sweetest snatch you can imagine. There will be no blow back. Hear me? No possible blow back.’

Frost flicked ash off his cigarette.

‘Come on! You are going to murder Marvin. The cops here are smart. There is a chance of a blow back. Don’t kid yourself that as soon as Grandi gets his daughter back, he won’t turn on the heat.’

‘Marvin doesn’t get killed, and Grandi won’t turn on the heat,’ Silk said.

Frost stiffened, staring at Silk.

‘That’s why this snatch is so sweet,’ Silk said. ‘When I told you Marvin would disappear for good, I wanted to test your nerve. I wanted to be sure you would go along with a killing. There will be no killing, but I do know now that you would go along if there was a killing. That told me I had picked the right man. You can relax, Marvin will just be drugged.’

Frost slowly shook his head.

‘Then the heat comes back to me. You said the heat would be on Marvin.’

‘I said that, but it was a test. I wanted your reaction.’ Silk leaned forward, his one eye glittering. ‘There will be no heat . . . no heat at all. No cops . . . no nothing. The money will be paid, and the girl handed back. This I guarantee.’

Frost looked at Goble, then Umney, then back to Silk.

‘Keep talking,’ he said.

‘I told you Ross can get information out of an oyster, and he can. When that flat-footed attempt was made to snatch the girl in Rome, I thought I would have a try. Mitch said no way after casing the security, but I kept thinking. So I sent Ross to Rome. He came up with information, but Mitch said no way because the girl was too well guarded. So I thought around and Marcia came up with you . . . the inside man. You tell me you have solved the problems of getting at the girl. I tell you, with your information, plus Ross’s information, we have the sweetest snatch in the world.’

‘What’s Ross’s information?’ Frost asked.

Silk smiled his evil smile.

‘So I tell you, but remember, once you know, you are in, and you stay in . . . right?’

‘You are repeating yourself,’ Frost said impatiently. ‘What’s the information?’

Silk studied him for a long moment.

‘It can’t be repeated too often. I want you to understand that once you know this information, you are with us, and there is no way out for you except a slug in your head . . . right?’

The two men studied each other. Silk’s one eye looked lethal. Frost became aware he was sweating slightly.

Five million!

In a quiet, steady voice, he said, ‘What information?’

Silk continued to stare at him.

‘Sure you want to know?’ he asked in his deadly voice.

‘Cut the crap, Silk!’ Frost snapped. ‘Go haunt someone else’s house. You don’t haunt mine!’

Silk smiled, then turned to Umney.

‘Yes, go ahead, Ross. He’s with us . . . tell him.’

‘I got at Grandi’s accountant: a guy named Guiseppe Vessi,’ Umney said. ‘He has a kink for young boys, and he has a wife with money. There was no problem to twist his arm. All the rich Italians are doing a tax evasion gimmick. For years, Grandi has been syphoning off some of his big profits into a numbered account in Switzerland. Vessi has been in charge of the operation. Right now, so Vessi tells me, the money hidden in Switzerland is around thirty million dollars. So I leaned on Vessi, and we came up with a deal. He gets ten million, and we get twenty million, and there is nothing Grandi can do about it. We have photocopies of all the Swiss transactions. If Grandi even considers turning on the heat when his daughter is snatched, with these photocopies given to the Italian tax creeps, he could go away in jail for fifteen years, and Grandi knows this. So, there is no problem, once we get the girl. We four - Lu, Mitch, you and I sign a document which will make us shareholders of five million each, and Grandi transfers the numbered account to us. We are all protected. There’s no problem, and Vessi gets the balance.’

‘But will Grandi transfer this account to us?’ Frost asked, a little bewildered by what he had heard.

‘He either does and gets his daughter back, or he doesn’t, and goes to jail for fifteen years. Can you imagine a man as rich as Grandi going to jail?’ Umney asked, grinning.

‘I told you, Mike, this is a sweet snatch,’ Silk said. ‘No cops: no trouble, but we have to get the girl. Now you tell us how.’

‘I’d like to look at this document you’re talking about, transferring the account to us,’ Frost said.

‘You don’t take chances, do you?’ Silk smiled evilly. ‘Show him, Ross.’

Umney got up, crossed to a bureau, opened a drawer and returned with a sheet of paper which he gave Frost.

Frost studied what was written on the paper. At the bottom of the paper was space for Grandi’s signature. He read again, then nodded.

‘Yeah, I guess this buttons it up,’ he said, and handed the paper back to Umney. ‘Right. I’m satisfied. Now I’ll take one problem at a time. Next Saturday night is D-day. If you don’t want it that fast, we’ll have to wait another month. Here’s why: Marcia tells me she has a regular date with Amando every first Saturday of the month which is next Saturday. He arrives here around nine, takes a drink, performs and leaves. According to her this is a routine thing. You give her one of your pills and Amando is fixed. I forgot to ask you: do these pills dissolve fast and have they a taste?’

‘Fast, and no taste,’ Silk said.

‘Okay, Amando takes the drink, and is knocked out by three in the morning. How do you like it so far?’

Silk nodded.

‘No problem,’ he said.

‘Marvin and I always have dinner together,’ Frost went on. ‘We always have a couple of cans of beer so there is no problem slipping him a pill. I go on night duty on Sunday, so on this Saturday night, I tell him I’m tired and am going to bed. So he settles down to watch the monitors and around two in the morning, he is knocked out. So I’ve taken care of Amando and Marvin,’ Frost paused, looking at Silk. ‘You still with me?’

‘You’ve fixed Amando and Marvin,’ Silk said. ‘Now, how about the dogs? How about the fence? How about doping the girl?’

‘The girl won’t need to be doped. She will fix the dogs and the fence,’ Frost said.

Goble broke in angrily, ‘Look, Lu, this guy is either conning us or else he’s crazy in the head!’

Frost looked at him.

‘I’m not taking any more from you, Fatso,’ he said evenly. ‘Flap with your mouth once more and I’ll flatten you!’

‘Shut up, Mitch!’ Silk snarled. ‘Keep out of this!’ He turned to Frost. ‘I’m listening. . . keep talking.’

‘Grandi arrived at the villa this morning. He talked with me,’ Frost then went on to give a detailed account of his interview with Grandi. ‘So, I have got Amando and Suka off my back,’ he concluded, ‘and this is important. It means the guardroom is free of unexpected visitors. Now, here is the big news. Grandi and Amando took off this afternoon, and the girl came to my cabin. She is a real nut case. Can you guess what she begged me to do?’ He paused, looking at the three men, then lowering his voice, he went on, ‘She begged me to kill her father so she could be free.’