1975 - The Joker in the Pack by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online Page A

you believe I could get flustered? That was what Mr. Rolfe did . . . he flustered me.” He began to dig more sand. “Anyway, I accepted the assignment, but there was no talk about a retainer or a fee . . . are you getting the drift now, Mrs. Rolfe? I decided that I hadn’t a thing to worry about. All I had to do was to put a tail on you and after a week, shoot in an account for daily expenses along with my report. I told myself when dealing with a man of Mr. Rolfe’s stature you don’t ask for spot cash.”
    Helga said nothing. She dropped the stub of her cigarette in the sand, aware of fury rising in her.
    “Well, now Mr. Rolfe is laid low,” Jackson continued. “You see my problem? From what I read, he is to be carted off before long to Paradise City. Now I have a living to make. I have hired a couple of guys to watch you and they have to be paid.” He smiled at her. “I run the office, you understand. I don’t do the legwork. Now these guys cost. I should have asked Mr. Rolfe for a retainer, but as I explained I was flustered. So there it is. I’ve got two guys to pay and Mr. Rolfe ill. See my problem?”
    Still Helga said nothing. This time her silence seemed to irritate Jackson. He shifted restlessly and dug more sand, more violently.
    “I’ve been trying to make up my mind whether to ask you for the retainer or Mr. Winborn,” he said after a long pause.
    Helga flicked more ash and waited.
    “Am I getting to you, Mrs. Rolfe?” His voice hardened and the smile had gone.
    “Let us say, Mr. Jackson, that I am listening,” Helga said quietly.
    “Yeah, beauty, brains and toughness. That’s fine with me, Mrs. Rolfe. Let me lay it on the line: ten thousand dollars, I call off my watchdogs, you can have fun and when Mr. Rolfe is well again, I send him a negative report. Fair enough?”
    Helga regarded him, her eyes glittering.
    “I suggest you contact Mr. Winborn and ask him for your money. Mr. Winborn doesn’t leave for New York until this evening so you will have time. And there is one thing you should know about me which you seemed to have missed. To me blackmail is a four letter word and a blackmailer is a four letter man.”
    As she got into the beach buggy, Jackson laughed.
    “Well, it was a try, wasn’t it?” he said. “No harm in trying.”
    Without looking at him, Helga drove fastback to the hotel.
     
    * * *
     
    “There are a number of telegrams which I have sent to your suite, Mrs. Rolfe,” the hall porter said as he handed Helga her key. “Mr. Winborn has been inquiring. He wishes to see you before he leaves.”
    “Tell him, please, that I have returned and I will see him in half an hour,” Helga said.
    The elevator was waiting as she walked quickly across the lobby, aware the chatter of voices had hushed and people were looking at her from the corners of their eyes.
    Unlocking the door to her suite, she entered, glanced at the two piles of telegrams and cables on the table, grimaced and went into her bedroom. The avalanche had begun.
    She took a shower, put on a blue linen dress, arranged her hair, looked at herself thoughtfully in the mirror and her lips twisted into a hard little smile.
    Moving out onto the terrace, she sat in the shade of a sun umbrella, crossing her long, beautiful legs and forced herself to relax.
    In the future she must be much more careful about picking up strange men, she thought. This Jackson business could have ended in a disaster. She lit a cigarette. She must control herself until she was once again in Europe.
    Jackson!
    He had certainly fooled her with his frank, friendly smile. Harmless! As harmless as a black mamba! She had handled him well, she thought, and was pleased with herself. No harm trying . The fool! He had nothing in writing from Herman: just a telephone call. It showed what a fool he was even to have thought he could get ten thousand dollars from her with such an empty threat. She was sure he wouldn’t dare approach Winborn. Even he had