The Wrong Venus by Charles Williams Read Free Book Online

back and starts blowing his stack all over the place. You know how excitable they are.”
    “How long has this been going on?”
    “Three or four days.”
    Colby frowned and glanced at Martine. She had her slip on and was pulling her dress over her head. Her face emerged, the eyes questioning. In the receiver he could hear the reporter banging and cursing again.
    “Listen,” he said to Dudley. “Have you received any mail the past few days?”
    “Sure. Piles of it, same as always. Fanmail, begging letters, she gets ‘em all the time.”
    “No, I mean local. In French.”
    “I might have. Seems to me there was something this morning.”
    “Have you got it there?”
    “No, I probably threw it out. I couldn’t read it.”
    “Will you look in the wastebasket and see if it’s still there?”
    “What the hell—? Oh, all right. . . .” There was a scrambling sound and a rustling of paper. “Yeah, here it is.”
    “Can you read it to me?”
    “Seems to be addressed to me. Cher monsewer, it says—”
    “Go on.”
    “The first two words are Madame Manning. I can make that out. Then it says, ay eat enlewy—”
    “Hold it, hold it!” Colby interrupted. “Just spell the words.”
    “Okay. . . . Madame Manning —a—that’s one word —e-t-e— the e’s have got accent marks—”
    “Right. Go on.”
    “. . . e-n-l-e-v-é-e. . . .”
    “Okay. That’s enough.” Colby put his hand over the mouthpiece, and turned to Martine. “They’ve been trying to tell him for four days they’ve kidnapped Kendall Flanagan.”
    “Oh, no!”
    “They think she’s Miss Manning.”
    She shook her head and sat down. “You don’t suppose President Johnson would declare him a disaster area?”
    Colby spoke into the phone again. “The reason your friend’s so excitable is frustration. He kidnapped Kendall Flanagan four days ago and can’t get anybody to notice it. Is she a heavy eater?”
    “What?”
    “That’s right.”
    “If they’re going to kidnap Americans, why the hell don’t they learn English?”
    “Look at the rest of it. Are there any figures?”
    “Yeah. Here’s something that looks like one hundred thousand. I guess that’s a one in front.”
    “The European one. Dollars or francs?”
    “Dollars—” Dudley did a double take, and gasped. “A hundred thousand dollars? Are they nuts?”
    “They think they’ve got Miss Manning.”
    “I don’t care if they’ve got the Lido floor show. I haven’t got a hundred thousand dollars.”
    “Okay,” Colby said crisply. “You need help, and you need it bad. But one thing at a time. We’ve got to get to Paris.” He glanced at his watch. “We’ll see what we can do about that reporter, and then try to be at the house when your friend calls again. We should be able to make it before five p.m. If he calls before we get there, keep saying rappelez à cinq heures—rappelez à cinq heures. Can you do that?”
    “Rappley a sank ur . I can remember it.”
    “Good. If he knows he’s finally going to get through to somebody, he won’t kill her before five o’clock anyway.”
    “You think they might do that?”
    “They will if they don’t get some action. They didn’t plan on seeing her through to Medicare. We’ll call you from Orly.”
    He hung up and turned to Martine. Her eyes were blazing with excitement and curiosity. “Zip me up and brief me,” she said.
    “They want a hundred thousand—” he said, yanking up the zipper.
    “Ouch! No wonder you’re divorced.”
    “I’m sorry.” He worked the zipper back and freed the strand of dark hair caught in the top of it. “Both my wives were bald.”
    “They were if they were married to you very long. But about the reporter, and the kidnapers—”
    As briefly as he could, he told her the essentials, and headed for the door. “Ask your concierge to reserve us space on the next flight to Paris. Grab a taxi, and pick me up at the Green Park.”
    “Right. Have you got any