John Creasey - The Toff In Town

“Thank you.” The man’s voice held a hint of laughter.

“Your name, sir, please?”

“Just say a friend,” said the owner of the deep voice. Jolly did not press the point but came towards the study. Rollison, already sure who the visitor was, saw him as Jolly pushed the door wider open. It was Mr. Merino.

CHAPTER NINE

MERINO

“Yes, Jolly,” said Rollison, “I can spare a few minutes.

“Very good, sir.”

Merino had made no attempt to push himself forward, and waited in the hall. He sounded delighted when Jolly said:

“Mr. Rollison is in, sir, and will see you.”

“Why, that’s fine,” said Merino. “Fine!”

Jolly took his hat and led the way to the door.

Rollison, who loved the bizarre, moved swiftly, lifted the hangman’s rope from the wall behind him and put it on the desk; the loop was near one end, and it looked exactly what it was. Then he stood up, smiling. Merino made no attempt to shake hands, but his white teeth gleamed vividly against his black beard and moustache. Rollison was impressed by his size, his animal grace of movement, and by the gleam in his large, wide-set grey eyes.

“So you’re Mr. Rollison,” he said. “I’m very glad to meet you, sir.” He pronounced “very” as “vurry”, and Rollison guessed that he came from the Southern States.

“And you’re Mr. Merino,” murmured Rollison. “Won’t you sit down?”

Merino’s smile broadened as he sat down and stretched out his legs. He didn’t speak until he had assessed every feature of Rollison’s face, and appeared uninterested in the fact that Rollison was studying him just as closely—even to the small mole on his right nostril and a small scar, about half an inch long, above his left eye.

“Cigarette,” asked Rollison, sitting down and pushing a silver box across the desk.

“No thanks—I only smoke cigars,” said Merino.

That was a lie; unless someone other than he had smoked two of the cigarettes at the Lilley Mews-flat.

“I must say I’m very glad to know you,” Merino said, “because I think you and I can do business together, Mr. Rollison. I think I ought to make a start by telling you that I’m a very bad man.”

Rollison’s eyes twinkled.

“I can well believe it,” he said.

“And one of the reasons I want to see you is to find out what kind of man you are,” said Merino. “You’re quite smart in a kind of way, although I don’t know that I like that particular way.”

“Well, you started it,” murmured Rollison.

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning Byngham Court Mansions,” said Rollison.

“I suppose you can look at it that way if you want to,” agreed Merino. “Mr. Rollison, I’m not admitting anything. I’m not even accusing you of anything, although I will say that whoever came into my flat did a mighty good job. It’s a pity I didn’t leave the combination number in my desk. But that needn’t come between us, Mr. Rollison. I’ve come to show you something.” He put his hand to his inside breast-pocket and brought out a black jewel-case. He put this on the desk and pushed it towards Rollison. It caught against the rope; not once had Merino appeared to notice the rope.

Rollison asked: “What’s that?

“It’s just a sample from my safe,” said Merino. “Go on, open it. It won’t bite you.”

Rollison took a handkerchief from his pocket and held the case. He opened it by picking at the catch with his finger nail and, without once touching the case itself with his bare fingers, put it down, open, on the desk.

He did all this without a change of expression, a remarkable feat, because the sight in front of him was astonishing. There were three huge diamonds, stones which glittered and scintillated; beautiful things, worth a fortune.

“They would have been worth taking, wouldn’t they?” Merino asked.

“Perhaps your visitor only wanted to see what was there,” murmured Rollison.

“Perhaps.” Merino spoke more quietly, and his voice wasn’t so deep; it was the man who had telephoned the previous night and probably the man whose voice so frightened Barbara Allen.

“Maybe, too, he knows what he would have seen, now. There were several other cases; I just brought this along as a sample.”

“I’m not in the market,” murmured Rollison.

“Now that’s just what I want to find out,” said Merino. “Jewels fascinate me, I guess. And they’re big money. I’m used to big money in everything I do, Mr. Rollison, I’m not a chiseller. Big money speaks. You’re a good-looking man, aren’t you? And I guess you’ve a girlfriend tucked away somewhere, a girlfriend who would like to wear diamonds like these.”

Rollison said: “Ah.”

Merino had come to buy him off, and that in itself was a tribute. He showed no change of expression, but opened a drawer in his desk and took out a watchmaker’s glass and a pair of tweezers. Then he pulled the table-lamp nearer to him —it was a modern office type, which bent in all directions— and switched it on, although it was broad daylight. He picked up one of the diamonds in the tweezers and stuck the glass in his left eye. He was conscious of Merino’s steady gaze, but he did not hurry. He turned the diamond round and round, looking at the dazzling facets under the bright light, from all angles.

He put it down at last, let the glass drop and caught it.

“Sure, that stone’s real,” said Merino. “And it’s not so expensive as you might think. Say, Mr. Rollison, do you know the Riviera at this time of the year?”

“Yes.”

“Well, prices are inflated, I guess, but you could have a good vacation on the Riviera for six or seven hundred pounds. That would last you three or four weeks, if you didn’t have bad luck at the tables. That’s what this diamond would cost you—just six or seven hundred pounds !”

“And a trip to the South of France?”

“Why, surely. That goes with it,” said Merino.

Rollison put the diamond back in the case.

“Why have you come here in person, Merino?” he asked.

“You don’t need to ask that,” Merino said slowly. “You’ve been to my flat, you know what I look like, you know Pauline —you’ve even met Blane twice. That means there isn’t any way of hiding myself from you, Mr. Rollison, and I always prefer to come right out into the open if I can’t stay out of sight I haven’t any quarrel with you, and I’d like you to have that vacation. Your man looks as if he could do with a holiday, too,” he added, and Rollison smiled faintly; no doubt that Jolly was listening at the door. “You wouldn’t take my advice last night, Mr. Rollison. Now you’ve another chance and you stand to gain something.”

“What will the Aliens gain?” asked Rollison.

“They’re outside this arrangement,” said Merino, with a slight hardening of his voice. “I don’t want to be misunderstood, Mr. Rollison, the Aliens are no concern of yours. I’m no concern of yours. Blane—well, I shall have to restrain Blane, he would like to have a crack back at you, but I won’t allow it—provided you take this vacation.”

Rollison leaned forward, placing his elbows just inside the noose of the rope.

There are other kinds of holidays,” he said conversationally. “Blane could tell you about that, I think. The kind I mean sometimes lasts for years. They cost nothing, except the loss of a little freedom.”

“That wouldn’t suit me,” said Merino.

“I didn’t think it would.” Rollison glanced at the telephone. “My man doesn’t look very tough but he’s stronger than he looks,” he said. “I can telephone Scotland Yard and have a detective here inside a quarer of an hour, and I can tell him just what you’ve offered, why you’ve come, what you’ve done to the Aliens.”

“You could, but you won’t,” said Merino.

“You sound very sure.”

“Of course I’m sure,” said Merino. “Because you’ve been foolish in some ways, Mr. Rollison. I could produce evidence that you’ve broken into my flat. I could produce more evidence that you attacked Blane and nearly killed him. That’s a criminal offence even in this country, I guess. And because you’re known to Scotland Yard, well, I guess it would go even harder with you than it would if you were a stranger to them.”

“Evidence?” said Rollison.

“Oh, sure. Blane’s. Pauline’s. My own. You see, Mr. Rollison, anyone who works for me is prepared to swear anything I tell them to. And nothing is known against Blane or Pauline or me; we wouldn’t be bad witnesses. And what could you do? Produce the Aliens, maybe, to say they recognised Blane? No, sir, they wouldn’t do that. Allen wouldn’t dare, nor would his wife, even if Blane did cut some of her hair off. Maybe the police would believe your story, and maybe you’ve guessed the truth, or part of it, but—I know the law of this country, and I know what’s evidence. Up to now, there isn’t a thing that could be used against Pauline or me.”

“Possibly not,” drawled Rollison. “That’s what I want to put right.”

“But you can’t put it right,” declared Merino. “Because if you refuse to take that little holiday—well, I don’t like resorting to threats, but you wouldn’t be able to produce any kind of evidence, any place. A corpse can’t talk.”

“Now you’re talking a familiar language,” said Rollison.

“Maybe it’s language you understand, but I don’t particularly want to use it. You see, I don’t believe in violence except in certain cases——”

“Such as Bob Allen,” interrupted Rollison.

“I’m not here to discuss Allen,” said Merino. “Now, what about coming into the market for those diamonds? You can guess how much they’re worth. Nearly a hundred thousand pounds, and that’s a lot of money—you wouldn’t have to pay tax on it either, Mr. Rollison. Your holiday wouldn’t take much out of it, you can live in luxury for years. Now you’ve got to admit that’s a mighty generous offer.”

“Yes,” said Rollison, “but I can live in luxury without it.”

Merino sat back. His eyes were curiously light in colour and glinted with what might have been impatience or even the beginning of anger.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “You can’t live at all if you don’t accept, Mr. Rollison. Maybe you think I’m bluffing. Well, just put this question to yourself. “I’ve come here to offer you those diamonds, which are worth a lot of money, and I wouldn’t try to buy you off if the rest weren’t worth a lot more. The stakes are very big. I can afford to make a gift like that and not notice it. But if you don’t accept and you happened to find a way of getting me in bad with the police, I’d lose it all. I am not going to lose it all.”

“Aren’t you?” asked Rollison, softly.

“No, sir! But I guess we’re getting too serious,” declared Merino, flashing a smile. “You’re not going to be fool enough to refuse! Let’s call it a deal, Mr. Rollison.”

“No deal,” said Rollison.

“Now, come!”

“No deal,” repeated Rollison firmly.

Merino sat for a long time, looking at him. The flat was silent; Merino didn’t move and Rollison did not avoid his challenging gaze. It seemed as if Merino were trying to outstare him, to force him into submission by the sheer strength of his personality. And it wasn’t easy to sit and watch him.

The silence dragged on, but Rollison was determined not to break it

Merino did.

“You’re a very obstinate man,” he declared, “and I’m sorry about it, Mr. Rollison, but I couldn’t talk straighter than I have done. I’ve given you warnings and I’ve made a very generous offer. What I can’t give you is time. I’m in a hurry to concentrate on the main part of my business, and this isn’t it. You’ll go abroad. You won’t see the Aliens again. Or else——”

“You’ll shoot me where I sit,” said Rollison dryly.

“Maybe I could do that,” said Merino, “but first——”

The telephone bell rang.

Merino glanced at his watch, and it seemed to Rollison that he gave a sly grin of satisfaction. Rollison leaned forward and picked up the receiver. His voice was quite casual as he said:

“Rollison speaking.”

“Rollison, it’s Allen here.” He recognised Allen’s voice, even the note of desperation in it. “Rollison, my wife—where’s my wife?”

“I don’t understand you,” said Rollison, very slowly.

“Don’t talk like a fool! She was coming to see you, she ought to have been back an hour ago.”

“She hasn’t been here.” Rollison looked at Merino, who smiled and stroked his beard. “How long has she been gone?”

“Since two o’clock—just after your man called and told her to come. Rollison, if you——”

Merino leaned forward and deliberately put his finger on the receiver rest, cutting Allen off. Rollison kept the receiver in his hand; Merino kept his finger in position.

“You see, Rollison, I have several tricks,” he said, softly, “Mrs. Allen was persuaded to come to see you, but of course she didn’t arrive. She won’t arrive, she won’t return to her husband, she won’t turn up again anywhere unless—well, you might find her on the Riviera. Are you beginning to understand what I say?”

CHAPTER TEN

BLUFF CALLS BLUFF

UNDOUBTEDLY Merino meant what he said. He sat back, com-pletely at ease. Between his beard and moustache his lips showed very red. His eyes were creased at the corners, as if he were really amused and confident that he would get his way. It was obvious that he was used to being obeyed; probable that he would find it difficult to get used to defiance. His confidence was as remarkable as the fact that he was prepared to offer an enormous bribe in order to set both the law and police at naught.

He had expected that call from Allen; the timing had been perfect.

Now, his expression seemed to say: “You haven’t any choice.”

Rollison picked up the hangman’s rope and drew it through his fingers, and for the first time Merino’s eyes flickered towards it His smile disappeared, and he sat more upright in his chair.

“Well, Mr. Rollison? What’s your decision?”

“I think I’ll tell you a story,” said Rollison mildly. “There was once a very clever young man, an intellectual, a man who thought that he could defy Scotland Yard and all the police put together. And he did, for a long time. No one suspected him of crime, of murder— of a dozen-and-one offences against the law of the land and against ordinary human decency. I came to know him slightly. I had a great admiration for his cleverness, Merino—he wasn’t a fool, either. And I think he might have got away with murder and most of his crimes but—he fell in love with a girl. A nice girl. Not his type, not in his set and married. He didn’t worry about that. He always got what he wanted. He began to play on that girl’s nerves. He did so by working on her husband and framing him for crimes he hadn’t committed. He tormented and tortured both of them. He thought the time would come when he would get the girl, but—that was his mistake. This is the result——”