Free The Instant Enemy by Ross MacDonald

light.
    “What happened, Mr. Marburg?”
    “I’m not too clear about it myself, I wasn’t here when it happened. Apparently Stephen’s been kidnapped. A young chick and a boy with a shotgun took him away in their car.”
    “Where was Lupe?”
    “Lupe was here. He still is—lying down with a bloody head. The boy got out of the trunk of their car and held a sawed-off shotgun on him. The girl hit him over the head with a hammer or a tire iron.”
    “The girl did that?”
    He nodded. “What makes it even queerer, it seems to be someone the family knows. My wife wants to talk to you.”
    Marburg took me into the library where his wife was sitting under a lamp, with a phone and a revolver at her elbow.She seemed calm, but her face had a look of chilled surprise. She forced a smile.
    “Thank you for coming. Sidney’s a charming boy, but he’s not much practical use.” She turned to him. “Now run along and play with your paints or something.”
    He stood resentfully between her and the door. His mouth opened and closed.
    “Go on now like a good boy. Mr. Archer and I have things to discuss.”
    Marburg walked out. I sat on the leather hassock that matched her chair. “Where’s Mrs. Hackett?”
    “Gerda went to pieces—par for the course. Fortunately I always carry chloral hydrate. I gave her a couple of capsules and she cried herself to sleep.”
    “So everything’s under control.”
    “Everything’s busted wide open, and you know it. Are you going to help me put it back together?”
    “I have a client.”
    She disregarded this. “I can pay you a good deal of money.”
    “How much?”
    “A hundred thousand.”
    “That’s too much.”
    She gave me a narrow, probing look. “I saw you turn down twenty dollars today. But nobody ever turned down a hundred grand.”
    “It isn’t real money. You’re offering it to me because you think I may be in on an extortion deal. No such luck.”
    “Then how did you know about it before it happened?”
    “I came across the evidence. They left the map of this place lying around, almost as if they wanted to be stopped. Which doesn’t make them any less dangerous.”
    “I know they’re dangerous. I saw them. The two of them came right into the living room and marched Stephen out to their car. In their dark glasses they looked like creatures from another planet.”
    “Did you recognize either of them?”
    “Gerda recognized the girl right away. She’s been a guest here more than once. Her name is Alexandria Sebastian.”
    She turned and looked at me in surmise. I was glad the secret was coming out.
    “Keith Sebastian is my client.”
    “And he knew about this?”
    “He knew his daughter had run away. Then he knew what I told him, which wasn’t much. Let’s not get involved in recriminations. The important thing is to get your son back.”
    “I agree. My offer stands. A hundred thousand if Stephen comes home safe.”
    “The police do this work for free.”
    She pushed the idea away with her hand. “I don’t want them. So often they solve the case and lose the victim. I want my son back alive.”
    “I can’t guarantee it.”
    “I
know
that,” she said impatiently. “Will you try?” She pressed both hands to her breast, then offered them to me, empty. Her emotion was both theatrical and real.
    “I’ll try,” I said. “I think you’re making a mistake, though. You should use the police.”
    “I’ve already said I wouldn’t. I don’t trust them.”
    “But you trust me?”
    “Shouldn’t I? Yes, I do, up to a point.”
    “So does Keith Sebastian. I’m going to have to check with him on this.”
    “I don’t see why. He’s one of our employees.”
    “Not when he’s on his own time. His daughter is missing, remember. He feels about her just as strongly as you do about your son.” Not quite, perhaps, but I gave Sebastian the benefit of the doubt.
    “We’ll get him out here.” Abruptly she reached for the phone. “What’s his