Free 1979 - You Must Be Kidding by James Hadley Chase Page A

recorder. He looked at Karen who appeared to be completely relaxed.
    She shrugged.
    ‘Well now,’ Lu went on, ‘I decided I wouldn’t talk to the fuzz. Now, just suppose, you two tell me to jump in a lake? Maybe, I told myself, you two could be dopey enough not to want to return favour for favour. You two have a lot to lose, so here’s my proposition. Give me ten thousand dollars and I leave the scene. No problems for you: no problems for me. Do we have a deal?’
    ‘You get no money from us, you stinking creep!’ Karen said before Ken could say anything.
    ‘Sure I reckoned you would act stupid. So okay, I put on the pressure.’ He took from his shirt pocket two slips of paper. ‘What do you think of this?’ He leaned forward and put one of the slips on Ken’s desk, then getting to his feet, he gave Karen the other slip.
    Ken read what was written on his slip.
    Mrs. Brandon,
    Ask your husband what he was doing on the night of the 22nd with Karen Sternwood in her cabin at Paddler’s Creek.
    From a well-wisher who doesn’t believe in adultery.
    Karen’s slip read:
    Mr. Jefferson Sternwood,
    Ask your daughter what she was doing on the night of the 22nd with your employee, Ken Brandon in her cabin at Paddler’s Creek.
    From a well-wisher who doesn’t believe in adultery.
    He began to drift to the door.
    ‘I think you two will want to talk this over together,’ he said. ‘I’ll contact you in three days. Have the money here: ten thousand bucks. If you are stupid, I mail the letters.’
    He grinned, nodded, then walked away.
    Neither Ken nor Karen moved until they heard the front door slam. Then Ken, white faced, pressed the stop button on the recorder.
    ‘It’s his word against ours,’ Karen said. ‘You’ve recorded what he said?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Okay. We’ll fix this creep. Give me the tape and I’ll go to the police.’
    ‘What are you saying?’ Ken exclaimed. ‘They’ll charge him with blackmail, and he will talk. You and I will become Miss X and Mr. X, but everyone will know!’
    Karen cocked her head on one side as she stared at him.
    ‘Are you saying we are going to pay this creep ten thousand dollars?’
    ‘I haven’t ten thousand dollars!’
    ‘Nor have I, so we don’t pay him. Let him send the letters! My drag of a father will flip his lid, but he’s always flipping his lid. I can handle him. He won’t want to believe you screwed me, so I can convince him.’ She looked at her watch. ‘I’m late for my date. You fix your end. Your wife won’t want to believe this either, will she? So it’s up to you to convince her. See you tomorrow,’ and with a wave of her hand, she left him.
    Convince Betty? Ken thought. That would mean lying to her. When she got the letter, she would show it to him.
    Ken knew he could never lie convincingly to her. He had never lied to her in their four years of happy marriage.
    He began to pace around his desk. What a mad fool he had been! Remorse, panic, self-disgust tore at him. Then he pulled himself together. What was done, was done!
    There was only one decent thing to do. He must tell her before the letter arrived. He must hope that her love for him would survive the shock. But suppose it didn’t? Suppose she was so shocked, her love for him died? He couldn’t bear to think of that possibility. He tried to assure himself that they were too close, but he did realize that their future relationship might never be the same. The thought sickened him, but whatever happened, he told himself, he must tell her: rather than lie to her.
    He looked at his watch. The time was 18.30. She would be home now. He would go home at once and tell her.
    He locked the office, got in his car and edged into the home-going traffic. The drive back to his house seemed endless. It was stop-start all the way.
    Sitting in the air conditioned car, he tried to think what he would say to her: how best to soften his confession?
    What words did a man use to tell his wife that he had