Black money by Ross MacDonald Page B

Martel said darkly. "He was undoubtedly paid by the agents of le grand Charles."

    "Who?"

    "President de Gaulle, my enemy. He drove me out of my patrie - my native land. But my exile is not enough to satisfy him. He wants my life."

    His voice was low and thrilling. Ginny shuddered. Even Peter looked impressed.

    I said: "What has de Gaulle got against you?"

    "I am a threat to his power."

    "Are you one of the Algerie-Francaise gang?"

    "We are not a gang," he retorted hotly. "We are a - how shall I say it? - a band of patriots. It is le grand Charles who is the enemy of his country. But I have said enough. Too much. If his agents have followed me here, as I believe, I must move on again."

    He shrugged fatalistically, and looked around at the dark slopes and up at the star-pierced sky. It was a farewell look, consciously dramatic, as if the stars were part of his audience.

    Ginny moved into the circle of his arm. "I'm going with you."

    "Of course. I knew I would not be permitted to stay in Montevista. It is too beautiful. But I shall be taking a part of its beauty with me."

    He kissed her hair. It hung sleek on her skull like a pale silk headcloth. She leaned against him. His hands went to her waist. Peter groaned and turned away toward the car.

    "If you will excuse us now," Martel said to me, "we have plans to make. I've answered all your questions, have I not?"

    "Just to nail it down, you could show me your passport."

    He spread out his hands one either side of Ginny. "I wish I could, but I can't. I left France unofficially, shall we say?"

    "How did you get your money out?"

    "I had to leave much of it behind. But my family has holdings in other parts of the world."

    "Is Martel your family name?"

    He raised his hands, palms outward, like a map being held up. "My wife and I have been very patient with you. You don't want me to become impatient. Goodnight."

    He spoke quietly, with all his force poised behind the words.

    They went into the house, closing the heavy front door. On my way to my car I glanced into the front of the Bentley. There was no registration card visible. The things which Martel had taken from his cabana were piled helter-skelter on the back seat. This suggested that he was planning to leave very soon.

    There was nothing I could do about it. I got in beside Peter, and turned down the driveway. He rode with his head down, saying nothing. When I stopped at the mailbox, he turned to me in a sort of violent lunge: "Do you believe him?"

    "I don't know. Do you?"

    "Ginny does," he said thoughtfully. "She knows him better than we do. He's very convincing."

    "Too convincing. He has an answer for everything."

    "Does that mean he's telling the truth?"

    "He tells too much of it. A man in his position, wanted by the French government for plotting against de Gaulle, wouldn't spill his secrets to us. He wouldn't even tell his wife if he was smart. And Martel is smart."

    "I can see that, the way he answered the professor's questions. What's the explanation, if he's lying? Who is he trying to fool?"

    "Ginny, maybe. She married him."

    Peter sighed. "I'm starved. I haven't really eaten since breakfast."

    He climbed out of my car and started across the road to his Corvette. His foot kicked something which made a muted metallic noise. I peered out into the dark. It was the camera that Martel had smashed. I got out and picked it up and put it in my jacket pocket.

    "What are you doing?"

    Peter said.

    "Nothing. Poking around."

    "I was just thinking, they're serving dinner at the club tonight. If you'll have dinner with me, we can discuss what to do."

    I was getting a little tired of his mournful company. But I was hungry, too. "I'll meet you there."

    9

    I WAS DELAYED on the way. A quarter of a mile down the road from Martel's driveway, a car was parked in the darkness under a live oak. Its lines resembled Harry Hendricks's Cadillac, and when I got out for a closer look with my flashlight, I saw that