The Toff and the Kidnapped Child by John Creasey Page B

as he closed his eyes. “My,” he breathed. “This is really what it’s like to be in the money. Did I ever tell you that I intend to be rich before I’ve finished?”
    Rollison locked the door, which was on the passenger’s side, and went round to the driving wheel. Max had made no attempt to move, and he was smiling raptly when Rollison sat next to him, and put a hand on the wheel.
    â€œToff,” Max went on, very gently. “Don’t let heroics force you into a serious mistake. You live a comfortable kind of life. Any man who can run a car like this and has an address in Mayfair must know all about the good times. Why spoil it? Why try to build up your reputation any more? You’re in the money and Mrs Kane’s in the money. Put me and my friends in the money, and you’ll get the girl back so we can forget all about it. Why don’t you?”
    Rollison said: “Because if you get away with it this time, you’ll try it again.”
    â€œNot on the same people, Toff, and you needn’t know anything about the next time! Twenty thousand pounds is exactly the right sum for me to start with. I know how to work after that. Leah’s a bigger help than you might think. Know what Leah does? She finds my fools, the rich fools, the Ralph Kanes of this world, and I separate them from some of their riches. We thought that Kane was well heeled, but soon found that he had the next best thing – his wife. With twenty thousand in the kitty, so to speak, we can manage quite nicely. Don’t make it difficult and don’t make Mrs Kane a bereaved mother. Be sensible. Tell her to pay up.”
    He was talking earnestly while Rollison was driving towards Kensington High Street, and trying to decide the most effective thing to do. He could take Max to the flat, but it would be impossible to deal with him if Eve were still there. In his heart he knew exactly what Eve would want to do: pay the money. Well, if Eve could afford it, what were the arguments against? The child would be all right, at least he could make sure of that. There was logic in Max’s arguments, and Max knew exactly what he was doing—
    Rollison forced the ideas away almost in dismay. A policeman badly injured if not dead, Max and Leah left to prey upon fools, Max even more cocky if he got away with this: it was impossible to think of advising Eve to pay.
    But she would want to.
    â€œWhile you’re making up your mind,” Max said, “do you mind if I have a cigarette?” He took out cigarettes, used the dashboard cigar lighter as if it were a new toy, puffed with relish, and then went on: “There’s a particularly bad mistake you could make, Toff. You might think that I work alone. Just at the moment, I imagine, a colleague of mine is having a cosy little chat with Caroline’s mother.”
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11
COSY LITTLE CHAT
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    When the door closed behind Richard Rollison, Eve Kane stood looking at the Trophy Wall for a few moments, saw sunlight from the window glint on the glass of a small cabinet filled with phials containing powder, presumably poison, and stepped quickly to the window. By pressing close against it, she could just see the pavement outside the front door of this house. Almost at once, Rollison appeared, and she watched him turn right, and walk with long, easy strides towards the car; a man with complete confidence in himself, and obviously superbly fit. But neither of those things explained the way she felt about him; there was no easy explanation, but it was a simple fact that she felt more at ease with him than she had ever done with a man – even her own husband.
    She would have hated Ralph to see her as she had been when she had come into this room and faced Rollison; it had not occurred to her to think twice about Rollison seeing her. If anything was absolutely certain it was that he would do his utmost to help her, and would not miss a chance.
    She