I Hold the Four Aces (1977) by James Hadley Chase

Author:James Hadley Chase [Chase, James Hadley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

chapter five

Sitting in the shabby lounge of the Hotel de Suisse, Archer thought back on the previous day. He had been busy and was satisfied. He had rented a Mercedes from the Avis people, then had gone around talking to the various estate agents until he had found a small wooden villa on the outskirts of Paradiso which is a continuation of Lugano. It was a modest place and he had been forced to rent it for a month, but it would act admirably, he told himself, as a hide-out for Grenville.

Tomorrow at 14.00, Segetti and Belmont would arrive. He would drive them to Helga’s villa so that they would know where to find it and then to the rented villa. Tomorrow night the kidnapping would take place.

Archer nodded to himself. As long as Grenville had taken care of Helga, Archer could see no reason why, in a few days, he wouldn’t be worth a million dollars. It was, he thought, a well worked-out plan, but everything depended on how well Grenville had done his homework.

Glancing through the dirty glass doors of the hotel that led into the street, he saw a silver and black Rolls-Royce pull up and Grenville about to get out.

Jumping to his feet, Archer hurried from the hotel, and Grenville, seeing him, opened the off-side door. Archer got into the car and Grenville set it moving.

“What a magnificent car!” Archer exclaimed, and a wave of envy ran through him. He thought if it hadn’t been for Helga, by now he might just possibly have been able to buy such a car.

“I have to talk to you!” The sharp note in Grenville’s voice made Archer look quickly at him.

“Is something wrong?”

“This woman is suffocating me! She’s driving me crazy!” Grenville snapped. He edged the car through the heavy traffic until they came to the lake. He looked for parking space, but, in Lugano, parking space was practically non-existent. Muttering under his breath, he continued on, until he found a space with a no-parking sign. He pulled in and turned off the engine. “She now wants me to work in her firm! Can you imagine? She’s determined to marry me! She says she will loan me five million dollars so I won’t be living on her! Who in his right mind would want to work for her? She would never leave me alone! When I wasn’t screwing her, I’d be at a desk!”

Archer drew in a deep breath. If only such an offer had been made to him, he thought. How he would have jumped at it! A loan of five million dollars, and the opportunity to work with the Herman Rolfe Electronic Corporation! He regarded Grenville and suddenly had complete contempt for him. He was, indeed, a gigolo, afraid to work, afraid of responsibility.

“Yes, I understand your feelings,” he said quietly. “But there is no need to get worked up, Chris. How have you left it?”

“I told her I wanted to think it over,” Grenville said sullenly. “I said I thought best when I was playing golf.

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