Chapter 10 Filmer's Blackmail Game

I had to act quickly. I left Lenny in George's hands and when the train arrived at Calgary, I rang Mrs Baudelaire on the radio phone and asked her to have Bill call me back immediately, from a private phone. I needed to speak to him directly and didn't know his number; in fact, I didn't even know whether he was still in Winnipeg or had returned to Toronto.

The phone rang within five minutes, and I told Bill about Lenny Higgs and Daffodil Quentin — about what he had said, and what she had not.

'What do you make of it?' he asked.

'It's fairly clear to me,' I said. 'Filmer's playing his usual games. He's using Thin-face — the man whose photograph I sent you — like he used Welfram in England, to frighten people. He frightened Higgs into telling him about Daffodil Quentin's "sweets" for her horse Thunder. Thin-face told Filmer, and Filmer is now threatening to report Mrs Quentin to the police or the Jockey Club or both unless she gives" him the rest of Laurentide Ice. Mrs Quentin must know that the Jockey Club is already suspicious about the fact that three of her horses have died in such a short space of time, so she's scared - scared enough to feel that she has to give in to Filmer. And that makes her angry as well: no one likes to be threatened.'

'Hmm,' he said. 'I suppose you could be right. You know Filmer and his methods better than I do. What do you want me

to do?'

'Collect Lenny from the station here and lay on another groom for Laurentide Ice,' I said. 'Offer Lenny a ticket to wherever in the world he wants to go to start a new life. Then, at

the right time, we can tell Mrs Quentin that, without Lenny,

Filmer's threats come to nothing. She won't have to give him the

rest of Laurentide Ice, and we'll have stopped a criminal in one of

his crimes. And that's at least part of my job. I know this won't be

easy for you, since you are suspicious of Daffodil Quentin, and if

she did poison her horses, you don't want to see her get away

with it. I don't either, but stopping Filmer is more important

than proving Daffodil guilty, don't you think?'

Bill thought for a short while and then said, 'I think I can live with myself if Mrs Quentin gets away with it. She may be stupid and greedy, but I don't think she's an absolute criminal like Filmer, do you?'

I agreed that she was not.

'And I think I can arrange everything you're asking me to arrange,' said Bill. 'I see why you had to ring me: I'm the only one who could arrange all that at short notice. But I'm glad we've spoken just now, otherwise I'd have had to wait to give you what is obviously important news.'

'What?' I asked excitedly.

'Val Catto says that the numbers are not a phone number, or anything to do with Filmer's birthday, or anything like that: they're his passport number. The numbers you want are 049. He also says that you are not to get arrested. Does this message make sense to you? It sounds odd to me. What are you doing?'

Nothing you need to know about yet,' I said. I repeated the numbers to make sure I'd heard them correctly. Now all I had to do was wait for another chance to get into Filmer's room.

While Bill and I had been talking, through the window I watched Daffodil Quentin storm off the train and into a waiting taxi. Whatever had happened to the other three horses, she had certainly lost this one through evil means - and not her own, this time.

♦

The next stop was Lake Louise, high in the mountains, with the most breathtaking views of natural beauty I had ever seen. The hotel rooms all had huge windows so that one could constantly enjoy the sight of the brilliant blue lake, snow, mountains, pine trees, and the front of an advancing glacier — all against a background of further mountains in the distance.

Nell got everyone settled in their rooms and then joined me in the hotel lounge. I had decided to stay in the same hotel as the passengers, to keep an eye on things. Well, that's what I told Nell I was in the hotel for; in fact, I wanted another chance to look inside Filmer's briefcase. I was running a risk staying in the hotel, since this was not what a normal waiter would do, but the hotel was big enough for me to hide in.

'You'll have to eat alone in your room,' Nell observed.

'True.'

'You must lead a lonely life.'

'Also true.'

'Don't you mind?'

'Not usually,' I said. 'After all, it's my choice.'

'Not usually?' she asked, stressing the last word.

'Well, you could tempt me into a different way of life,' I said with a grin.

Nell said nothing in reply to that, but just looked at me»

'I mean, what are you doing after this trip?' I asked.

'Flying back to Toronto and my job, I suppose,' she said. 'Why? What did you have in mind?'

'How does two weeks in Hawaii sound?'

There was a pause, and then she said, 'I must go and look after
the passengers.'

I caught her hand as she stood up. 'What about Hawaii?' I said.

'Don't you ever give up?' asked Nell.

'Not with you,' I said. 'Tell me you'll come to Hawaii.'

'I'll give you an answer in Vancouver,' she replied.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 636