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.Bending down, she carefully pulled out the case.She looked inside it and felt sick.It was stuffed with stacks of one-hundred-dollar bills.Each package had an elastic band round it.Taking one out, she quickly counted.One hundred US banknotes.With the number of packages there the case must contain thousands of dollars.She replaced the case exactly where — and as — she had found it.Dazed, she stood up.She had to get out of the building before Tweed reappeared.She couldn't face him tonight.She ran down the stairs, paused to speak to George.'Don't bother to tell anyone I was here.Tweed thought I was going to have an early night.''Very good, miss.'She sat in her car after starting the engine, waiting to calm down.Then she drove back to her flat, thankful that there was no traffic, that the streets were empty — as empty as she felt.15At about-the time when Paula and Nield were tackling their main courses at Santorini's, Marler was dining with Denise Chatel at the Lanesborough.The brunette, her long dark hair perfectly coiffeured, wore a silk trouser suit.He was immediately impressed by her stunning appearance and told her so when they'd sat down at their table.'That's a nice compliment.I appreciate it,' she said with a warm smile.'Thank you, Alec.'Later he asked her to choose the wine and she selected a very good vintage in the medium-price range.They chatted easily and 'he found she was the sort of woman you quickly felt you had known for years in the nicest way.She gazed round the restaurant and her blue eyes stared into his.'This is a wonderful place.No wonder it is full of people.''Used to be a big hospital before they converted it into this hotel.Have some more wine.'They went into another room to have coffee and she crossed her shapely legs after sitting down on a couch.Alongside her, he thought about complimenting her on them, but decided it was a bit early in their acquaintance.It was a chance remark on his part which triggered off a development, the consequences of which he could not foresee.'I remember you said you had a French father and an American mother.That's pretty cosmopolitan.''I was.' She hesitated.'I was going to bring up that subject.I hope you won't regard this as trying to pump your business knowledge on the cheap.''Of course not.' He leaned forward.'I'm interested in everything about you.Fire away.''When I was at Park Crescent I mentioned they had been killed together in a car crash.There was something mysterious about it and it still bothers me.They were killed just across the state line in Virginia at a small place I'd have to write down.''Here's a notebook,' he said, producing one from his pocket.'I'd like all the details.''I called the sheriff in charge of the investigation.A man called Jim Briscoe.I'll write that down.He agreed for me to go and see him.He seemed nice enough but I sensed he was embarrassed.Which didn't make sense.He said these accidents unfortunately happened.I asked him if the accident had occurred at a black spot.He said it wasn't.''You didn't go out to view the location, I suppose?''Actually I did.Jim Briscoe took me there at my suggestion.There were no signs of skid marks near the bridge where it happened.I pointed that out.Again he seemed embarrassed, said a lot of traffic could have wiped them out.The only thing is it was a quiet road.I got the idea someone had rubbed out any skid marks.' She smiled ruefully.'You'll think me paranoid.''No I won't.I believe you.What did you want me to do?''Well, Sharon said in passing that Tweed ran a special insurance outfit - that you insure prominent people against being kidnapped.Then, if they are, you negotiate their release unharmed.Which means you have investigators.''You could say that is our business.''Later, I tried to get in touch with Sheriff Briscoe again.A strange voice told me he'd retired early on full pension.I thought that peculiar - Jim Briscoe couldn't have been a day over forty.I said I wanted the FBI brought in - my parents had crossed a state line.The new sheriff was unpleasant - told me the investigation was closed for ever.He said I could be sued for wasting their time.''Odd, very odd.Can you describe the scene where this so-called accident took place?''Yes.A wide highway crosses a bridge over a deep gorge.Reluctantly, Jim Briscoe showed me a photo of the car my parents had died in.There was a huge dent in the side of the car - as though a heavy vehicle had driven into it.And at the exact point just before the bridge started, where they'd be sent straight down into the gorge.'It's a wonder their car didn't burst into flames - or did it?''No, it didn't
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