Her Smile was subdued and she looked a little unsure of herself but she was as radiantly beautiful as the picture that Piper had carried in his mind ever since he left the house in Adelaide Gardens. She brought a glow to the dull afternoon, a golden loveliness that made Piper ache inside.
When she gave him her hand she looked at him as if seeking an old familiar response although knowing all the time that she would see only the face of a stranger. For a moment he had the sensation he had felt when they first met in her father’s house—the feeling that they were alone together, isolated from the rest of the world.
It was a tingling sensation that he knew she shared with him, this awareness that they had known each other long ago. While it lasted he could almost have believed what Fritz Haupmann had told him.
Then it was gone. She said, “I’d like you to meet Leonard Cusack. We’re old friends … he’s also a friend of my father.”
Cusack was a dark, good-looking young man in his late twenties. He had a firm handshake and a pleasant manner but their effect on Piper was spoiled by the way he looked at Gizelle. There was a touch of possessiveness, an easy companionship which excluded Piper completely.
He knew he had no right to resent it, no right to dislike Cusack’s grooming and good looks. Gizelle had evidently known him a long time … perhaps they were more than just friends … perhaps there was some kind of understanding between them. …
Whatever their relationship might be, Piper told himself it was none of his business. He would be childish if he let his attitude become coloured by Haupmann’s ridiculous suggestion, the long-buried hopes that this girl had roused by a smile and the touch of her hand. Some people might call it the seven-year itch. Unless he pulled himself together. …
By the time he brought forward two chairs and asked them to sit down he had his disturbing emotions under control. He said, “Now, Miss Haupmann, what’s this puzzle you talked about on the phone?”
She finished pulling off her gloves and shook back the collar of her fur coat. She said, “When I met you that Saturday afternoon before Christmas I knew I’d seen you somewhere before, but I couldn’t remember where. Then it suddenly came to me this morning. I saw your picture in a newspaper some months ago. You’re a detective, aren’t you?”
Piper said, “You’re probably right about seeing my picture, but I’m not a detective. My business is insurance. I work for most of the big companies as an independent assessor.”
“Yes, I remember reading that. But they also described you as an investigator.”
“Well, I suppose you could call me that. In my job I have to investigate claims of all kinds.”
She looked at Cusack and nodded as if to emphasise that Piper had admitted something she had wanted to hear. She said, “I hope you won’t mind me questioning you like this … but do you investigate insurance claims before they’re made?”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand you.”
Cusack leaned forward. In a clipped voice, he said, “Excuse me, Gizelle. I think it would be better if we got to the point. What she means, Mr. Piper, is that you couldn’t have been investigating an insurance claim when you called on her father that day.”
Piper said, “Just for argument’s sake, why not?”
“Because the fire at his factory didn’t occur until nearly two weeks after your visit.”
There was nothing in the remark to which Piper could reasonably take exception but he wished that Gizelle had come alone. With an effort to prevent any irritation showing itself in his voice, he said, “I think I’m beginning to understand. You want me to tell you what Mr. Haup-mann and I discussed. Isn’t that it?”
Gizelle said, “Please. … I know all this must seem very peculiar to you but it’s terribly important. I need your help, Mr. Piper. You’ll realise why when I explain.”
“Some kind of explanation is necesssary, I’m sure you will agree. This is a very peculiar situation. If you want to know what your father and I talked about why don’t you ask him?”
“Chiefly because it’s possible that I’m wrong.”
“About what?”
“You—and the fire in the storeroom. Something else, too. If there’s no connection then I’d be worrying him for nothing.”
“You’re beginning to worry me,” Piper said. “I assure you, Miss Haupmann, that I was in no way connected with the fire at Old Street.”
The blue of her eyes brightened with what could have been a flash of temper. She said, “You know perfectly well I didn’t mean that.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“Please, Mr. Piper, don’t make fun of me. If you won’t tell me what my father discussed with you then I’ll know it must be true.”
“What must be true, Miss Haupmann? I’m sure you appreciate that your father and I had a private conversation. You’ll have to give me some very good reason before I’ll disclose his personal affairs to you and Mr. Cusack.”
Cusack nodded and stood up. He said, “If I weren’t here you’d be prepared to talk more freely, wouldn’t you?”
Piper said, “Frankly, yes.”
In a non-committal voice, Gizelle said, “I want Leonard to stay, Mr. Piper. There’s nothing you can say that he shouldn’t hear.”
“All I’m prepared to say is that I called on your father because he wanted my advice on some insurance matters.”
“Is that all you talked about—insurance?”
“No, we discussed quite a variety of topics: music, spiritualism, marriage, responsibilities in business, young people to-day compared with when he was young …” Against the dictates of caution, Piper found himself adding, “And you—now I come to think of it.”
Cusack turned to look at her. He seemed mildly concerned.
Gizelle sat up straight. She asked, “What did my father say about me?”
“Only that he wanted you to have nothing but the best from life. I don’t think I’m breaking any confidence if I tell you he was anxious to ensure that you were adequately provided for——”
“—in case anything happened to him,” Gizelle said.
She looked at Cusack. He nodded thoughtfully, fingered the knot in his tie and stared at Piper.
“That pretty well confirms what Miss Haupmann and I suspected,” Cusack said. “Answer one more question and then we’ll tell you why we came here to-day.”
Piper said, “Let me hear your question.”
“Did Mr. Haupmann ask you to carry out any kind of investigation for him?”
“No, nothing like that was ever mentioned. Now I think that either you or Miss Haupmann owe me an explanation.”
Gizelle said, “Leave it to me, Leonard. I’ll tell him.”
Her mouth was hard and there was no longer sunshine in the blue of her eyes. She said, “The explanation’s quite simple, Mr. Piper. Both Mr. Cusack and I are of the opinion that someone wants to kill my father.”
At the back of Piper’s mind he could hear Mrs. McAllister saying “… I sensed evil things when you mentioned his name.… Tell him I see death for him and all who are associated with him.…”
Piper said, “You can’t mean that.”
“But I do.”
“What reason could anyone have for wanting to do such a thing?”
“I’ve been hoping that you would know, that you could tell me why he’s changed so much in the past few weeks.”
“In what way has he changed?”
“He’s a different man, Mr. Piper. I thought perhaps he’d been working too hard … maybe felt a bit under the weather and didn’t want to mention it in case Mother and I got worried. But now I know it’s much more than that.”
“How do you know?”
“Because of what happened last night. This morning a lot of things suddenly linked up: such as, who you were, the visit you paid my father a couple of weeks before Christmas … then the fire.”
Her gloves rolled off her lap on to the floor. She picked them up, put them in her handbag, and snapped it shut.
In a dry voice, she went on, “My father said the fire was an accident but that isn’t true, is it?”
“I’m afraid it isn’t. The fire was no accident. They found ample evidence to show that it had been deliberately started.”
Cusack said flatly, “You were right, Gizelle. But it still doesn’t make sense to me. The fire and what happened last night don’t add up.”
Piper said, “Let’s see if we can make sense out of it. Just what did happen last night?”
“Something”—Gizelle hesitated and bit her lower lip—“something that might have caused my father’s death. It was only luck that saved him.”
“How?”
“He was supposed to be playing bridge at a friend’s house. After dinner he said he felt too tired to go out … thought that maybe he had a touch of ’flu. So Mother advised him to stay at home and take a hot drink and some aspirins when he went to bed. Eventually he phoned his friends to say he wasn’t coming.”
With a little shiver, Gizelle added, “If he hadn’t he’d probably be dead. To get to his friend’s house he always went via Western Avenue … and last night he’d have been in a hurry because he got home late from the factory. It was half-past seven before he decided not to go. …”
“And?”
“Somebody had tampered with the brakes of his car.”
Cusack scuffed his feet and said, “The feed-pipe from the brake-fluid cylinder had been unscrewed. Every time the brakes were used fluid leaked out.”
Piper said, “It’s the kind of thing that could’ve happened accidentally. Nuts have a habit of working loose. How can you be sure this was a deliberate attempt to involve Mr. Haupmann in a car crash?”
“Because whoever loosened the pipe didn’t worry about leaving traces of his handiwork … or else he had no proper spanner. There were distinct marks that had probably been made by the teeth of a pair of pliers. Not much doubt the job was done hurriedly.”
“I see. … If Mr. Haupmann didn’t go out last night when was all this discovered?”
Gizelle said, “After my father decided he was going to stay at home I asked him if I could borrow his car. Mother told me to take hers because she wasn’t going out, either, but I prefer driving the Rover. … I hadn’t gone very far when I found out the brakes weren’t working properly.”
She set her teeth in her lower lip again and put one hand over the other as if she were holding herself in tightly. Cusack’s dark face showed no emotion as he took his eyes off her and looked at Piper.
Piper asked, “What did you do?”
“I managed to stop with the handbrake … but if I’d been going any faster I’d have hit a car that pulled out in front of me from a side road.”
“Sounds as though you were very lucky. From what I heard your father say that time I called on him you usually drive pretty fast.”
“Yes, I suppose I do. But last night I wasn’t going anywhere special. I’d half-promised to go to a house-warming party … and some people I know have been asking me for a long time to visit them. …”
She glanced at Piper as if she knew he would understand. Something in her eyes gave him the breathless feeling he had had when she first smiled at him.
Then she went on, “I was in one of my restless, unsociable moods so I wasn’t keen on meeting people. Eventually I decided I’d go to the cinema and spend the evening in my own company. I’d just made up my mind when the brakes failed.”
“How far were you from home by that time?”
“Not very far … no more than a mile or so.”
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
“They’re doing something to the road near that spot and the surface is very bumpy. About a hundred yards farther on this car came out of the side road. …”
Cusack made a little sound in his throat to attract Piper’s attention. Cusack said, “I know that place quite well; I passed it only the other day. They’re renewing the surface and it’s in a bit of a mess. A car gets thoroughly shaken up … and I’d say that’s when the last of the brake-fluid ran out.”
“You’re probably right,” Piper said.
He wondered if Cusack was in love with Gizelle and if she liked the good-looking young man enough to marry him. There was no disparity in age … they belonged to the same social stratum.
A well-matched couple from any standpoint. Her father must like Cusack, too, or he wouldn’t invite him to his house to play chess.
But if an eligible young man is interested in his daughter why should he have talked to me the way he did? I’m more than a dozen years older than Gizelle. If Haupmann prefers me there must be something wrong with Cusack. …
… Or Gizelle doesn’t fancy him as a husband and Haupmann knows it. Evidently none of her other boy friends is the right man so he’s afraid she won’t be married before trouble catches up with him. And there we’re back to the threat that’s scaring him out of his wits. …
A frightening idea reared up in Piper’s thoughts. He asked, “Could anyone have known, Miss Haupmann, that you’d be borrowing your father’s car last night?”
Cusack stiffened as if he had received a blow in the face. He said, “Good God …” In that moment his real feelings towards Gizelle Haupmann revealed themselves. He was in love with her: of that Piper was sure.
Her eyes looked at each of them in turn—wide, questioning eyes that were more startled than afraid. In a bewildered voice, she said, “I don’t see anyone could’ve known when I didn’t even know myself until——”
Then fear came. She put a hand to her mouth as though to stop the words she had no need to say.
Piper said, “Let’s face the situation squarely. I didn’t mean to tell you this, Miss Haupmann, especially in the presence of a third party, but I now think I ought to. The circumstances justify it.”
Cusack said, “If Mr. Piper is still unhappy about my being here, I don’t mind waiting for you in the car.”
Without looking at him, she said, “Mr. Piper already knows I want you to stay. If he won’t speak in front of you——”
“I’m going to do so now,” Piper said. “But don’t expect too much. So far as motive is concerned, I’m as completely in the dark as you are about the things that have been going on. There is, however, one fact I can give you: Mr. Haupmann knew some time ago that trouble was coming.”
Gizelle asked, “What kind of trouble? I mean, did he tell you he expected something like this?”
“No, he didn’t tell me very much at all although we spent quite a long time together that Saturday afternoon. He just said he was afraid something might happen to him—something very serious. That was why he’d asked me to call on him.”
“But if he wasn’t prepared to confide in you what advice could you give him?”
“It wasn’t advice he wanted. He was anxious to increase his insurance.”
“Didn’t you ask him why?”
“Oh, yes. But his explanation didn’t make me any wiser.”
“I don’t understand. He must’ve given you some reason.”
Piper said, “That’s the whole difficulty. Reason had no part in it. He told me he’d received a spirit message warning him to be on his guard against some evil that threatened him. Although I asked a number of questions that was all I got.”
In a tone of blank disbelief, Gizelle said, “Do you mean to say he took that sort of thing seriously?”
“So seriously that he increased his life insurance to a very considerable figure. I thought it most peculiar … but I couldn’t see any reason why the company should object to the issue of a new policy.”
As though the words were being forced out of him, Cusack said, “What utter rubbish!”
With intolerance showing on his dark, good-looking face, he rested his hands on Piper’s desk and stared down at him. There was little apology in his voice as he said, “I don’t want you to take that the wrong way, Mr. Piper. I didn’t mean that you were talking rubbish.”
Piper said, “Wrong way or right way, it doesn’t matter. You’re entitled to your own opinion.”
“Isn’t it your opinion, too? Do you believe that a man of Mr. Haupmann’s intelligence and education could be influenced by anything so ridiculous?”
“I’m only repeating what he told me.”
“But there must be more to it. It wasn’t just a spirit message that made him send for you. I think he made up that story to stop you questioning him.”
“That wasn’t the impression I got. So far as I could tell it was the truth.”
“Do you mean you swallowed all this spiritualist nonsense about messages from the dead?”
“No, I didn’t say that. What I am saying is that I’m sure Mr. Haupmann believes in it. You knew, didn’t you, that he was a spiritualist?”
“Yes, but”—Cusack twisted his head round to look at Gizelle—“I certainly never got the idea that he was out of his mind.”
Gizelle said, “After what’s happened I don’t know how you can say a thing like that. I’m no believer in spiritualism but, if my father did have some kind of warning or premonition, don’t you think it’s strange that there should be first that fire at his warehouse and then the tampering with the brakes of his car last night?”
Cusack swivelled round and propped himself on a corner of the desk. Very deliberately he folded his arms before he said, “You’re not suggesting that one thing’s got anything to do with another … are you?”
“I don’t know. But I’m frightened … terribly frightened. What did you think, Mr. Piper, when you heard about the fire?”
Piper said, “I must admit I didn’t know what to think. Coming on top of what your father had told me, his conviction that something was going to happen to him, it was all very queer … especially when everything pointed to the fact that the fire was no accident.”
Cusack asked, “Are you quite sure of that?”
“Quite sure. Someone broke into the premises, piled up a heap of rubbish on the floor of the stockroom, and set it alight.”
In a crisp voice, Cusack said, “Then that’s that. Ghosts don’t light fires. What’s more, I’ve never heard of one that tampered with the brakes of a car.”
Gizelle moistened her lips and looked at Piper with an unspoken question in her eyes. He said, “Of course Mr. Cusack’s right. There’s obviously nothing supernatural about all this. Once could have been a coincidence—but not twice. Providing there’s no doubt about last night’s affair. …”
“No doubt at all. I saw it for myself,” Cusack said.
“How did that come about?”
“Well, Miss Haupmann phoned her own local garage but there was only a pump attendant on duty and he couldn’t do anything for her. She didn’t want to let her father know about the car because most likely he’d have said it was all due to her fast driving, so she rang me. Before I left home I got in touch with the A.A.”
“Did you see this loosened fluid pipe before it was put right?”
“Yes. I got there two or three minutes before the breakdown truck arrived. I couldn’t understand how the nut had come loose but I had no reason at the time to suspect that it might’ve been done deliberately. I only began to think something funny was going on when Miss Haupmann talked to me afterwards about her father’s unusual behaviour and——”
“Just a moment. What did the A.A. man say about the cause of the trouble?”
“There were two men and both of them were of the same opinion. The nut couldn’t have unscrewed itself. These things are of a special construction and they lock once they’re screwed up tight. The A.A. men could only suggest that somebody had done a careless job of work the last time the brake lines were checked … although they didn’t see why there’d been any need to interfere with the pipe from the brake-fluid cylinder. They advised Miss Haupmann to kick up a fuss with her garage and——”
“If you don’t mind,” Piper said, “I’d like Miss Haupmann to tell me the rest. Have you spoken to the garage people yet?”
She nodded. In a dry voice, she said, “I called there this morning and saw the mechanic who serviced my father’s car two days ago. He’s one of their best men and he looks after the Rover each time it’s brought in. My father always gives him a generous tip so he takes extra care over everything he does.”
“Did he say he’d checked the brakes?”
“Yes, and he assured me they’d been absolutely all right. The brake-fluid hadn’t needed topping-up; he remembered checking it.”
“Could he account at all for what had happened?”
“No. When I told him the brakes had failed and why, he swore that the car hadn’t left the garage in that condition. He’d had no occasion to disconnect the pipe from the brake cylinder.”
With a little shiver, she added, “I don’t know very much about the workings of a car and I can’t prove or disprove what he says … but I believe him.”
Piper said, “All of which means that it couldn’t have happened accidentally.”
“It also means that the car must’ve been tampered with after Mr. Haupmann returned home last night,” Cusack said. “The brakes must’ve been all right up to that time or he’d have had trouble when he left the factory.”
“And if there had been anything wrong, Miss Haupmann, he wouldn’t have let you borrow the car,” Piper said. “Have you told him what happened last night?”
She shook her head. With something at the back of her eyes that switched Piper’s thoughts in a new direction, she glanced at Cusack.
“Why not, Miss Haupmann? Don’t you think he’s entitled to know what’s going on?”
Without any expression, she said, “He already knows. From the way he’s been behaving during the past few weeks, this would come as no surprise to him.”
“Because he received a spirit message telling him to be on his guard?”
“I don’t know. Maybe that’s only a part of it. Maybe he”—she stumbled over the words—“has other reasons for being afraid.”
“You mean that someone’s been threatening him?”
“That’s the only thing I can assume. He wouldn’t have arranged to increase his insurance just because of something he was told at a spiritualist meeting. It must’ve been a lot more tangible than that.”
“There I agree with you. I’ve been of that opinion ever since I heard about the fire. What I still can’t understand is why he doesn’t get in touch with the police.”
Gizelle stared into the middle-distance and moved uncomfortably. She said, “That’s what worries me more than anything else. He must be afraid to tell the police.”
Cusack said, “You made that same remark at lunch. It doesn’t make sense. What has he to be afraid of? He’s a man who’s respected by everyone, a man with the best character in the world. I’d stake my life he’s never done anything that could expose him to blackmail.”
Piper said, “Blackmailers don’t usually try to kill their victims. It doesn’t show a profit.”
“Then what do you think is behind all this?”
“I’ve no idea. Right now I’m more interested in who rather than what. And that’s where you and Miss Haupmann might be able to help.”
“Tell us how.”
“I’d like to have the names of everybody who could have known he was playing bridge last night. That’ll give me somewhere to start.”
Gizelle said, “No, it wouldn’t do you much good. There might be a hundred people who’d know he was going out for the evening*—friends, neighbours, business acquaintances, people at the factory. It’s no secret that he plays bridge every Thursday night.”
“All right. Let’s tackle it the other way round. Who could’ve found out that last night would be the exception, that he’d decided to stop at home?”
She stared through Piper while she thought, a frown clouding the vivid blue of her eyes. Then she said, “Only the men he always plays with.”
“Who are they?”
“I can’t really say. It’s not always the same people. Mostly there are five of them—including my father—so that if one can’t turn up they’re sure of having a four.”
“Were there four last night?”
“Yes. If there hadn’t been, my father would’ve gone even though he didn’t feel in the mood.”
“What time would it be when they were told he wasn’t coming?”
“About half past seven. The game normally starts around eight o’clock.”
“Where was the car while your father was at dinner?”
“In our garage.”
“Does he usually put it in the garage when he intends going out again?”
“Not usually … but I have known him do it quite often when the weather’s cold. And it was very cold last night.”
“Do you know if the garage doors were locked?”
“No … but I shouldn’t think it’s at all likely.”
“So anybody could’ve got in while the family were at dinner?”
“Well, there’d be nothing to prevent them. In the dark they wouldn’t be seen and I don’t suppose it would take very long to lift the bonnet and unscrew one nut.”
Cusack pushed himself off the corner of the desk and held up a hand to forestall Piper’s next question. Cusack said, “I hope you won’t object to me interrupting but I don’t see the point of this. It doesn’t prove anything, one way or the other.”
“It might establish when the tampering was done.”
“Not with any degree of certainty. Whoever did it might not have known that Mr. Haupmann originally intended to go out again. The idea might have been to involve him in an accident on his way to the factory this morning.”
“If that were so, the tamperer would’ve run less risk if he’d waited until later in the evening when the household would be asleep.”
“That could’ve involved another risk. The garage wouldn’t be left unlocked all night.”
“How did anyone know that Mr. Haupmann hadn’t locked the garage when he put the car away on his return home?”
After thinking about it, Cusack said, “That’s a point. Yet I can’t help thinking that it might all have been done on a sudden impulse. Maybe this prowler found the garage doors unlocked and just seized his opportunity.”
Piper said, “If he brought a pair of pliers with him it could hardly have been something he thought of on the spur of the moment. Are there any tools lying around in the garage, Miss Haupmann?”
Gizelle said, “No.” She was watching Piper as if she could anticipate his next thought.
“Does either of the two cars possess a toolkit that someone could’ve made use of?”
“Then it looks as if we must accept that this thing was deliberately planned. The question is: what was behind the attempt to wreck your father’s car?”
“I should’ve thought that was obvious,” Cusack said.
Gizelle moistened her lips again. After a false start, she said, “I know what Mr. Piper’s still got in his mind … and he may be right.”
Piper said, “Without trying to frighten you, I’d say it’s a possibility that must be considered. Was the attempt directed against your father—or were you the intended victim?”
Gizelle shook her head. Then she put a hand to her cheek and looked at Cusack.
Before he could say anything, Piper went on, “The important thing to recognise is that this business won’t stop just because last night’s attempt failed. You and your father, Miss Haupmann, will be in constant danger from now on—probably your mother, too. In the circumstances there’s only one thing we can do about it.”
With an edge to her voice, Gizelle asked, “What do you suggest?”
“We must inform the police.”
“No.” She opened her handbag and brought out her gloves. Then she stood up.
In an inflexible voice, she said, “I won’t agree to that. Mr. Cusack and I discussed it before I spoke to you on the phone and I told him then that I wouldn’t have the police brought into the affair.”
“Why not?”
“Because my father doesn’t wish it. If he did he’d have got in touch with them himself long ago. I don’t know what his reasons are and I don’t care. This is a private matter, a family matter. So far as I’m concerned it’s going to stay that way.”
“Attempted murder can’t be kept secret very long,” Piper said. “Next time, your father’s enemy might be successful.”
“That’s why I came to see you. With all your experience——”
“I couldn’t hope to protect all three of you. I’m only an individual with no special resources. The police command a vast organisation and it’s their kind of job. For the sake of everyone concerned you mustn’t try to keep this thing a secret.”
Gizelle said, “Now I realise it was a mistake to confide in you. Although you pretend interest in my father and me it isn’t true. Your only worry is in case something happens to him and the Cresset Insurance Company has to pay out a lot of money.”
“Not my only worry,” Piper told her. “But I won’t deny it’s important. After all, I’m employed by the company and I’m bound to protect their interests. If your father had been driving his car last night and he’d been killed, it would’ve cost the Cresset twenty thousand pounds.”
“And that, naturally, is your chief concern, isn’t it?”
“Only if it was your father who was the target of last night’s attempt. You’re not insured and neither is your mother but I still want to see that both of you are protected.”
Piper turned to Cusack and asked, “How about you? Don’t you agree that the only sensible course is to notify the police?”
Cusack massaged his chin and made a doubtful face. He said, “There’s a lot to be said for it… but I can also see Miss Haupmann’s point of view. It stands out a mile that her father doesn’t relish publicity. I don’t know his reasons but they must be pretty good and, once you involve the police, the whole thing’s bound to come out.”
“If I promise that I’ll do my best to have it handled discreetly, will you persuade Miss Haupmann to change her mind?”
Gizelle looked at Cusack and asked, “Well, Leonard? Do you agree with Mr. Piper?”
He let go of his chin and shrugged. He said, “Whether I agree or not is beside the point. If you don’t feel inclined to have policemen asking questions that’s all right with me … at least, for the time being.”
Piper said, “There might be no time to spare. What if I ignore your wishes, Miss Haupmann, and go to the police myself?”
“I’ll merely deny that anything at all happened last night. Unless I confirm what you tell them the police can do nothing.”
Piper knew that the tenuous bond between them had been broken. He was just a stranger—someone whom she now disliked because he was trying to prevent her having her own way.
As she walked stiffly-erect to the door, Cusack looked at Piper and shrugged again. Piper said, “Before you go, Miss Haupmann, I think there’s one thing I ought to tell you.”
Over her shoulder, she asked, “And what is that?”
She was very beautiful in spite of the coldness in her eyes, the imperious note in her voice that made her sound like a great lady talking to a servant. He knew that life with Gizelle Haupmann would be lived on her terms, that she would never accept the idea of compromise until she learned that looks alone gave her no right to dictate.
The man who married her would give and she would take … unless he started off by showing her that he refused to jump to her bidding. Perhaps that was why she was still single. Perhaps her men friends had been strong enough to break away before they lost their strength—like Cusack. He was probably willing to have her on any terms. …
Piper said, “I may be wrong, Miss Haupmann, but unless I’m very far wrong, your father’s in no immediate danger. I think it’s you we ought to be worried about.”
She looked at him for a moment longer, her face still cold but her eyes once again searching and doubtful. Then she opened the door.
In a fretful voice, Cusack said, “Why do you keep saying that? It can’t be true. Nobody has any reason to harm Gizelle. Last night’s trick must’ve been meant for Mr. Haupmann. It doesn’t make sense otherwise.”
Piper asked, “Doesn’t it? If you hated a man could you think of any better way of striking at him?”