Header: Detail from Australian comic The Earlybirds / Air hawk 1969

In-text 2: From film ‘Convicts at Large’

Footer: Detail from the Filou Mystery, InDiDs

As Brentford and Orly glided smoothly towards them, Jasmine, her hands to her mouth, tried to hide behind Melody. Tight lipped, Melody rose to her feet, prepared to attract attention in the most feminine manner by screaming loudly in the café if the two men offered any threat to them. Brentford affected to notice nothing amiss however, and stood casually at one of the empty chairs opposite Melody, a supercilious grin on his chubby face.

‘My dear young woman, there’s no need to be alarmed,’ he began. But he made no further move towards her.

Melody glanced briefly towards Jasmine and returned her steady gaze to the two men. ‘You’re all together aren’t you?’ she challenged.

‘Aah, yes my dear.’

‘Good. You can sit together then.’ Melody gestured peremptorily towards the cubicle inviting Brentford and Orly to be seated next to Jasmine.

The two men obeyed meekly. Jasmine stood and made room for them, and after they were settled she resumed her place. It did not surprise Melody that the girl choose to sit close to Brentford and Orly. She had guessed straight away that they were somehow in league with one another. The trio looked decidedly uncomfortable cramped together at the back of the cubicle. Satisfied that Brentford and Orly would be hampered if they decided to make any sudden move towards her, Melody sat at the other side of the table facing them.

‘Now,’ she said tersely, ‘Jasmine has just been telling me that you still think I have some knowledge of the diamond. She says you want to negotiate a fifty-fifty share between us.’

‘That’s quite right, yes,’ admitted Brentford unhappily.

‘What makes you think I have it?’

‘The young lady here,’ and Brentford indicated Jasmine, ‘swears blind that you have it, my dear.’

‘How can you be so sure?’ asked Melody, pinning Jasmine with her eyes.

The girl squirmed. ‘Just something I know,’ she replied lamely.

‘Well it’s a damn sight more than I know!’ countered Melody. She turned back to the two men. ‘I wouldn’t put much faith in what she says. During the short time I’ve known her she’s lied at least as often as she’s told the truth.’

‘Oh I’m certain she’s told us the truth,’ said Brentford. ‘We persuaded her that it’s better to come clean with us.’

‘I daresay.’

Although Melody distrusted Jasmine, she could not help feeling sorry for the girl. It was quite possible that in the fear of the moment she had lit upon the pretence of making Melody responsible for the diamond in order to shift attention from herself.

Melody did not know that Jasmine had spent the last hours bound, gagged and terrified in the Excelsior Hotel, overhearing Brentford and Orly in the adjoining room discussing how best to do away with her. The con men’s ruse had been only partially effective on Jasmine however.

Melody was almost certain that Jasmine really did know where the diamond was. Has she hidden it, I wonder and is she waiting for the coast to clear of assorted villains and police before she retrieves it for herself? That would be characteristic of her. But now it was more important to neutralize Brentford and Orly somehow and get Jasmine Morris on her own to make a full confession. But how could she get rid of the two men and keep Jasmine with her, especially as the girl all but admitted she had thrown in her lot with them? Jasmine was likely to slip out of sight the moment one’s eyes were taken off her.

These thoughts flashed through Melody’s mind even as Brentford continued with his thinly veiled hints. ‘If you take my advice, dear Miss Hazard, you’ll do the same.’

‘I’m not afraid of you wimps,’ Melody exclaimed. ‘You’ve managed to put the wind up Jasmine here but unless you want a thick lip I’d advise you not to try anything on with me!’ Melody knew she sounded more confident than she felt.

Brentford turned a lighter shade of green, then his pudgy face began to purple. Orly’s smooth aquilineface paled and a thin sheen of sweat on his brow was reflected in the glow from the ceiling lamps. While they were still recovering from Melody’s unexpected threat, she followed up on a temporizing note.

‘I tell you what I can do instead. Let’s assume I do have the diamond. What offer have you in mind?’

Brentford brightened up. ‘Ahh. I would ask that you deliver it to our safe keeping at a place prearranged to our mutual satisfaction. You will receive a cash payment of, shall we say, $200,000 each? That’s more than generous considering we will have the problem of locating a fence willing to accept the merchandise. The risks all become ours once you’ve handed over the gem.`

‘It may take a little time,’ said Melody thoughtfully. ‘Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow.’

The two men looked at each other. A silent agreement seemed to have been made and Brentford positively beamed at her. ‘Jolly good. Yes. Where shall we meet, dear lady?’

‘This hotel is as good as anywhere. In the meantime, I want Jasmine to stay with me. You don’t want to go with these men do you?’ she asked the girl.

Jasmine shook her head mutely but Melody thought she detected the hint of a smirk on her face.

‘Right. It’s settled then,’ said Melody, rising to her feet and stepping away so that first Jasmine and then the two con men could also stand.

She made sure that Brentford and Orly walked ahead and that Jasmine was between her and the men. They crossed the foyer. Outside, the night was pitch and a bleak wind howled. Rain would come any minute. As they reached the main entrance Brentford and his companion sprinted spontaneously down the steps and into the shadows of the street with a speed that surprised Melody.

‘Wait for me!’ cried Jasmine, and the slim young woman darted away from Melody’s side and in a moment was also lost in the night.

Melody did not attempt to run in pursuit. She had wanted to get rid of Brentford and Orly and if they chose to leave in suchan undignified manner it was their problem. As for Jasmine, Melody suspected that the little liar - and was she also a thief? - was well able to look after herself.

Melody stood in the doorway of the coffee-house and for awhile watched the wind-swept street, her hands in her pockets, head slightly bowed in thought. A movement somewhere behind her caught her eye and she whirled, her mind springing into focus at the suggestion of new danger. A large figure detached itself from the shadow cast by an open office doorway and advanced towards her. As the man came into the light Melody gasped in disbelief.

It was Cuthbert Brentford. Melody found herself staring into the muzzle of a nasty looking automatic partly hidden in the folded newspaper in his hand.

‘We’re baaack,’ Brentford crowed softly. ‘Don’t try to do anything foolish, m’dear.’

*

Eight hours before the events just narrated, Orly and Brentford were responding to Jasmine’s gagged whimperings by removing the cloth packed in her mouth and releasing her arms from their bonds. Jasmine was ready to come clean, as they say in all worthy detective stories.

Fortified by a stiff brandy, Jasmine sat on the edge of her chair and wrung her hands in exasperation.

‘I thought it would be so simple. Sneak into her flat while she was out, grab the diamond, and get out again with her none the wiser. But when I got there I had so much trouble. I’m not cut out to be a locksmith - ruined two of my nails - and it was nowhere to be seen. It was a stroke of luck that you appeared when you did.’

‘All part of our service dear lady,’ intoned Brentford, sealing the compliment with a kiss to the finger tips, including those with the ruined nails.

‘Jolly right old boy,’ remarked Orly from where he stood near the window of their hotel room, a glass of sherry held delicately between his finger tips.

‘You tricked me at first with that phony story about being insurance agents,’ Jasmine continued, ‘but I’ve played that game before, in a more respectable way I’ll have you know. And it’s a dangerous game you’re playing too,’ she added with a sudden attack of commonsense, unconsciously using Melody’s words. ‘ … What with that shotgun gang.’

Ahh yes,’ mused Brentford. ‘I think I played one of my best parts back there at that ruin they think is home, persuading that thick headed gentleman Montague to cooperate. But I don’t mind saying I had cold sweat down my spine.’

‘Oh you poor dear,’ said Jasmine soothingly.

She rose and walked to the side of Brentford’s chair with a rustle of the brilliantly rose patterned silk dress into which she had changed. Jasmine began to massage Brentford around the nape of his neck. He lay back and purred with contentment.

Then, as if the girl’s ministrations had set off a chain of thought he remarked, ‘It’ll be our necks if Sir Murgatroyd’s diamond isn’t returned to him.’

‘Whatever made you two accept such a risky job?’

‘Ah, dear Jasmine, a momentary lapse of judgement.’

‘Damn bad judgement,’ contributed Orly from his place at the window.

‘The lure of money, filthy lucre.’

‘Can’t get enough of it,’ said Orly lugubriously.

‘Didn’t realise that millionaire cad took failure so seriously until it was too late. Listen to the sound of it: "Johnny Montague." A two-bit hood! It’ll ruin our reputation.’

‘Not at all good to mix with those types,’ said Orly.

‘But we’re trapped, aren’t we?’ asked Jasmine with a little gasp.

‘For the time being dear gel.’ Brentford raised a hand and stroked one of Jasmine’s bare arms. ‘But I’m looking hard for a way out.’

‘The best way is to get that diamond,’ said Orly.

‘Which brings us to the beginning of our witty conversation,’ Brentford summed up tiredly.

‘Well, Melody Hazard might have an answer,’ Jasmine suggested cautiously. ‘She really did help me. And she would have done more if I hadn’t chickened out. And if I hadn’t cheated her,’ she added pensively.

‘But she’ll turn us in to the police,’ Orly interposed.

Brentford nodded in agreement. ‘It seems to me our best choice is to flit the scene quick fast. Hide somewhere else in this great city and keep tabs on Miss Hazard’s movements the next couple of days. If we knew where she lives. I don’t expect she’ll be staying in that parkside apartment much longer.’

‘I could try to find the diamond again,’ said Jasmine eagerly.

‘Exactly, my dear. In the meantime come sit on daddy’s knee.’

‘Brent darling,’ cooed Jasmine as she slipped into his lap.

The phone rang.

‘You get it Orly old fellow, there’s a good chap,’ Brentford requested in a smothered voice.

Orly picked up the receiver. ‘Ye-es? Oh … It’s for you.’ He handed the receiver to Brentford as though it was contaminated. ‘Johnny Montague,’ he muttered under his breath.

As he raised the receiver to his ear Brentford felt that all his troubles were coming together to haunt him once again. Not for the first time, he wished they were out of the mess. The walls seemed to be closing in.

So began the steps that led to Melody being duped by Cuthbert Brentford, Rupert Orly, and Jasmine Morris.

*

As she drove the hire car towards the Excelsior Hotel, Melody was continually aware of the automatic pointed at the back of her neck. Brentford was so seriously intent on the abduction that Melody dared not argue. Orly, seated beside her, watched her every movement like a hawk. Jasmine, in the back seat, took up as small a space as she could, huddled fretfully in a corner as far from Brentford as possible. The journey was completed in silence.

Disembarkation was also uneventful. Melody was told to park in the rear of the hotel. And, when it was time for her to climb out of the car, Orly stood close so there was no chance of running. His tall, debonaire manner was belied by the bulge in the right-hand pocket of his jacket. They must both have guns, Melody thought hopelessly. They reached the con men’s luxury suite by the back stairs and saw no-one.

Once inside, Brentford got down to business straight away, much to Melody’s discomfort. The big man opened a cupboard and took from it several coils of sash cord. He turned and tossed one length to Jasmine who dropped it and had to retrieve it from the carpet.

‘Make yourself useful, Jasmine dear, and bind your friend’s hands, behind her. Make sure the cord goes tightly around her wrists before you make the knot.’

Jasmine approached Melody reluctantly with her head lowered, not wishing to look her in the eyes. ‘I … I’m sorry,’ she stammered, ‘We have to do what he tells us.’

Melody did not share that sentiment, but with the two men watching on with amused smiles she could scarcely resist,so she turned and presented her arms behind her back. As Jasmine looped the cord about her wrists, Melody made fists of her hands and stiffened her forearms. The young woman binding her was clearly inexperienced in such things. This meant that when at last the ends of the cord were tied, after a little fumbling, Melody had only to relax her hands to feel the loops around her wrists begin to loosen. Jasmine stood back and surveyed her work, casting a worried frown in Brentford’s direction.

‘That will do to begin with,’ Brentford commented amiably. He was standing too far from Melody for the loose ties to be seen, and Melody with presence of mind had turned to face her captors.

‘I think we’ll now ask you to resume the seat you so inconveniently vacated the other night,’ Brentford purred. He nodded towards one of the wooden chairs nested against the dinner table. With an excess of cooperation that caused Melody to wonder, Jasmine almost ran to the chair, picked it up, and carried it to the center of the room. With a sigh, Melody sat in it and, as Jasmine undid one of the longer coils of cord, settled herself as comfortably as she could.

Under Brentford’s watchful gaze, Jasmine did a creditable job of roping Melody into the chair. The cord was passed several times about Melody’s waist and the back of the chair and made tight. Separate short coils were used to fasten the captive’s pretty ankles to each chair leg. She felt vulnerable. As more rope was passed about her upper body above and below her breasts, Melody not only felt increasingly vulnerable, she also began to doubt her ability to get free. But she reminded herself that the key lay in her bound wrists. If she could get her hands free, everything else would follow, no matter how tight the additional bindings were made.

When Jasmine at last stood back, once again to admire her handiwork, Melody wriggled experimentally in her bonds and felt a jolt of panic rise within her as she realised how tightly she had been tied. She looked at Jasmine enquiringly. The girl was becoming an apt pupil at ‘learning the ropes’ surprisingly well, and the suspicion formed more strongly than ever in Melody’s mind that the little liar was secretly in league with these two men.

‘That’s neatly parceled for the time being,’ observed Brentford with a chuckle. ‘There’s one more, ahh, let us say aesthetic, touch. Orly, dear chap, perhaps you will do the honors as before?’

Melody looked across her shoulder apprehensively at Orly. The man was pacing towards her thoughtfully, folding a triangular handkerchief of fine cotton into a broad band as he came.

‘My dear young woman,’ said Orly, ‘there’s no need to look such daggers at me. This is just a small precaution on our part. You will not find it too uncomfortable.’

Melody turned her head away and pursed her lips stubbornly. Orly chuckled. ‘Have it your way, my dear. We have no intention of being fierce with you. Yet.’

And to Melody’s surprise, Orly contented himself by tying the gag firmly over her mouth and lips, and not between her jaws as she had expected. He bound the knot very tightly, however, and Melody could not prevent herself from sounding a faint whimper of disapproval.

‘I must add this warning, my dear,’ Orly continued, ‘If you try to interfere in any way with that gag, it will be retied with a lot of mouth packing, and then you will be really uncomfortable. Think about it and decide. We want you to sit quietly and make no fuss. Do you understand?’

Melody nodded, beaten. If one of her captors remained in the room at all times, she would have no opportunity to get her hands free. She knew that any attempt to do so would only succeed in being tied more tightly. She was as much a prisoner under these lesser restraints than she would have been in the hands of a more professional, and cruel, abductor. She looked across at Jasmine, who was standing just outside the circle made by the two men and their seated captive. Melody thought she saw the hint of a satisfied smirk on the girl’s pouting lips.

Brentford and Orly looked at each other expectantly.

‘What to do?’ asked Orly, rubbing his hands together.

‘I think that a little interregnum is in order,’ replied his companion thoughtfully, ‘a regrouping of our mental forces. A council of war, as it were, before we get down to the real business of interrogating this delectable woman.’

Melody had a sharp experience of déjà vu. These two enjoy their liqueur breaks, she thought ironically, and she smiled behind the gag in spite of her increasing discomfort, bound as she was in the wooden chair.

‘I agree wholeheartedly, dear chap,’ said Orly, ‘Which reminds me. There’s another little bird whose wings need to be clipped.’

As Orly spoke, both men converged with lightning speed on Jasmine Morris. Brentford took the girl by her upper arms and led her firmly to another chair as Orly scooped it up from the table behind Melody. Jasmine was firmly pushed into the seat and Orly immediately drew her arms behind her back.

‘Wha … What do you think you’re doing?’ Jasmine squeaked shrilly. ‘You told me … mmmph.’

Jasmine’s words trailed into garbled murmurings as Brentford bound a white handkerchief very tightly over her lips.

The two men worked together quickly and efficiently, trussing Jasmine into her chair just as securely as Melody was bound, perhaps even tighter. Melody could only look on, a truly helpless spectator herself. Jasmine made ineffective squealing sounds through her gag and shook her head wildly from side to side, but her struggles had no effect on the bonds that now held her, or the two men who stood looking down at the pair of prisoners.

‘A neat job, old boy,’ Brentford observed. ‘We will repair shortly to the adjoining bedroom for our council of war,’ he added, addressing Melody. ‘But first,’ he turned to Orly, ‘do check Miss Hazard’s bonds. I don’t altogether trust one woman tying up another, especially when one of them is a bare slip of a girl.’

‘You were right to question that,’ said Orly, when he knelt behind Melody’s chair to inspect the cords holding her arms. ‘These wrist ties are loose … Ah, that’s better.’ Melody jerked and let out a muffled yip of pain as the cords were tightened. ‘A small lesson for you my dear,’ said Orly, leaning over Melody’s shoulder. ‘I’ll loosen these wrist bonds in twenty minutes’ time. That’s the recommended period for relieving a tourniquet I believe.’

Tears stung Melody’s eyes, not least because this small act of cruelty seemed completely out of character for Orly. Her fingers were already tingling as the supply of blood to her hands was cut off.

Orly inspected Jasmine’s bonds as well. Then, with a cluck of approval, he rose and walked into the adjoining room. Brentford followed, turning at the doorway to raise his forefinger to his lips, repeating in mime his warning to the two bound women not to try slipping their gags. The door closed. Melody could hear the faint murmur of the men’s voices, otherwise all was quiet in the hotel suite except for the strained breathing of the two prisoners.

Melody tried hard not to succumb to panic. It was agony to move her fingers even slightly and she had to sit very still in order to reduce the pain of her bound wrists to a minimum. There was no possibility at all of her being able to reach a knot. Already her fingers were no longer tingling. Instead, they felt numb, and it was now her palms that tingled and itched.

Jasmine on the other hand was vigorously fighting her bonds, bucking up and down and from side to side so that Melody feared the frantic girl would upset her chair and take a heavy fall. Even on the thick plush carpet, a fall would be a painful matter.

After a few minutes Jasmine’s struggles subsided, but she kept up a continuous wriggling and grunting that began to get on Melody’s nerves. Melody closed her eyes, let her head rest wearily against the back of the chair, and tried to block out Jasmine’s snuffling noises and, more especially, the growing pain in her arms. Melody’s hands as well as her fingers were by now numb and useless, and the tingling crept up her arms. The bonds above her elbows were also tight enough to cut circulation. In a few more minutes her upper limbs from her elbows to her fingertips had grown quite numb.

Melody lost track of time and it was a long while before she became aware that Jasmine was no longer making whiffling noises through her nose. She lifted her head and looked enquiringly at the girl bound in the chair a little way from her, but Jasmine’s head was bowed and she appeared to be either resting or even to have fainted. Melody was too exhausted from pain just then to care much about her companion.

She closed her eyes again and began to pray that Orly would soon come to loosen the bonds as he had promised. Oh God, if she only did know where that awful diamond was, she would blurt it out to those two men without a second thought. Being tightly bound in this way was as much torture as the more active forms known in dungeons and torture chambers.

She must have gone into a mental fugue, because Melody was roused suddenly, surprised by a movement beside her. Momentarily she thought it was Orly come to loosen her ties, but when she turned her head she was amazed to find Jasmine’s worried look as the girl began to fumble at her gag. At first the tightly drawn band of cotton resisted Jasmine’s fingers, then it slipped down over Melody’s chin and gratefully she took a deep breath.

‘Are you all right?’ Jasmine asked worriedly.

‘What a silly question, Jasmine. No, of course I’m not all right!’ Melody exclaimed. ‘For God’s sake, get these ropes off me!’

‘I … I’m sorry,’ Jasmine faltered. ‘I’m not used to this sort of thing.’

‘You did a pretty good job of tying me to this chair,’ Melody countered. ‘I think you have hidden talents, Jasmine.’

The scatterbrained blonde (if that is what she was) appeared not to notice Melody’s irony. As the girl picked at the knots of her wrist bonds, Melody clenched her teeth, not only to stifle the cry of pain that came to her lips but also to bite back any further annoyance she felt towards the girl. Jasmine was after all doing her best to free her. And she must work fast. It would all be wasted if Brentford and Orly re-entered the room.

Instead, Melody asked Jasmine, ‘How on earth did you manage to get free?’

‘I … I don’t know. Somehow the knots came loose … There, that’s your hands done. I’ll try to get these ropes off your arms now.’

Melody fought back the impulse to pull on her bonds. Her hands remained numb until Jasmine at last managed to undo the knots at her elbows. When they came free, Melodybegan shaking as circulation returned to her arms. She was unable to do anything to cooperate with Jasmine, could only sit still and massage her arms and wrists while the remaining ropes were gradually removed.

When the last coil fell to the floor at her feet, Melody realised there was no time to lose. With a re-assertion of self-command, she spoke in scarcely a whisper. ‘Quick, Jasmine, let’s get out of this place before they come back.’

Jasmine needed no second bidding and in a moment the two women were out of the door and flying down the carpeted passageway towards the rear exit up which they had come. Melody did not stop for breath until they had put a couple of blocks between them and the hotel. Both women were shaking from delayed shock, and Jasmine had to sit on a park bench to steady her nerves.

*

Meanwhile, Brentford and Orly were lounging in the armchairs of their bedroom, double whiskeys and sodas in their hands. Brentford spoke. ‘Do you think our dear little birds have flown?’

‘Yes, dear boy. I thought I heard the door close a moment ago when you were in the bathroom.’

‘Good. Good. This little ploy could save our bacon. Although it depends so much on whether our delightful but oh so naïve young Jasmine can come up trumps.’

‘Yers,’ Orly agreed. ‘It is not a comfortable feeling at all to think that one’s future is in the hands of such a scatterbrained young woman.’

‘Indeed. I don’t think she yet sees the gravity of the situation we are all in.’

‘No. I say, old boy, do you think I was too rough on the delectable Miss Hazard? I really did tie her arms most awfully tight.’

‘I applaud your fine feelings, Rupert old chum, but dangerous times call for dangerous measures. I feel sure she would agree, if she knew all the ramifications.’

‘I daresay. But all the same, I feel like - what is it those Americans call bounders? A heel. Yes. The poor woman’s face was as white as a sheet.’

*

Several blocks away, Melody was striding into the night through the scattered rain and city lights, having successfully given Jasmine the slip.

‘Two can play at these games, Jasmine,’ she said under her breath. I know a set-up when I see one!’

If Orly bound me so tight that I couldn’t move a muscle, Melody reasoned, he would have done the same with Jasmine. And neither of us would have been able to do a thing about it. I suspect Jasmine’s knots were left loose purposely, so that she could get free. And the only reason I can think for that to have happened is to get Jasmine into my confidence. I’ll have to report back some time to Brod. In fact, I should, immediately, especially since I’ve been abducted and bound and gagged twice. If she came with me, Jasmine would learn about our movements. Then there’s nothing to stop her from reporting back to Brentford and Orly. On the other hand, perhaps I was too hasty. Maybe it would have been better to keep an eye on her.

But Melody had made the snap decision and she was stuck with it. The thought of ‘home’ in Tilly’s suburban getaway became uppermost. What she needed badly was a long hot bath with plenty of bubbles to ease the cramps in her limbs and soothe the bruises on her arms.

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