Free Lady, Here's Your Wreath by James Hadley Chase Page B

well, I guess, even you can't know who she is... she wouldn't stand for it.”
     I said: “Between you an' me I guess this dame's a little difficult, eh?”
     Kennedy nodded. “She's crazy,” he said. “Damn it, she pulled a gun on me last night.”
     I stared at him. “Then there was some shootin' goin' on?” I said.
     He hesitated. “Yes,” he said at last. “There was a misunderstanding. She's got a quick temper and the gun went off.”
     I couldn't help it. I laughed. It struck me as mighty funny. “Wouldn't she fall for your stuff, Colonel?” I said.
     For a moment I thought he was going to get mad, then he grinned ruefully. “For Pete's sake keep this quiet,” he implored me. “But I guess that's about it.”
     I slid off the table. “Suppose you go an' explain things to her. I reckon we gotta hurry, the boys out there are getting restless.”
     He got to his feet, looking worried. “I hope she'll listen to reason,” he said. He stood there like a schoolboy screwing up his courage to go inside for a belting. Then he walked out of the room.
     I let him go, and when I was sure he had gone upstairs I gumshoed to the foot of the stairs and flapped my ears.
     I heard his voice. He was putting the problem forward in a low voice. I could just catch a word here and there, but nothing more. There was a moment's silence, then a woman spoke. She just said: “Very well, if you think it is safe,” but it was not what she said that made me stiffen. It was the voice. I'd know that voice anywhere. The cold, hard, metallic ring in it.
     Colonel Kennedy's girl friend was the woman who had called me up twice on the telephone. The woman who had sent me five thousand bucks.
     I said, “Well, well,” to myself and walked slowly back to the big room.
     

CHAPTER EIGHT
         
     KENNEDY CAME down again after five minutes or so. He went to the window and looked out, then he turned round to me. “I've talked to her,” he said uneasily. “She wants you to get the car ready and have it drawn up outside. Then she's going to make her getaway by herself.”
     This didn't suit me. I was looking forward to a long drive with this dame. “What happens to the car?”
     A little frown settled on Kennedy's face. “You don't have to worry about that,” he said. “I just want you to do that... nothing more. Will you do it?” There was a touch of the soldier in his voice.
     I said: “Sure... anything you say.'
     He looked relieved. “You go and call these fellows in. Once they're in, you go round to the back and get the car out. Then come back here.”
     I told myself I was at least going to have a peep at this dame. “Okay. Shall I start now?”
     “Just wait a minute.” He went out into the hall. I heard him call up the stairs. “Come down now.”
     It wasn't possible for me to go to the door and watch because he would have seen me, and I certainly was burnt up to stand there and let that dame get away with it.
     I heard someone run down the stairs quickly and walk with clicking heels down the passage. Then Kennedy came back. He nodded to me. “Fetch 'em in,” he said.
     I walked to the front door and flung it open.
     The boys came running. They looked like the Klondyke gold rush.
     “The Colonel will see you now,” I said. “Take your hats off, wipe your feet, an' for Gawd's sake behave like gentlemen.”
     They crowded past me and barged into the big room. I certainly handed it to Kennedy. He stood at the end of the room, looking at them coldly, not a muscle of his face moving. As soon as the last one had piled himself into the room I quietly shut the door.
     I ran down the passage, keeping my eyes open, but I didn't see a sign of her. There were a couple of doors on each side, and she might have been