Free This Girl for Hire by G. G. Fickling Page B

the pool and started after Aces. Caine was hot on my heels. So were a few others, including Decker, Meeler, Ann Claypool and Lori Aces.
    If there was poison in the glass, I had to get the contents to a safe place. More important, I had to find Aces and dig up an antidote in a hurry.
    A light burned in a cabin up ahead. I recognized it as Aces’ and turned in. The bit players were gone. I went into the bathroom, opened the cabinet and took down a small ceramic figurine used for storing old razor blades. The container was almost empty.
    I shook out the blades and poured the contents of Aces’ glass into the narrow slot. Replacing the piece of pottery, I noticed a bottle of orange-colored medicine bearing the label,
Suspension Co-Pyronil Antihistamine.
It looked like concentrated orange juice. A bright thought struck me. I poured a small quantity of the thick liquid into Aces’ glass and added water. What a break! It looked enough like the original contents of the glass to fool any one.
    Suddenly the cabin was swarming with people. Caine extracted the glass from my hand and grinned.
    â€œI’ll take care of this,” he said. “I can analyze it at my place tomorrow. I’ve got lab equipment there.” Lori stood behind Rod.
    â€œâ€˜Remind me to analyze yousometime, Mr. Caine,” I said. “Especially if we find Sam Aces dead.”
    We split up and searched
Hell’s Light
. The wind, rain and darkness made it difficult. I finally tried my own cabin. The door was banging loudly in the wind and it was pitch dark inside.
    The hair on the back of my neck began to twitch. And with good reason. Something was hanging from the ceiling. A rope with a body attached to it. Caine appeared behind me in the open doorway, a flashlight in his hand.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” he shouted over the roar of the storm.
    I didn’t have to answer. The flashlight beam caught the round white face under the rope. It was Bob Swanson.

EIGHT
    I SWITCHED ON THE CABIN LIGHT . G OLDEN B OY WAS hanging from a rope looped through a metal ring in the ceiling. The cord was hooked under his arms. We lifted him down.
    â€œWhat the hell do you make of this?” Rodpeered at me through narrowed eyes.
    I examined Swanson’s head. “Big lump, here, over his right temple. He must have been struck by a pretty solid object.”
    Swanson began to make sounds. He opened his eyes and looked at us. “What hit me?”
    I grinned. “From the looks of the lump, I’d say the Twentieth Century Limited. Where’d this happen?”
    He looked about the room dazedly. “Right here. I was going through some of your drawers.”
    â€œWhat for?” I demanded.
    â€œYour gun,” Golden Boy grunted. “I knew you had one. Lori told me you did. I wanted to find it so I couldblow his brains out.”
    â€œWhose brains?” Rod asked.
    â€œAces’! That dirty bastard!” Swanson tried to get up. “I’ll kill him, so help me, I’ll kill him!”
    â€œYou wanted to do the same thing to Rod Caine twenty minutes ago,” I said. “What is it with you, anyway?”
    Swanson felt the lump over his right ear. “Caine knows why I said that to him. That’s not important now. Aces is. He’s hit me for the first and last time. When I see him I’m going to put a hole right through his middle.”
    â€œWho do you think jumped you in here?” I asked. “Did you see or hear anything?”
    Golden Boy grimaced. “No. I was bent over. There was a lot of noise outside from the storm. I didn’t even hear the door open.”
    â€œServes you right for going through a lady’s drawers,” I said. “‘Did you find the gun?”
    â€œDo you think I’d still be here if I had?” Swanson tried to stand up, but his legs were like rubber.
    I gazed about the room. A chair was overturned a few feet from where the rope