Free A Woman Involved by John Gordon Davis Page A

I got a frantic phone call from the Russian embassy. Telling me that Max and Bishop and some others had been shot by the Revolutionary Army – executed …’
    She closed her eyes. She took a trembly breath. ‘I was absolutely shocked. I …  There was no love lost any more between Max and me, but this was terrible …’
    Morgan waited. She massaged her temples.
    ‘Ten minutes later, a car arrives. I had locked myself in the house. It was a white man. He beat on the door, saying he had come to take me to the Russian embassy for my own protection. That’s why I let him in. But I told him I wasn’t going to go.’ She breathed. ‘I don’t trust the Russians. He began to shout.’ She glanced at him. ‘He told me to get all the documents out of Max’s safe and come with him. Now I was really frightened. I told him Max had no safe – I told him to get out. He shouted that I’d better show him where it was or he’d drag me back to the embassy and they’d get it out of me. He shouted, “Tell me the names of the foreign banks where he has safety-deposit boxes!” He tried to grab me and I ran up the stairs. He chased me. I ran into the bedroom …’ She closed her eyes and breathed: ‘I grabbed the gun Max kept in his bedside drawer …  I ran into the bathroom. But he was right behind me. He shoved the door open and I staggered backwards. He lunged at me …’
    Morgan waited, in suspense. She took a quivering breath.
    ‘It was …  instinctive. I was frantic. I fired blindly.’ She closed her eyes again. ‘I hit him in the forehead. He crashed into the bath.’
    ‘Jesus …’ He leant out and squeezed her hand once.
    She sat up and wiped her eyelids.
    ‘I was in shock. All I knew was I had to get out of the house …  Get away from the island. And take whatever was in Max’s safe. I knew the combination, though I hadn’t used it for years. I opened it. There was a pile of documents, and keys and things. And some money. I just stuffed it into a handgrip.’
    ‘Everything?’
    She nodded. ‘And the gun. I started to run out of the house. To drive to the airport. I was going to get Max’s aeroplane and fly away. Then I remembered the body.’ She put her fingertipsto her eyes. ‘Oh God, I was frightened. I was going to be shot by the Revolutionary Army for murder …  I had to get rid of the body. But where ? I dragged him out of the bath. There was blood in the bath, so I turned on the shower, to wash it away. I tied a towel tight around his head to stop getting blood on the floor.’ She pressed her eyes. ‘And I dragged him. Through the bedroom. Down the stairs. Oh God, it was horrible …’
    He squeezed her knee.
    She continued bleakly: ‘I got him downstairs. I somehow got him into the car. The front passenger seat. Then …  Then I didn’t know where to take him.’ She shook her head. ‘ Where? And where was I going to run to afterwards? The mobs. The curfew. The army would be at the airport. Then I knew the only place I could run to was the Governor’s house.’ She breathed deep. ‘So I drove the car into town.’
    ‘The Russian car?’
    She nodded. ‘It was dark now. I drove without lights. If I was stopped, I was going to say I was taking an injured comrade to the hospital.’ She sighed deeply. ‘I took back roads, through the shacks. Everything was deserted because of the curfew. But then I could hear the sounds of mobs. I stopped the car in a lane. I pulled the towel off his head. I …  I had the presence of mind to remember my fingerprints. I wiped the steering wheel. Then I abandoned the car …’
    Morgan sighed grimly. ‘Then?’
    ‘Then I walked. Through the back streets. Then up the hill, to Government House.’
    ‘And nobody challenged you?’
    ‘No. All the action was several blocks away.’
    ‘Did anybody see you abandon the car?’
    ‘It was a dark lane. Nobody would have seen me until I was a hundred yards away.’ She added: ‘I hope.’
    ‘What did you