Free You Never Know With Women by James Hadley Chase Page A

Parker’s less fancy suits. It was a little tight across the shoulders, but it would do at a pinch. I found a white silk scarf that I wound round my throat to hide the bruises. My head ached and my neck felt as if it’d been fed through a wringer, but taking me by and large, I felt pretty good.
    I ran down the stairs, back into the lounge. She was waiting for me. There was an alert, watchful expression in her eyes and she was still pale.
    I looked from her to Parker. He wouldn’t come to for hours.
    “All set?” I asked, smiling at her.
    “Where are we going?”
    “Santa Medina. That’ll do us for tonight. We can make plans when we know more about each other. Taking anything with you?”
    “My bag’s in the car.”
    “Sounds like premeditation.”
    “As soon as Cornelius left I knew what I was going to do.”
    My heart was beginning to hammer against my ribs again.
    “Now I wonder why you picked on me?” I asked.
    She didn’t say anything and didn’t look at me.
    “Maybe we’d better go,” I said after I’d given her time to answer if she was going to answer.
    “Kiss me,” she said.
    Well, that certainly took care of that. She had an unnerving effect on me. I was shaking when she pushed me away.
    “Now we’ll go,” she said and went with me to the door.
    We both stopped abruptly as we opened the front door.
    Gorman was standing at the foot of the steps, looking up at us.
    He was as startled as we were. I beat him to the draw.
    “Watch it!” I said. My voice sounded like someone ripping a sunblind in half.
    Gorman dropped his hands. His little black eyes went from me to Veda. His face was empty.
    Max was in the car. He stared out of the window at me, his eyes wide with fright.
    “You,” I said. “Get out of that. There’s a gun in his right-hand pocket. Get it.”
    Max got out of the car, went up behind Gorman, dipped into his pocket and fished out the gun.
    “Take it from him,” I said to Veda.
    She went down the steps. Max held the gun out to her, butt first. She took it.
    “You foolish child,” Gorman said to her. “You’ll be sorry for this.”
    “Cut it out!” I said. “She’s coming with me.”
    “Well, you’re lucky this time, Mr. Jackson,” he said quietly, “but I shall find you again, and I shall find you too, Veda.” He was very calm and controlled: it made him all the more dangerous. “I shall find you again; you can be sure of that.”
    “Go in and keep Parker company. He’s kind of lonely in there. And I’ll have the ring. I’m a little pressed for cash.”
    He looked down at the diamond and then at me.
    “If you want it, you must take it,” he said and closed his hand into a gigantic fist.
    “You forget I have the gun,” I pointed out. “A guy with a gun always gets his own way.”
    “Not this time, Mr. Jackson.”
    “Hand it over, pally.”
    He didn’t move.
    I felt Veda’s eyes on me. If I let this fat thug get away with it I’d lose caste. Besides, I needed the ring. But I wasn’t going near him. I knew if he got his hand on me I wouldn’t stand a chance.
    “I’m sorry about this, Fatso,” I said and meant it. “But I want the ring. You’ll get a smashed foot if you don’t hand it over. I’ll give you three seconds.”
    He stared at me, then his mouth twitched. It was the only sign of rage he had shown up to now. He saw I wasn’t fooling.
    “Then take it, Mr. Jackson,” he said, pulling the ring off his finger. He threw it at my feet. “It’ll make it harder for you when next we meet.”
    I picked up the ring and put it in my pocket. It’s a funny thing, but now I had it I knew all along I’d made up my mind to take it off him: the moment I’d seen it when he first came to my office.
    We left him standing on the steps looking after us. Veda drove. Her car was an open coupe, fast and slick. I knelt on the seat, the gun in my hand, watching Fatso until I lost him in the darkness.
    I had an uneasy feeling I’d meet him again.

CHAPTER