Free 1944 - Just the Way It Is by James Hadley Chase Page A

moved towards the door, circling so that he could watch Schultz and Joe all the time.
    Schultz seemed suddenly to lose control of himself. He leaned forward in his chair, his eyes snapping fire, and his great face turning mauve with fury. ‘You talk and you’ll be sorry,’ he shouted at Lorelli. ‘Do you hear? That’s all he wants you for . . . to make you talk. I know Duke. He picks up women and drops them when he’s through with them. You silly little fool! You’re throwing away any chance you’ve got of making money by going with him.’
    ‘Watch your blood pressure, Paul,’ Duke advised. ‘There’s no need for us to fall out. I’m just taking the girl some place where you can’t worry her. I’ll see you in the morning and we’ll talk it over. So long, Paul.’
    Schultz took no notice of him. He shook a quivering finger at Lorelli. ‘If you open your trap, I’ll find you. I don’t care where you hide, I’ll find you and I’ll fix you and you’ll be sorry.’
    Lorelli laughed in his face. ‘You can’t scare me,’ she said. ‘Look at my protection,’ and linking her arm in Duke’s, she went out of the room.
    The moment they were outside in the street, Duke broke into a run. ‘Come on, baby,’ he said, ‘I don’t want Paul to help me on my way with a shotgun.’
    ‘Fancy being scared of him,’ Lorelli said, contemptuously, running with difficulty because of her tight dress. ‘Hey, wait a moment, will you?’
    Duke put his hand under her arm and forced her on. There came a faint phut behind them and a bullet whined past their heads, flattening against a lamp post.
    Lorelli gave a little squeal, jerked up her skirts and leapt forward like a deer. She outpaced Duke, who began to laugh.
    ‘Who’s scared now?’ he panted. He increased his length, caught up with her and grabbed her arm. ‘Over this way.’
    Another phut sounded and this time the bullet zipped between their heads. Lorelli caught her breath in a sob and covered the next ten yards in two jumps.
    ‘I didn’t think Paul could shoot so well,’ Duke said, bundling Lorelli head first into his car. He scrambled in beside her, started the engine and accelerated violently. An angry wasp sang past the windscreen as the car gathered speed. In another second, the houses on each side of the street changed into a blurred ribbon as the needle of the speedometer flicked to sixty miles an hour.
    ‘That’s done me a power of good,’ Duke said, leaning back, with his hands resting lightly on the wheel. ‘My liver wanted a little jolt and, by golly, it got it.’
    Lorelli was examining her stockings under the light from the dashboard. She muttered angrily when she saw that she had driven her knees through both of them.
    ‘I bet this is the first shooting Bentonville’s ever had,’ Duke said, keeping the car travelling at a high speed. ‘I don’t think Paul likes us anymore.’
    Lorelli snorted. She sat still for a few minutes and then she said, ‘So you’re Harry Duke?’
    ‘Mrs. Duke’s one and only son. And while we’re on the subject where have I seen you before?’
    ‘Oh, I get around,’ Lorelli said, airily. ‘My name is Lorelli. Just Lorelli. Not Lorelli Montgomery or Lorelli Spewack. Just Lorelli.’
    ‘I see,’ he said, gravely. ‘Any particular reason, or isn’t it my business?’
    ‘There are plenty of reasons,’ Lorelli returned. ‘One of them is that I didn’t have any parents.’
    ‘That’s interesting,’ Duke said, swinging the car on to the main road. ‘You came out of an egg, I suppose?’
    ‘Something like that,’ Lorelli admitted. ‘I can’t remember the
    exact details, but it was on those lines.’
    ‘How would you like a nice cup of coffee and a chicken sandwich?’
    ‘What, now?’
    ‘This very second,’ Duke returned, crowding on brakes and stopping the car outside an all-night drug store.
    ‘I’d like that very much,’ Lorelli returned, climbing out of the car. ‘Do you mind if I