The Stand-In by Evelyn Piper Read Free Book Online

long time ago how you never knew who could do you dirt, and with Wind coming up he didn’t need any new enemies. With Nube leading the pack they were all against him anyhow. They hated to admit he wasn’t through. When someone was down it made them feel bigger, but he’d show them. He’d show Coral, too. She made a big deal of how going along with Wind was showing her faith in him, but he was sure Richard Harris would have signed for the part of Peter if she had really tried to get him.
    Outside the big room there was a bench with a red velvet cushion and gold tassels, and Coral dropped onto it like a sack of potatoes. (No discipline.) At first she couldn’t get any words out and just hung on to his hand until the iciness of hers got to him. Nube had managed to screw up Wind and she was scared to tell him! “Coral! Give!”
    But this wasn’t the Coral Reid expression which she used to project fear. She looked almost ugly, looked really ugly, and suddenly he could smell her.
    She whispered, “Cornie’s kidnapped. They want fifty thousand pounds.” She pulled her hand out of his. “Don’t talk! Don’t talk! That wasn’t Cornie’s nurse on the telephone. It was a man. He said she was safe, but if we called in the police they would know, and then—Close your mouth, Bran! They might be watching us right now, how do we know? Bran, I’m going crazy. I think I’m going crazy!” She put the big knuckle of her second finger between her upper and lower teeth and bit as hard as she could so she wouldn’t yell. For all she knew, they had spies here and if she screamed and anyone noticed and the kidnappers got the idea that the cops were going to be called in—She took her knuckle out of her mouth because since her teeth had been capped biting didn’t hurt enough. “The man—he was English—he said we should go back to the hotel and they’d contact us there.”
    Nothing had gone sour with the deal. It was Cornie. Cornie had been kidnapped. Bran smiled the smile which used to get all the mothers. “It’s just some nut! It’s some nut called you for kicks.” He smiled again. “Ask mom about when I was kidnapped off the Paramount lot. We’ll call her in Paris. Mom will tell you.”
    â€œYour mom can’t tell me a thing about when you were kidnapped off the Paramount lot. I know it by heart. Bran, this isn’t your mom’s baby, this is my baby. This isn’t the Paramount lot, it’s London.”
    He distinctly felt her spittle hit his face. No discipline. “All I meant was this is some English nut getting his kicks. They have them here, too, darling. I meant Cornie is safely tucked up in bed.”
    â€œA nut? You think a nut? Then you call, you call.” She humped off the bench but couldn’t remember where the phone was. They had better call from the same phone, because it was in a little room like a closet where nobody could hear. Coral stopped a waiter with a tray to ask about that phone but changed it to a phone because if a spy were around, it was better that he heard the call and realized that they were only making sure Cornie was really gone.
    It took Bran forever to get the number. Was it slower, the system here, or was it Bran using his goddamned Oxford accent? She stuck her knuckle between her upper and lower teeth again. Finally he got through.
    â€œMr. Collier here.”
    Oh, for Christ’s sake, Mr. Collier here!
    â€œWhat do you mean they’re not there? It’s—” He held out his wrist so he could see his watch, “seven-forty.”
    As Bran listened she saw the vein beating in his forehead.
    â€œI see. I see. Okay.”
    â€œI told you! She’s not there, she’s not there!” She had screamed, but she mustn’t scream.
    â€œWithers said Miss Brandt and Cornie went out at three, after her nap, and they haven’t