1949 - You're Lonely When You Dead by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online Page B

string, her eyes angry.
    ‘I looked in to see your father,’ I said, leaning against the doorway where I had a view of the esplanade in case reinforcements should come galloping up. ‘Would he be around?’
    ‘Did Mills let you in?’ she asked. It was extraordinary how hard her eyes were for a girl of her age.
    ‘Is Mills the bright boy lounging at the main entrance? The one with the pretty buttons?’
    Her mouth tightened and two little spots of red showed on her thin, pale cheeks.
    ‘How did you get in here?’ she demanded angrily.
    ‘I climbed a wall,’ I told her. ‘And look, don’t let’s waste a nice morning getting cross with each other. I want to see your father.’
    ‘He’s not here. Will you please go away?’
    ‘Then perhaps I could have a word with Mrs. Cerf?’
    ‘She’s not here either.’
    ‘That’s too bad. I have a diamond necklace of hers.’
    The spoon she was toying with clattered into the saucer. I saw her clench her fists.
    ‘Will you please go!’ she said, raising her voice and leaning forward in her chair.
    ‘But I want to return the necklace. It’s valuable. Can’t you tell me where I can find her?’
    ‘I don’t know nor do I care,’ she cried and pointed with a shaking finger towards the main entrance. ‘Now get out or I’ll have you thrown out!’
    ‘I don’t want to annoy you,’ I said, ‘but this is a lot more serious than you realize. Your father hired a woman operator of mine to watch Mrs. Cerf. While she was watching Mrs. Cerf she was murdered. Mrs. Cerf s necklace was found in the girl’s room.’
    She turned suddenly so I couldn’t see her face and reached for a holdall, dipped into it and produced a cigarette case and lighter. She lit a cigarette with a hand that was not too steady, keeping her face turned from me while she did so.
    ‘I’m not interested in Mrs. Cerf’s affairs,’ she said in a much quieter and subdued voice. ‘I told you to get out.’
    ‘I thought you might possibly be interested to know that the police didn’t find the necklace,’ I said casually. ‘If you’ll tell me where I can find Mrs. Cerf I’d like to put her mind at rest too.’
    She looked up sharply, her face as expressionless and as white as a freshly laundered sheet. She started to say something then stopped and her eyes narrowed, and she looked like a cat that’s seen a movement and knows there’s a mouse around. I swung round on my heels.
    The bright boy, Mills, was standing a few yards to the right and behind me, his black gauntlets, doubled into fists, rested lightly on his slim hips. He looked faintly amused, the way Joe Louis might have looked if a midget had socked him on the nose: full of confidence, too much confidence: the kind of confidence that made you wonder what was coming and wish you had a gun or a club instead of just your bare fists.
    ‘There you are, Mac,’ he said. ‘I thought I told you to fade.’
    ‘See him off the premises!’ Natalie snapped as imperious as a heroine in a Victorian novel. ‘And he’s never to come here again!’
    Mills looked at me out of the corners of his eyes. There was a half-smirk on his thin mouth.
    ‘He won’t,’ he said languidly. ‘That’s one thing you can bet on. Come on, Mac. Let’s take a little walk to the gate.’
    I glanced at Natalie, but she was buttering toast, no longer interested, the blank, lonely look back on her face. If they ever handed out an Oscar for a brush-off they’d give it to her without even a show of hands.
    ‘I don’t want to be a bore about this,’ I said to her, ‘but it would save time and trouble if you could tell me where Mrs. Cerf is to be found.’
    I might just as well have addressed the Great Wall of China for all the attention she paid me.
    The bright boy began to close in on me.
    ‘On your way, Mac,’ he said coaxingly. ‘You and me together.’
    ‘Now look . . . ‘ I began, but stopped short as his fist hit me in the mouth. It wasn’t what you call a