1950 - Mallory by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online Page B

swear on the Bible.’
    ‘Have you got one?’ Corridon asked with his jeering smile.
    Crew looked at him seriously.
    ‘No, but they could buy one couldn’t they? I said I’d pay for it . . .’ His voice trailed away. He repeated hopelessly, ‘They don’t trust me.’
     
    IV
     
    C orridon suppressed a yawn.
    ‘You might fix me another drink. Is it your whisky or theirs?’
    ‘It’s unbelievable,’ Crew said, ignoring Corridon’s request, ‘to get mixed up with such people. I didn’t know such people existed. They’re going to kill this chap Mallory.’ His face twitched suddenly. ‘That’s murder. They think nothing of it. Nothing . . . I’ve heard them talk. She’s the worst. She’s hard. Isn’t she?’ He stood before Corridon, his eyes feverish. ‘Isn’t she hard . . . like granite? She’s not like any other woman I’ve known.’ He turned away and wrung his hands. ‘I keep thinking they’re going to kill me,’ he burst out. ‘I know it’s silly of me, but I can’t help putting myself in their place. What else can they do? If they’re going to kill this chap Mallory, why shouldn’t they kill me?’ He swung round to face Corridon again. He was sweating. ‘I can’t sleep. It’s getting on my nerves.’
    ‘You’d better have a drink too,’ Corridon said, rising to his feet. ‘You’re hysterical.’
    ‘Do you think they’ll kill me?’ Crew asked. He wiped his sweating hands with a rag of a handkerchief. ‘That Pole - he keeps looking at me as if he were planning something.’
    Corridon mixed a stiff whisky and soda and pushed the glass into Crew’s hand.
    ‘Don’t be a fool,’ he said roughly. ‘Pull yourself together. Nothing like that’s going to happen.’
    The glass rattled against Crew’s teeth as he gulped down the whisky.
    ‘I wish I could be sure,’ he went on after a long pause. ‘It’s driving me mad.’ Tears sprang into his eyes. ‘They keep looking at me. There’s no privacy. And she - she’s the worst. She’s inhuman. You don’t know what she’s like.’
    Ranleigh came into the room with Jeanne. Crew jumped back, his face going slack.
    ‘Would you keep Jan company?’ Ranleigh said quietly. ‘I’m sorry to keep pushing you from one room to the other, but you’ve brought it on yourself, haven’t you?’
    ‘I won’t!’ Crew exclaimed, backing away. ‘I’ve had enough of this! You’ve got to go. All of you. Please go...’ He began to wring his hands again as Jan came into the room.
    ‘Come on,’ Jan said.
    Crew sagged limply and walked slowly across the room. Jan followed him into the room and closed the door.
    ‘He thinks you are going to kill him,’ Corridon said lightly. ‘He must have been reading too many gangster novels.’
    ‘We’ve decided to pay you what you ask,’ Jeanne said, ignoring the implied question.
    Surprise and disappointment drove Crew from his mind. He had expected and hoped for a long and expert haggle.
    ‘Half down and half when the job’s done?’ he asked. ‘Seven hundred and fifty pounds?’
    ‘Yes,’ she said.
    Corridon felt something had gone wrong. He was suddenly suspicious and uneasy. There must be a catch in it somewhere, unless he had underestimated them. Ranleigh might be bamboozled, but surely not the other two. He sat, nursing his glass, looking at Jeanne doubtfully.
    She stood before the hearth, her hands in her trouser pockets, her face empty of expression. Ranleigh stood by the window momentarily withdrawn from them.
    ‘All right,’ Corridon said. ‘Tell me what I have to do and I’ll do it. I’ll need a photograph or a good description of him. Have you any ideas where I can find him?’
    ‘There’s no photograph, I’m afraid, but I have written down a description,’ Ranleigh said, turning. ‘Finding him won’t be easy. We have only two clues, but they must be good ones. Harris and Lubish used them, and they found Mallory. You’ll have to try them yourself, but you’ll have to