1951 - In a Vain Shadow by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online

morning at eight o’clock I drove Sarek to Wardour Street. Each evening at six o’clock I drove him back to Four Winds. During the day I sat around in the outer office or drove him to the East End where he did business. In the evenings I played chess with him, patrolled the farm buildings, locked up and went to bed.
    I still slept in the maid’s room. I had made no effort to get out of it. I knew she didn’t want me in the house, and I knew it would be dangerous to complain about the room. She might use my grouse as an excuse to get rid of me. She had enough on Sarek to force him to sack me if she could go to him with a real grievance, and she was looking for that grievance the way a cat hunts a mouse.
    Since that first night when I had touched her I kept her at arm’s length. She did everything she could to provoke me.
    I got in the coals, chopped the wood, fed the chickens, locked them up at night, lit the fires and cleaned the windows. I did these chores because she told me to, knowing she would take a tale to Sarek if I refused.
    If she had told me to pump out the cesspit I would have done it. There was nothing I wouldn’t have done to remain in that house within sight of her. Sooner or later I was going to have her. I was sure of that. No one could want anything as much as I wanted her and not get it in the long run. It was just a matter of waiting for the right opportunity, and then going bald-headed for it.
    I puzzled Sarek. When he caught me cleaning windows at seven o’clock in the morning he looked as if he thought I had gone crazy.
    ‘She tell you to do that?’
    ‘She said they wanted cleaning. They do. I got bored with staying in bed so I thought I’d clean them.’
    He scratched his baldhead, puzzled and embarrassed.
    ‘You don’t have to do that unless you want to, Mitchell. I hired you for a bodyguard, not a servant.’
    But I wasn’t fooled for a moment. She had only to go to him and tell him I had been rude to her and out I’d go. A man who needed a son as badly as Sarek did couldn’t afford to be on the wrong side of his wife for long. And make no mistake about it, he wanted a son as badly as I wanted his wife. The only difference between us was he talked about his son-to-be whenever he wasn’t talking business or playing chess, while I had to keep my mouth shut. No other difference. Both our desires centred on her, and as far as I could see, she didn’t give a damn for either of us.
    Each night, after I had walked around the farm. Making believe I was checking on marauders I’d go up into the loft and look at her window. But she was on to that move, and kept the blind drawn, but even her shadow passing to and fro on the blind set my blood racing and turned my mouth dry. I had to go up there even though I knew I shouldn’t see anything but her shadow.
    During those three days I got to know Sarek. He wasn’t such a bad little guy once you got beyond his looks, and he was as smart and as bright as they come. He had three things continually on his mind: a son, money, and chess, in that order.
    I didn’t get the chance to find out exactly what his business was. He always left me outside in the car, but I could make a near guess. He was continually going to little shops or offices in the East End and coming away with a parcel or sometimes a couple of suitcases which he would dump in the back of the car and take around to other little shops or offices in the West End. Black market stuff or stolen stuff. He knew where to find it and whom to sell it to. I ached to find out how much money was involved, but as with Rita, it was a matter of patience. Sooner or later I would gain his confidence and then it was up to me to make use of it. In the meantime I memorized addresses and names and faces, butting in whenever I could, joining in street-corner conversations when he was gossiping to his friends, trying to get known so when the time came I would be already half-accepted Then there was Emmie.