1958 - Not Safe to be Free by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online Page B

happy. Whenever they were alone together, which was seldom, they invariably quarrelled, but this he shrugged off as inevitable.
    Then one night something happened that brought the facts brutally home to him.
    The memory of that night, although now twelve years ago, still had the power to increase his heartbeat whenever he allowed himself to think of it.
    He had returned from the Studios late to his luxurious home in Beverley Hills and had settled down to read the script of a film he was planning to produce.
    Harriette sat away from him, silent and brooding. He had spoken to her, but she hadn’t replied, and, mentally shrugging, he put her out of his mind and concentrated on the script.
    He had read for about an hour, then suddenly he had become aware of an extraordinary tension in the room. He had looked across the room to where Harriette had been sitting, but she had left the chair and had moved behind him out of sight. There was a mirror on the wall facing him and he had glanced at it. What he saw reflected there gave him the shock of his life.
    Harriette was creeping up behind him, a carving knife in her hand and an expression on her face that still haunted his dreams. He realized in those brief seconds as he stared at her in the mirror that she was insane and the shock momentarily paralysed him.
    It was only when she was within a few feet of him and had lifted the knife that he threw aside the script and jumped to his feet. She had come at him with the ferocity of a wild cat and he had been appalled by her strength. Before he had managed to get the knife away from her, she had slashed his arm and inflicted a long, deep scratch down the side of his face. She had broken away from him and before he could stop her, she had run out of the house.
    That was the last time he had seen her alive.
    She had taken his car, driven to a hotel in Los Angeles, taken the elevator to the tenth floor, entered an empty bedroom and had thrown herself out of the window.
    Yes, ‘a little queer’ was an understatement and Delaney was irritated that Sophia should revive such a painful memory.
    “Yeah, I guess she was,” he said frowning, “but that doesn’t mean . . .”
    He broke off as he heard the telephone bell ring.
    “That’s my call. Look, honey, forget it. There’s nothing to worry about. Jay’s all right. Damn it! I’ve lived with him for twenty-one years. I know he’s all right.”
    Miss Kobbe put her head around the door.
    “Mr. Brennon on the line, Mr. Delaney.”
    “I’m coming.”
    Delaney patted Sophia’s cheek, then went into the other room, closing the door behind.
    Sophia stared up at the ceiling, frowning.
    She again thought of Jay, picturing him as he had moved towards her, the scarlet cord between his fingers, his eyes hidden behind the dark glasses and she moved uneasily.
    Where was he? What was he doing? Who had been the girl he had brought up to the suite?
    Miss Kobbe looked in.
    “Another martini, Mrs. Delaney?”
    Sophia nodded.
    “Yes, perhaps I will. Has Jay got back yet?”
    “Not yet, Mrs. Delaney.”
    A sudden impulse made Sophia get to her feet and walk into the lounge.
    Delaney was talking on the telephone. His assistant producer, Jack Cooper, sat on the arm of a lounging chair, smoking.
    He smiled at Sophia as she crossed over to Jay’s bedroom door.
    She nodded to him as she turned the handle and entered the room.
    Shutting the door, she leaned against it and looked around. The hotel maid had been in. She had turned down the bed, put Jay’s blue pyjamas on the bed and had half lowered the blinds.
    The smell of perfume was noticeable still in the room.
    A photograph in a silver frame of Harriette, looking very lovely and very innocent, stood on the dressing table. Sophia studied the photograph. She could see how like Harriette Jay was. They had the same mouth and the same facial bone structure and the same beguiling innocence.
    From the photograph she looked at the big cupboard against the