1974 - So What Happens to Me by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online

horse.”
    As I started towards the exit, I heard the intern say to the nurse, “Get Mr. Essex and snap it up!”
    I went out into the hot sunshine, got in the jeep and started off in the direction where the horse had bolted. O’Brien had gone. It took me two long sweaty hours to come up with the horse. It was at the far end of the airport in a thicket and it was only luck that I spotted it. It had got over its scare and I had no trouble tying it to the jeep and I drove slowly back with the horse trotting behind.
    Mrs. Essex’s groom appeared from nowhere as I pulled up outside the hospital. He grinned at me and took charge of the horse.
    I went into the hospital and to the reception desk.
    The nurse regarded me, lifting her eyebrows.
    “Yes?”
    “Will you arrange to tell Mrs. Essex I’ve found her horse and it is safe and undamaged,” I said. “It’s news that might do her good.”
    She inclined her head.
    “And you are . . . ?”
    “Jack Crane. Mrs. Essex knows me.”
    Sudden doubt came into her eyes. Suddenly it entered her stupid, snobby mind that in spite of my sweat, filthy hands and shabby clothes, I just might be someone important in the Essex kingdom.
    “I’ll tell Dr. Winters at once, Mr. Crane. Thank you for telling us.”
    I gave her a long hard stare, then nodding, I went back to the jeep and drove to the site.
    As I got out of the jeep, I heard another bang from the blasting site. At least, O’Brien wasn’t stopping work. He didn’t give a goddamn about Mrs. Lane Essex, but I did.
    I remembered the feel of her body as I had held her. I remembered those violet eyes and the Venetian red hair against my face as I lifted her.
    I walked across to the stalled bulldozer and began work on it again. As I worked I thought of her. I was still thinking of her when the whistle blew and we knocked off for the day.
    Back in my cabin, I took a much-needed shower. I was getting into a pair of slacks when there came a knock on my door. Thinking it was Tim, I shouted to come in and reached for a shirt.
    The door opened and Pam Osborn slid in. She quickly shut the door and I saw her face was pale and her eyes angry.
    “What do you want?” I didn’t want her here. “Run away, baby.” I tucked in my shirt. “I made a mistake about you.”
    I could see from the expression on her face she hadn’t heard what I had said.
    “Must you act like a moron?” she demanded “Now you’re under a spotlight and that’s just what Bernie didn’t want.”
    I moved over to the table and sat on it.
    “What are you yakking about?”
    “It’s all over the airport. You taking that bitch to hospital and then finding her goddamn horse.”
    “What’s so wrong about it?”
    “Everyone is asking who this Jack Crane is. Don’t you see - every one of the creeps here would have given their right arms to have done what you did?”
    “What the hell did you expect me to do? Leave her lying there?”
    “It’s the horse!” She clenched her facts, then unclenched them. “That bitch cares more about that horse than she does about herself, her husband or even her money! Couldn’t you have thought of that instead of spending hours looking for the blasted brute when anyone could have found it?”
    “How was I to know?”
    “And another thing. . . what made you start working with O’Brien? Didn’t Bernie tell you to supervise him and to keep out of sight? Didn’t he tell you not to mix with any of the gang? You have to go out there and fool around with the machines! When Bernie hears about this, he’ll blow his stack!”
    I began to get angry.
    “Oh, shove off” I said. “I’m not taking talk like that from you! I’ll talk to Bernie. Now get the hell out of here!”
    “I came to warn you, you jerk! Before long the establishment will investigate you. The grapevine here is really something. Have a story ready. This sonofabitch Wes Jackson will be descending on you. He’s Essex’s manager. Watch him! He’s so sharp he