A Killer is Loose by Gil Brewer Read Free Book Online

sat there on the bed with the bottle in my hand and watched him. It was a hell of a feeling, all right, because there was no telling what he would do next. Listening, I heard her breathing in there. You could tell she was listening, too.
    “I have no clothes, Ralph,” she said from in there. I could almost see her pressed against the door, hoping, maybe even praying. Maybe we were both praying. It doesn’t have to be conscious and it doesn’t have to be words. Just a feeling; a realization.
    “Ralph, get my clothes for me, huh?”
    He was looking at me, shaking his head. Wasn’t she a card, though? The way she carried on?
    “Did you take a shower, Lillian?”
    “No, Ralph.”
    “Well, go ahead and take a shower. You need one. You’ve been lying around too much.”
    “All right.” There was a long pause, during which I knew she was waiting to add something. “Then—then will you give me my clothes? Will you, Ralph?”
    “Sure.”
    Almost immediately the sound of the shower hissed beyond the hum of the electric fan.
    Angers was staring at the floor now, his face pale. How was I going to reach Ruby?
    “We can’t stay here, of course,” Angers said.
    “No?”
    “Of course not. They’ll come around here soon. I don’t want to kill any more people than I have to. But they’ve got to learn, that’s all. We’re going through with this.”
    “With what?”
    “My plans,” he said. “You see, Steve, having a pal like you means plenty to me.”
    “I see.” I took a drink from the bottle. It burned its way down my throat, into my empty stomach. I nearly gagged and my throat went dry at the smell of the raw whisky.
    Angers watched me intently. “Nobody believed in me,” he said. “Even back there, nobody believed. They don’t care about saving people. They just want to make money. That’s all they think about. It doesn’t matter if people are in want, in need.” He grinned. “But now you’ll help me.”
    I set the bottle on the floor and rose. “Why don’t you and Lillian get cleaned up, then?” I said. “I’ll run over to the hospital and see how Ruby is. Then I’ll meet you.”
    “But they’ll understand when it’s done,” he said, still looking intently at me. He either hadn’t heard what I said, or chose to ignore it, knowing I’d understand what he meant. I understood.
    Just then the bathroom door opened a crack and Lillian stuck her head out, smiling. It was a brave smile and she was trying something new now. At least new to me. She said something but the sound of the shower drowned it out.
    “Turn the water off, Lillian,” Angers said.
    Her chin jiggled a little, bunching up, and I thought she was going to cry. But she went away from the door and the hissing shower ceased.
    “Ralph, honey,” she said, “would you toss me some clothes, huh? You wouldn’t want me to come out there the way I am.” She smiled at him through the crack in the door. I knew she must have worked on that smile in front of the mirror, building it up, praying it wouldn’t wash out.
    I went over and sat in a chair beside the bed. The fan hummed and buzzed, and far away, down on the street, a car’s horn blatted
shave-and-a-haircut.…
    “Sure, Lil,” Angers said. He glanced at me, shook his head again. Wasn’t she the damnedest, though? He started for the door.
    My heart flickered dry and light, like a woodpecker on a thin, loose plank, then I felt it beating right up into my throat. He paused with his hand on the knob, then turned and went over to the bureau and picked up the gun.
    “No telling who I might meet out there,” he said.
    Lillian’s eyes were at the door crack. He didn’t look at either of us. He went on over and unlocked the door, vanished into the hall, closed the door. I heard him walking down the hall.
    I came out of the chair fast and grabbed the doorknob. He’d locked it, all right. I headed for the bathroom.
    “Quick!” I said. I flung the door open. “Listen, we’ve got