Believed Violent by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online

work and was considering getting rid of him.
    “You saw her?” he asked acidly.
    Friendly hesitated for a brief moment, then nodded.
    “Yeah . . . I saw her.”
    “That’s not true!” Nona exclaimed. “I’ve been nowhere near the jewellery counter!”
    “Would you mind turning out your pockets, miss?” the manager asked.
    “I’ve nothing in my pockets . . . this is absurd,” and Nona plunged her hands into the two pouch pockets of her dust coat, then felt a cold chill run up her spine. Her fingers encountered what could only be bracelets and rings. She felt them, feeling the blood drain out of her face. “There’s a mistake . . . I ― I never put them there . . . I . . .”
    The manager’s bored, sour face became even more bored.
    “Let’s see what you’ve taken,” he said. “Come on now. Don’t look so surprised, miss. It doesn’t cut any ice with me.”
    Slowly, Nona took from her pockets five cheap bracelets, three rings fitted with cutglass stones to look like diamonds and an imitation amber bead necklace. She dropped the articles on the manager’s desk, shuddering.
    “I didn’t take them! Someone put them in my pocket! I swear I didn’t take them!”
    The manager turned to Patrolman O’Brien.
    “We’ll be making a charge, officer. You’ll need this stuff as evidence. Can I leave it to you?”
    “Sure,” O’Brien said. He scooped up the cheap jewellery and dropped it into his pocket. “That’s okay, Mr. Manawitz. Headquarters will be in touch with you.” He dropped a heavy hand on Nona’s arm. “Come on, baby. Let’s go.”
    “I want to telephone,” Nona said, trying to steady her voice.
    “You can do all the telephoning you want when we get to the Station House,” O’Brien said. “Come on. Move with the feet.”
     
    The reason why all Lindsey’s operations were crowned with success lay in the fact that he acquired every scrap of necessary information before planning his campaign. He was painstakingly thorough, and when he briefed the men who worked under him, he supplied them with a mass of details that made their work comparatively simple.
    To obtain this information, he employed a Detective Agency staffed by ex-detectives, mainly men who had been kicked off the Force because of corruption and malpractice, but who were trained in their job and were experts in digging up any required information.
    Four days before Nona’s arrest, Lindsey had turned three snoopers from the Agency on to the task of digging up every scrap of information they could find regarding Nona’s background and her way of life.
    By tapping her telephone and shadowing her during these four days, they turned in a comprehensive report. Lindsey learned about Alec Sherman, that Nona was planning a birthday party, that Sherman was expected at her apartment at seven-thirty and she always did her shopping at the Paradise Self-Service store. He then turned two other snoopers to dig into Alec Sherman’s background and their report made him thoughtful.
    To Silk, he said, This guy Sherman could be a troublemaker. Newspaper men are dangerous. He is crazy about the girl and he could gum up the works. Let’s get him out of the way for a couple of weeks. By that time, he won’t be able to make trouble.”
    Silk nodded.
    “I’ve got the photo. Leave him to me.”
    On the evening of the planned birthday party, the black Thunderbird was parked some forty yards away on the opposite side of the street from Nona’s apartment block. It had arrived at 7.15 p.m., and in the car both Silk and Keegan were smoking, sitting silent and relaxed.
    At 7.28, a steel grey Pontiac Le Mans Sports coupe pulled up outside the apartment block.
    Keegan tossed away his cigarette.
    “Here he is,” he said softly.
    They watched a tall, powerfully built man get out of the car, slam the door shut and then run up the steps of the building.
    Alec Sherman was telling himself that this was going to be a night that would mark a milestone in