I'll Get You For This by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online Page B

looking at the boat, a fat little man came out of a house on the water-front, and hustled down to the boat. He gave us a hard look, then stepped on board.
      "Hey!" I said.
      He looked up, and climbed off the boat again. His face was burned nearly black by the sun, and his hair was bleached yellow-He didn't look a bad guy in a tough, hard way.
      "Want me?" he said, eyeing us over, then he grinned. "By Golly!"
      I hunched my shoulders and grinned back.
      "Not you—your boat," I said.
      "Chester Cain, by Jeese!" he said. He took elaborate precautions to keep his hands still and not to make any move, but he wasn't scared.
      "Sure," I said.
      "That's okay with me," he said. "The radio hasn't let up for the past half-hour. The whole town knows you're on the mn." He eyed Miss Wonderly. She apparently made a hit, because he pursed his mouth in a soundless whistle. "So you want my boat?"
      "That's the idea," I said. "I'm in a hurry, but I'm not going to rob you. Take my Buick and a grand?"
      His eyes opened.
      "Do I get the boat back?" •
      "Sure, if they don't sink her."
      "Sink her? They'll never see her."
    His optimism made me feel good.
    "She that fast?"
    "Fastest boat on the coast. Fate was kind to you, sending you to me."
    "I guess so. So you'll trade?"
    He grinned. "I don't want to, but I'll trade. I never did like that buzzard Herrick anyway."
    "Sure this is your boat?" I asked.
      "You bet. Tim Duval's the name. I use her for Tunny fishing and other things. When you're out of this jam, you come on a trip with me. You'll like it." He winked. "I'll be glad to have her back, but keep her as long as you like. She's gassed up and ready to go. She'll take you to Cuba if you're figuring on going that far."
      Miss Wonderly came staggering back with the two suit-cases. She wasn't scared to make herself useful. She looked kind of cute in her blue crepe—like she was in a fancy dress, and it showed off her figure. Duval had trouble keeping his eyes off her. I had trouble too.
      We dumped the grips on board, and then she ducked down into the cockpit.
      "Get into the cabin, sweetheart," I called. "It'll be safer there." I didn't want anyone to see her as I pulled out along the long wharf.
      She went into the cabin and shut the door.
      "Want me to come along?" Duval asked hopefully.
      I shook my head. "No."
      He shrugged. "Okay," he said. "I'd sooner travel alone— with her. Nice, eh?"
      "Huh uh," I said, and gave him the keys of the Buick.
      "You won't have any trouble with that boat. She's sweet to handle;" he said, taking the keys. "I'll look after the heep for you."
      "Yeah, look after her," I said.
    "Sure will."
    I went aboard and started the engines.
    Duval cast off the lines.
    "I think Flaggerty's a buzzard too," he said.
    That told me he wasn't going to sell us out as soon as we were out of sight.
    "So do I," I said.
    I spun the wheel and edged the boat through the narrows to the cut that led to the outer bay.
      The swell was long, fairly easy. After a while I rounded the breakwater and we were in the bay.
      I looked back.
      Duval was waving. I waved back. Then I gunned the engine and the boat leapt forward with a roar, throwing water and cream-white foam.

2
      Cudco Key was a tiny island five miles from the chain of islands skirting Palm Bay. It had a dazzling white beach bordered with coconut palms, white orchid trees, covered with pale white flowers delicately veined with green, and the woman's tongue trees with their long slender pods in which seeds rattle monotonously at the slightest breeze. Further along the coast, and inland were mangrove and buttonwood thickets. Spires of smoke hung in the air where mangroves were being burnt for charcoal.
      I ran the boat into the heart of the mangrove thickets, and I was fairly sure that no one would spot it from the sea.
      We left our grips on board and we struck inland to find the