Killing Cousins by Fletcher Flora Read Free Book Online Page B

whinnied and hung up with a bang, and Willie hung up afterward and drank what was left of her Martini and went back into the living room to see if there was any left in the mixing glass. There was some left, all right, and she poured it and drank it. She was feeling better because of the Martini, and better still because of having told off Mother Hogan, who had it coming to her, the fat bitch, and she began to wonder if she should mix some more gin and vermouth in the mixing glass, or if she should, instead, call someone, a friend, and arrange for lunch downtown. If she went downtown, however, she would have to change clothes, which would be a bother, and besides, she couldn’t think of any friend she particularly wanted to meet. Another thing, she would have to open the garage door to back the station wagon out, and it was possible that someone might come by at that moment and see the Buick in the garage, where it was parked, and that would spoil Quincy’s plan to get rid of the Buick quietly and pretend that Howard had driven away in it. She felt quite proud of herself for having thought of that, the possible consequences of opening the garage door, even for a minute or two, and it showed, she thought, that she was self-possessed and almost as clever as Quincy himself.
    It was a bright, sunny day outside, as she could see through the living-room windows, but it didn’t look very hot, and it was apparent from the way the leaves of the trees were moving that there was a breeze from the southwest. She thought that it might be pleasant to sit on the back terrace for a while, especially if she had another Martini or two to drink while sitting, and so she mixed some more gin and vermouth and went out the back way to the terrace, carrying the mixing glass in one hand and her cocktail glass in the other. She sat in a striped canvas chair under a striped umbrella, and she had sat there long enough to drink one whole Martini slowly when she thought she saw a flash of movement and color through the leaves of the high hedge that separated the Hogan yard from the yard of the house next door, which was the house owned and occupied by Marvin and Gwendolyn Festerwauld. Willie stood up and walked over to the hedge, about fifty feet, and peeked through.
    It was Gwen over there on the other side. She was lying on her stomach in the sun on a yellow pad, nearly naked in nothing but a couple of scraps of white. Gwen thought she had a superior and exciting figure, and she went nearly naked at every opportunity, but Willie didn’t think Gwen’s figure was really exceptional at all, and as a matter of fact it was rather ridiculously exaggerated in places. It had to be admitted that men seemed to find Gwen’s figure exciting, and Willie had heard comments to that effect from various sources, but then, of course, men were inclined to find almost anything exciting if it was nearly naked. Anyhow, regardless of her figure, Gwen was someone to talk to at the moment, and someone to talk to was what Willie was beginning to want and need. Besides, it would be an opportunity to develop the deception that Howard had gone away last night, after coming home from the Club, and it was important to have that idea spread and accepted as widely as possible in view of the fact that Howard was certainly gone and certainly wasn’t coming back and would have to be satisfactorily explained. Again feeling proud because she was thinking so clearly and was contributing her share to the successful execution of Quincy’s plan, Willie walked down along the hedge and around it and up into the Festerwauld’s yard where Gwen was lying. “Hello, Gwen,” she said.
    Gwen rolled over and sat up, leaving the upper scrap of white lying detached on the yellow pad. Picking up the scrap, she held it casually in front of the place it was supposed to go. Her eyes were foggy and did not seem to focus properly, and the skin beneath the eyes had a bruised and baggy look. She looked,