The Quest of Julian Day by Dennis Wheatley Read Free Book Online Page A

realised with quick dismay that I had completely forgotten all about the steward. While the passengers were breakfasting he would naturally betidying up. He had done my cabin after I had left it and I knew that the occupant of the one next door had gone down to breakfast a few minutes before O’Kieff, so the steward might come in to do his, and catch me, at any moment.
    In feverish haste I lifted the lid of the trunk and peered inside. The tray contained O’Kieff’s dress-shirts. Pulling it up with one hand I thrust in my other, which came in contact with a litter of dirty washing. For a moment I fumbled wildly then, right at the bottom of the trunk, my fingers touched some sacking stretched taut over a flat, heavy object. My heart fairly leapt with exultation. It was the tablet, I felt sure, and if I could only verify the fact, I had as good as got O’Kieff for murder.
    I had only one hand to work with as with the other I was holding up the tray and lid of the trunk, and the tangle of underclothes prevented my actually seeing the package although I could feel the stout cord that bound it. I was just thrusting aside the dirty linen with my one free hand when I heard the slam of the door and a heavy footfall on the deck outside. The steward had done his job in the adjoining cabin. It was too late for me to get out and next moment he would catch me red-handed in the act of rifling O’Kieff’s baggage.

4
Illicit Entry into Egypt
    There was only one thing for it. I let the tray fall back, slammed down the lid of the trunk, thrust it under the bed and dived into the bathroom. I was not a second too soon. As I swung-to the door behind me, gripping its handle firmly so that it should not slam, I saw the curtain of the cabin entrace twitch.
    Very gently I released the knob of the door and slid home the bolt, while I stood there striving to control my rapid breathing. I was safe for the moment. Even if the steward decided to do the bathroom first and found it locked he would assume that O’Kieff was still in there and clear off again to give him a chance to finish dressing. But in the meantime I was trapped. The steward would almost certainly wait about outside for O’Kieff to emerge; and when he appeared unexpectedly along the deck from the companion-way, they would both immediately investigate the question of the locked bathroom.
    For what seemed an age I stood there, holding my breath as I waited for the steward to rattle on the bathroom door; but to my immense relief he set about tidying the cabin first. That left me one chance of getting out before O’Kieff made his appearance.
    The bathroom window was oblong and as large as any of the others which lined the inner side of the promenade deck, but was of frosted, instead of plain glass. With quick fingers I twiddled its wheel until it slid down a little and I could cautiously peer out. The two promenaders were just passing again and another couple were lounging in deck-chairs about twenty feet further aft.
    I waited for a moment until the backs of all four were turned, and got the window open to its fullest extent, slid back the bolt of the door and jumped up on to the bath. It was atricky business wriggling out of that window feet first, but by clinging to a girder inside the bathroom, I managed it. Fortunately, I am fairly tall, five feet eleven and a half, so I was able to get my feet on the deck outside without dropping far and making a heavy thump. A girl in one of the deck-chairs turned her head to look at me but I had righted myself by that time and, although she may have wondered where I had appeared from so suddenly, she took no further notice. I breathed again.
    Getting my own chair I planted it in its usual spot, outside my cabin, where I could keep observation on the entrance to O’Kieff’s. My heart was still hammering as I congratulated myself on having got out of such an awkward scrape and on my luck, as I believed, in