Vulture is a Patient Bird by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online Page A

She looked searchingly at Garry who avoided her eyes.

    "She? You mean you are flying a woman around jungles for three weeks?"

    "That's it," Garry said carelessly. "Now don't start getting into a state. I've met her. She's around forty-five, looks pregnant, and is the type who slaps you on the back and picks her teeth immediately after a meal."

    Toni stared at him.

    "But that sounds horrible."

    "Doesn't it? Still the money is good and after all she could have had a beard and a wooden leg, couldn't she?"

    Toni nodded and attacked another oyster.

    "Yes, I suppose so."

    There was a long silence while the waiter removed the debris and a longer silence while the beef was served.

    Garry stole a look at her face and then grimaced. Hell! he thought, she knows I'm lying. Now what am I going to do?

    He said gently, "Toni, darling, have you got something on your mind?"

    "Should I have?" She didn't look at him but concentrated on her beef. "They have here the most marvellous beef in the world."

    "I wouldn't say in the world. I remember in Hong Kong. . ."

    "Never mind Hong Kong. Please tell me how much you are being paid to convey a pregnant woman around the jungle."

    "I didn't say she was pregnant, I said she looks pregnant. Not quite the same thing."

    "How much?"

    "Three thousand dollars," Garry lied.

    "Well, that's very nice. So you will be away for three weeks?"

    "Yes."

    Toni continued to eat. There was a dazed expression in her eyes that began to bother Garry.

    "I hear Natal is pretty interesting," he said. "It could be quite a trip."

    "Shall we try to enjoy our dinner, Garry? This is the first time I've been to the Rib Room."

    "I thought we were enjoying it. Are you trying to be dramatic?"

    Her long lashes flickered at him, then she dug into her baked potato.

    "Please let us enjoy something even if we can't enjoy each other."

    That spoilt his meal. Impatiently he pushed aside his plate and
    lit a cigarette. Toni ate slowly, obviously enjoying the beef. They said nothing until she had finished, then when the waiter had removed the plates, Garry said, "Just what the hell has suddenly bit you, Toni? This is supposed to be a celebration."

    "I love sorbets. Queen Victoria used to stuff sorbets down the throats of all her over-stuffed guests half-way through the menu. The sorbets allowed them to go on stuffing."

    "I didn't know you were so well educated, darling. I asked what is biting you."

    The lemon sorbets arrived. Garry, in a fit of frustrated rage, crushed his cigarette in the ice.

    "Is that how you feel, Mr. Oxfam?" Toni asked, spooning ice into her pretty mouth.

    "Look, Toni, I don't know what's come over you, but this has turned into a drag."

    "Has it?" She put down her spoon. "Garry, dear, I am always asking myself how it is I land up with a lover who lies to me. It is beginning to bore me."

    They stared at each other.

    "Women who are able to spot my lies bore me too," Garry said quietly.

    "There it is." Toni lifted her hands helplessly. "Damn you, I love you. Let's get out of here and go home and have sex."

    He paid the bill without shuddering with one of the $50 Travellers' Cheques Shalik had given him.

    In the taxi, Toni sat away from him, putting her feet up on the tip-up seat.

    "This photographer . . . she's marvellous, isn't she?" she asked. "Darling Garry, don't lie to me . . . tell me."

    He watched the street lights and the rain beating on the pavement, and he sighed. "Okay . . . yes . . . she's marvellous."

    Toni's small, pretty face tightened with misery.

    "Will you be coming back, Garry?"

    "Now look, Toni . . ."

    "I'm asking you . . . will you be coming back to me?"

    He hesitated, thinking of the tawny-haired woman who now filled his mind.

    "I don't know."

    "Well, thanks for being truthful." She moved closer to him and slid into his arms.

    Fennel told the taxi driver to take him to the end of Hornsey Road where Jacey had his shabby flat. As the taxi passed Jacey's building,