10 lb Penalty - Dick Francis [96]
Joe went on, “He hadn’t had time to put the rifle up in the gutter, but it was there with him, all right. He’d put the gun butt in the hanging basket with the geraniums, with the barrel pointing skywards, among the chains hanging the basket. I then used the room telephone to bring my colleagues from the police station. While we waited for them to arrive I asked, out of curiosity, how Wyvern had known about the reconstruction. How had he known that he would have a chance to shoot George Juliard?”
Joe smiled lopsidedly. “Wyvern had said Usher Rudd had phoned him and told him.” He stood up again.
My father said, “How did Wyvern think he would get away with it?”
Joe shrugged. “He did last time. In the commotion, he simply walked away. If it hadn’t been for the hotel manager, he quite likely would have done it again. But it was odd. He seemed just plain tired. There was no fight left in him. He could see he hadn’t managed to finish either of you, and he simply gave up. We had no trouble arresting him.”
“And what are you charging him with?” my father asked.
“Attempted murder,” Joe said.
I faintly smiled. “A 10-1b. penalty.”
“Ten years,” Joe said.
The next prime minister held my hand.
I gripped his tight, as if he would give me comfort and security when I needed them badly.
I gripped his hand as if I’d been a little boy.
See why Dick Francis was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America!
THE DICK FRANCIS COMPANION
Jean Swanson and Dean James 0-425-18187-1
The definitive source to the works of the three-time Edgar Allen Poe Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author, including book-by-book synopses, little-known facts, and quotes.
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New York Times Bestselling Author DICK FRANCIS
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