Comes the Dark Stranger - Jack Higgins [29]
She gently slid one of her hands over his. ‘You look tired.’
He nodded. ‘I’ve had a hard day.’
A shadow passed across her face. ‘Have you - have you seen anybody?’
He grinned. ‘Seen anybody? I’ve seen them all.’
Her eyes widened and a look of incredulity appeared on her face. After a short pause she said slowly, ‘Are you going to tell me about it?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t see why not. Would you like another drink?’ She shook her head and he leaned back against the padded wall and started to speak.
He told her about Charles Graham, and then moved on through the events of the day, ending with an account of his second meeting with Crowther. The one thing he omitted was any reference to the footsteps.
When he had finished she sat quietly for some time gazing down into her drink, and then she said slowly, ‘I don’t see where it’s got you. You’ve spoken to all three suspects. It’s got to be one of them, and yet you’re no further forward. Can you honestly say you suspect one of them more than the others?’
He sighed and shook his head. ‘No, I can’t say that I do. At first I thought I could cross Crowther off my list, but now I’m far from sure. He’s too eager for me to stop the whole business. Wilby was definitely frightened, but for some reason I got the impression he was frightened of something else.’
‘And Steele?’ she said.
He shrugged. ‘Steele is the most likely one, and not only because he’s unscrupulous. He’s completely self-centred. The sort of man who will always do only those things which directly benefit himself.’
‘And what do you intend to do now?’ she asked. ‘You seem to be at a dead end.’
He frowned slightly. ‘I’m not so sure. I know it looks like it, but I’ve got a hunch about Joe Wilby. Somehow he’s the key to this whole business. If he isn’t the guilty man himself, I swear he knows who is. Coming right down to it, I think Reggie Steele’s my man.’
They sat there in silence, and then the band began to play an old pre-war number, with love and laughter and tender sadness in every line of it. ‘Would you care to dance?’ he said. She nodded, a slight smile on her lips, and they moved out on to the floor.
They danced well together, and she fitted perfectly into his arms, her dark head pressed against his shoulder. That faint, delicate perfume rose from her hair, and he was acutely aware of the soft contours of her body pressed against him.
When the band stopped playing she looked up at him, a strange expression on her face. ‘I’m sorry, Martin. I’ll have to go now.’ He nodded gently without speaking, and raised a hand to the waiter.
As she turned the car out of the car park into the main road, she said abruptly, ‘I’ve been thinking I’d like to do a portrait of you. Have you got time to come up to the house tomorrow afternoon? I’d like a pencil sketch to be going on with.’
‘What for - posterity?’ he said lightly. She didn’t reply, and they drove the rest of the way into town in silence.
When they stopped outside the hotel, she kept the engine running. ‘I’m afraid I’ll have to hurry,’ she said. ‘What about tomorrow? Can you make it?’
He nodded. ‘I’ll be there sometime after lunch.’
There was a moment of silence as they looked at each other, and then he turned to open the door. As his hand touched the handle she said in a sudden broken whisper, ‘Martin!’
He turned and pulled her into his arms, and her supple body melted into his and the warm mouth opened like a flower. For a moment they stayed there, and then she pushed him away, gasping for breath. When she spoke, her words were shaky and uneven. ‘I must go, Martin. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
He reached for her again, but she placed a hand firmly against his chest and slowly and reluctantly he opened the car door and got out.
She waved once, and then the car disappeared into the fog, and