Comes the Dark Stranger - Jack Higgins [48]
He turned his head slowly. There was blood everywhere, even on the walls as if some animal had been butchered. He tried to get up and fell forward on his face and his hand knocked against something hard. Lying on the floor in front of him was a razor sharp Ghurka kukri that he remembered had hung over the fireplace as an ornament. His fingers closed around the handle and he stared at the blood smeared blade dumbly and then a terrible light burst upon him and he cried out sharply, ‘Jenny! Jenny, where are you?’
He found her in the other room sprawled across the bed. Her throat had been cut and her body was horribly mutilated. He stood at the side of the bed looking down at her and then a great wave of pain flooded through him and he fell across the bed beside her.
He was still lying there when the police found him, the kukri firmly clenched in his right hand.
14
IT was raining when the police van turned in through the goods entrance of the station. The driver backed it against the end of the platform and Lomax jumped down from the cab and walked along the side of the vehicle. He clambered up on the platform and unlocked the rear door.
Shane stepped out flanked by two detectives. He was handcuffed to one of them by the right wrist and his coat was thrown loosely over his shoulders. The train was already in the station and they were standing opposite the guard’s van. Shane smiled ironically and turned to Lomax. ‘How long have we got?’
Lomax glanced at his watch. ‘About ten minutes. How do you feel?’
Shane grinned. ‘Like a cigarette.’
His face was pale and drawn in the lamplight. He drew gratefully on the cigarette that Lomax pushed into his mouth and sighed. ‘That tastes good.’ He laughed harshly. ‘I suppose almost everything does at this stage in a man’s life.’
Lomax frowned. ‘I wouldn’t think about it too much, if I were you. Perhaps this operation will be a success. Sir George Hammond is supposed to be the finest brain surgeon in Europe. A week from tonight you’ll probably be lying in a bed in that hospital alive and kicking and wondering why you worried so much.’
‘And afterwards you’ll be able to send me for trial and have me hanged for a murder I didn’t do,’ Shane said. ‘What a lovely prospect.’
Lomax shook his head. ‘I don’t think there’s much danger of that.’
Shane turned on him, his face white and angry. ‘Because I’m insane?’ he demanded loudly. ‘Is that what you mean? Is life imprisonment in Broadmoor a more attractive prospect?’
The young detective to whom he was handcuffed stirred uneasily and Lomax took Shane by the elbow and said calmly. ‘Now don’t start getting worked up again. I told you before that I thought you’d had a rotten break and I’ve tried to make things easy for you. I’ve done everything I can to help.’
‘There’s only one way you can help me,’ Shane told him. ‘Find the person who murdered Jenny Green.’
Lomax sighed. ‘Now, don’t let’s start going over that again. It’s all I’ve heard for the last two days. You’re a sick man, Shane. You need help - medical help.’
Shane glared at him contemptuously. ‘I suppose this is what you coppers like - an open and shut case and no need to wear out any shoe leather.’
He started to turn away and Lomax gripped him by the arm and jerked him round. The policeman’s face was white and there was anger in his eyes. ‘You listen to me,’ he said, ‘and listen hard. It may interest you to know that I’ve spent the last twelve hours checking on your story personally. I’ve visited every person you’ve had contact with since you arrived in this town.’
‘And what did you find?’ Shane demanded eagerly.
Lomax took out his pipe and filled it. ‘That Reggie Steele was still at his cottage when the murder took place. His girl friend swears to that.’
Shane raised a clenched fist in a gesture of impotent fury. ‘She’d swear her own mother’s life away if she were offered enough.