Comes the Dark Stranger - Jack Higgins [51]
15
IT was quiet in the vestry, and Shane stared out of the window into the darkness. Behind him Father Costello coughed and said softly, ‘Is that all?’
Shane nodded slowly and turned towards him. ‘That’s it, Father,’ he said. ‘Right up to the moment I awakened behind the dustbin in that alley.’
The priest frowned, his slender fingers tapping thoughtfully on the desk top. ‘It’s a strange story,’ he said. ‘A very strange story.’
‘But do you believe me, Father?’ Shane said desperately. ‘That’s the important thing.’
Father Costello looked up at him searchingly, and suddenly he smiled. ‘Yes, I think I do. Don’t ask me why, but I don’t think you killed her.’
Relief flooded through Shane and he sighed deeply. ‘Thank God you do. I was beginning to wonder if they weren’t right about me.’
Father Costello nodded and said soberly, ‘That’s all very well, but it doesn’t bring us any nearer to a solution. If you aren’t the guilty one, then who did kill Jenny Green?’
Shane shook his head and sighed. ‘I wish I knew, Father, I wish I knew.’ He started to turn away, and then suddenly a great light burst upon him and he slammed a fist into his hand. ‘There’s just one way I might break this,’ he said excitedly.
The priest leaned forward, interest leaping into his eyes. ‘Tell me!’ he said simply.
Shane lit a cigarette and his hand was trembling. ‘If I’m sane and balanced and normal, then the man with the club foot exists. He wasn’t simply a figment of my imagination. It was part of a deliberate attempt to make me think I was going out of my mind.’
‘But how does all this help?’ Father Costello demanded.
Shane frowned. ‘I’ve just thought of a very simple way of finding out who he was.’ He turned quickly and reached for a memo pad and pencil that were lying on the desk. ‘There’s more to it than that, but I haven’t got time to explain now. You’ll have to trust me, Father.’
He scribbled a name and address on the pad and pushed it across to the priest. ‘I want you to give me exactly one hour, Father. No more, no less. Then I want you to ring Inspector Lomax at the C.I.D. and tell him I’m at this address.’
Father Costello looked at the address in surprise, and when he raised his head there was puzzlement in his eyes. ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’
Shane nodded. ‘Will you do as I ask?’
The priest frowned down at the address, and then he sighed. ‘On one condition.’ He looked Shane directly in the eye. ‘No killing. I must have your promise.’
Shane hesitated, a frown on his face, and then he shrugged. ‘All right, Father. We’ll play it your way.’
He opened the door and the priest said, ‘Just a moment.’ He took some keys from his pocket and threw them over. ‘You’ll find a car in the yard at the rear of the building. Not a very new model, I’m afraid, but you’ll stand a better chance than you will on foot.’
Shane tried to speak, but for some reason the words refused to come, and the priest smiled faintly and made a slight gesture with one hand. ‘Good luck!’ he said, and Shane closed the door quickly and turned away.
He drove rapidly through the quiet streets into the centre of the town, and within minutes of leaving the church he was parking the car outside his hotel. The foyer was empty, and there was no one behind the counter. He moved forward quietly, and gently raised the flap of the reception desk. Someone was humming softly in the tiny office, and he slipped through the half-open door and closed it behind him.
The girl was standing in front of the mirror, applying a pencil to her eyebrows, and she turned in alarm. An expression of dismay appeared on her face, and her mouth opened to scream.
Shane jumped forward and clamped one hand over her mouth. ‘Make a sound and it’ll be your last, I promise you,’ he said savagely. He released her, and she fell back against the desk, terror in her eyes.
She was wearing her new gaberdine suit, and Shane moved forward and fingered one of the lapels. ‘I should have smelt a rat when I saw you wearing this the other day,’ he said. ‘You’ve never earned more than five quid a week in your life,