Cry of the Hunter - Jack Higgins [40]
‘Come on, finish this,’ she said, holding out another spoonful, and he opened his mouth obediently.
‘That was good,’ he said when he had finished.
She smiled and wiped his mouth with a napkin. ‘Now drink your milk like a good boy,’ she ordered.
He wrinkled his face. ‘Not milk – I hate it. To tell you the truth I could just do with a drop of the real stuff.’
The worst possible thing you could have,’ she said and took a glass of warm milk from the tray.
Fallon grimaced. ‘All right, but I’ll drink it myself, thank you. I’m not finished yet, you know.’
As he sipped the milk Murphy said, ‘Well, I’ll leave you, Mr. Fallon. You could do with some more sleep.’
Fallon made an exclamation of disgust. ‘Nothing doing,’ he said. ‘I’m going to get up when I’ve finished this. It was only a flesh wound, you know. The doctor told me. I’ve got to work out our next move.’
Anne smiled and shook her head firmly. ‘You aren’t going anywhere,’ she said. ‘You nearly killed yourself last night. How you haven’t got pneumonia I don’t know.’
He smiled brightly. ‘I’d have been in a worse position if I’d stayed.’
Murphy paused on his way to the door and stood quite still. The girl said, ‘What do you mean?’
Fallon shrugged. ‘I was to be charged as an accessory to murder.’ Her breath hissed sharply between her teeth and he turned his head and said to Murphy, ‘That means you too, lad. I’m sorry.’
There was a short silence and Murphy said with a forced laugh, ‘I suppose it serves us right for not keeping better company, Mr. Fallon.’ He turned and walked to the door. He hesitated with the door half-open and said slowly, ‘Would they – would they hang us if they caught us, Mr. Fallon?’
Fallon stared down into his empty glass and placed it gently on the tray. ‘Very probably,’ he said.
A tiny moan escaped from the boy’s mouth and his shoulders sagged. He remained like that in the doorway for several moments and then he straightened up and said with forced brightness, ‘Then we’ll have to damn well see they don’t get us, won’t we, Mr. Fallon?’
Fallon nodded and replied in the same tone, ‘Don’t worry, lad. They won’t catch us if I can help it.’
The door closed behind Murphy and Anne said, ‘Is it as bad as that? Do you really think they would hang you?’
He wrinkled his brows and smiled slightly. ‘I don’t know. I’m only going by what Phil Stuart told me. Rogan fixed that booby trap, but we were his accomplices in the eyes of the law – accessories before the fact, they call it. Another thing, if they do catch Rogan, which they very probably will, he’ll spill his guts. He’ll incriminate me and the boy out of sheer malice.’ A sudden thought struck him and he said slowly, ‘In fact he’ll very probably bring you into it as well.’
There was a short silence while they both thought about what he had just said and then the girl spoke. ‘That means we’ll have to leave here together,’ she said. ‘There isn’t any other way out, is there? I can’t very well stay here to wait for the police, can I?’
He stared at her, dismay on his face, as the full horror of what he had done to her burst upon him. ‘I’ve ruined you,’ he said. ‘I’ve ruined you entirely.’
When she replied her voice seemed to come from a great distance. He shook his head violently and she sounded quite normal again. ‘Don’t worry about me. All I’m worried about is that wound of yours. The blood had seeped through the bandage. It’s a good job I was here to render professional service.’
He opened his mouth to reply and then she was very far away and there was a strange buzzing in his ears. ‘What’s wrong?’ he croaked. ‘Everything’s going round in circles.’
Her voice came from the depths of a whirlpool. ‘That’s just what should happen. I put something in your milk. Now you can sleep for another twelve hours whether you like it or not.’ The darkness swirled over him and she was gone again.
When he awoke the room was dark. He lay there for a moment adjusting his thoughts and then he threw aside the bedclothes and sat on the edge of the bed. The dull ache in his side had abated a little and he was