Cry of the Hunter - Jack Higgins [51]
For a moment he struggled with her and finally managed to disengage himself from her grasp. ‘It wouldn’t be possible,’ he said.
She jumped up and untying the sash at her waist, pulled open the housecoat. Underneath she was wearing only the stockings. ‘Take me with you,’ she begged. ‘I’ll do anything for you. Anything!’
He gazed at her, a terrible pity welling up inside him, and then he stood up and pulled the housecoat together again, covering her young body. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said gently. ‘But it’s still impossible.’
For a moment she stared at him in disbelief and then sudden fury appeared on her face. She slapped him hard and turned and stumbled from the room, sobbing. For several seconds he stood looking at the door and then he sat down on the bed, filled with loathing and self-disgust. He had been to blame. From the start he had acted as if she had been the only girl in the world for him. He cursed savagely and the door clicked open again. When he looked up she was standing framed in the doorway. Her voice was broken by sobs but she was obviously trying hard to control them. ‘I wasn’t going to tell you unless you’d take me away with you,’ she said. ‘But I can’t keep silent.’ She gulped and struggled for words and Fallon stood up quickly. ‘It’s me Dad,’ she explained. ‘He intends to go to the polis. He’s going to get you to leave the house by a trick and they’ll be waiting at the end of the street. That way he thinks the Organization won’t ever find out.’
Fallon walked towards her. ‘Thank you,’ he said, but she turned and fled before he could say anything more.
He went into the next room and shook Murphy. The boy came awake instantly, an expression of alarm on his face. He sat up blinking for a moment and then said with a crestfallen expression. ‘My God, did I fall asleep?’
‘Never mind,’ Fallon said. ‘Conroy’s going to inform on us. We’ll have to fix him quickly before he decides to leave the house.’
They quietly descended the stairs and went into the living-room. It was empty. Alarm moved inside Fallon and he quickly opened the kitchen door. He sighed with relief. Conroy was sprawled in an old armchair, a bottle in one hand. There was a clothes-line hanging from a nail by the door and Fallon took it down and walked across to the chair. Conroy turned at the noise. He was completely drunk but when he saw the clothes-line in Fallon’s hand, an expression of alarm flickered in his eyes. He tried to get up and opened his mouth to cry out and Fallon bit him hard on the point of the chin. The old man subsided into his chair.
It was the work of a moment or two to tie him up and they carried him upstairs between them and deposited him on his bed. When Fallon went back to the girl’s room the door was locked. He hesitated for a moment outside and then he followed Murphy downstairs.
The rest of the evening passed without incident. Murphy sat by the fire reading magazines and Fallon sprawled in a chair, smoking and thinking. They had a few sandwiches for supper, which Murphy made, and at ten o’clock they began to get ready to move.
Fallon went upstairs and knocked on the door of the girl’s bedroom. After a while she opened it. ‘What do you want?’ she said in a dull voice.
He opened his wallet and took out twenty pounds. ‘I want you to take this,’ he said. She started to protest but he took her hand and pressed the money into it. ‘Promise me you’ll leave here at the first opportutnity. That’s not much, I know, but it will keep you for three or four weeks in Belfast till you get a job.’
For a little while she looked at the money in an uncomprehending way and then she raised her eyes and they were shining. ‘I will, Mr. Fallon. Oh, I will!’
He squeezed her hand. ‘Good girl. We’re leaving now. You’ll find your father tied up on his bed. Free him in an hour or two. We don’t want him dying on us.’ She nodded slowly and then tears started to her eyes and she turned back into her room