Hell Is Too Crowded - Jack Higgins [26]
The compartment was narrow and cramped, with a single bunk against one wall and a washbasin in the corner by the window. Brady sat on the edge of the bunk and lit a cigarette. "What do I do if anyone knocks on the door?"
She glanced round the compartment and smiled. "Get under the bunk, I suppose. There doesn't seem to be much choice."
"And what happens when we reach King's Cross?"
She shrugged. "Once through the barrier, straight down into the Underground. I've got a flat in Kensington. We can be there in twenty minutes. Actually I share it with another girl, but she's doing a show in Glasgow this week."
"What about my uniform?"
"That's simple," she said. "As we go through the barrier, I'll carry my coat over my arm with yours hidden underneath. You can slip it on when we get down into the Underground. It's always crowded with people at that time in the morning. You could stand on your head and nobody would notice."
Brady grinned. "You've got it all organized, haven't you?"
"Somebody's got to think of these things."
As she talked, she unzipped her dress and pulled it over her head. She stood there in her slip with a complete lack of self-consciousness and opened one of the suitcases. She took out a red silk brocade housecoat and put it on.
As she fastened it at the waist, she smiled. "That'll have to do me for tonight." Brady nodded and suddenly his head seemed too heavy for his body. He took a deep breath and made an effort to sit up straight and she knelt down and started to untie his shoes. "You need some sleep, and badly," she said.
Brady unfastened his collar at the neck and took off the jacket. She pulled off his shoes and pushed him back down on to the bunk.
"What about you?" he protested.
"There's room for both of us," she said and lay down on the bunk beside him and spread a blanket over them.
Brady was too tired to argue. He turned and looked at her dark head lying there on the pillow beside him and grinned. "You're a funny girl," he said softly.
She smiled and it was as if a light had turned on inside her and a radiance glowed out of the dark eyes. No woman had ever smiled at him quite like that before, drawing him in, enveloping him.
He leaned forward and kissed her once, very gently upon her parted mouth and she turned her face into his shoulder and after a while, they slept.
It was the knock on the door which awakened him, bringing him back to life from a deep, dreamless sleep. Anne was pulling her dress over her head and she turned quickly and nodded reassuringly. "Only the attendant knocking people up," she said.
"Are we there?" Brady said in surprise.
She nodded and he swung his legs to the floor and pulled on his shoes. He felt completely refreshed and relaxed, but his stomach was hollow and empty and he realized, with a sense of shock, that he hadn't eaten since leaving the gaol.
They dressed quickly and when they were ready, she opened the door and peered cautiously out into the corridor. She turned and nodded and Brady picked up the cases and moved past her.
As he went along the corridor, a door opened and a man emerged from a compartment carrying a small overnight bag. Brady paused to let him go first and then followed close behind.
There were no uniformed policemen standing at the barrier, but Brady noticed two large men in raincoats and soft hats leaning against the wall by the newspaper stand and they seemed to be examining faces as people moved out through the gate.
A yard or two in front of Brady, a porter drove a small electric truck loaded with sacks of mail and as he approached the barrier, someone opened the vehicle gate for him. Brady didn't hesitate. He followed the truck through, nodded his thanks to the man on the gate, and moved straight across the hall towards the entrance to the Underground.
He joined the descending stream of people and after a while, was conscious of Anne at his shoulder. When they reached the hall below, he put down the suitcases in a corner and she handed