Midnight Never Comes - Jack Higgins [44]
And Craig was just as dead. The only thing that kept him upright in the chair was the cord which had choked life out of him. It would have needed strength to kill a man like that--real strength.
Chavasse turned, sick at heart, and Donner came in from the hall, a Luger in his hand. They looked at each other for a long moment and Donner laughed harshly, but it was the man at his shoulder who did the talking.
'So we meet again, Mr. Chavasse?' Boris Souvorin said pleasantly. 'Did you have an enjoyable swim?'
11
Firebird
The sound of the Land Rover slowing to a halt outside pulled Asta back to reality just as she was dropping off to sleep. She threw back the bedclothes, ran across to the window in time to see her step-father and a stranger, hurry up the steps into the porch. They were followed by Paul Chavasse, Stavrou and Murdoch a pace or two behind.
Asta dropped the curtain, went across to the door and opened it. The landing was in darkness and she tip-toed along to the end and peered over the banisters.
They were standing in a group in the hall below and Chavasse in whipcord slacks and a white polo-necked sweater, seemed completely relaxed, that slight inimitable smile on his face. For a moment she thought everything was all right and then she noticed the revolver Stavrou was holding.
When Donner spoke, she could hear him perfectly. 'Put him in the cellar for half an hour,' he told Stavrou. 'We'll have words later.'
The library door closed and Stavrou and Chavasse moved away. Asta stayed there, gripping the banister rail with both hands.
'So they've picked up your boyfriend, have they?'
The voice was unnaturally loud in the stillness and when she turned, Ruth Murray was standing no more than a yard away, swaying drunkenly, a glass in one hand, a decanter in the other.
Asta brushed past her and went back to her room. She closed the door behind her, but it was opened again almost immediately and Ruth entered.
'Why don't you go to bed?' Asta said patiently. 'I'm not in the mood.'
'But maybe I am,' Ruth said. 'Maybe I'm in the mood for a lot of things. Truth or consequences for instance.' She put the decanter down carefully and went into the bathroom. When she came out, she was holding the rain-soaked sweater that Asta had worn earlier. 'You've really been having yourself a ball, haven't you, and don't bother to deny it. I saw you come in. I wonder what Max would say?'
'You can always try him.'
Ruth's foolish smile disappeared and in a moment her face was contorted with fury. 'You think you're so damned good, don't you? That all you have to do is whistle and he'll come running. Well I could tell you a thing or two about Mr. Max Donner.'
'You'd be wasting your time.'
'Is that so? Just like your mother. She thought she knew how to handle him and look where it got her.'
When she carried on, it was as if she was talking to herself. 'Everything had to be just right, so they told him to get a wife. A nice normal wife. That's why he married your mother.' She tossed back the contents of her glass and refilled it, brandy slopping to the floor. 'The bloody fool. She found out about him. She found out about the great Max Donner. He couldn't have that, now could he?'
'What are you trying to say?' Asta demanded, and something moved coldly inside her.
'Remember how your mother died? Skin-diving off Lesbos?'
'That's right. She went too deep. Ran out of air.'
Ruth Murray laughed harshly. 'What would you say if I told you her emergency cylinder was empty to start with?'
Asta clutched at the end of the bed to steady herself. 'What are you trying to say?' she said in a whisper.
'What do you think I'm trying to say?' Ruth Murray emptied the last of the brandy into her glass and took it down in one quick swallow. 'Yes, he's quite a man, our Max, or Ivan or Boris or Anton or whatever his damned name is.'
Asta managed to make it to the bathroom before she was sick, leaning over the basin, her whole body retching. And when she finished, a stranger stared out at her from the mirror, eyes burning in a face that was the