Night Train to Memphis - Elizabeth Peters [150]
‘Has she got it?’ Mary’s voice was crisp and not at all childish.
‘We haven’t discussed that,’ Larry said. ‘I doubt it, though. Please go.’
‘You promised me . . .’
‘No, I didn’t. Get out and leave this to me.’
She divided a malignant glance between the two of us and slipped out.
‘That woman is getting to be a damned nuisance, Larry muttered. ‘I think she’s a little crazy.’
‘You know, Larry, you might have something there. Why don’t you fire her? You hired her.’
‘No, I didn’t. My original arrangements were made with her brother. A very competent man.’
Competent, sane Leif. I remembered the last sight I’d had of him. The knife with which he’d been slashing at me was still in his hand when John dragged him down under the icy water.
Larry’s frown smoothed out. ‘Well, it won’t be much longer. I will certainly sever my connections with the organization after this. I hate to do it because they’ve done excellent work for me in the past, and at the start she was quite efficient. Some of her ideas were brilliant, in fact – like planting that message with the dead agent to get you on board as a means of making Tregarth behave himself.’
‘Oh,’ I said. He seemed to expect some response, but congratulating him on that brilliant idea was more than I could manage.
‘Her organization handled that matter, and very well, too.’ Larry went on. ‘She’s been acting strangely the last few weeks, though, and one can’t put up with that sort of thing. It’s inefficient.’
‘Right,’ I said, swallowing.
‘I need that pectoral, Vicky,’ Larry went on. ‘Do you have it?’
‘What . . . Oh.’ In the fascination of following Larry’s mind along its monster-haunted byways I had almost forgotten the Tutankhamon jewel. ‘No, I don’t have it. Didn’t you search me?’
Larry looked uncomfortable. ‘Only in the most respectful fashion. Mary wanted to . . . Of course I couldn’t allow that.’
‘Thanks,’ I said. And I meant it. The idea of those soft little hands on me made my skin crawl.
‘It’s a very large object,’ Larry went on. ‘I don’t believe I could have missed it. Anyhow, I didn’t suppose Tregarth would trust you with it. He has it, doesn’t he?’
‘Unless he is a lot dumber than I think he is, he’s stowed it away somewhere safe by now.’
‘So we decided. Well.’ Larry rose. ‘He’ll turn it over to us in exchange for you. So you see, Vicky, you haven’t a thing to worry about. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?’
His departure would certainly have that effect but it wouldn’t have been tactful to say so. I shook my head.
‘Have a little rest,’ Larry said kindly. ‘I’ll let you know as soon as we hear from him.’
Mary wasn’t the only one who’d gone around the bend in the last few weeks. Or had Larry always been this way, determinedly unconscious of the deadly results of his ‘harmless’ schemes? Maybe they were all like that, the presidents and chairmen and commanding generals who sat in their offices and gave orders to ‘engage targets’ or ‘cut the work force.’ They never saw the suffering, bleeding bodies those orders affected.
I didn’t have a little rest or eat any of the food on the tray. It wasn’t very appetizing – dry sandwiches and a wilted salad that probably contained a whole colony of healthy typhoid germs. That suggested there were few or no servants in the house. Larry might not have his full crew with him. Some of them would have to stay with the boat. Mary and Hans were here, and that probably meant Max and Rudi were also with Larry. How many others?
And what the hell difference did it make? I couldn’t get out and there was no way John could get to me without being caught.
I went onto the balcony. Down below – far down – I saw a stone-paved terrace without so much as a shrub to break one’s fall. Rudi was down there too. At least the shape in the shadows, slim as a weasel, looked like his. To complete the picture of total disaster, the railing of the balcony swayed under the pressure of my hands. No point