• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

'What about Harris?' Marlowe said.

Marlowe shrugged. 'He's in a bad way. They've taken him away in a car.' He shook his head. 'Those burns looked pretty bad.'

Marlowe shrugged. 'I'm not sorry. He stabbed Faulkner in the back and he was going to finish off Mackenzie and the girl. I had to do something pretty drastic.'

Masters sighed. 'Yes, I suppose you did. You always do seem to end up doing something drastic to somebody, don't you?'

They reached the two police cars that were parked on the edge of the clearing and Alpin came up, a lugubrious expression on his face. 'Well, you've given us a little action for once.' His eyes fastened on Marlowe's wounded shoulder and he clicked his tongue. 'We'd better have something done to that. I want you to survive till you've answered all my questions.'

Maria and the Jamaican got into the back of one of the cars and Marlowe stood against the door, the rain beating into him, while a young constable fastened a pad of cotton wool over the groove in his shoulder with surgical tape from a first-aid box.

As the constable dabbed iodine on Marlowe's hands, pain ran through him in great waves, but he was hardly conscious of it. His mind could only concentrate with a terrible burning force on one thing only. That Jenny O'Connor had played him false. That she had tricked him all along the line. That she was responsible for the death of Papa Magellan and he knew, with a terrible sureness, that he was going to kill her.

12

Marlowe stood in the porch and watched the last of the police cars turn out of the gate into the main road. The sound of its engine dwindled into the distance and he lit a cigarette awkwardly, because of his heavily bandaged hands, and stepped out into the driving rain.

As he walked down to the barn, he heard his name called from the house and Mac came out of the porch and ran towards him, splashing through the many pools. Marlowe kept on walking and was entering the barn as the Jamaican caught up with him. Mac pulled at his arm. 'Hey, man, where are you going?'

Marlowe jerked away from him and went over to the work-bench. He pulled open various drawers and searched through them. After a moment or two he grunted with satisfaction and took out a pair of heavy leather driving mitts. 'I can just about get these on.'

Mac frowned. 'What is this, Hugh? You've been acting kind of strange since we got back.'

Marlowe shrugged impatiently. 'I'm all right,' he said. 'Don't worry about me. How's Maria?'

The Jamaican smiled. 'She's in the kitchen making a meal. Man, she's really come out of all this well. Most girls would have been flat on their backs after what she's been through.' He nodded his head. 'There's a lot of good stuff in that girl.'

Marlowe stared into the middle distance and eased the gloves over his bandaged hands. 'Yes, she's a good kid,' he said. 'She'll make some bloke a fine wife.' He shook his head as if he was dazed and continued, 'Listen, Mac, have you any idea where Monaghan lives?'

Mac nodded. 'Sure, he hangs out in a pub called the Grey Goose. It's in Dover Street not far from the main square.' He frowned. 'What do you want to know for?'

Marlowe bared his teeth and clapped him on the shoulder. 'Nothing important,' he said. 'I just want a word with him.'

He turned to the truck and Mac grabbed him by the arm. 'Is he the only one you're going to have a word with? You sure you're not going after Jenny O'Connor?'

Marlowe swung on him savagely. 'You listen to me,' he said, 'and listen good. Papa Magellan didn't fall asleep at the wheel like we thought. His brakes were fixed. As far as I'm concerned that means he was murdered. O'Connor may have been running things, but she was working with him all along, making a sucker out of me. She must have known what O'Connor intended to do. That makes her just as guilty.'

He pulled himself up behind the wheel and slammed the door. As he started the engine, Mac clambered up on the footboard and said desperately, 'If that's true, it's a police job. You should have told those coppers.' He shook