Джеймс Чейз - Not Safe to Be Free [= The Case of the Strangled Starlet]

Immediately he felt her legs stiffen and he had to grip tightly to keep her in this position.

It was while he was holding her like this that he heard a sudden movement in the suite. The sound was unmistakable. Someone had entered the suite and had pushed against a chair or some other heavy object.

His heart gave a great bound in his chest. It seemed to stop beating and then began to race so violently, he felt suffocated.

How could anyone have got in? He had locked the door! Who was it — his father?

The reflex twitching of Sophia’s legs had ceased. The little air bubbles that had escaped from her mouth no longer disturbed the water.

She must be dead now, he thought frantically. She had been under the water for at least three minutes!

Then he heard his father’s voice.

“Hey, Sophia! What’s the idea — locking me out?”

Almost vomiting with panic, Jay released Sophia’s feet, darted to the other end of the bath and caught her under the armpits, lifting her head clear of the water.

“Quick! Help!”

He didn’t recognize his own voice. It was a high-pitched scream.

There was a sound of quick, thudding footfalls. Looking over his shoulder, he saw his father appear in the doorway.

Even though he was panic-stricken and his heart was hammering and he could scarcely breathe, he was still able to recognize his father’s ruthless efficiency by his reaction to what he saw.

There was no panic on his father’s face. He paused long enough to take one swift look at what was going on, then he jumped to Jay’s side, gave him a shove that sent him reeling and caught hold of Sophia, supporting her. Then he had her out of the bath, slopping water all over the bathroom floor and ran with her into the bedroom.

Jay felt bile rush into his mouth. He had just time to get to the toilet before he began to vomit. Crouching over the toilet, cold, shivering and deadly sick, he felt his humiliation, knowing that stark fear was making him do this.

“Come here!”

The snap in his father’s voice brought him to his senses.

He grabbed a towel and wiped his mouth and sweating face, then he staggered unsteadily into the bedroom.

Sophia was lying face down on the floor. His father was kneeling over her. His face was hard and tight and his eyes were glittering as he went through the routine motions of artificial respiration.

A little trickle of water came from Sophia’s open mouth every time Delaney pressed down on her back.

“Pull yourself together, you damned stupe!” his father shouted at him. “Get the hotel doctor up here! Get him up here fast!”

Jay went unsteadily into the lounge. With a shaking hand he picked up the telephone and when the girl answered, he said huskily: “The doctor! Quick! There’s been an accident!”

He dropped the receiver back on to its cradle, then walked over to the liquor cabinet and poured two inches of whisky into a glass and drank it.

For some moments he waited for the spirit to knit his quailing nerves together, then he went unsteadily to Sophia’s bedroom door.

His father was still giving Sophia artificial respiration and he looked over his shoulder at Jay.

“What happened?”

Jay had never heard his father speak like this before. The words seemed to cut the air like a whip lash.

“She must have fainted,” Jay said, his voice a croak. “I heard her scream and a splashing noise. I went in there and found her.”

“Where’s that goddamn doctor?”

“He’s coming.”

“Go and drag him up here. Don’t stand there like a dummy! Get him up here!”

As Jay went back into the lounge, he heard a knock on the door and the door jerked open. It was then he saw the key of the door lying on the floor. His father must have got the floor waiter to let him in. The waiter had pushed out the key in the lock with the pass-key.

The hotel doctor, bag in hand, came in.

“In there,” Jay said, pointing to the open door, then, as the doctor walked into Sophia’s room, Jay moved silently to the door, keeping just out of sight.

She must be dead! he told himself. She had to be dead!

He heard his father say: “She fainted in the bath, hit her head and was under the water. I think I’ve got most of the water out of her. Here! Take over!”

Then followed three minutes of agonizing silence.

Was she dead?

Jay leaned against the wall, his heart thumping, listening and waiting.

Finally, he heard the doctor say: “She’ll be all right. She has a pretty bad concussion and she’ll be unconscious for several hours, but she’s going to be all right. It was a close thing. If you hadn’t thought of artificial respiration... ”

“Oh, skip it!” Delaney barked. “Let’s get her on the bed. Get nurses! Get everything you need. The sky’s the limit! I love this woman and I’m not going to lose her! Come on... get things organized!”

Jay drew in a long, slow breath. So he had lost out. It had been a gamble. He had been lucky with Kerr and the fat woman. If only he had had another minute before his father had come in!

Now he must think of himself.

Sophia would be unconscious for at least a couple of hours. He was sure she would give him away as soon as she could speak and his father would then hand him over to the police, so, if he was to get away, he had to act at once.

He was suddenly aware that perhaps after all this was the experience he had been looking for. The police would come after him. They would hunt him. He would have to rely on his wits and ingenuity to elude them.

There could be nothing more exciting than a man-hunt nor any greater test for his courage and ingenuity.

What did he need?

Money, of course, then clothes, toilet things and a weapon.

He touched the .25 automatic in his hip pocket. He was lucky to have that, he thought. Now money...

His father came out of the bedroom. There was sweat on his face and he looked fine-drawn, but otherwise he was his ice-cold ruthless self.

“That was a close call, Jay,” he said and went across to the liquor cabinet and mixed himself a whisky and soda. “She’s out of danger now, poor kid. It’s damn funny. I’ve never known her to faint before.” He looked at Jay and grinned. “You were certainly in an uproar. Well, I don’t blame you. I was in a bit of an uproar myself. Thanks for going to her help.”

Jay muttered under his breath and began to edge towards his bedroom.

The doctor came into the lounge at this moment and allowed Jay to escape into his room.

He shut the door, then went to the wardrobe, took from it a canvas sack he used when he went fishing and began hastily to put the various things in it he wanted to take with him.

He had just completed packing and had dropped the sack out of sight behind the bed when his father looked in.

“Better get some sleep, son. Don’t worry about her now. There’re a couple of nurses with her. I’m going to hit the sack myself. As soon as she regains consciousness, I’ll be called. You turn in.”

“Yes,” Jay said.

Delaney nodded and withdrew.

Jay waited until he heard the shower going in his father’s bathroom, then he went into his father’s bedroom.

On the chest of drawers was his father’s wallet, stuffed with ten thousand franc notes. Without bothering to count the money, Jay emptied the wallet, pushed the notes into his pocket, then went quickly back to his room.

This then was the beginning of a new adventure, he thought, as he picked up the canvas sack. By to-morrow morning the police would be looking for him. The man-hunt would be on!

He had money, a gun, his wits and his ingenuity. What more could he want?

He walked softly to his bedroom door, opened it, glanced into the empty lounge, then, moving quickly, he crossed to the door out on to the corridor, looked to right and left, then walked down the corridor to the stairs.