Kill Me a Fortune by Colby Robert

Author:Colby, Robert [Colby, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4405-3713-4
Publisher: Ace Books, Inc.
Published: 1961-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

11

I SAW him the moment I closed the door. The huge shadow of him stepped from behind a tree and sprang toward me, gun in hand. I fell easily and rolled in a ball at his oncoming feet. When he went down across me, I shoved up and sent him over on his back. He was in a sitting position and the gun barrel was lifting when I kicked the side of his head like a football. He fell sideways without a sound, and I had his gun in my hand when I saw the other one loping up behind me, pausing, taking aim.

He fired, missed. I fired back wildly and ran around the behind a bush. When he had gone, I raced softly for my car.

I got moving before he caught on. There was no shot but I saw lights flare and burst after me. I made a right and then another. In the middle of the next block I saw a dark apartment house with a private lot. A good dozen cars were packed tightly but I spied a single open space in the glare of my lights. I braked and swerved, cut in between two cars and hit the light switch with my palm as I cut the motor. He rounded the corner and slammed on by in an angry whine of sound.

I slumped in my seat and didn’t stir for nearly an hour. Then I backed in darkness and drove to within a block of Enid’s house. On foot I sneaked to a position across the street and watched a long time. The cottage was dark and there seemed to be no one about. I circled and crept into the back yard. I waited, staring from behind a tree. Then I tiptoed around to the side and found an open window. I made a small hole in the screen and released the latch with my finger. I hoisted myself into the living room without a sound.

I stood in her bedroom doorway, adjusting to the darkness. She lay on her back. A sheet covered her to the waist. Her long hair spilled around her in disorder. I approached her bed on the balls of my feet.

Suddenly she sat up, I should have known she would not be able to sleep. Immobile as a statue, she stared in my direction. I leaped forward and clamped a hand over her mouth. She struggled in a frenzy of fear.

“Stop it!” I barked in a hoarse whisper. “It’s Ross Elliot.” She subsided but I twisted her arm behind her before I took my hand away.

“Ross,” she said. “Please!”

“Quiet! Speak softly.”

“Ross, I thought you … You’re hurting my arm — please! What do you want?”

“Who were those men?”

“I — I don’t know. I heard shots and I — ”

“Come on, Enid. I’m not playing!” I twisted her arm tighter. “Who were they?”

“The police.”

“What!”

“Yes, honest. The police.” In the gloom, touched by moonlight from the window, her white face was upturned beseechingly, her naked breasts heaved and shimmered.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.