Have This One on Me (1967) by James Hadley Chase

Author:James Hadley Chase [Chase, James Hadley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Worthington was telling his story. He sat huddled down in the chair, facing Mala and Girland. His eyes were wide with alarm.

Hearing the shooting, he explained, he realised that very soon the police would arrive and search the apartment.

‘I packed some things for you,’ he said, looking at Mala. ‘We can’t go back. They will be looking for you now. They could come here.’

Girland was examining this tall, weak-looking Englishman.

He asked himself what the hell he was getting into by being involved with a man like this.

‘How about the money?’ he asked, watching Worthington closely.

Worthington stiffened, then looked quickly at Mala.

‘I’ve told him,’ she said.

Worthington flinched. The money was terribly important to him. How could she have told a complete stranger that they had so much money?

‘I don’t understand ... I ...’

‘We’ll go into details later.’ Girland said crisply. ‘What’s happened to the money?’

Worthington hesitated and looked for guidance from Mala.

Just how much, he wondered, had she told this man?

‘He knows about the money.’ Mala said impatiently.

Again Worthington hesitated, then said sullenly, ‘I have it in my suitcase.’

Girland drew in a long, slow breath.

‘That’s something ... now, let’s get out of here. You know the district. Where do we go?’

Mala hesitated.

‘If we had a car ... we could go to a friend of mine, Jan Braun. He has a farm.’

‘What’s so difficult about a car? We’ll borrow one. Okay, let’s go to your friend. Come on ... is there a back way out?’

‘Yes ...’ Mala was still hesitating.

‘Snap it up, baby. The fuse is burning.’

‘But I just can’t walk out ...’

Girland caught hold of her arm.

‘Let’s go!’

Worthington, listening to all this, looking helplessly first at Girland and then at Mala, said, ‘He’s right. They could come here, looking for you.’

‘Today’s understatement,’ Girland said and bustled Mala out into the passage. ‘Lift your pretty feet. Where do we go?’

Galvanised by the hard urgency in his voice, she pulled away from him and ran down the passage to a door. She opened it and stepped out into a dark yard that opened out on to a small parking lot where a number of cars, owned by tourists, stood in a line.

Girland, followed by Worthington, carrying his suitcase, joined her. Girland looked at the line of cars.

‘Wait here,’ he said and moved quickly to the cars. He checked five of them before he found a Mercedes with the key in the ignition lock. He slid into the driving seat and turned on the parking lights, then he waved to Mala and Worthington to join him. They came across the parking lot at a run. Worthington got into the back seat and Mala scrambled in beside Girland who let in the clutch and drove out of the parking lot.

As he drove down the main street, he saw two police cars pull up outside the entrance to the arcade leading to the night club.

‘Nicely timed,’ he said and smiled at Mala. ‘Now where do we go?’

Mala directed him out of the City. She kept looking at him as he drove at a steady speed, taking no risks.

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.