The Girl Who Cried Wolf by Waugh Hillary

Author:Waugh, Hillary [Waugh, Hillary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: NewBook, Mystery
Published: 1957-08-06T00:00:42+00:00

16

FRIDAY, APRIL 4

Phil got up in the morning with an empty ache inside. He brushed his teeth, showered and shaved, and poured himself a dish of cold cereal. He ate that, drank two cups of coffee, and had a cigarette, but the ache wouldn’t go away. The day was Good Friday, but there was nothing good about it. For forty hours he’d been trying to find out where Pat had been taken, and all he knew was that it was a four-hour ride in a truck. All he knew was the clue Pat had supplied herself. He might as well have done nothing.

He thought ahead. At five o’clock, he and Merchant would be ready for the ransom delivery, but that was a long time away. He wanted to get to work, but there was nothing to work at. The only thing he could think of was a talk with Denny the barfly. The trouble was, if Virginia and the others didn’t know where Carbodi was, Denny wouldn’t, and that was the only piece of information that mattered. He decided he’d probably better go talk to him anyway, but he couldn’t even do that until the bar was open.

Phil got up restlessly and went into the bedroom to the phone. When he got there, he wondered why. Whom was he going to call? He wanted to talk to somebody, but there wasn’t anyone. Merchant was at his office collecting the rest of the money, and who else was there? He hesitated. Putting more pressure on Virginia wouldn’t get anything, and there was always the chance he’d start her wondering. He’d got away from her the night before by the skin of one tooth and another time he might not be so lucky. But he had to do something, so he dialed her number.

Virginia answered almost at once and she sounded nervous. “Well, Beautiful,” Phil said. “Did you sleep well?”

“Oh, it’s you.” Phil could imagine her taking a firmer grip on the phone, holding it with both hands. She said, “Are you still looking for Joe?”

“You guessed it, Beautiful.”

She swallowed. “Can you call me back in an hour? I might have something.”

“Joe call you after I left?”

She hesitated, then said yes. “Call me back in an hour, will you?”

Phil heard her receiver click and held his own off and looked at it thoughtfully. He carefully replaced it and stood up slowly. Something was bothering the girl, and it wasn’t indigestion. He went into the other room and puzzled over it in front of his window, lighting the last cigarette in a pack and dropping the empty container on the table. Either Virginia wasn’t alone and couldn’t talk then, or she was expecting information, or she was playing for time. She was being helpful, and he didn’t like it. Virginia was on Joe’s side, and if she were offering something it was more likely bait than anything else.

Phil put out the cigarette and got his coat. He’d call her back in an hour,

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