This Woman Is Death by Hank Janson

Author:Hank Janson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Telos Publishing Ltd

There was a sack of coal pressing down on my head, thrusting my face into the ground so that I couldn’t breathe. I fought madly for breath, willing my lungs to suck in air. The air ran into my lungs and I coughed and choked and nearly died with the effort of getting my breath, realising dimly that I’d sucked up water instead of air. The ground was moving beneath me, slipping, sliding, and then the next wave came and swirled around me, lifting me off the sand and floating me bumpingly along the beach.

I was tired, dreadfully tired. I hadn’t the strength to move.

It was easier to lie and let the water rock me gently.

Another wave rolled me over, my head went under water and instinctively I clawed at the sand. My head was heavy with pain as though red hot rivets had been hammered into it.

I made the effort and crawled onto my knees. Another wave knocked me flat again. I shut my eyes tightly and crawled further up the beach, then I lay there and panted. I became conscious that the sun was going down, a wind was blowing up and I was feeling cold.

Painfully I turned over and sat up. I touched my head gingerly to make sure it was still all there. I had two lumps the size of ducks’ eggs standing out on my scalp. I was beginning to be amazed that my head could take such punishment. I’d been slugged flat two days in succession.

After a while it grew upon me that Joel wasn’t there. Those two hoodlums had either taken her off or salted her away with a rock around her ankles. That got me good and anxious. I got on my pins, rather weakly, and hunted around. My Chevrolet had gone. I found one of my shoes floating around on the surf. Joel’s clothes were where she’d left them, and her bra was trampled into the churned-up sand. She’d put up a good fight.

I couldn’t find the rest of my clothes. I guessed the tide had caught them up.

And that left me in a spot. Ten miles out of town, no transport, one shoe and my underpants. Not the best of travelling equipment.

But get back to town I must, because there was only one answer to finding out what had happened to Joel, and that was to find out from Garvin. I must’ve been a dope not to see it before. Garvin wanted Blondie, I wanted Blondie. I’d tackled Blondie’s sister to find out what she knew. And that was just what Garvin was doing.

And if anything had happened to Joel …

I stumbled up the beach and made the highway. The first car that came along was driven by two old dames. They slowed down and then suddenly accelerated. I can’t say I blame them. I must’ve looked a queer proposition.

I had to wait 20 minutes before the next car came. I stepped out in the road and thumbed madly. The car pulled up and the driver looked out.

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