I climbed into the room again and carried the case to the
window and lowered it gently on to the roof. Then I got out on
to the roof myself and lowered the window.
I stretched myself flat on the roof, holding the case in my
hand and let it hang the length of my arm in space. It had
about six feet to fall to reach the ground. Would they hear it?
If they did and if they came round the side of the house quickly I would be trapped before I could get under cover. I had to take the risk and I opened my fingers and let the case drop.
It landed in the thick grass with a thud, but I didn’t think
the sound would carry to the front of the house.
Then I swung my legs over the roof, and holding on to
the drain pipe, I slithered down.
I had to make sure they hadn’t heard me before I
attempted to move the case farther, and I crept along the path, keeping to the side of the house, the gun in my hand, until I reached a point where I could see the front garden.
Some fifty yards from me, Joe and Louis continued to
lounge in the shade. Louis was smoking and Joe was taking
another pull from his bottle of beer.
I retreated back out of sight, paused for a moment to
wipe my face and hands with my handkerchief, then returned
to where the suit-case was lying.
I carried it across the kitchen garden to the gap in the
hedge, leading into the paddock, and dumped it by the gap.
I don’t suppose more than a minute or so had elapsed
since I had heaved the case out of the window. I slid the case
through the gap, crawled through myself and laid it in the deep ditch on the other side of the hedge. The long grass closed over it.
Satisfied that it couldn’t be found unless someone
actually walked on it, I crawled back through the gap and went around to the side of the house to see if Joe and Louis had moved.
Louis was now stretched flat on his back, his hat ever his
eyes. He appeared to be asleep.
Joe smoked, his back resting against the tree, his eyes
in a fixed stare on the farm gates.
I thought with grim satisfaction what a shock they would get when they went upstairs for the suit-case. The first move in my plan had worked out successfully.
There was nothing more for me to do now but to wait as
Joe and Louis were waiting.
I settled down in the long grass, lying flat, in a position where I could watch the two men.
The red-faced pub keeper had been right when he had
said it was going to be a hot afternoon. As the hands of my
wrist-watch crawled on, the heat of the sun increased.
There wasn’t a breath of air in the sheltered garden. I could see Joe was having difficulty keeping awake. He stretched and yawned and mopped his sweating face, and every now and then, he looked at his watch.
Two hours crawled by. Then at five minutes past four, I
heard a sound that stiffened me to attention: the sound of an
approaching car. Joe heard it too for he reached out and
shook Louis.
The two men started to their feet and ducked back
behind the elm tree. Both of them pulled out their guns. They waited.
I half rose to my feet, keeping behind an overgrown
shrub. I was aware of a tense feeling of excitement. Was this
the moment I had been waiting for?
The car came on. Then a horn sounded three sharp
blasts.
The two men came out from behind the tree and ran
down the drive to the gate.
I moved out of my hiding-place, crossed a patch of bare
ground ahead of me in three strides, and ducked behind the
elm tree they had just left.
From there I had a good view of the drive. Dix’s big Cadillac swung through the gateway as Joe opened the gate.
Gloria was at the wheel, but I couldn’t see anyone else in
the car.
“Where the h*ell’s Ed?” Joe demanded as Gloria pulled
up.
She jerked her thumb to the back of the car, opened the
car door and slid along the bench seat to the ground.
As she did so I saw a rug tossed aside and a man’s head
and shoulders appeared from behind the driving-seat.
It was Dix.
Click 9 below to continue reading
