I ground my left into his mouth, giving him back the fat lip he’d given me earlier. I brought my right around and flattened his ear. Then I stepped back and watched him hit the water. He landed flat on his back, sending up a fine spray.
I hauled the ladder up on deck.
And now everything was going my way. All I had to do was start the boat and go for help.
Before I could even get the motor started, the inevitable fly came buzzing around the south headland and landed bow-first in my ointment.
Reese Fullers sleek cruiser came fast through the darkness, riding without lights, and aimed for the fishboat. I had a glimpse of Ridley treading water and waving. The cruiser slowed, swerved, and went to pick him up.
I had no illusions about trying to outrun Reese’s twin screw job with the fishboat. I went forward and dove off the port bow. When I surfaced, I started swimming for the beach.
For a while I thought I had it made. I reached the shallows, floundered up onto the beach, and sprinted for the trees. I was nice and dark behind them, with the protective kind of darkness that I needed very badly right now.
A powerful searchlight on top of the cruiser’s cabin came alive and sprayed white glare over me. A voice yelled, “There he goes!”
Someone let loose with a rifle. The bullet raked a tree trunk not three feet to my left. I went heading into underbrush that slashed at my bare skin.
I tripped and fell and lay thinking that whatever had gone on before no longer counted. Now, they were playing for keeps.
XIX
I UNTANGLED MYSELF FROM THE brush and started running again. The character with the rifle kept shooting his bullets into the darkness. None came very close, but they did keep me moving.
A fat piece of moon now and then slanted a little light down through the trees, but for the most part I ran in deep darkness. My bare feet began to hurt like the devil, but I didn’t dare stop.
Once I stopped to get my wind. I couldn’t hear the rifle any longer but I could hear soft waves washing the shore. I realized that for all my running I hadn’t got very far. I was almost back to the beach.
I listened some more before moving on. I heard the sound of a motor rise and then fall away. A moment later I heard it again, closer. Then it died. Almost on its heels came the sound of another motor, this one less powerful. It too died. I placed the second motor as south of the island. I thought the first sound had come from the west, but I couldn’t be sure.
I began running again, but this time I was more careful. I stopped now and then to orient myself. After about forty minutes, I reached the bare peak that was the high point of the island. Here I sat down to rest and to look around for what I might see.
I looked at the stars and the rising piece of moon. I studied the warm glow of cities and towns not really very far from where I sat. I watched the running lights of a large freighter as it felt its way through the strait. I stared hungrily at the little dots of light on the islands to the south.
The world was full of people. A good many of them were only a few minutes away by air or car or boat. But I was very much alone. I was sitting on a bare knob of rock on a square mile of island, naked except for a pair of damp shorts, and slowly congealing in the night air.
I wondered if Ridley and Reese were going to wait until daylight to come ashore and hunt me down. Or did they think I was important enough to find and kill now?
I had no illusions about my position. I was something to be taken care of after everything else. I was the guy who had spent a lot of energy accomplishing nothing.
But now I had seen Reese’s cruiser come into the bay. And I had pumped Emily. Reese was no fool. He couldn’t help knowing that I must have guessed enough to give him real trouble.
I didn’t think he would wait until morning.
And I was right. When I looked eastward, I could see the outer half of the bay. I could see the cruiser, and I watched three men lower an outboard-powered dinghy to the water, climb aboard, and head for the beach.
I wanted to find Emily and ask some more questions. And I knew I would have to do it in a hurry now. Those men would have shoes on, and I didn’t. They would have flashlights, and I didn’t. And they would have guns, and I didn’t.
I moved to a position where I could look down into the west bay. The moon was high enough to reveal the two headlands and the Rock on the tip of the northern one.
And I could see someone out on the Rock, seated at the highest point. That’s Emily, I thought; that’s where Reese sent her.
I even thought I knew why she was there.
I started down the side of the knob. I had to move slowly. Every time I put my weight on my feet, I was reminded of the great value of a pair of shoes.
I reached the beach. Since leaving the knob, I hadn’t been able to see anything but timber, and I could only hope she was still out on the rock. I started out the north headland. When I was halfway there, I could see her.
She was sitting very quietly. And from the way she slumped, I had the idea she was asleep rather than watching for something. I hurried as much as I could.
She didn’t move. When I was sure I was looking at Emily, I spoke her name. She still stayed facing the sea, her shoulders drooped forward as if in sleep.
I touched her gently. “It’s Durham, kid.”
She was wearing the same shorts and halter she had worn on the boat. She couldn’t help being cold, dressed like that. But she shouldn’t have been quite this cold.
I finally realized that she was dead.
I started back to the island. I wasn’t thinking very clearly but I knew that I wanted Ridley. I wanted him very badly.
I was almost off the headland when I heard something in the brush ahead and to my right. I didn’t even stop to think. I took two running steps and dove. My fingers closed around cloth. I drew back one arm, ready to swing.
A tremulous voice said, “Peter!” It was Jodi Rasmussen. I stopped thinking about swinging and started squeezing. I couldn’t even talk.
She began running her hands over my bare back. “Peter, you’ve lost your clothes again!”
It’s strange how you can find humor in the toughest of situations. The squeak in Jodi’s voice made me laugh. And the laugh made me feel a little better.
I said, “Thanks to your friend Ridley.”
“Ridley? I though Reese had …” She stopped.
I said, “What about Reese?”
“He took me,” she said. “I thought he’d taken you, too.”
“At the Pad?”
I could feel her head nod against my hand stroking the back of it. “Not Reese exactly,” she said, “but a man named Tumbro. He was one of the new men Arne hired this year. When I went to the john, he was in the hall. I didn’t think anything about it until I came out. Then he grabbed me. He had a gun.”
I didn’t say anything. I could make out the dim lines of a fallen log and I pulled her down on it and sat beside her. She said, “He took me out the alley and down to the dock. Another one of Arne’s new men was there, a fellow called Les, in a little cabin cruiser. They put me in the cabin and took off.”
That was almost twenty-four hours ago, I thought. I said, “Off for where?”
Her voice was bitter. “To my place on Coming Island. Reese was there. They held me all day.”
I said, “What the devil did he want with you?”
“He wanted me to tell him how much you’d found out and what you were going to do. The way he talked, I got the idea he had caught you, too.”
I said, “I guess he did. Only he hired Ridley for the job itself.”
Jodi was silent. I said, “How did you get here?”
“It was getting dark,” she said, “when a boat came into the bay. Reese went down to the landing, but the boat suddenly took off again and disappeared. Reese came running back to the cabin. He told Tumbro and Les, ‘It’s that damn blonde. We’ve got to get going.’”
I could hear her giggle faintly. �
�He was so excited, he left the door open. I ran out and got to the little boat Les and Tumbro brought me in and got away.”
I said, “What the devil is going on?”
Jodi sounded excited. “Don’t you see? I’ll bet that your theory was right and Reese did just what you said he did with the Zwahili pounds. But I don’t think Ilona and Mr. Ghatt were in with him. I think they’re a rival outfit trying to hijack the money.”
“You’ve been reading too much,” I said.
“Why else would he be so worried about her?” Jodi demanded.
I couldn’t answer that one. I said, “Whatever possessed you to come here?”
“I took the little boat around a point on Corning and watched Reese’s cruiser,” she said. “When I saw it coming this way, I followed. I … I thought I could help you by finding out what he was doing here and then go for help.”
I said, “Where’s your boat?”
She pointed in a southerly direction. “I didn’t dare use any lights. I ran it aground the other side of the south headland.”
I got up. I said flatly, “Let’s go see if we can get it afloat again.
We climbed to the top of the headland where we stopped while I listened for Reese’s men. I could hear nothing but our own suppressed breathing and a light wind stirring the tops of the firs.
Jodi whispered, “What are we waiting for, Peter?”
I said, “Reese sent three boys to find me. Considering how much I know, I’d rather they didn’t.”
I could hear the quick intake of her breath. “Then you’re sure Reese is mixed up in … in everything!” It was a statement, not a question.
I said, “I’m sure. And so are you. You’ve known for quite a while, haven’t you?”
She whispered, “Yes. I didn’t know what he was mixed up in, but I knew it was something illegal.”
“And Arne?” I pressed her.
“I don’t really know how much Arne’s involved.”
There was no time to pursue the subject further and so I started forward. Jodi kept up with me. Suddenly she stopped, her fingers gripping my arm.
“Peter, there’s someone out there on Boundary Rock!”
I said, “It’s Emily. She’s dead.”
I didn’t have to add that she had been murdered. Her body had slipped a little, and now it was perfectly obvious from the shape of her silhouette against the night that her neck had been broken.
XX
I SAID, “EMILY REALLY DIDN’T know very much, but that little bit was more than enough. And she was just what we thought—a weak link.”
I felt sorry for Emily. She hadn’t been either a very bright girl or a very attractive one. And she had been a little odd, wanting a man’s affection so desperately that she would do what she did to get first Ridley’s and then mine.
But those were hardly reasons for murder.
And I felt responsible for her. Ridley had caught me questioning her and he had sent her away. He had sent her away to die, I thought. I wished now I had seen to it Ridley stayed in the water when I knocked him there.
Right now there was nothing I could do about Emily or Ridley. And I wanted to get Jodi aboard her boat and away from here before Reese’s playmates caught up with us.
We slipped down to the beach and hurried across, staying in the shadows cast by the trees. I made pretty good time. The pains in my feet were so numerous that by now they were canceling one another out. Even so, when we reached the top of the south headland, I had to stop and give those feet and myself a rest. Jodi dropped to the ground beside me. She looked back the way we had come.
I felt her stiffen and I looked northward. Three men were silhouetted against the sky as they walked toward the rock. Beyond them, well out in the channel, were the running lights of a fair-sized boat. It was coming south at a steady pace.
I said, “There’s the Pride, honey. That’s what Reese is waiting for.” I watched it a moment, estimating its speed. “It should be off the Rock in about a half-hour.” I suddenly felt pretty good. I was finally going to get a chance to see just how this operation went.
And once I had that information, all I had to do was get off the Island and take myself to the authorities. I said cockily, “We’ll just wait here and see what gives. Then we’ll hop in your boat and deal the Coast Guard in for a hand.”
Jodi didn’t seem to hear me. She was watching the three men. She said, “Peter …”
I watched them too now. They were all making for the rock, but one was ahead of the others and so he reached it first. And then the quiet of the night came apart at the seams.
I thought I heard the sound of a powerful boat motor behind us, but just then Reese’s cruiser came whipping around the north headland and angled into the bay. I figured I had been hearing the echo of his twin Chryslers, and so I kept my concentration on what was happening across from us.
The man who had reached the Rock and Emily had turned and started to run back toward the other two. He was shouting. I had no trouble recognizing his voice even at that distance. Ridley had found Emily dead and he was angry.
He reached the other two and started swinging on them. He was pretty good but they knew how to handle themselves, too. Ridley got in about three solid swipes before he went down. He got up once and went down again. He stayed down.
Reese’s cruiser eased into the bay and slid alongside a short, natural rock pier that jutted out into the bay about halfway along the headland. One of the two men still on their feet came down and grabbed a line and tied up.
The motors of the cruiser died, leaving it rocking quietly on the moonlit water. A man came on deck and struck a match to light a cigar. It was Reese Fuller.
He said, “Did you find Durham?”
“Not yet,” the other man said. He had a powerful, rumbling voice. “But Trillian found that Calvin dame.” He gestured toward the Rock. “He claims she’s dead. We had to cool him.”
“Damn it,” Reese said, “I didn’t tell you to kill her!”
It’s amazing how sound will travel over water. With the light breeze blowing from the cruiser to us, those voices traveled across the tiny bay as clearly as though they were being broadcast. I could even hear the squeak of the cruiser’s hull rubbing against the bumper that held it away from the rock pier, and I could smell the pungent odor of Reese’s expensive cigar.
The man said, “Kill her, hell. We didn’t even see her until a minute ago.”
Reese sounded fretful. “Damn it, Durham wouldn’t do it.”
“Durham ain’t the only one on this Island,” the man said. “Not unless he sprouted long hair and started wearing skirts. We seen a dame on top of that knob.”
“When was this?”
“Just before we come here.”
Reese began to swear. I hadn’t realized he knew so many words. “That damn blonde,” he said finally as if he were sure.
I whispered to Jodi lying quietly beside me. “How could Ilona have got here?”
“She must have outrun Reese when he chased her from Corning,” Jodi answered.
“Then he’d have seen her boat,” I argued. “She’d have to moor it somewhere.”
“If she came alone,” Jodi whispered. “Maybe that … that Ghatt dropped her off and went away.”
I didn’t ask why Ghatt would do that; I thought I knew. If Jodi was right, and Ilona and Ghatt were planning to hijack Reese, they would need help to combat the men he had. I remembered the photograph in Jodi’s studio of big Arne and Ilona here on this beach just below us.
I turned my attention back to the other side of the bay. Reese was issuing orders. “Bring Trillian down here,” he said.
The man who had come down to tie up clambered back to the top of the headland. He and his partner picked up Ridley and started down to the cruiser. They made their mistake in thinking they had done a thorough job on Ridley.
Because suddenly he woke up. He twisted loose from them, swung a hard fist that flattened one, kicked the oth
er in the shins and made a running dive off the headland into the bay. He came up swimming, grabbed the rail of the cruiser and hauled himself aboard.
He could have gone for Reese, but he didn’t. He started yelling again instead. “What did that girl ever do to you?” he bellowed. “I didn’t sign up for murder when I agreed to work for you, and I’m not having any now.”
“Don’t be a fool,” Reese said quietly. “We didn’t kill her. But that blonde is on the Island.” He left the rest of it for Ridley to figure out for himself.
But Ridley wasn’t having any. He shouted, “Tell that one to the cops.”
Reese might have been talking about a coming football game for all the perturbation he let show in his voice. “And who’s going to let the police know about it?”
“You heard that radio-phone message as well as I did,” Ridley said. “When Harbin talks tomorrow, it’ll all be over. And I’m damn well not going to get a murder pinned on me.”
His threat was obvious. I had to admire him for having guts, but that was about all he had. Common sense he had lost along the line somewhere. I almost lost mine, too, when I realized Tom was well.
Reese said, “Harbin will be taken care of before he gets a chance to wake up. And so will all the loose ends as soon as we finish here. That includes the Calvin girl and Durham and you.”
Ridley pulled another bonehead play. He charged Reese. I could see the glowing tip of Reese’s cigar move as he swung his head to one side. Then there was a flicker of moonlight on metal and the thunking sound of a gun barrel meeting bone. For the second time Ridley went down.
Reese said, “Les, come down here and tie this fool in the cabin.” His voice had an edge to it now. “Tumbro, get down to the water. That damn boat can’t be very far off.”
“About fifteen minutes,” Tumbro yelled down. He was the one Ridley had kicked in the shins, because he limped as he disappeared over the top of the headland. The other one, Les, came to the cruiser rubbing his jaw. I was sorry Ridley hadn’t hit him harder.
Reese said, “When we’re finished here, we’ll get Durham and put him with Ridley and Emily on that tub of a fishboat, take it out into deep water, and open it up.” He tried to put a sneer in his voice. “No one will miss any of them.”
The Corpse Without a Country Page 11