Bring Back Her Body
Page 16
“I did,” Cain said quietly.
Wilson looked as if he might cry. “Self-defense, I suppose?”
Cain showed him the bullet burn on his side. Honor jumped up immediately and lifted her shirt, exposing her stomach to Wilson’s startled gaze. Cain jerked her shirt down hurriedly. Then, briefly, he described what had happened. Wilson listened in silence.
“The avenging sword of Cain,” he murmured finally. “Some day you’ll kill one too many, Cain.”
“I didn’t do it for pleasure,” Cain said.
“Why did you turn them loose in the Sound?”
“I didn’t want Honor to wake up and find her sister’s body,” Cain told him. “I didn’t want Munger cluttering up my share of the Sound.”
“Or maybe you didn’t want to be implicated,” Wilson said dryly. “This place would have been swarming with County boys if you’d left the boat here.”
“I like my privacy,” Cain agreed. His voice was pointed.
Wilson got up. Bergen joined him. Wilson said, “Ten a.m. tomorrow, Cain, to sign a statement. Thanks for the coffee and the information.”
Honor watched until their car had bumped out of sight. Then she said, “Doesn’t he believe us, Cain?”
“It’s a wonder,” Cain said. “What were you trying to do to him?”
Honor giggled. “I did confuse him, didn’t I?”
Cain said, “Yes,” and walked to the rail. Honor followed. She had lost her bright look. Her face was serious.
“We have the money I made gambling, Cain. That will keep us for quite a while, won’t it?”
Cain was silent. Honor said, “Now Daddy can afford to buy me a little mountain and maybe even a telescope.”
Cain looked hard at the water. Honor touched him lightly. “Cain, this morning you kissed me and called me ‘honey.’ ”
He said, “This morning you were a small child in pain, Honor.”
Honor said, “I graduate pretty soon, Cain.”
He turned on her savagely. “Get this straight. In the summers we’re here, on the boat, on the Sound. Somewhere on water, anyway. We’ll go to that damned mountain only in the winter.”
“Yes, Cain.”
“Now I’ll have to brush up on my math, I suppose,” he growled. He closed his mouth suddenly, grabbed her and kissed her. Finally he stopped.
“Go home,” he said. “Go home. I’ll call you later.”
“Yes, Cain.” She went silently.
He watched her putt away, disappearing around the Point. Then he looked at the sun on the placid water. “I suppose I can wait until she graduates,” he said aloud. He looked away from the Sound and faced her place. Through the gap in the trees, he could see sunlight reflected from her telescope.
“Oh hell,” he said. He ran a signal up his mast. Then he sat down to enjoy the few moments of privacy he had left.
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Copyright © 1953 by Ace Books, Inc.
Registration Renewed in 1981 by Louis Trimble
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This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locales in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.
eISBN 10: 1-4405-4199-X
eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-4199-5
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