Read Online Assignment to Disaster by Edward S. Aarons - Free Book Online

bellhop waiting for the new suitcase he had just purchased. He looked at the balcony again. The blonde, staggeringly beautiful, looked angry, like an annoyed goddess. The desk clerk all but tumbled down the filigreed staircase again.
    "Yes, sir. I find we can accommodate you."
    "Is that Miss Neville?"
    "Why, yes, sir."
    "You didn't answer my other question. About Miss Padgett."
    "I'll check, sir."
    "I thought you checked with Miss Neville."
    The clerk was sweating, although the air in the lobby was pleasant and perfumed. "Just one moment."
    When Durell looked up at the balcony, Cora Neville had vanished. The clerk consulted a file of extravagantly engraved cards, or pretended to consult them. Then he bobbed his head. "Yes, sir. A reservation exists for Miss Padgett, of Washington, D.C., for tomorrow. Is she a friend of yours, sir."
    "Yes, indeed."
    "Your cottage is number Twenty-three. I hope you will be comfortable."
    Service at the Salamander was supplied by Mexicans, and the elderly bellhop, whose name was Miguel, took Durell's suitcase while a smart young man parked Durell's rented car and a liquid-eyed girl smiled and turned down the coverlet on his bed. He ordered ice and a bottle of bonded bourbon and a sandwich, and when all this had been quietly and quickly delivered, he took a hot shower and ate the sandwich and had a quick drink.
    Yet he felt he was not alone.
    He turned out the lights and adjusted the slats of the blinds and sat still in the darkness, smoking, finishing his second drink. His nerves felt stretched to the breaking point. Ahead, through the hours, there seemed to be nothing to do but wait.
    He got up and went outside and stood in the cool desert air, in the deep shadow of the oleander bush beside the cottage door. There was nothing to see. The nearest cottage, of which only a corner was visible down the curving path, was in darkness. He walked around the small stuccoed building, looking at the dark shrubbery. Nobody was there.
    But he was watched.
    The bourbon had not helped. His nerves still hummed. He stretched out on the bed in the dark and tried to sleep. He could not sleep. Somewhere nearby was Calvin Padgett, alone as he was alone, maybe frightened, certainly confused. In his head, a knowledge of the stars in their courses, and a change in the heavens to be made within about forty hours. Not much time. Durell tossed and turned. He was here, but Deirdre was not here, and nothing could flush Padgett from his hiding place until the girl arrived.
If
she arrived. If she wasn't dead by now. He hoped she had sense enough to talk just enough to make them bring her out here. There was nothing he could do about it, though, except to wait. And hope.
    Something occurred to him. He could take Larabee's word for it that Calvin Padgett was not hidden at the Salamander. Then how did Padgett expect to know when his sister arrived? She was due tomorrow — no, this evening. How would Padgett know about it? Durell sat up, his nerves suddenly tight. Somebody would have to tell Padgett, wherever he was hiding, that his sister had arrived. Assuming Deirdre had told him all of the truth, and there was nothing more prearranged between sister and brother. But you had to assume that. And if so, then someone here knew where Padgett was hiding. Someone here was watching the register, waiting for Deirdre to check in. Not just Larabee's men, either. One of the staff? Or Cora Neville? He felt impatient for daylight, for the day to begin, so that he could check. He wanted to meet Cora Neville. He wanted to look over the staff. All right. Somebody here knew where Calvin Padgett, the most wanted man in history, was hiding.
    And somebody was watching him.
    The feeling was so strong that again Durell got up and took his gun and stepped outside to circle the cottage. Nobody. Nothing. A dry breeze made the palm fronds rustle and clack. He went inside and turned on the lights and opened the closet doors and looked in the shower