Read Online Hit and Run by James Hadley Chase - Free Book Online

you pass any car after you hit him?'

    She pushed away from me, got unsteadily to her feet and wandered over to the window.

    'I don't think so. I can't remember.'

    'It's important, Lucille. Try to remember.'

    She came back to the divan and sat down.

    'I don't think so.'

    'All right. Now listen, we must discuss this tomorrow after we've seen the papers. Will you come down here? There's nowhere else I can think of where we can have an uninterrupted talk. Can you get here about ten?'

    She was staring at me, her eyes empty holes in her face.

    'Will they send me to prison?' she asked.

    That gave me a horrible jolt. I realized if they caught her they would send her to prison. You can't kill a policeman and get away with it. You might kill anyone accidentally, and if you had a top-flight attorney you might beat the rap, but not if you killed a policeman.

    'Stop talking like that! It won't get you anywhere. What time will you be here tomorrow? Can you get here by ten?'

    'Are you sure we shouldn't do anything?' She began to beat her clenched fists together. 'If they find out ...'

    'They won't find out. Will you listen to me, Lucille? We mustn't panic. We must first find out
    what the papers say. We mustn't do anything until we know all the facts. We'll know the facts tomorrow morning, then if you'll meet me, we can make up our minds what to do.'

    She pressed her fingers to her temples.

    'Don't you think I should tell Roger? He might be able to do something.'

    If I had thought Aitken could have done something, I wouldn't have hesitated to go with her and tell him the whole sordid story, but I was certain he couldn't do a thing for her. If she went to him the truth would come out that she and I had been on the beach together. He would want to know why she had run off like that. Knowing Aitken, I felt sure he would have got the truth out of her, and then I would be sunk.

    I drew in a long, slow breath.

    'You can't tell him, Lucille. If you tell him, how will you explain what you were doing in my car? How will you explain what you were doing on the beach? How will you explain that you and I were on the beach together, that we undressed and swam together? If I thought your husband could do something, then I would go with you and tell him, but he can't. If you lose your head and tell him, you will give him grounds for a divorce, and I'll lose my job.'

    She stared fixedly at me, then she said in a voice tight with panic: 'I'd rather be divorced than go to prison. Roger wouldn't let me go to prison. He has a lot of influence. I'm sure he wouldn't let me go to prison.'

    I put my hands on her arms and shook her gently.

    'Lucille! You're reasoning like a child. Once he knew you and I had been on the beach together, he would wash his hands of you. He wouldn't give a damn what happened to you. You must realize that.'

    'That's not true,' she said desperately. 'He might divorce me, but he wouldn't let me go to prison. He's like that. He wouldn't allow it to be said his wife was in prison.'

    'You still don't seem to realize how serious this is,' I said, trying to speak quietly and calmly. 'You have killed a policeman. All right, it was an accident, but you didn't stop and you haven't a driving permit. If you had killed anyone except a policeman, your husband might have been able to swing it, but even if he had more influence than Eisenhower, and he hasn't, he can't do a thing for you now.'

    'So you mean I'll have to go to prison?'
    Her face seemed to shrink and her eyes became rounder and larger. Terror spoilt her young, fresh beauty.

    'No. They don't know you did it, and I don't think they will ever know. We would be fools to tell them until we know exactly what has happened. When we do know, then we'll be able to make up our minds just what we should do.'

    She gnawed her underlip, looking at me.

    'You mean we just don't do anything?'

    'We don't do anything tonight. Have you understood about tomorrow? Will you come down here