Read Online Killer in the Shade by Piers Marlowe - Free Book Online Page B

you understand now something that was a mystery to you. About Humphrey Peel?’
    â€˜Or someone that has stepped into Humphrey Peel’s shoes,’ Rollo said thickly.
    â€˜I think you’d better continue,’ said the voice in the dark.
    Rollo sensed the challenge underlying the words, and felt that he could best help himself by accepting it and increasing the other’s uncertainty.
    â€˜I believe I know the secret of a jewel thief who has been using the nightly power cuts for getting away in an unlit car, and why a certain fingerprint was left recently in Croft Avenue.’
    â€˜Let’s check. Go on, Hackley. I admit I’m very interested.’
    Rollo decided he had detected a note of anxiety in the softly spoken words, andswift elation gripped him, but he strove not to look pleased at the emotional surge. Perhaps he could get this man who had tied him up to make an unwary admission. One from which there would be no retreat.
    â€˜All right, let me put it this way,’ he said, like a man striving to arrange his thoughts in order. ‘Peel is believed dead. But his fingerprints appear, which is a puzzle the police can’t solve. At least, they can’t make out a case against a dead man. All they can do is try to catch a man who isn’t dead. A man who gets no publicity because his fingerprints belong to a dead man. How’s that?’
    There was no reply. He could hear no breathing, and wondered if the other had sneaked away silently in the darkness. When the words came they took him by surprise.
    â€˜Hackley, you’ll have to die.’
    They were spilled like drops of oil on a pool. They remained floating in the darkness, almost tangible. Rollo wondered if he was the captive of a madman. He was about to ask againabout Carol while he had the opportunity when another voice called from beyond the darkness.
    â€˜Where the hell are you?’
    Chair legs scraped in the dark, feet padded across the floor with a slithering sound. A key scraped in a lock and a door opened a little to let chinks of light spread like bright rain across the floor. They faded before they reached Rollo’s tied feet.
    â€˜Look, the latest radio news says Drury’s made a breakthrough, whatever the hell that means, but it can only be bad, and — ’
    â€˜Shut up,’ said the voice that had been talking to Rollo.
    â€˜Damn it, we’ve got to find the girl!’
    The door slammed, cutting off further speech. Beyond it a man shouted angrily, then there was silence save for the slithering steps. The torch blazed again, stinging Rollo’s eyes. Darkness once more, and he was seized, a blindfold slipped over his eyes, and he was carried across stone flooring to a door and out to a car. He thought there were threemen in it. How long the drive took he didn’t know, but the men got out and later returned with a newcomer, who was complaining.
    â€˜I don’t like it. I don’t like it.’
    â€˜You don’t have to, Vince. Get in.’
    The last two words were a command. The car drove on again, to stop a second time with another command. ‘Out, Vince.’ There were words of protest, but finally the command was obeyed — after the sound of a blow and a grunt of pain that was quickly stifled.
    â€˜Let her have it,’ said the voice from the darkness.
    The man behind the wheel trod on the accelerator. The engine roared. Over the sound came the staccato sound of several shots from a gun.
    â€˜That’s enough.’
    The engine’s note dropped to a purr. Rollo felt his right hand seized and his fingers were forced around something that he knew was the butt of an automatic. His palm was also pressed against the gun butt although he tried to resist.
    His hand was released, the gun buttremoved from contact with his flesh.
    â€˜Leave the gun by the body,’ said the voice that now sounded to the blindfolded man like the voice of a personal