Read Online The Golden Rendezvous by Alistair MacLean - Free Book Online
Authors: Alistair MacLean
Ads: Link
behind the furniture, nothing behind the drapes, nothing under the four-poster. I moved to the aft bulkhead and slid back the roll doors that turned the entire side of the cabin into one huge wardrobe. Miss susan beresford, I reflected, certainly did herself well in the way of clothes. There must have been about sixty or seventy hangers in that wall cupboard, and if any one hanger was draped with anything that cost less than two or three hundred dollars, I sadly missed my guess. I ploughed my way through the balenciagas, diors, and givenchys, looking behind and beneath. But nothing there. I closed the roll doors and moved across to a small wardrobe in a corner. It was full of furs, coats, capes, stoles; why anyone should haul that stuff along on a cruise to the caribbean was completely beyond me. I laid my hand on a particularly fine full-length specimen and was moving it to one side to peer into the darkness behind when I heard a faint click, as of a handle being released, and a voice said: "it is rather a nice mink, isn't it, mr. carter? that should be worth two years' salary to you any day."
chapter 3
[tuesday 9.30 pm. 10:15 p.m.]
susan beresford was a beauty, all right. A perfectly oval shaped face, high cheekbones, shining auburn hair, eyebrows two shades darker, and eyes the greenest green you ever saw, she had all the officers on the ship climbing the walls, even the ones she tormented the life out of. All except carter, that was. A permanent expression of cool amusement does nothing to endear the wearer to me. Not, just then, that
I had any complaint on that ground. She was neither cool nor amused, and that was a fact. Two dull red spots of anger-and was there perhaps a tinge of fear?-touched the tanned cheeks, and if the expression on her face didn't yet indicate the reaction of someone who has just come across a particularly repulsive beetle under a flat stone you could see that it was going to turn into something like that pretty soon; it didn't require any micrometer to measure the curl at the corner of her mouth. I let the mink drop back into place and pulled the wardrobe door to. "You shouldn't startle people like that," I said reproachfully.
"You should have knocked."
"I should have "her mouth tightened; she still wasn't amused.
"What were you going to do with that coat?"
"Nothing. I never wear mink, miss beresford. It doesn't suit me."
I smiled, but she didn't. "I can explain."
"I'm sure you can." she was halfway round the edge of the door now, on her way out. "But I think I would rather you made the explanation to my father."
"Suit yourself," I said easily. "But please hurry. What i'm doing is urgent. Use the phone there. Or shall I do it?"
"Leave that phone alone,' she said irritably. She sighed, closed the door and leaned against it, and I had to admit that any door, even the expensively panelled ones on the campari, looked twice the door with susan beresford draped against it. She shook her head, then gave me an up-from-under look with those startling green eyes. "I can picture many things, mr. carter, but one thing I can't visualise is our worthy chief officer taking off for some deserted island in a ship's lifeboat with my mink in the stern sheets." getting back to normal, I noted with regret.
"Besides, why should you? there must be over fifty thousand dollars'
worth of jewellery lying loose in that drawer there."
"I missed that," I admitted. "I wasn't looking in drawers. I am looking for a man who is sick or unconscious or worse, and benson wouldn't fit in any drawer i've ever seen."
"Benson? Your head steward? that nice man?" she came a couple of steps towards me and I was obscurely pleased to see the quick concern in her eyes. "He's missing?" I told her all I knew myself. That didn't take long. When I was finished, she said, "well, upon my word! what a to-do about nothing. He could have gone for a stroll round the decks, or a sit-down, or a smoke, yet the first thing you do is to start
chapter 3
[tuesday 9.30 pm. 10:15 p.m.]
susan beresford was a beauty, all right. A perfectly oval shaped face, high cheekbones, shining auburn hair, eyebrows two shades darker, and eyes the greenest green you ever saw, she had all the officers on the ship climbing the walls, even the ones she tormented the life out of. All except carter, that was. A permanent expression of cool amusement does nothing to endear the wearer to me. Not, just then, that
I had any complaint on that ground. She was neither cool nor amused, and that was a fact. Two dull red spots of anger-and was there perhaps a tinge of fear?-touched the tanned cheeks, and if the expression on her face didn't yet indicate the reaction of someone who has just come across a particularly repulsive beetle under a flat stone you could see that it was going to turn into something like that pretty soon; it didn't require any micrometer to measure the curl at the corner of her mouth. I let the mink drop back into place and pulled the wardrobe door to. "You shouldn't startle people like that," I said reproachfully.
"You should have knocked."
"I should have "her mouth tightened; she still wasn't amused.
"What were you going to do with that coat?"
"Nothing. I never wear mink, miss beresford. It doesn't suit me."
I smiled, but she didn't. "I can explain."
"I'm sure you can." she was halfway round the edge of the door now, on her way out. "But I think I would rather you made the explanation to my father."
"Suit yourself," I said easily. "But please hurry. What i'm doing is urgent. Use the phone there. Or shall I do it?"
"Leave that phone alone,' she said irritably. She sighed, closed the door and leaned against it, and I had to admit that any door, even the expensively panelled ones on the campari, looked twice the door with susan beresford draped against it. She shook her head, then gave me an up-from-under look with those startling green eyes. "I can picture many things, mr. carter, but one thing I can't visualise is our worthy chief officer taking off for some deserted island in a ship's lifeboat with my mink in the stern sheets." getting back to normal, I noted with regret.
"Besides, why should you? there must be over fifty thousand dollars'
worth of jewellery lying loose in that drawer there."
"I missed that," I admitted. "I wasn't looking in drawers. I am looking for a man who is sick or unconscious or worse, and benson wouldn't fit in any drawer i've ever seen."
"Benson? Your head steward? that nice man?" she came a couple of steps towards me and I was obscurely pleased to see the quick concern in her eyes. "He's missing?" I told her all I knew myself. That didn't take long. When I was finished, she said, "well, upon my word! what a to-do about nothing. He could have gone for a stroll round the decks, or a sit-down, or a smoke, yet the first thing you do is to start
Similar Books
