Read Online The Rodriguez Affair (1970) by James Pattinson - Free Book Online Page A

around here. Wanted to do some soundings or something on the place. Carlos sent him packing.”
    “He saw Gomara?”
    “No. He didn’t get past the gate. But he got the message. Is he going to take you back to San Borja?”
    “If I’m at the road junction at four o’clock.”
    “You expected to be here as long as that?”
    “I didn’t expect anything. I took a chance.”
    She looked thoughtful for a moment; then she said:“You could stay until afternoon but I think it would be better if you didn’t. If you like I’ll take you back to town in the car.”
    “That’s very good of you.”
    “Don’t let it go to your head,” Delia said. “There’s some things I have to do in town.”

SIX
TORRES ASKS FOR MORE
    C ADE WAS in the Phoenix lounge when Earl Johnson walked in. There was no sign of Juanita Suarez and Cade supposed that she had gone to her room. Johnson looked hot and dusty.
    “Glad to see you got back okay, Rob. I was a shade worried when you weren’t at the rendezvous. Did you walk?”
    “No, I was brought back in style. In a Mercedes.”
    “You don’t say. Whose?”
    “Gomara’s.”
    Johnson looked incredulous. “You saw him?”
    “No. I saw Miss Lindsay instead. She drove the Mercedes. And a pretty good driver too.”
    “Miss Lindsay! You mean that blonde he keeps around the place for decoration?”
    “None other.”
    Johnson tapped himself on the chin. He spoke with a certain grudging admiration. “Well, I have to hand it to you, Rob; you’re a fast worker. I didn’t even make first base.”
    “So she told me. Maybe you didn’t use the right technique.”
    “Maybe I didn’t. Like to teach me yours?”
    “Some day,” Cade said. “Not now.”
    “I may hold you to that promise. The blonde is really quite a dish.”
    “So you’ve seen Miss Lindsay?”
    “In town. I’ve never spoken to her.”
    “Did she come with Gomara when he took the place?”
    “So I heard. The story is she was on the stage. A stripper maybe. I don’t think anybody really knows. They just make up these tales.”
    “It could be true just the same; she’s got the attributes. Where did they come from?”
    “Who knows? Gomara is a mystery man. Nobody even gets to see him.”
    “I may get to see him tomorrow.”
    Johnson whistled softly. “How’d you manage that?”
    “I did a little work on Della Lindsay and she’s going to do a little work on Gomara—on my behalf.”
    This time there was a trace of envy mixed with Johnson’s admiration. “Well, I’ll be hung. You sure do know your way around, Mr. Cade. I’d have laid a hundred to one in dollars you wouldn’t get past the gate, but oh, how wrong I was. Let me buy you a drink.”
    “No,” Cade said. “Let me buy you one. You look as though you need it.”
    At dinner Miss Suarez looked cool and poised, as though utterly unaffected by the dust and heat of her expedition to the hills. Cade willingly accepted an invitation to join her and Johnson at their table.
    “Might as well be sociable‚” Johnson said. “We Anglo-Saxons ought to stick together.”
    “I am not an Anglo-Saxon‚” Miss Suarez said.
    It was an unnecessary protestation, Cade thought. Anyone less like an Anglo-Saxon would have been difficult to imagine.
    “We’ll elect you an honorary member of the club,” Johnson said. “No entrance fee.”
    She gave a small mock bow, smiling. “I am deeply grateful for the honour.”
    “Have you had a successful day, Miss Suarez?” Cade asked.
    She made a gesture with the fingers of her right hand, as graceful as the flutter of a butterfly’s wings. “Oh, call me Juanita. We are friends, I hope. Yes, I have had a good day. In the mountains the only problem is in deciding which of so many excellent subjects to choose. One regrets too that one is not more talented with the brush.”
    “Now you are being too modest,” Johnson said. “Incidentally, our friend Rob has also had a successful expedition.”
    She glanced quickly at