1949 - You're Lonely When You Dead by James Hadley Chase Page B

might find something from the suit. Clegg’s working on it now. Besides, Mills might have been looking for it for all I know. When I have Clegg’s report I thought I’d sneak it back and then confront Barclay with it.’
    ‘Risky, but I suppose it’s the only thing you can do. What happened to her underclothes, shoes and stockings?’
    ‘I don’t know. They may be hidden in Barclay’s place somewhere. I hadn’t much time before Mills arrived. That’s something I can look for when I go back.’
    ‘Are you going to Mills’s place?’
    I grimaced.
    ‘I guess so. I’m not over anxious to run into him again, but I’ll have to go out there. He may have nothing to do with the killing. I’m beginning to think he hasn’t, but we’ll have to be sure before we drop him.’
    ‘It’s all a question of time, isn’t it? We’ve got to get this business straightened out before the police do.’
    ‘Just as soon as Clegg is through with that coat and skirt I’ll go back to Barclay. Right now it looks as if he’s the killer. If I can crack him it’s in the bag. Give Clegg a ring, will you, and see what happening?’
    While she was phoning I went over to the window again.
    There were a lot of things that puzzled me. Why was Dana stripped? Why had Anita given her the necklace? To part with twenty grand worth of diamonds seemed cockeyed to me for the return she got. On the other hand she may not have given the necklace to Dana. She may have asked her to look after it for her. She may have been meeting the blackmailer and was scared he might take it from her. Somehow I couldn’t see Dana taking the necklace as a bribe. It looked that way, but the more I thought about it the less likely it seemed. It didn’t fit in with her character.
    Paula said, ‘Clegg’s on the line. He wants to speak to you.’
    I reached for the receiver. Clegg said he could find no bloodstains, no sand, nothing to give me a lead at all. I thanked him, said I would collect the suit on my way down town and hung up.
    ‘Nothing,’ I said in answer to Paula’s inquiring look.
    ‘Then she couldn’t have been wearing it when she was shot. The front of her skull was smashed in. Whatever she was wearing had to get stained.’
    ‘Maybe he made her strip before he shot her,’ Paula said.
    ‘If he did, surely there would have been some trace of sand in her clothes.’
    ‘She might have undressed in the car.’
    ‘Yeah,’ I ran my fingers through my hair. ‘I better see Barclay. I’ll take Kerman with me. We may have to push that guy around a little, and I have an idea he might be difficult to push.’
    As I was moving towards the door the telephone buzzer sounded.
    Paula cradled the receiver in her slim white hand and looked at me.
    ‘Tip from the porter’s office. Brandon’s on his way up.’
    I grabbed hold of my coat and hat.
    ‘Stall him, Paula,’ I said, making for the door. ‘Tell him you don’t know where I am, but I’ll be in some time tomorrow morning. I’ll use the rear exit.’
    I jerked open the door and shot into the corridor. I had just reached the bend in the corridor when I heard the elevator doors swing back. I nipped out of sight as Brandon went stamping over to my door and rapped with impatient knuckles.
     
    II
     
    I parked under the same beech tree at the entrance to Wiltshire Avenue, removed the registration card from the steering post and climbed out of the car into the solid heat of the sun. ‘We walk from here,’ I said. ‘It’s just at the top of the road.’
    Kerman reluctantly got out of the car, adjusted the blue-and-red silk handkerchief that peeped out of his top left-hand pocket, ran his thumb along the edge of his dapper moustache and stifled a groan.
    ‘As far as that?’ he said, staring. ‘Jeepers! My feet feel as if they’ve been scuffling in a bed of red-hot embers. Think he’ll give us a drink?’
    ‘He’s more likely to bend a two-handed sword over our skulls,’ I returned, tucking under