"She can still talk," the other one answered.
"No, she's past it. I've seen it happen before. We were silly to go this far, but we had no choice."
"Listen..."
"I'll give the orders. You listen."
The feet moved back a little. "All right, go ahead. But so far we don't know any more than we did before."
"That's satisfactory. What we do know is still more than anyone else. There are other ways and at least she won't be talking to the wrong ones. She'll have to go now. Everything is ready?"
"Yeah." It was a disgusted acknowledgment. "The guy too?" "Naturally. Take them out to the road."
"It's a shame to dress her."
"You pig. Do what you're told. You two, help carry them out. We've spent enough time on this operation."
I could feel my mouth working to get some words out. Every filthy name I could think of for them was stuck in my throat. I couldn't even raise my eyes above their knees to see their faces and all I could do was hear them, hear everything they said and keep the sound of their voices spilling over in my ears so that when I heard them again I wouldn't need to look at their faces to know I was killing the right ones. The bastards, the dirty lousy bastards!
Hands went under my knees and shoulders and for a second I thought I would see what I wanted to see, but the hate inside me sent the blood beating to my head bringing back the pain and it was like a black curtain being pulled closed across my mind. Once it drew back hesitatingly and I saw my car on the side of the road, the rear end lifted with a jack and red flares set in front and in back of it.
Clever, I thought. Very clever of them. If anybody passed they'd see a car in trouble with warning signals properly placed and the driver obviously gone into town for help. Nobody would stop to investigate. Then the thought passed into the darkness as quickly as it came.
It was like a sleep that you awaken from because you had been sleeping cramped up. It was a forced awakening that hurts and you hear yourself groan as you try to straighten out. Then suddenly there's an immediate sharpness to the awakening as you realize that it hadn't been a bad dream after all, but something alive and terrifying instead.
She was there beside me in the car, the open coat framing her nakedness. Her head lolled against the window, the eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling. She jerked and fell against me.
But not because she was alive! The car was moving ahead as something rammed into the rear of it!
Somehow I got myself up, looked over the wheel into the splash of light ahead of me and saw the edge of the cliff short feet away and even as I reached for the door the wheels went over the edge through the ready-made gap in the retaining wall and the nose dipped down into an incredible void.
Chapter Two
"Mike. .
I turned my head toward the sound. The motion brought a wave of silent thunder with it like the surf crashing on a beach. I heard my name again, a little clearer this time.
"Mike..."
My eyes opened. The light hurt, but I kept them open. For a minute she was just a dark blur, then the fuzzy edges went away and the blue became beautiful. "Hello, kitten," I said.
Velda's mouth parted in a slow smile that had all the happiness in the world wrapped up in it. "Glad to see you back, Mike." "It's... good to be back. I'm surprised... I got here." "So are a lot of people."
"I..."
"Don't talk. The doctor said to keep you quiet if you woke up.
Otherwise he'd chase me away."
I tried to grin at her and she dropped her hand over mine. It was warm and soft with a gentle pressure that said everything was okay. I held it for a long time and if she took it away I never knew about it because when I awoke again it was still there. The doctor was an efficient little man who poked and prodded with stiff fingers while he watched the expression on my face. He seemed to reel off yards of tape and gauze to dress me in and went away looking satisfied, as though he had made me to start with.
Before he closed the door he turned around, glanced at his watch and said, "Thirty minutes, miss. I want him to sleep again." Velda nodded and squeezed my hand. "Feel better?" "Somewhat."
"Pat's outside. Shall I ask him to come in?" ". . . Yeah."
She got up and went to the door. I heard her speak to somebody, then there he was grinning at me foolishly, shaking his head while he looked me over.
"Like my outfit?" I said.
"Great. On you white looks good. Three days ago I was figuring I'd have to finance a new tux to bury the corpse in."
Nice guy, Pat. A swell cop, but he was getting one hell of a sense of humor. When his words sunk in I felt my forehead wrinkling under the turban. "Three days?"
He nodded and draped himself in the big chair beside the bed. "You got it Monday. This is Thursday."
"Brother!"
"I know what you mean."
He glanced at Velda. A quick look that had something behind it I didn't get. She bit her lip, her teeth glistening against the magenta ripeness of her mouth, then nodded in assent.
Pat said, "Can you remember what happened, Mike?"
I knew the tone. He tried to cover it but he didn't make out. It was the soft trouble tone, falsely light yet direct and insistent. He knew I had caught it and his eyes dropped while he fiddled with his coat. "I remember."
"Care to tell me about it?"
"Why?"
This time he tried to look surprised. That didn't work either.
"No reason."
"I had an accident, that's all."
"That's all?"
I got the grin out again and turned it on Velda. She was worried, but not too worried to smile back. "Maybe you can tell me what's cooking, kid. He won't."
"I'll let Pat tell you. He's been pretty obscure with me too." "It's your ball, Pat," I said.
He stared at me a minute, then: "Right now I wish you weren't so sick. I'm the cop and you're the one who's supposed to answer questions."
"Sure, but I'm standing on my constitutional rights. It's very
legal. Go ahead."
"All right, just keep your voice down or that medic will be hustling me out of here. If we weren't buddies I couldn't get within a mile of you with that watchdog around."
"What's the pitch?"
"You're not to be questioned... yet."
"Who wants to question me?"
"Among other law enforcement agencies, some government men. That accident of yours occurred in New York State, but right now you happen to be just over the state line in a Jersey hospital. The New York State Troopers will be looking forward to seeing you, plus some county cops from upstate a ways."
"I think I'll stay in Jersey a while."
"Those government men don't care what state you're in."
And there was that tone again.
"Suppose you explain," I said.
I watched the play of expression across his face to see what he was trying to hide. He looked down at his fingers and pared his nails absently. "You were lucky to get out of the car alive. The door sprung when it hit the side of the drop and you were thrown clear. They found you wrapped around some bushes. If the car hadn't sprayed the place with burning gas you might still be there. Fortunately, it attracted some motorists who went down to see what happened. Not much was left of the car at all."
"There was a dame in there," I told him.
"I'm coming to that." His head came up and his eyes searched my face. "She was dead. She's been identified."
"As an escapee from a sanitarium," I finished.
It didn't catch him a bit off base. "Those county cops were pretty sore about it when they found out. Why did you pass them up?"
"I didn't like their attitude."
He nodded as if that explained it. Hell, it did.
"You better start thinking before you pull stunts like that, Mike." "Why?"
"The woman didn't die in the crash." "I figured as much."