Damn Mona's stinking clock, I cursed silently. Had I been here on time I'd have been at tie dock, waiting for Comford. I got back in the car and drove out of the small base. There was only Lieutenant Dodd Dempster left now. But I'd get to him first, I swore. I felt cheated, conspired against by rotten luck. Even the memory of Mona's passion couldn't wipe the bitter taste from my mouth. When I got back to the little cottage I was still furious, furious and angry at everything — at the world, at my lousy luck, at myself, at Mona's clock. Hell, I told myself, the damn thing probably stopped from being in the same room with Mona and me. Overheating. I went to sleep angry, and I knew I'd get up that way.
IV
I was right The grim anger in me had hardened overnight and when I went to Major Rothwell's office I got the airbase number and made the call myself. I told the base commander who I was and what I wanted and the telephone line fairly smoked with the tight fury in my voice.
"I want to know exactly when this Lieutenant Dempster is going to report for duty, Commander," I said. I'll be there to meet him, but just in case, I want him given an escort from his house or wherever he's coming from to the base."
"Most unusual, Mr. Carter," the commander had grumbled.
"This whole business is most unusual," I answered. 'Tour Lieutenant Dempster is very valuable to me at the moment. I don't want anything to happen to him."
"He's due to report in for flight duty at eight A.M.," the senior officer said. "I have a report that he returned from leave this morning and is at his apartment."
"Have him escorted wherever he goes until he checks in tomorrow morning," I said. "If you need any further clearances, I'll turn you over to Major Rothwell's assistant."
I handed Mona the phone and she verified my priority demands and finally put the phone back in its cradle. Her eyes were boring into me.
"All right, let's have it," she said. "You storm in here, start making your own contacts and hardly say a word to me. Isn't it the girl who's supposed to be upset and filled with second thoughts the next morning?"
Tm sorry," I relented. "It's just what happened last night. I'm still angry as hell about it." I told her what I'd found when I reached the harbor patrol base and her eyes softened.
Tm sorry," she said. "I guess I am to blame, in a way. It was my clock that did it" She got up and came over to me and I found her arms around my neck, her breasts pressed against me. "But it was wonderful, Nick," she said. "Really wonderful."
With her body pressed against mine, her deep breasts softly pushing against me, the night flooded back to me. It had been wonderful. She was a creature of rare passions and talents to match. The phone rang, breaking the gathering force of the moment. Mona picked it up and then handed it to me. "For you," she said and I saw the curiosity in her eyes. I recognized little Judy's voice at once."
"I thought of something." she said. "It might be important. John Dowsey had a wife. She lives here in Townsville. He told me about her. said they were separated and she used her maiden name, Lynn Delba."
"Good girl," I said. "I'll be in touch." I put down the phone and recalled Dawsey's service record in my mind. There had been no mention of a wife in it. I found a listing for a Lynn Delba on the other side of Townsville in the phone book and started out of the office.
"I'll be back," I said to Mona. "I might have a new lead."
"Not so fast," she said. "If you get delayed, please come to my place tonight."
Her eyes were adding their own meaning to her words. I brushed her lips quickly with mine and went outside. If I did go to Mona, later, I knew one thing in advance. I was going to be at the airbase at eight tomorrow morning and Cleopatra, Helen of Troy and Madame DuBarry wouldn't stop me.
I drove into Townsville, skirted the edge of the big copper-smelting refinery and found the address on the other side of town. It was an area of small, two-story brick apartment houses. Lynn Delba lived in a ground-level flat. I rang and a woman in a faded housecoat answered. Quite a bit younger than I'd expected, she was mousey blonde with a washed-out look about her. Her eyes, a light blue, looked at me with unabashed interest but there was wariness in them, too. The housecoat, the front zipper open more than a quarter of the way from the neck, revealed that she had long, thin breasts and no bra on.
"Sorry to bother you," I smiled at her. "I want to talk to you about John Dawsey."
The expression of faint boredom in her eyes suddenly and abruptly changed. "What about him?" she said defensively.
"He's dead," I said flatly and saw what little color she had drain out of her face. Her hands, holding the door, grew white as she clutched the door tightly.
"Maybe you better come in," she said quietly. I followed her into a somewhat worn, faded apartment, very much like her in its own way.
"I'm working with Australian Intelligence," I said. "I've been told that you're his wife."
She shook her head and sat down on the edge of a stuffed chair. Her legs were a surprise, long and beautiful, with slowly tapering calves and delicate ankles. No doubt she knew they were her best feature because she revealed a good bit of them. "I know he used to say that sometimes," she answered. "But I wasn't his wife, not really. I guess you could say we lived together for quite a few years, at least whenever he was off duty. Then I called it quits. Only he wouldn't believe me."
"How long ago was this?" I asked.
"Maybe six months ago," she said. "Then after he got in trouble in the army over that accident and was dismissed, he came here to live with me but I threw him out. He told me he was onto something where he'd make big money."
"Did he tell you anything about it?" I pressed.
"No," she answered quickly. Almost too quickly, I felt. "All he said was that we'd have everything I always wanted, all the things he never could give me. I promised to go back with him if he were telling the truth."
"And he never told you who he was involved with or what it was?"
She shook her head and her eyes were a mixture of sadness and apprehension. "No, she said. "But I never figured it was something he'd get himself killed over. It makes me scared, mister."
"Why?" I asked quickly, watching her eyes as she answered.
"Maybe he told whoever killed him about me," she said. "Maybe they think I know something about what he was into."
"I doubt it" I told her. She was biting her lower lip and her eyes were round and worried. She was scared, all right, and maybe it was for the reasons she'd said. But maybe it was for other reasons. I decided that if Lieutenant Dempster didn't show any cracks, Lynn Delba might bear further watching. "Don't try hiding out," I said to her. "I'll want to be talking to you again."
I left and drove to Judy Henniker's place. She wouldn't be at The Ruddy Jug yet — it was a little early for her to start work. She answered the door in shorts and a halter top.
"Come in," she said, her eyes lighting up.
"Did you find his wife?"
"I found the woman he'd been living with," I answered. Judy hadn't put all her makeup on yet and once again she looked younger, fresher — her high, round breasts very girlish and virginal.
"I just came by to say thanks for the lead on Lynn Delba." I grinned at her. "You've got a leg up on that visa to the States."
She chuckled happily and looked up at me, her eyes searching mine. You're really a good chap, Yank," she said.
"Not really," I said. "If you're holding out on me, you'll find that out." Her eyes clouded at once and she looked away. I wasn't at all certain how much Judy had told me of what she really knew. I'd keep dangling the bait in front of her. It might pay off, eventually. If I read the smoldering, masked fire in her eyes correctly, perhaps there was another kind of bait I could use on her.