“Do you really mean...?”
“Sheila, be an adult!” The snap in Perry’s voice brought a flush to her face. “This is deadly serious. This lunatic will kill us both if we provide him with the slightest excuse. For God’s sake! Why did you come?”
The steel in her asserted itself. She stiffened, then look directly at him.
“I came because I wanted to talk to you. I became sick of myself and the way I have been acting. I wanted to tell you so many things.”
“Okay. There’ll be time for that. Right now, we have to go along with this man or we’ll finish up dead.” They both paused to listen to Brown’s tuneless whistling.
“Don’t baby me!” Sheila shrilled. “Get rid of this man!”
Perry moved close to her. He slid his arm around her shoulders as the door opened. Jim Brown came in.
“You told her, Perry?”
“I’ve told her.” Sheila was regarding this man as he came in and shut the door. What an ape! she thought. Her eyes ran over his powerful body. His face which scared her, she disregarded, but his body! In spite of being scared, a thought came into her mind what it would be like to get into bed with a brute like this. She felt a tingle of sex run through her. She had never seen such a man. Those square, broad shoulders, the slim waist, those terrifyingly powerful hands!
“Okay,” Brown said. He looked at Sheila. “You take it easy, baby, and we’ll all get along nice. Right?” Sheila nodded.
“You have a job to do, Perry,” Brown said. “You’re going right now to your bank and you’re getting ten thousand bucks in cash, and you will chat up the jerks in the village and find out what the pressure is. Get it?”
Perry jumped to his feet. “No, I’m not leaving my wife alone with you! That is for sure! I’m not going!”
Brown grinned. “Yeah. That’s what you think, but you’ll go. Take a look at this.” He looked around the room, then walked over to an occasional table and picked up a big, heavy pewter ashtray. He balanced it in his hands, staring at Perry. “Watch, buster,” he said.
Effortlessly, as if the heavy ashtray was made of tin foil, he crumpled it, squeezed it and threw the ball of metal at Perry’s feet.
“Let me tell you something,” Brown said softly. “A couple of years ago, I hired a hooker for the night. She was young, but nothing like as pretty as your wife.
“She wanted ten bucks. I had ten bucks, so we went back to her pad and I gave her ten bucks. Then a big black buck appeared and told me to get the hell out. That was putting pressure on me. I told you when people put pressure on me, I hit back. That’s natural, isn’t it? So this big black buck put pressure on me and I hit him. I broke his goddamn neck. The hooker began to scream so I fixed her. I took her head in my hands and squeezed.” He paused to look at Sheila. “You’d better listen, baby. Okay, I squeezed. Know what happened? Her brains came out of her ears. When I squeeze, I squeeze good.”
Sheila shuddered, staring up at Perry who had turned white.
“That’s it, buster,” Brown snarled. “From now on do exactly what I say, otherwise I’m going to take your wife’s head in my hands and I’m going to squeeze her face like some rotten orange. Okay?”
“Perry!” Sheila, now terrified, shrilled, “Do what he says!”
Perry looked around for a weapon. With the courage of despair, with the normal instinct of a man who must protect his mate, he grabbed up a pathetically fragile vase and threw himself at Brown.
Grinning, Brown avoided his clumsy rush and slapped him with his open hand. The cuff sent Perry reeling. Dropping the vase, which smashed to pieces, he lost his balance and landed on the settee.
“Nice try, buster. Next time I’ll use my fist,” Brown said. “Then you’ll know what it is to be hit. You going or am I going to break your neck and squash your babe’s face?”
Sheila gave a soft scream, then put her hands to her mouth. Perry shook his head. The slap had stunned him. He knew it was just a slap, but the force of it horrified him. He remembered this ape of a man lifting the car clear of the quagmire. This brutal, ape-like strength was beyond imagination.
“Now, listen, Perry,” Brown said. “You’re scared I’m going to screw your wife as soon as you go.” He nodded. “That’s something I can understand. You go. I’m not going to touch her. We’ll sit here and wait for you to come back with the money. Play straight with me, and I’ll play straight with you. Get the money, find out what the pressure is, and you don’t need to worry about your wife. That’s a promise. Okay?”
“You’ll leave her alone? You won’t touch her?” Perry said getting unsteadily to his feet.
“So long as she sits still, doesn’t make trouble, I don’t touch her, but if she gets tricky she’ll get a slap.” Brown grinned. “Fair enough?”
Listening, Sheila felt a powerful sexual urge sweep through her. Looking at this man, she imagined him taking her. She imagined him entering her. She imagined gripping those terrifyingly muscular shoulders.
“Sheila, darling, I’ll have to go,” Perry said. “If Jim tells me he won’t touch you, I’m prepared to trust him. Now, for God’s sake, do just what he says... please.”
Sheila forced a smile. “I will. Before you go, I would like my baggage. Would you get the two bags?”
Looking at her, Perry felt a qualm. She had now completely relaxed. Her eyes had lit up. She was once more the Sheila he had had to cope with since they had married.
“Get her bags, Perry,” Brown said.
Hollis, in his treetop, watched Perry come out into the steamy hot sunshine. He watched Perry take two suitcases from the jeep, then return to the lodge.
“Honey, please take them to our room,” Sheila called.
Perry carried the bags up the stairs. Brown sat down, staring thoughtfully at Sheila who was smiling.
Perry came down the stairs and stood in the doorway of the living room.
“Okay,” Brown said. “Get the money. While you’re down there, get some onions and eggs. Fill the jeep with gas. When I shove off, I’ll use the jeep. Okay?”
“Yes.” Perry looked at Sheila. “Darling, it’ll take a couple of hours. Please remember what I’ve said.”
“Of course.” She smiled. “I’m not scared. If Jim says he won’t touch me, why should I be scared?” Perry hesitated, then nodded and went out to the jeep.
Hollis watched Perry get into the Jeep, turn it and head towards the river road, leading to the highway. He switched on his radio.
“Sheriff?”
“Hearing you.”
“A new development. Weston has just gone off in the jeep, heading for Rockville. The road’s still bad, but in the jeep he’ll get there. His wife is in the lodge. What do you make of it?”
“Could be okay. I don’t know. I’ll be on the lookout for him when he arrives.”
“I don’t think it’s okay. I still think Logan is now holding a gun on Mrs Weston. I’m sticking. Keep in touch,” and Hollis switched off.
As soon as Sheila heard the jeep start up and drive away, she smiled at Brown.
“I guess I have to ask your permission, Jim,” she said. “I would like to unpack and take a bath.”
Brown studied her, then nodded. “Go ahead, but no tricks, baby. Right?”
“Will you cut out calling me baby?” Sheila said, getting to her feet. “My name is Sheila.”
“Go take a bath, baby,” Brown said. “Just no tricks.”
Sheila left the living room and climbed the stairs to the double bedroom. She stripped off, ran a bath, then sank into the warm water.
What an ape of a man she thought, feeling an uncontrollable sex urge run through her. So he won’t touch me, huh? She released a soft laugh.
It would be fun to seduce him. Marvelous to lie beneath him. All the other men, including Lucan, didn’t compare with this brute. She had two hours. She remained only for a few minutes in the bath, then she dried herself and went to the big mirror and fixed her hair. She then went into the bedroom, naked, and unlocked her suitcase. She found a flimsy, transparent wrap which she put on. She closed and relocked the suitcase.