Charles Williams The Wrong Venus (1966) (pdf)

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he could see well enough to make out that the van
contained a rather hideous sofa, an old leather-
upholstered armchair, a rolled rug, two or three lamps,
and a long wooden box that appeared to be empty except
for some excelsior in the bottom of it. On one end of the
sofa was a bundle of old clothing, apparently workers
blue denims. He saw what she had in mind, and there
was a good chance it would work that far. But the rest
of it was staggering.
The truck rattled and swayed, threatening to throw
them off their feet. Martine dropped into the armchair.
Kendall sat on the sofa, still clutching the bottle of wine
and the bag of food, while Roberto seated himself on the
floor in front of her.
Colby perched on the corner of the box, dead tired
after twenty-four hours of escalating crises, and looked at
Martine. But we ll still have to get her out again.
The Wrong Venus 107
No problem, Martine said. They know she s not in
there now or do if they can read three-inch headlines
so if she never came back, that s the one place in France
she couldn t be hiding. She turned to Kendall. How
long would it take you to wrap up the novel? Sanborn s
finished, and it s a little over fifty pages.
Three days, typing it, Kendall replied. With a
recorder and some Dexedrine I could dictate it in twenty-
four hours. Or less.
You re sure?
Nothing to it. He s already written the story; I just
slather on the mild rich prose. And correct the odd
technical bit he has a tendency to get lingerie mixed up
with harness. Why?
It s going to take a lot of money to smuggle you out of
France. So we finish the book, and Merriman that is,
Sabine Manning pays for it.
Kendall grinned. He ll love that.
He wins, too. If the police get you, he s finished.
Apparently they can t trace you to the Manning house, or
they would have already. There are some men staked out
across the street, but I m pretty sure they re just the
people who re trying to kill you.
Oh, that s all? Anybody got a corkscrew?
Roberto produced a Swiss army knife from his pocket.
Kendall passed him the bottle. Colby indicated the
furniture, and asked Martine, Where d you get the
props?
From Roberto s apartment, she said. As soon as she d
seen the papers and realized they were going to need
help provided Colby and Kendall were able to survive
the night without being killed by the kidnapers or
arrested she d called mutual friends until she located
him. He said he could get the moving van; Henri was a
friend of his.
When Colby had called, she d arranged a rendezvous
point, and left the Manning house in the Jaguar, followed,
of course, by one of the mob that had it staked out. After
she d finally shaken him at a traffic light, she drove
through the Bois until she was sure, and met them,
leaving the Jaguar parked near the Invalides. She would
The Wrong Venus 108
pick it up again on the way in, so there would be nothing
to connect her with the van at all.
So far, so good, Colby thought. But just how do we slip
her out of France? Hide her in among a couple dozen
other six-foot blondes?
Relax. She smiled, with a confident wave of the hand.
We ll come up with it. Heavens, we ve got twenty-four
hours.
And we ve got good old Roberto to help us, Colby
thought; that was all the situation had lacked, having
your friendly neighborhood pickpocket to hold your coat
during the fight. He looked around at Roberto, however,
saw the way the latter was eying Kendall, and realized he
might have jumped to the wrong conclusion about those
two cracks back there beside the stream. Roberto hadn t
been trying to knife him with Martine. He d only been
trying to cut his throat with Kendall.
It wasn t that they weren t good friends and boon
companions. They were, and had been for a long time.
Roberto was amusing company, undeniably talented as a
painter he turned out the best Utrillos since Utrillo
and a prince of a guy who d give you his last hundred
francs. Except that while you were in the bank to see if it
was counterfeit he d disappear with your girl. He
respected no right of ownership or prior claim. They
were all, in his view, simply part of the public domain,
like National Parks, and any old friend zeroing in on a
really outstanding girl with Roberto around had only to
drop his guard for a few minutes to go home on his
shield. But here, apparently, it was Kendall he was after.
He suddenly remembered Miss Manning. Roberto had
never answered his question. Hey, Roberto, he began,
and noted, too late, that Martine was violently shaking
her head, where s Sabine Manning?
The other s head jerked around, the good-looking,
normally pleasant face set in a defiant scowl. How would
I know? he asked. I m supposed to be her mother?
Okay, okay, Colby said, heeding Martine s signal at
last. I just asked.
Don t bother. I haven t seen her for six months.
I came off without a rostrum, but you can use this box
if you want to.
The Wrong Venus 109
You think I m going to marry some woman forty-three
years old?
Colby was beginning to be a little burned himself. Why
don t we just drop it? Consider I didn t ask.
Roberto muttered something else, while both Martine
and Kendall looked at him curiously. Colby shrugged.
What was the matter with the sorehead? It wasn t like
the old sunny Roberto at all. Of course, it was possible he
might have considered Colby was mounting a little
guerrilla attack of his own, but he wouldn t have reacted
that way. He d been around too long to needle that
easily.
And now that he thought about it, Martine had tried to
head him off before, too. She d abruptly changed the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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