“Get going,” Duffy murmured.
Shep felt in his pocket, took out a little tool, fitted it in the lock and turned. Duffy heard the lock slip with a faint click. He said in Shep’s ear, “Give me two minutes, then come on in.”
Shep nodded and stood aside. Duffy gently turned the handle, pushed open the door, and walked in. He found himself in a small hall, about twelve feet by sixteen. Facing him were two doors. He trod quietly over and listened. He thought he heard someone talking behind the right-hand door. Holding his gun waist-high, he pushed open the door, stepped in quickly. Then he said in a cold voice, “You seduced him yet?”
Annabel spun round. She was standing by a divan, on which Clive was lying. Clive’s face was beautifully bandaged with plaster. Someone had made a very neat job of it. All Duffy could see of Clive’s face was two eyes that hated him.
Duffy said very sharply, “Don’t start anything. Keep still.”
Clive said in a curiously adenoidal voice, “Get out of here.”
Annabel ran her fingers through her hair. She smiled at Duffy. “I think you’re cute,” she said.
Duffy said, “Sit down.”
Shep wandered in. He looked first at Clive, then at Annabel. He puffed out his cheeks, then took off his hat.
She had sat down on the foot of the divan. She said in her breathless voice, “Who’s your gentleman friend?”
Shep beamed and fingered his necktie. He glanced at Duffy. “What a honeypot!” he said.
Duffy had his eyes on Clive. Although Clive was dressed, he had a rug over him, hiding his hands. Duffy said, “Put your hands where I can see them.”
“Suppose we be friends…?” Annabel broke in.
Duffy turned his head a little. “You’re coming with me,” he told her. “We’ve got a home for you to go to.”
She said, “Now?”
Duffy said, “That’s k. Right now.”
She stood up. “Home?” she said suddenly. “What do you mean… home?”
Duffy said, “You’ll know. Say good-bye to your boyfriend, you ain’t seeing him any more.”
She looked at Clive, then she shrugged a little. “I don’t mind,” she said. “He’s not quite in one piece. He’s a waste of time.”
Shep grinned. “A jane like you ain’t got no right running with a nance,” he said seriously.
Clive said in a low voice, “Get to hell out of here, all of you.”
Annabel said, “May I get my things?”
Duffy shook his head. “You can come as you are,” he said. “I want to talk to you… come on.”
She giggled. “I love you when you get like that,” she said. “Let’s talk; I’ve got lots to tell you.” She waved her hand at Clive. “About him and Morgan. You’ll eat it up.
Clive drew his lips off his teeth, then he shot her. Duffy just caught the slight movement under the rug as the gun roared. The rug began to smoulder.
Duffy fired at Clive, but the big Colt kicked up and the bullet smacked against the wall two feet above Clive’s head. Moving with incredible rapidity, Shep flung himself on Clive.
Duffy walked cautiously over to Annabel, looked at her, then shoved his gun in his hip pocket and knelt down beside her. She lay on her back, one hand clenched tightly to her right side. She opened her eyes and looked at him, then she began to cry.
Duffy said, “Take it easy. You’ll be all right.”
He picked her up. Shep said, “Bring her here.” He had tossed Clive on to the floor. Clive lay flat. Shep had smacked him hard on the chin.
Duffy put her on the divan. He said urgently, “Get some water and dressing. She’s bleeding like hell.”
Shep went out of the room. Duffy could hear him pulling drawers open and hunting about in the next room. He took his pocket-knife and ripped away her clothes round the wound. “Hurry, damn you,” he shouted to Shep when he saw where she was shot.
Shep came back in a lumbering run. He had a handful of small towels and a jug of water. Duffy took them from him. “’Phone English, and tell him,” he said. “Get going, this is urgent.”
While he was fixing the wound, she opened her eyes again. She looked at him. She saw the sweat glistening on his face and she said, “Am I going to die?”
He couldn’t do anything to stop the bleeding. He said rather helplessly, “It’s the best way for you, I think.”
She said, “I think so, too,” and she began to cry again.
He tied a pad over the wound, but he knew it was useless. She said, “Give me a drink.”
He had to hold her head to give her the Scotch. She said, “I’m sorry about everything.”
Duffy’s face was very hard. “You little girls are always sorry when it’s too late.”
She said, “It was your fault that I killed your woman.”
Duffy said, “It’s best you should go like this.” He couldn’t bring himself to say anything else.
“No other man’s ever turned me down,” she said. “Remember I offered myself?”
“Yeah, I remember. I guessed you’d want to settle that score.”
“If you wrote down everything, I could sign it,” she said. “I’d like that.”
Duffy took a quick step to the writing-desk, found a pad and came back. She said, in a low voice, “You’ll be quick?”
Duffy said, “Sure. You killed Cattley, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Cattley was double-crossing Gleason, who was my husband. No one knew about that. Gleason was bad, but he was making money. I had to have that. I learnt that Cattley was taking half, so I pushed him down the lift shaft. He was a little man, it was quite easy. You came along and covered me on that. Then Max. You see, they all bothered me. I tried once just to see, but none of them were any good. So after that I didn’t want them again. Max was always pressing me. Then he got the photos, and asked me up to his flat to trade them in the usual way, so I went and I killed him too.”
Duffy wrote quickly. He gave her another drink. Shep came in and stood behind him. He said, “English is coming.” Duffy raised his hand for silence.
Annabel went on, “I hated you. When I went out to the Shann woman’s villa to find the book, I thought you’d both be out. I saw you drive the car away, and I thought she was with you. Then I went inside and she started getting excited, so I killed her too.”
Duffy said, “It got you nowhere, did it?”
She said, so faintly that Duffy had to lean forward, “I was so tired of… Murray… when you came… I… thought I could… put it… on you.”
Duffy scribbled quickly, put the pen in her hand. “Can you do it?” he said anxiously.
She said, “I… can’t… see.”
Duffy held her hand and put the nib on the paper. “Sign,” he said loudly and roughly. The pen slipped out of her fingers and her hand dropped out of his. He turned and looked at Shep. “Can you beat that?” he said savagely. “This confession lets me out, and I’m damned if she doesn’t die on me before she signs.”
Shep said, “That’s tough.”
Duffy stood up. “Look at her, Shep,” he said. “You ain’t likely to find a worse woman in the country.”
Shep shrugged. “What’s it matter, as long as she looks right?”
Duffy said impatiently, “Clive okay?”
Shep nodded. “He’ll be out for another hour.”
Duffy glanced at the clock. He saw it was quarter to six. He said, “Come on, we got a date. Let English fix this.”
Shep followed him out of the apartment and down the stairs. Duffy said when they got into the street, “Morgan’ll just hate me for this.”
Shep grinned as he climbed into the car. “Yeah,” he said. “Will they burn the nance?”
Duffy shrugged. “Maybe English’ll hush it all up. But you bet they’ll pin something on that nance to keep him busy.”