Chapter 27
Duryea telephoned his house, and when Milred answered, said: “I’m afraid I’m going to disrupt your family. Perhaps you’d better be in on it.”
“What’s the matter, Frank?”
“Your esteemed grandfather.”
“What about him? What’s he doing now?”
“According to reports we have just received, he has attended a political rally and listened to the speech of an opposition candidate. Now he’s headed toward Petrie, very probably intending to break into that cabin.”
“Going to arrest him if he does?”
“As the sheriff pointed out to me a few minutes ago, I can’t very well do that.”
“Why?”
“With an election coming up in a couple of months, I could hardly afford to give the opposition press that sort of ammunition. You can feature the headlines, and the editorials: ‘IT’S ALL IN THE FAMILY — DISTRICT ATTORNEY ARRESTS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER. UNABLE TO FIND PRESSMAN’S MURDERER, DISTRICT ATTORNEY SWOOPS DOWN ON WIFE’S RELATIVE’— No, I can’t arrest him, not now anyway.”
“What are you going to do?”
“In about five minutes,” he said, “I’m going to pick you up; then you and the sheriff and I are going out to Petrie. If Gramps is in that cabin, we’re going to throw the book at him. It will be a star chamber session, and we’ll give him what’s known as a floater... But I think you get the idea.”
“You mean scare the pants off him?”
“Exactly. Your paternal grandparent is about to be completely denuded of trousers. We’re going to give him the cure.”
“I’ll be standing out in front ready to hop into the car,” she promised. “But don’t be too rough with him, Frank.”
Chapter 28
The big county car glided smoothly along the road. Sheriff Lassen, studying the speedometer, abruptly reached forward and dimmed the headlights. “We’re within a mile of the place now,” he said. “We’ll have to use our parking lights and crawl along for the rest of the way.”
The car slowed to but little more than fifteen miles an hour.
“Of course,” Milred pointed out, “Gramps may not be here.”
“I think so,” the sheriff said. “Borden reported from Petrie. He didn’t dare follow the old man too closely — said he’d get out to the cabin, and if your grandfather wasn’t there, he’d leave a signal for us.”
The car rolled along over the paved road. Ahead, they could see the tall forms of the eucalypti silhouetted against the starlit sky. “Getting close to the place,” the sheriff said. “Must have been a little closer than I thought when I switched off the headlights. I hope he didn’t see us, or—”
The sheriff broke off abruptly as a hand flashlight blinked ahead in the darkness.
“What’s that?” Milred asked.
“Probably Borden,” the sheriff announced, but he slid his hand under his coat and hitched his gun forward so that it would be in readiness.
“Better switch off the lights,” Duryea said in a low voice.
The sheriff clicked the car into darkness.
They waited a moment, then saw the vague outline of a figure. The beam of a spotlight stabbed through the darkness to illuminate the forward licence on the automobile; then the spotlight was extinguished, and a low whistle came from the darkness.
The sheriff rolled down the glass on his left, said in a low voice: “That you, Borden?”
“Okay, Sheriff,” the voice came from the darkness. A moment later, the huge figure of Harry Borden cat-footed up to the side of the car. “Had to make sure it was you,” he explained. “Don’t know just what’s going on.”
“What’s happened?”
“He’s down the road here about half a mile. Thought I’d come up and tip you off. I don’t know what he’s up to... Perhaps he knows you’re coming.”
“What’s he doing?”
“He drove the trailer up to the cabin. The girl got out. The old man has a key to the cabin, or else he has a passkey that works the lock... He’s evidently been in there before. He didn’t hesitate for a minute, just fitted the key in the lock and clicked the door back.”
“If he went in that cabin, we’ve got him right where we want him,” Duryea said.
“He didn’t go in. The girl did.”
“What’s the idea?” Lassen asked.
“I don’t know.”
“What did he do? Go back to the trailer?”
“No. That’s the funny part of it. He left the trailer parked there; then he walked up to the end of the driveway and took up a position right at the intersection of the driveway and the main road... He’s waiting for somebody.”
“An appointment he’s made with someone?”
Borden said: “I don’t think so. He’s got a gun.”
“You’re certain?” Duryea asked in surprise.
“Absolutely. I worked up close enough so I could see the starlight reflected from the metal.”
“It might have been a flashlight,” Duryea said. “I doubt if he’s got a gun.”
“I think it was a gun,” the giant deputy said with quiet confidence. “The way he was holding it and everything.”
“I’m taking Mr. Borden’s side of that argument,” Milred said. “Heavens knows what he wants it for, but I bet it’s a gun.”
Lassen turned to Duryea. “What do you want to do, Frank?”
The district attorney turned things over in his mind, then said abruptly: “We’ve got enough on him now. We’ll pick him up, and pick the girl up... Remember, so far as he knows, it’s a bona fide arrest.”
“All right, Harry,” the sheriff said to the deputy, “you’d better make the arrest, then.”
“We’ll drive up in the car,” Borden suggested. “You slow down within about fifty yards of the turn-off. I’ll be standing on the running board, and will jump off when you slow. He won’t know that I’m anywhere around. You bring the car to a dead stop just before you come to the driveway. Just a few feet. That’ll force him to show his hand. If he comes out to the car, I’ll be right behind him. If he doesn’t you can wait there in the car until you get a signal from me.”
“Sounds okay,” the sheriff said, “but if he’s got a gun, don’t take any chances.”
“I won’t,” Borden promised. “I’ll play it safe.”
Milred said to her husband: “Tell him to be particularly careful, Frank. If Gramps has a gun — well, I just don’t trust him, that’s all. You can’t tell what he’s up to.”
Duryea said to the sheriff: “As far as I’m concerned, Pete, when the old boy starts packing hardware around, taking into consideration his particular type of cussedness, I think we should throw him in the cooler and keep him there.”
“You can’t afford to,” the Sheriff said. “No matter which way the cat jumps, you’re licked. If he turns out to be a harmless old coot, a little on the barmy side, you’ve made yourself ridiculous. If there’s anything sinister about it, you’re licked. You can’t win.”
The car swayed slightly on its springs as Harry Borden climbed on the running-board. “It’s all right,” he said with calm confidence, “I can handle this. No one will know anything about it.”
Borden’s hand reached in through the open window to hold the top of the car for support. The sheriff eased in the clutch, and the car rolled ahead.
“Better turn your headlights on to the bright,” Borden said. “That’ll dazzle him, and keep him from seeing me jump off.”
The sheriff switched the lights on to the high beam. The brilliant illumination blazed the road ahead into brilliance, a gleaming tunnel of light in the centre of which stretched the white ribbon of pavement.