A Bullet for CinderellaMacDonald, John D. (John Dann)
General
A Bullet for Cinderella
MacDonald, John D. (John Dann)
American fiction -- 20th century; Detective and mystery stories
She said she had to change. I left. I wondered if I was being a fool. I
had lunch. I didn't have much appetite. I went to a movie. I couldn't
follow the movie. I was worrying too much. I began to be convinced I
had been a fool. She wasn't the sort of woman to trust. I wondered by
what magic she had hypnotized me into trusting her. I could imagine
her digging up the money. Once she had it there was nothing I could
do. I wondered if my trust had been based on some inner unwillingness
to actually take the money. Maybe subconsciously I wanted the moral
problem off my hands.
She wasn't back at five-thirty. I waited in the lobby. I was sweating.
She came in at quarter to six. She looked pale and upset. We rode up
in the elevator together. She gave me the key to open her door. Her
fingers were cold. She kept biting her lip. Once we were inside she
began to pace.
"What's the matter?"
"Shut up and let me think. Go make some drinks. That thing there is a
bar. Scotch on the rocks for me."
I made the drinks. After hers was gone she seemed a little quieter,
more thoughtful.
"Sorry for being bitchy, Tal. I'm upset. My errands didn't work out the
way I expected. Some people seem to have the idea that just because
I was in on the festivities, I belong to the house. You don't need
details. I have some funds around here and there. I got to the bank in
time. That was fine. But it wasn't so good on the funds that are in,
shall we say, safekeeping. I got some of them. Not all that's coming
to me. Not by a hell of a lot. I'm not supposed to be able to take
off. I made the mistake of saying I was thinking about it. They gave
me some strong arguments. I made like changing my mind. Still I was
tailed back. How do you like that? The hell with them. They might even
be thinking of a hijack job. Now I know I've got to get out of here. I
think I've got it worked out. Will you help?"
"I guess so."
"I'm leaving for good. I can't make it tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow I can
pick up a little more of what's due me. You drive over here Thursday
morning. There's a back way out of here, through the cellar. I can
grease the superintendent. Park on the parallel street back of here. Be
there at ten sharp, ten in the morning. I'll come out the back way and
away we'll go. But, damn it, I hate to leave so much stuff behind. A
whole wardrobe."
"Is it dangerous?"
"I don't know how rough they might get. I just don't like the sound of
it. I don't like being patted on the shoulder and being given a big
toothy grin and being told 'There, there, little Toni, you don't want
to leave town. We all love you too much.'"
I said, "I could stay until after dark and you could pack things and I
could take them out maybe. A couple of suitcases."
"You sure you want to?"
"I'm willing to. If somebody followed you, they don't know I'm here
now. You could leave before I do. They'd follow you. Then I can take
the stuff out to my car."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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