Hit and Run

'It was an accident. If you had stopped and if you had got help, Lucille, you would have most likely got away with it. But to have got away with it, you would have had to tell the court the truth. You would have had to tell them why you went off in the car. It would have kept you out of prison, but landed you in the middle if a scandal. You can imagine how the press would have picked on us both. Your husband would probably have divorced you, and I would most certainly have lost my job. So even if you go now and tell the police what happened we would be both in a very serious jam. You see that, don't you?'

She nodded.

'I don't intend to tell the police what happened,' I went on. 'There's just a chance they won't find the Cadillac, and I'm going to take that chance. But if they do find it, then I'm going to tell them I was driving and I hit the policeman. It's important to both of us that you are kept out of it. I might be lucky and get off with a light sentence. Your husband seems to think a lot of me, and he might have me back when I come out. But once you are involved, he would black-list me and I'll never get another job in advertising. So you see I'm thinking of myself as much as you when I say I'll take the blame.'

She sat motionless for a long moment, then her hands suddenly relaxed.

'You really mean it, Ches? You really will tell them you did it?'

'Yes, that's what I mean.'

She drew in a deep breath.

'Well, if you're sure ...'

'I'm sure.'

She lifted her hair off her shoulders, frowning. She didn't look as relieved as I expected her to look.

'Doesn't that make you feel better, Lucille?'

'Oh, yes, of course.' She stared down at her hands, then said: 'There is one thing, Ches. I left my swim-suit in your car.'

I felt a little pang of disappointment. I thought she might have thanked me for letting her out of this mess.

'Well, that's all right. I'm going to check the car when you have gone. I'll get the swim-suit, and when next I come to the house, I'll bring it with me.'

She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue.

'Could we go now and get it?'

'I'll get it when I check the car.'

'I would like it now.'

Then I realized why she was being so persistent. If the police found the car and the swim-suit, they might trace the swim-suit to her,

'All right. You wait here. I'll get it now.'

'I'd like to come with you ...'

'You'd better not. We can't afford to be seen together.'

'I'd rather come.'

I stared at her.

'What is it, Lucille? Don't you trust me to give it to you?'

She looked away.

'It's very important to me.'

'Of course, but it's also important no one sees us together. I'll get it for you.'

She got to her feet.

'I'd rather come with you, Ches.'

I restrained my rising temper with difficulty. Turning, I walked into the hall. She followed me.

'Wait here,' I said. 'I'll get the car.'

Leaving her on the top step, I went to the garage and drove the Pontiac out on to the road. I got out and looked up and down the road. There was no one in sight.

'Come on,' I said, waving to her.

She ran down the steps, down the path and scrambled into the car. I got in beside her and drove fast the quarter of a mile to Seaborne's house.

We both got out.

Leading the way, I started up the drive towards the garage, then I suddenly came to an abrupt stop. Lucille paused at my side.

The garage door stood ajar

The previous night I had locked the doors after I had put the Cadillac away. There was no question about that. I had not only locked them, but I had taken care to make certain they had been secure.

'What is it, Ches?' Lucille asked sharply.

'Wait here,' I said, and breaking into a run, I covered the last twenty yards to the garage, pushed open the doors and looked inside.

The Cadillac was still there. The hard sunlight made the bent fender and the broken lamp look uglier than they had looked the previous night in the light of my flash-lamp.

I looked at the lack on the double doors. A chill snaked up my spine as I saw the lock was bent and twisted. There were claw marks of a jemmy dug into the woodwork.

Lucille joined me.

'What is it?'

'Someone has been here.'

She caught her breath sharply.

'Who?'

'How should I know?'

She caught hold of my arm.

'Do you think it was the police?'

'No. If it had been the police they would have come for me. My name's on the licence tag.'

'The swim-suit, Ches!'

'Where did you leave it?'

'On the floor at the back.'

I moved into the garage, opened the rear door of the car and looked inside.

If she had left the swim-suit on the floor of the car, it wasn't there now.

II

Overhead an aircraft droned: there was no other sound. The silence seemed to me to go on for a long time. I stood by the car looking into the emptiness of the back seat and the floor, aware that my heart was thumping.

Then Lucille said in a small voice: 'What is it?'

I turned and looked at her.

'It's not here.'

Her eyes opened very wide.

'It must be there! Let me look!'

I stood aside and she peered into the car.

'It must be here,' she muttered and got into the car, her hands feeling under the scat.