Lay Her Among The Lilies

“Cut out the yap. What’s the matter with you? Scared of me?”

That seemed the kind of language he understood, for he grabbed hold of my arm.

“Not of you, baby, or of anyone else.”

He helped me on with the dressing-gown, opened the door and together we stepped out into

a long broad corridor. I took a couple more steps, and paused as if I still wasn’t feeling too

sure of myself. The pause gave me time to look to right and left. One end of the corridor

terminated in a massive-looking door, the other end was sealed off by a high window,

covered with a close mess-grill.

“Okay, baby,” Bland said, grinning. “Now you have had a look, let’s get moving. I told you

how it was. Well, now you’ve seen for yourself.”

Yes, I had seen for myself.

I went along the corridor with Bland, my mind busy. Somehow I had to get the key of that

door and the key of the handcuff. Either that or stay here until they got tired of keeping me or

until I rotted.

A sudden commotion brought us to a halt: a startled cry, a heavy thud as if someone or

something heavy had fallen.

Bland caught hold of my arm.

A nearby door suddenly jerked open and a girl shot into the corridor. The first and obvious

thing about her was her complete nakedness. She seemed to have jumped right out of a bath,

for water glistened on her white skin and a fine film of soap made patterns on her slender

arms. She was fair, and her hair grew in a curly halo around her head. She wasn’t pretty, nor

was she plain. She was interesting; definitely and emphatically interesting, and I had a

suspicion she wouldn’t be quite so interesting with her clothes on as she was without them.

At a guess she was about twenty-five. She had a beautiful body, long legged, high breasted,

and her skin was the colour of whipped cream.

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LAY HER AMONG THE LILIES

I heard Bland suck in his breath sharply.

“Hot damn!” he said under his breath, jumped forward, his thick fingers reaching out for

the girl, his eyes alight with brutish excitement. He grabbed hold of the girl’s arm. Her

scream hit the ceiling and bounced along the walls. His hand slid off her soapy arm and she

spun round and raced down the corridor. She ran with unexpected grace, and as swiftly as the

wind.

Bland took a step forward, and then changed his mind. She couldn’t get away. Already she

had reached the massive door and was beating on it with clenched fists.

All this happened in so many seconds, then a nurse appeared from the bathroom: a tall,

powerfully-built woman whose hatchet face was white with alarm and fury. She looked down

the corridor at the girl’s naked back. She looked at Bland.

“Get your patient away,” she said. “And get out yourself, you—you ape!”

“Take it easy,” Bland said, his eyes still on the girl. “You let her out, you silly old mare.”

“Get your patient away or I’ll report you,” the nurse said furiously.

“And you would, too,” Bland returned, sneering.

He grabbed hold of my arm.

“Come on, baby, the fun’s over. You can’t say this ain’t the place to live in. The best of

attention and the Follies Bergčre thrown in for free. What more do you want?”

He hustled me into a bathroom opposite the one the girl had escaped from as the nurse went

down the corridor. The girl saw her coming, turned to face her; her screams went through my

head and set my nerves jangling. I was glad when the bathroom door closed on the sound,

shutting it out.

Bland was excited. His hard little eyes gleamed, and he kept running his tongue along his

lips.

“Some bim!” he said, half to himself. “I wouldn’t have missed that for a week’s pay. Here

you, get your things off and get into the bath. My luck having to sit around and look at you

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LAY HER AMONG THE LILIES

when that dish out there’s on show.”

“Stop acting like a kid,” I said, stripping off the dressing-gown and pyjamas. “Who is she,

anyway?”

“The bim? No one you’d know. She used to be a nurse here; went suddenly crackers when

her boy walked out on her. That’s the story, anyway. She was here before I came. Why she

should go nuts because she lost her boy, beats me. I would have given her a twirl any time

she wanted one.”

I lay still in the bath, my face expressionless. A nurse! Was this the missing nurse Mifflin

had told me about? It sounded like her.

“Her name’s Anona Freedlander—right?” I shot out.

Bland showed his surprise.

“How did you know?”

“I’m a detective,” I said solemnly.

Bland grinned. He sat on a stool near the bath and lit a cigarette.

“Get going, baby. Never mind the detection now. I gotta lot to do.” Absent-mindedly he

dropped the match into the water.

“What’s wrong with Hopper?” I asked, changing the subject. “Why’s he here?”

“Hoppie’s quite a case,” Bland said, and shook his head. “There’re certain times in the

month when even I don’t go near him. You wouldn’t think that to look at him, would you? A

very deceptive guy. If it wasn’t for his old man’s money he would be in a criminal asylum.

He killed a girl: tore her throat out with his teeth. He’ll be here for the rest of his days. You