No Orchids for Miss Blandish Part 26

The loud metallic voice echoed in the fresh morning air. Slim listened, his loose mouth closed in a bunched-up mess of wet lips. He yearned for a Thompson gun. He cursed himself for getting trapped like this. He thought of Ma. Pete had said she had fought like a man. He would fight like a man too. He glanced at his gun. He had only five slugs left. Well, he'd take five of the punks with him. They would never get him alive.

Up in the loft, Miss Blandish first heard the shot, then the metallic voice. She realized the moment she had been dreading in a vague, half-conscious way for the past four months was approaching. In a little while she would be free, and the real misery and h.e.l.l of her experience would begin.

She crawled to the open trap and looked down. She saw Slim standing with his back to her, peering through a c.h.i.n.k in the barn door. His thin black back was tense. She saw the gun in his hand. She heard him muttering to himself. There was now silence outside. Her concentrated stare conveyed itself to him.

He turned slowly, and they looked at each other. He, standing by the door, sweating and shaking, and she, lying stretched on the floor, her head and shoulders framed by the trap, looking down at him. They stared at each other for a long time. His face was glistening in the dim light of the barn. His lips came off his teeth and he swore at her, calling her obscene names, hurling them at her in his panic and fear.

She listened, hoping he would eventually shoot her. With all the strength of her mind, she willed him to lift his gun and release a bullet into her, but he did nothing but curse her, glaring at her with his feverish, yellow eyes.

A sound outside made him jerk around. He saw a movement behind the farm cart and he fired. The bang of the gun echoed in the silence. He saw a puff of dust and white splinters of wood fly from the side of the cart.

Once more the loud metallic voice called to him to come out.

"Grisson! We're waiting! You can't get away! Come on out with your hands in the air!"

Panic now flooded his mind. His legs felt weak. His thin wolfish face began to crumple like a child's before it weeps. He slid down on his knees, letting his gun fall to the ground.

Miss Blandish watched him. For a moment she thought he had been shot, but when he began to moan to himself, she drew back, hiding her face in her hands.

Brennan, anxious to get it over, was giving orders to his men. Several soldiers and two police officers got behind the farm cart. Using it as a s.h.i.+eld, they began pus.h.i.+ng it across the yard towards the barn door.

Slim saw the cart coming. He staggered to his feet, s.n.a.t.c.hed up his gun. In a frenzy of panic and despair, he threw up the bar holding the door in place, dragged open the door and ran out. He fired blindly at the advancing cart, standing in the hot suns.h.i.+ne, his face ghastly with terror.

Two machine guns opened up. Blood suddenly appeared on his dirty white s.h.i.+rt. His gun fell from his hand. The guns stopped as abruptly as they had started.

Brennan and Fenner watched him slowly collapse. His thin legs thrashed for a long moment, jerkily and convulsively, the way a snake dies. His back arched; his hands clawed at the dry dust, then he stiffened and went limp.

The two men, guns in hand, moved across the yard.

Fenner knew before he reached Slim that he was dead. He paused by him for a brief moment. The yellow eyes looked sightlessly up at him. The thin, white, upturned face seemed defenseless and bewildered. The loose mouth hung open. Fenner turned away with a grunt of disgust.

"That's the end of him," Brennan said, "and good riddance."

"Yeah," Fenner said. He drew in a deep breath, then walked slowly towards the barn.

5.

Miss Blandish had come down from the loft. The two short bursts of machine gun fire had told her that Grisson was dead. Now, hopelessly, she moved into the darkest part of the barn and sat down on an upturned barrel. She could hear men's voices outside and she flinched from the sound. She dreaded the fast approaching moment when she would have to go out into the hot sunlight and face the curious, staring eyes of her rescuers.

For some moments Fenner didn't see her. He stood in the barn doorway, looking around, and it wasn't until his eyes became accustomed to the shadowy dimness that he did see her. He quickly realized by the tense way she was sitting, how bad this moment must be for her. He moved into the barn and paused when he was some yards from her.

"h.e.l.lo," he said casually and quietly, "I'm Dave Fenner. Your father asked me to take you home when you are ready to go. There's no rush. You're free now. You tell me what you want to do and I'll fix it."

He saw her relax slightly. He was careful not to approach closer. She reminded him of a cornered, frightened animal, ready to panic at the slightest unexpected movement.

"I thought it might be an idea," he went on, "if I took you to a quiet hotel so you could rest for a while, get a change of clothes and then if you feel like it, to drive you home. I've fixed a room for you at a hotel not far from here. There won't be any fuss. The press don't know anything about this. You won't be bothered. You can go in the back way of the hotel and straight to the room. Would you like to do that?"

She looked intently at him for some moments, then she said "Yes."

"There's a doctor outside," Fenner went on. "He's a nice guy. He wants to meet you. May I bring him in?"

She immediately stiffened, her eyes widening with panic.

"I don't want a doctor!" she said wildly. "What do I want a doctor for? I don't want to see anyone!"

"That's okay," Fenner said. "You don't have to see anyone if you feel that way about it. Will you let me take you to the hotel?"

Again she stared intently at him, hesitating, then she nodded.

"I'll get a car," Fenner said. "You stay right here and don't worry about a thing. You're not going to see anyone. No one's going to bother you."

He turned and walked out of the barn to where Brennan waited. A crowd of soldiers and policemen were staring curiously towards the barn. Old man Waite and his two sons were gaping from the farmhouse door. Four soldiers were carrying Grisson's body to a truck.

As Fenner approached Brennan, the Medical Officer came over. Behind him hovered a nurse.

"She's jumpy," Fenner said. "She doesn't want to see anyone. She doesn't want a doctor. She likes the idea of going to a hotel. She wants me to take her there."

The Medical Officer shrugged his shoulders.

"That's all right," he said. "She must certainly be suffering from shock. It's better to let her do what she wants. I'll go on ahead and fix up a room at the Bonham Hotel. When she's got used to the idea of being free, I'll see her. How about taking the nurse with you?"

"I'd like to," Fenner said, "but I don't think she'd stand for it. She reacted badly when I suggested she should see you."

"Well, all right. I'll get off. I'll have the nurse stand by just in case she's needed. I'll have everything fixed by the time you get her to the hotel. We've got to be sure the press don't get at her. Once this leaks out, they'll be around like a swarm of ants."

"I'll see they don't get near her," Brennan said grimly.

As the Medical Officer hurried away, Fenner said, "Will you get all these men out of the way and leave a car right outside the barn?"

"I'll do it," Brennan said. "You go in there and stay with her."

Fenner waited long enough to see Brennan get rid of the soldiers and the police, then he returned to the barn.

Miss Blandish was still sitting on the upturned barrel. She looked up as he came over to her.

"It's all fixed," he said, taking out a pack of cigarettes. "You have nothing to worry about." He offered a cigarette, and after a moment's hesitation, she took one and accepted the light he held to the cigarette. "Your father thought it would be better to wait at home for you." Fenner went on, lighting a cigarette for himself. "If you want him, I can get him."

Again he saw the panic jump into her eyes.

"I don't want him," she said, not looking at him. "I want to be alone."

"That's okay," Fenner said. "When you want him, he'll be there." He sat down on a bale of straw, some yards from her. "You're probably wondering who I am," he went on, absolutely sure she wasn't wondering anything of the kind, but knowing the necessity of keeping the situation as normal as possible. "I earn a living as a private investigator. Your father came to me..." He went on talking easily and casually, watching, her, seeing at first no interest but as he told her about his life as a newspaperman, about Paula and about some of his cases he saw she was relaxing and after twenty minutes of continuous talking, he saw she was listening. Finally, he decided that the Medical Officer had had time to fix up a room at the hotel and he said, "Well, I don't want to bore you too much about myself. I guess we can go now. You don't have to worry. There's no one outside. Are you ready to go?"

He saw panic once more jump into her eyes, but he got up and went over to the barn door and pulled it wide open. An Oldsmobile stood outside. There was no one in sight.

"It's okay," he said, not looking at her. "Let's go."

He opened the off side door of the car and left it open, then he got in under the driving wheel. He waited. After some minutes, Miss Blandish came slowly and hesitatingly to the barn door. Fenner didn't look at her. She came to the car and got in, slamming the door shut.

Fenner drove down the uneven farm road and onto the dirt road. Miss Blandish sat away from him, staring with great blank eyes in front of her.

It took a little over forty minutes to reach the hotel at Pine Hill. Fenner, who knew the hotel, drove around to the back entrance. There was no one around. He pulled up and got out.

"Wait here. I won't be two seconds," he said and went quickly into the lobby where the Medical Officer was waiting.

"Room 860," he told Fenner, giving him a key. "It's on the top floor. The nurse has got some clothes for her. How is she?"

Fenner shrugged.

"She's not saying much. She's jumpy, but at least she seems to have accepted me. You get out of the way, Doc. I'll take her up."

"See if you can persuade her to see me," the Medical Officer said. "It's important I see her as soon as possible."

"Okay. I'll see what I can do," Fenner said and went back to the car.

Miss Blandish was sitting motionless, looking down at her hands. She glanced up sharply as Fenner came to her. "All ready," he said. "No one to bother you." She got out of the car, and together, they walked into the lobby and entered the elevator.

As they shot to the top floor, she said abruptly, "I heard the shooting. He's dead, isn't he?"

Startled, Fenner said, "Yes. You don't have to think of him any more. That's all behind you."

Neither of them said anything further. He took her along the empty corridor to room 860, unlocked the door and stood aside. She went into the room. The Medical Officer had done a good job. The room was ladened with flowers; there was a wagon of cold food and drinks. The windows stood open and sunlight made patterns on the blue carpet.

Miss Blandish walked slowly over to a big vase of roses. She paused by them, touching the dark scarlet buds. Fenner closed the door.

"Doctor Heath would like to meet you," he said. "Would you mind?"

She looked at him. He was relieved to see there was no panic in her eyes as she said, "I don't want to see anyone yet. There's nothing he can do for me."

"You know what I'd do if I were you?" Fenner said quietly. "I'd take a shower and change out of those clothes. You'll find others in the closet." He opened the closet and took out the clothes the nurse had brought. He handed them to her. "You go ahead and have a shower. I'll wait right here and see no one bothers you. Okay?"

She looked searchingly at him, a puzzled expression in her eyes.

"Do you always treat people like this?" she asked.

"I don't have much chance," Fenner said and smiled. "You go ahead."

She went into the bathroom and shut and locked the door.

Shaking his head, Fenner went over to the window and looked down at the slow-moving traffic far below. The cars looked like toys. Immediately below, outside the entrance to the hotel, he saw a group of men, several with cameras and flashguns, arguing with three policemen who guarded the entrance. So the news had leaked out, he thought. Now there would be trouble. In a little while the town would be swarming with newspapermen.

He turned away from the window and went to the door, looking out into the pa.s.sage. Three policemen lounged at the head of the stairs. Brennan had said he would keep the press away from the girl: he was carrying out his promise, but Fenner knew sooner or later when they took her from the hotel, the press would close in on her like a pack of jackals.

A quarter of an hour later, the bathroom door opened and Miss Blandish came out. She had changed into the flowered dress the nurse had bought and it suited her.

Fenner thought he had never seen a girl so beautiful.

"I bet you feel all the better for that, don't you?" he said.

She moved to the window before he could stop her and looked out. She moved quickly back, turning to face him, her eyes frightened.

"It's all right," he said soothingly. "You don't have to worry. They won't come up here. Look, sit down and relax. Don't you want something to eat?"

"No." She sat down, putting her hands to her face.

He watched her during a long, uneasy pause, then she said suddenly, her tone desperate, "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Don't think about it now," Fenner said gently. "You'll find it will work out. People forget. It'll be tough going for the first three or four days, then they'll forget about you. Right now what you've gone through is in focus, but after a while, it'll get out of focus and later on, even you'll forget about it. You're young. You have lots of things to look forward to." He was talking for the sake of talking: feeling he had to say something. He didn't believe what he was saying. He was sure she didn't either.

"You said he was dead, but he isn't." She s.h.i.+vered. "He is with me now." She made a helpless gesture. "I don't know what my father will say. At first I thought it couldn't have happened to me, but now I know it has. I just don't know what I'm going to do!"

Fenner felt a cold sweat on his face. This was a complication he hadn't expected nor even dreamed of: a situation he felt incompetent to handle.

"Wouldn't it be an idea to send for your father?" he said uneasily. "You can't cope with a thing like this on your own. Let me send for him."

She shook her head.

"No." She looked up. Her eyes were like holes cut in a white sheet. "He wouldn't be able to help me. He would just be horribly embarra.s.sed and upset. This is something I should be able to work out for myself, but the trouble is I'm not fitted to cope with any major crisis in my life. I have never had any reason to cope with anything. I have never had any sense of values. I've just enjoyed a good time all the time until this happened. I suppose it is a test for me, isn't it? But instead of a test, I feel it is a trap. I don't know if I'm capable of getting out of it. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm a person without any background, any character or any faith. Some people could cope with this because they believe in G.o.d. I haven't believed in anything except having a good time." She clenched and unclenched her fists, then she looked up; her fixed smile made Fenner feel bad. "Perhaps I had better see the doctor. He will give me something. Then, as you said, in a few days' time, I'll be able to face this thing." She looked away and went on as if speaking to herself, "You see how weak I am. I have to have someone to lean on. I haven't the equipment to rely on myself. It's because I have been brought up to rely on other people, but it is my fault. I'm not blaming anyone but myself."

"I'll get him," Fenner said. "You mustn't be hard on yourself. You'll get over it. You must expect to have to rely on someone at first after what you've gone through. You're going to be all right. You've just got to hang on for the next few days."

Her smile became a grimace.

"Would you hurry, please?" she said politely. "I must have something. He'll know what to give me. I shall go to pieces if I don't get something. I have been living on drugs now for months."

"I'll get him," Fenner said and went quickly to the door. Leaving it open, he stepped into the pa.s.sage and called to one of the policemen. "Hey, you! Get the Doc up here, will you, and fast?"

The door slammed behind him, making him spin around. He heard the lock snap to.

In a sudden panic, he rapped on the door, but Miss Blandish didn't open the door. He drew back and drove his shoulder against the door panel, but the door didn't give.

The two policemen ran up.

"Get it open!" Fenner shouted, feeling sweat on his face. "Hurry!"

As the two policemen's combined weight smashed open the door, Fenner heard a thin, wailing scream. It sounded far away.

From the street below, he heard people shouting and the sound of traffic grinding to a stop.

He stood helplessly in the doorway and looked around the empty room.