Part 15 (2/2)
He went for my belly, a low underhand stroke, but he was shaky and breathless and it lacked fire I blocked on the wrist and at the same time hit the pressure point in his forearm The knife dropped out of his hand and I threw hih the mud softened the impact I dropped on one knee into his belly it had two hundred and ten pounds of body weight behind it and it drove the air out of his lungs in a loud whoosh He doubled up like a foetus in the wo for breath, and I flipped him over on to his face The cloth cap fell off his head and I found that he had a thick shock of dark hair shot through with strands of silver I took a good handful of it sat on his shoulders and pushed his face deep into the Yellow irls I told hiine of the Triu in a wide arc until they burned directly up the narrow lane
I knew I hadn't taken the blond out properly, it had been a hurried botchy job I left the man in the mud and ran back down the lane The wheels of the Triuhts blazing dazzlingly intoas it left the Paving and entered the ht at me
I fell flat and rolled into the cold ooze of a narrow open drain that carried run-off water through the tall hedge
The Triuhtly off its line The ”nearside wheels spun viciously on the edge of the stone coping of the drain inches fros fell on me Then it was past
it checked as it came level with the e of the road and now he dragged hier seat of the Triumph Just as I crawled out of the drain and ran up behind the sports car it pulled away again,rear wheels In vain I raced after it, but it gathered speed and tore away up the slope I gave up, turned and ran back down the lane, groping for the keys of the Chrysler in my sodden trouser pockets, and realized I had left the in the open doorway of the kitchen She held her burned hand to her chest and her hair was in tangled disarray The sleeve of her jersey was torn loose froasped ”I tried” ”How bad -is it?” I asked her, abandoning all thought of chasing the sports car when I saw her distress
”Slightly singed”
”I'll take you to a doctor”
”No It doesn't need it,” but her smile was lopsided with pain
I went up to Ji adon to let her sleep
”I don't need it, she protested
”Do I have to hold your now and force therinned, shook her head and sed them ”You'd better take a bath,” she said, ”you are soaked,” and suddenly I realized I was sodden and cold When I ca from the bath, she was already whoozy with the pills, but she had thened it with a tot of whisky We drank it sitting opposite each other
”What did they want? I asked ”What did they say? ”They thought I knehy Jiht about that So didn't make sense, it worried ered slightly as she tried to stand ”Wow! What did you give me?” I picked her up and she protested weakly, but I carried her up to her rooirlish, with rosepatterned wallpaper I laid her on the bed, pulled off her shoes and covered her with the quilt
She sighed and closed her eyes ”I think I'll keep you around,”she whispered ”You're very useful Thus encouraged, I sat on the edge of the bed and gentled her to sleep, s the broad forehead; her skin felt like warm velvet She was asleep within a ht, and was about to leave when I thought better of it
I slipped Off MY own shoes and crept in under the quilt In her sleep she rolled quite naturally intoand soon I slept also I woke in the ”
dawn Her face was pressed intoand arainst ed myself, kissed , her forehead, Picked up my shoes and went back to ht with a beautiful wo but sleep I Puffed up with virtue
The letter lay upon the reading table in Jiain before I went to the bathrooin B Muse 6914(8)” puzzled me and I fretted over it while I shaved
The rain had stopped and the clouds were breaking up when I went down into the yard to exaht's encounter The knife lay in the e I went into the kitchen, sta my hands in the cold
Sherry had started breakfast ”How's the hand?” ”Sore,” she admitted
”We'll find a doctor on the way up to London”
”Whatto London?”she asked carefully, as she buttered toast
”Two things You can't stay here The wolf pack will be back”
She looked up at me quickly but was silent ”The other is that you promised to help me - and the trail leads to London”
She was unconvinced, so while we ate I showed her the letter I had found in Jimmy's file
”I don't see the connection,” she said at last, and I admitted frankly, ”It's not clear to me even” I lit my first cheroot of the day as I spoke, and the effect was alht so went click-” I stopped ”My God!” I breathed ”That's it The Dawn light” I ree of Wave Dancer through the ventilator froht then ill have to--2 Jiht with anticipation ”If the dawn light is where- Again the words repeated had puzzled me at the tian to explain to Sherry, but I was so excited that it cathe explanations
”Hey!” she protested ”You are not h I stopped and stared at her silently
”Nohat is it?” She was half a me crazy, also”
I snatched up my fork ”The bell You remember the bell I told you about The one Jimmy pulled up at Gunfire Reev”
”Yes, of course”
”I told you it had lettering on it, half eaten away by sand
”Yes, go on”
With the fork I scratched on the butter, using it as a slate
”- w N L-” I drew in - the lettering that had been chased into the bronze
”That was it,” I said ”It didn'tthen - but now-”Quickly I completed the letters, ”DAwn LIGHT', And she stared at it, nodding slowly as it fitted together ”We have to find out about this shi+p, the Dawn Light ”How?”
”It should be easy We know she was an East Indiaman there must be records - Lloyd's - the Board of Trade? She took the letter froe probably contained dirty socks and old shi+rts-”She pulled a face and handed it back to me
”I'm short of socks,” I said, Cherry packed a case, and I was relieved to see that she had the rare virtue of being able to travel light She went down to speak to the tenant fars into the Chrysler He would keep an eye on the cottage during her absence, and when she came back she merely locked the kitchen door and climbed into the Chrysler besideof a long journey”
”I have ht you looked wholesome,” she said sorrowfully, ”but when you do that--2 ”sexy, isn't it?” I agreed, and took the Chrysler up the lane
I found a doctor in Haywards Heath Sherry's hand had now blistered badly, fat white bags of fluid hung frorapes He drained theed the hand
”Feels worse now,” she murmured as we drove on northwards, and she was pale and silent with the pain of it I respected her silence, until ere into the suburbs of the city