Jack Higgins – A Prayer for the Dying

He dropped on to a bench seat, slightly breathless, and took out a handkerchief to wipe his face. Billy arrived a moment later just as the rain increased suddenly from a steady drizzle into a solid downpour.

He said, “This is crazy. My bloody suit’s going to be ruined.”

His brother ignored him and grinned up at Fallon disarmingly. “You’re hell on wheels, aren’t you, Fallon? There isn’t a tear away in town who wouldn’t run from Fat Albert, but you.” He laughed uproariously. “You put him on sticks for six months.”

“He shouldn’t have joined,” Fallon said.

“Too bloody true, but to hell with Albert. You were right, Fallon, about the priest, I mean.” Fallon showed no emotion at all, simply stood there watching him and Meehan laughed. “Scout’s honour. I won’t lay a glove on him.”

“I see,” Fallon said. “A change of heart?”

“Exactly, but it still leaves us with a problem. What to do with you till that boat leaves Sunday. I think maybe you should go back to the farm.”

“No chance,” Fallon said.

“Somehow I thought you might say that.” Meehan smiled good-humouredly. “Still, we’ve got to find you something.” He turned to Billy. “What about Jenny? Jenny Fox, Couldn’t she put him up?”

“I suppose so,” Billy said sullenly.

“A nice kid,” Meehan told Fallon. “She’s worked for me in the past. I helped her out when she was having a kid. She owes me a favour.”

“She’s a whore,” Billy said.

“So what?” Meehan shrugged. “A nice, safe house and not too far away. Billy can run you up there.”

He smiled genially – even the eyes smiled – but Fallon wasn’t taken in for a moment. On the other hand, the sober truth was that he did need somewhere to stay.

“All right,” he said.

Meehan put an arm around his shoulders. “You couldn’t do better. She cooks like a dream, that girl, and when it comes to dropping her pants she’s a little firecracker, I can tell you.”

They went back across the square and followed the mews round to the car park at the rear. The whippet was crouched at the entrance, shivering in the rain. When Billy appeared, it ran to heel and followed him into the garage. When he drove out in a scarlet Scimitar, it was sitting in the rear.

Fallon slipped into the passenger seat and Meehan dosed the door. “I’d stick pretty close to home if I were you. No sense in running any needless risks at this stage, is there?”

Fallon didn’t say a word and Billy drove away. The door to the reception room opened and Donner came out, I’ve rung for that quack, Mr.. Meehan. What happened to Fallon?”

“Billy’s taking him up to Jenny Fox’s place,” Meehan said. “I want you to go over to the car wash and get hold of Varley. I want him outside Jenny’s place within half an hour. If Fallon leaves, he follows and phones in whenever he can.”

“I don’t follow, Mr.. Meehan.” Donner was obviously mystified.

“Just till we sort things out, Frank,” Meehan told him. “Then we drop both of them. Him and the priest.”

Donner grinned as a great light dawned. “That’s more like it.”

“I thought you’d approve,” Meehan smiled, opened the door and went inside.

Jenny Fox was a small, rather hippy girl of nineteen with good breasts, high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. Her straight black hair hung shoulder-length in a dark curtain and the only flaw in the general picture was the fact that she had too much make-up on.

When she came downstairs she was wearing a simple, white blouse, black pleated mini skirt and high-heeled shoes and she walked with a sort of general and total movement of the whole body that most men found more than a little disturbing.

Billy Meehan waited for her at the bottom of the stairs and when she was dose enough, he slipped a hand up her skirt She stiffened slightly and he shook his head, a sly, nasty smile on his face.

“Tights again, Jenny. I told you I wanted you to wear stockings.”

Tm sorry, Billy.” There was fear in her eyes. “I didn’t know you’d be coming today.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *