I had to try three before I located hers. I tried the door next to Delhart’s. It was very neat and masculine. So probably it belonged to Hilton. I crossed the hall. The room was dark and I reached around the casing for the light switch. The squeak of bedsprings didn’t come quite soon enough to st...
She was a small brunette, slender, in her early thirties. She had thin, almost sharp features. But a full mouth and large, brown eyes softened them. She wasn’t a restful person to be around. I always had the feeling that she was plugged into two-twenty current. But we had managed to hit it off pr...
She made me angry, knowing that I would come without even a struggle. I let her draw my head down on her breast. Suddenly I was tired, my anger gone. It was very nice being there. I could feel the throb of her heart and I could smell the scent I associated with her. I thought, You’re being the co...
Insofar as I could see, my only hope of finding Johnny was through his contact with Considine or someone who knew Considine. Hall might not appreciate the fact that I was spending my time hunting for Johnny, but I salved my conscience with the thought that I was doing so in connection with Consid...
For all Parker’s lack of size, he had been in a fair fight. Brad was no man to interfere when all things were open and equal, but when Quarles went for Parker with the piece of chair rung, Brad figured there was an end to waiting. Fairness had gone. Quarles’ plain intent was to beat Parker’s brai...
Only the edge of the light reached Cora Deane, but it was enough for Knox to make out the softness of her profile in sleep, the steady rise and fall of her full breast, the outline of her full thigh and long leg. He turned away, took his pajamas and robe from the closet, and went into the bath. A...
I had a telephone call to make before five o’clock. It was almost that when I left Kay. I pulled up by the first drugstore I came to in the city. I used the phone booth and dialed the DA. Stephanie answered briskly, as if she might be annoyed. I said, “Get me the boss on the line, will you?” She ...
He was a man careful with animals and he made the horse go slowly until its muscles were loose. Then he turned from the stagecoach road and worked his way onto the ridge that would take him south. An observant man, he had learned a good deal about the lay of the Cougar country since coming here, ...
The inside was cooled by air conditioning and more modern than I had expected. Healy seemed to be the type who went in for all the lastest gadgets. His kitchen was a mass of shiny appliances, including a wall oven, a huge refrigerator and a separate freezer. Healy said, “Make yourself at home. I’...
There were some clothes, the outfit Arne had lent me the night before. She had tossed it on the bed in the guest bedroom. I went in there and put it on. We went into town in her car and I used part of Ilona’s five hundred dollars to buy a sport coat, a pair of slacks, and shoes. Jodi thought it w...
He crouched against the rock wall and looked upward. He was waiting for the first telltale lightness to appear along the cliff rim. Once it did, the advantage he held would shift to Graef. Denise slept at Mallory’s feet. She stirred restlessly now and then, but for the most part she slept without...
But strength poured into her and her natural coolness returned. Once more she had a grip on herself; she felt completely capable of handling the situation. Chunk Farman stood in the doorway. He swayed so he had to hold to the side of the door with one hand. In the other he held a gun. The trickle...
Bonnie Minos was taking a long time to lose her tail. The way she drove that Ferrari she could have done the job in under five minutes. I gave her thirty minutes before I really started thinking. Thirty moved to forty-five and on to an hour. I was down to two cigarettes out of nearly a full pack....
She made me want to pat her head, wipe her nose, and send her off for an afternoon nap. There was something very wistful, and very young, about her. Outside I signalled a cruising cab. I put her in the back seat and said, “You go get some sleep and you’ll feel better.” I took out my wallet to pay...
For a moment he lost track of the mob but now he could hear it surging back up the street to the Cattlemen’s Bar. The voices became muted, and Clay knew the crowd had reached the saloon. But they wouldn’t stay there long, he thought. Once they found Marnie and Pike dead and him gone, they would h...
Clane was dunking chocolate-covered doughnuts in coffee thick with cream. The sight made Mullen a little sick. He came up for air and tucked a stray bit of kraut into his mouth. Clane said, “Turn the kid loose? If I don’t hand you a solution in twenty-four hours, I’ll hand him back to you and sme...
Mrs. Doddsby had wakened her earlier than she liked—she had read until well past midnight—but the lavish breakfast had mollified her and now she relaxed by the window, finishing her tea and smoking a cigarette. She had slept hard and well. What had happened to her? Last night she had sat quite ca...