Read 1958 - Not Safe to be Free for Free Online Page B

Mr. Jean Thiry. Received 16.45. I am spending the evening in Monte Carlo. Will see you in the morning. Lucille Balu.
    Thiry stared at the message, then, as the page began to fidget, he tipped him and then moved over to one of the big windows that overlooked the Croisette.
    Why in the world had Lucille gone to Monte Carlo? he wondered. Who had she gone with? She wouldn’t have gone all that way alone. He again looked at the clock over the bar. The time was now twenty minutes past six. He had two hours and forty minutes to find her and get her back to the Plaza hotel.
    Well, it wasn’t impossible. Monte Carlo was a small place.
    She was certain to be in the Casino.
    He crumpled the message slip and tossed it from him, then he hurried from the bar, through the lobby and out of the hotel to where he had parked his shabby, overworked Simca Verdette.
    Before Thiry had reached the bar door, Joe Kerr had slid off his stool and had picked up the crumpled message slip. He carried it back to the bar and carefully smoothed out the paper. He read the message and his red-raw face puckered into an expression of blank bewilderment.
    Had the girl left the suite after all? Had he missed her somehow?
    He put the message slip into his wallet, finished his whisky and leaving the bar, he went to the hall porter’s desk.
    “Have you seen Mademoiselle Balu leave?” he asked.
    “She hasn’t left the hotel, monsieur,” the hall porter returned, and, knowing the man’s efficiency, Kerr didn’t doubt him for a moment.
    “None of the Delaneys been in yet?”
    “No, monsieur.”
    There was a side exit near the entrance to the Television Studios that was housed in the Plaza and Joe decided it would be worthwhile to check there. He hurried down the long corridor to where a couple of pressmen were sitting outside the studio, patiently nursing their cameras.
    “Seen Lucille Balu go out?” Joe asked.
    They shook their heads.
    “She didn’t come this way.”
    She must still be in Delaney’s suite, Joe told himself as he returned to the lobby. Then why the message? Had she sent it? Maybe she was planning to spend the night in the boy’s bedroom. Was that it? It seemed odd to Joe that the girl should get herself locked in the suite as early as this.
    He saw Floyd Delaney and Harry Stone come into the hotel. Stone went over to the desk and got Delaney’s key while Delaney paused for a moment to have a word with Edward G. Robinson, who was passing through the lobby.
    Joe heard Delaney say to Stone as Robinson moved on: “I’ll go on up. See you in the bar at nine, Harry. If we can come to terms I’d like to get this Balu girl under contract.”
    Moving quickly, foe crossed the lobby and ran up the stairs to the second floor. He paused at the head of the stairs to make sure the hotel detective wasn’t still prowling around then he hurried to the alcove window and had just got out of sight as the elevator door opened and Delaney came out and crossed to the door of suite 27.
    Delaney unlocked the door and entered, shutting the door behind him. He went over to the telephone and called his secretary Miss Kobbe, who had a room on the third floor.
    “Come on down, will you?” he said, then dropped the receiver back on its cradle and going into his bedroom, he stripped off his clothes and put on a dressing gown.
    He heard Miss Kobbe come in.
    “Get Sanson,” he called. “I’ll be out in a moment,” and he went into the bathroom and took a cold shower.
    When Sophia came into the suite, she found Floyd talking on the telephone. He waved to her and she went over and kissed his forehead, then went into her bedroom.
    Miss Kobbe, a tall willowy girl, began to mix a batch of martinis in a silver shaker. With a speed born of long practice, she poured two drinks, put one of them on the table where Delaney could reach it and then, carrying the other, she rapped on Sophia’s bedroom door and entered.
    Sophia was sitting at her dressing table. She had