Read He Won't Need it Now for Free Online Page A

garage is in the basement.”
     Duffy went outside and pressed the buzzer for the elevator. It came up steadily and he found himself looking for more corpses. There weren't any. He slid the grille, then walked into the apartment. She made no move to help him drag the trunk into the cage. It was heavy, but he did it all right.
     She followed him into the elevator and they both stood beside the trunk. Neither of them looked at it. He put his thumb on the basement button and the cage sank. He counted the floors as they went by. By the time they got to the basement, he counted twelve. He thought Cattley was lucky to have any skin left at all.
     The attendant came up with a run. He was a little runt, with wire-like black hair. When he saw Annabel he nearly fell over himself. He looked just like an excited puppy.
     “You takin' the bus out tonight?” he asked, wiping his oily hands on a bit of waste.
     She managed to look fairly bright, and to say, “Yes, please,” nicely, but it cost her a lot.
     Duffy stood just inside the elevator, watching. The little runt bounced off into the darkness, and they heard him start up an engine. Duffy told himself that the engine was powerful all right. A minute later, the attendant brought round a big Cadillac, just with the parkers on. He brought the car round in a sweep, nailing it just where Annabel was standing. Duffy thought it was a nice piece of driving. It was.
     The attendant dusted off the seat and held the door open for Annabel. Duffy might not have been there. He polished the wind-screen.
     Annabel got in and slammed the door to. Duffy took hold of the trunk and looked at the attendant.
     “Lend me some of your muscle,” he said.
     The little runt was willing enough, but he was not much help. Duffy was sweating by the time they had fixed the trunk to the grid.
     “She goin' away?” the attendant asked.
     “Naw,” Duffy returned, testing the straps. “Just getting rid of some books.”
     “It's mighty late.”
     Duffy looked at him sharply. Perhaps he wasn't so dumb as he looked. “You mind?” he asked curtly.
     The attendant blinked. He hastily said, “I didn't mean anythin'.”
     Duffy gave him a couple of bucks, then he went round the car and got in beside Annabel. She engaged the gear and the Cadillac rolled up the slipway.
     “Where are we going?” she asked.
     Duffy had already thought that one out. “There's a little burial ground on the East side, beyond Greenwich Village,” he said, “we're going there.”
     She shot a quick glance at him. “That's cute,” she said.
     Duffy leant back against the leather. “You're a swell kid,” he said quietly, “this is my unlucky day.”
     She didn't say anything.
     “I'll never bring this up again,” he said, “but I can't leave it like that. I want you to know that I appreciate what you offered me, but that guy would have stiffened up by the time we were through, so I had to pass it up. You got plenty of reason to be sore at me.”
     She said nothing for a few moments. “I'm not sore at you,” she said at last. “I think you're cute to throw me back at myself.”
     Just like that. Duffy sighed and groped for a cigarette. “Let's not fight,” he said, “we've got enough on our hands.”
     “I'm not fighting,” was all she said.
     They rode the next three blocks in silence, then Duffy said, “You turn right here.”
     She swung the wheel. Duffy thought she handled the big Cadillac as if she were part of it. She judged distance to the closeness of the paint on her fender and the car threaded its way through the traffic without losing speed at any time. By uncanny anticipation she beat the lights most times. The Cadillac had plenty under the hood, and a touch on the pedal was enough to make it