Read The Light of Day for Free Online Page A

Some fool in a Simca. I had to stop suddenly.'
    'Did the police come?'
    She had a tiresome habit of assuming, just because I was once accused (falsely) of causing an accident through driving while drunk, that every little traffic accident in which I was involved was going to result in my being prosecuted by the police.
    'It wasn't important,' I said. I turned away to hang up my suit
    'Will you be long away?' She sounded as if she had accepted the accident.
    ‘Two or three days. I shall come back suddenly by air and surprise you with a lover.'
    I thought that would amuse her, but she did not even smile. I got into bed beside her and she put the light out. After a few moments she said 'Why does a man like Mr Harper want to go to a house?'
    'Probably because he is impotent anywhere else.'
    She was silent for a time. Then she put up a hand and touched my face.
    "What really happened, Papa?'
    I considered telling her, but that would have meant admitting openly that I had lied about the accident, so I did not answer. After a while, she turned away from me and went to sleep.
    She was still asleep, or pretending to be, when I left in the morning.
    Harper kept me waiting ten minutes; just long enough for me to remember that I had forgotten to disconnect the battery on my car. It did not hold its charge very well anyway, and the electric clock would have run it down by the time I returned. I was wondering if I would have time to telephone Nicki and tell her to ask the concierge to disconnect the battery, when Harper came down.
    'All set?' he asked.
    ' Yes'
    We'll get a cab.'
    He told the driver to go to Stele Street out in the Piraeus.
    As soon as we were on the way, he opened the briefcase and took out a large envelope. It had not been there the night before; of that I am certain. He gave it to me.
    There's everything you'll need there,' he said: 'carnet de tourisme for the car, insurance Green Card, a thousand Greek drachmas, a hundred Turkish lira, and fifty American dollars for emergencies. The carnet has been countersigned authorizing you to take it through customs, but you'd better check everything out yourself.'
    I did so. The carnet showed that the car was registered in Zürich, and that the owner, or at any rate the person in legal charge of it, was a Fräulein Elizabeth Lipp. Her address was Hotel Excelsior, Laufen, Zürich.
    'Is Miss Lipp your friend?' I asked.
    ‘That's right.'
    'Are we going to meet her now?’
    ‘No, but maybe you'll meet her in Istanbul. If the customs should ask, tell them she doesn't like eight-hundred-and-fifty-mile drives, and preferred to go to Istanbul by boat.’
    'Is she a tourist?’
    ‘What else? She's the daughter of a business associate of mine. Tm just doing him a favour. And by the way, if she wants you to drive her around in Turkey you'll be able to pick up some extra dough. Maybe she'll want you to drive the car back here later. I don't know yet what her future plans are.'
    ‘I see.' For someone who had told me that I wasn't to ask questions, he was being curiously outgoing.
    'Where do I deliver the car in Istanbul?'
    'You don't. You go to the Park Hotel. There'll be a room reservation for you there. Just check in on Thursday and wait for instructions.'
    ‘Very well. When do I get that letter I signed?'
    ‘When you're paid off at the end of the job.'
    Stele Street was down at the docks. By an odd co- incidence there happened to be a ship of the Denizyollari Line berthed right opposite; and it was taking on a car through one of the side entry ports. I could not help glancing at Harper to see if he had noticed; but if he had he gave no sign of the fact. I made no comment If he were simply ignorant, I was not going to enlighten him. If he still really thought that I was foolish enough to believe his version of Fräulein Lipp's travel needs and arrangements, so much the better. I could look after myself. Or so I thought.
    There was a garage half-way along the street, with an old