The Tide Can't Wait

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Book: Read The Tide Can't Wait for Free Online
Authors: Louis Trimble
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    â€œIt is not what you think. Once—perhaps. But no longer. Not for some time—years.”
    â€œLeon, darling, do you think I’m jealous of the women you used to know?”
    He realized that she was teasing him. But the quickness with which he suppressed his anger told her clearly how much his new plan included her. He said, “She will do anything to hurt me. I must know whom she sees, what she does.”
    â€œDo you really believe she wants to hurt you, Leon? Has she told you so?”
    â€œThat is a strange question, Lenore.”
    â€œI am a woman,” she said carefully. “If I were angry with you, I might say something like that to you. But once I got over being angry, I wouldn’t mean it. I’m trying to ask, ‘Does she still love you?’”
    â€œI do not know. But I cannot afford to take chances. You must watch her for me. If you will do this for me, Lenore, you can help more than you think.” His smile was soft and gentle as he bent to kiss her.
    â€œMore than you think,” he repeated in a murmur.

CHAPTER IV
    Barr sat with Stark in the dimmest part of a smoke-filled pub in Hammersmith. They were dressed in workingmen’s clothes, cloth caps, and each with a pint in his hand. It was just after the evening opening and the place was filled.
    â€œShe spent the day sight-seeing,” Stark said. He was a sawed-off man, with the long trunk so common among the Welsh. His face was sallow and he wore a drooping yellowish mustache. When it was necessary he could mimic any accent from Northern Scotland down to Cornwall and across to Ireland. Now he spoke in his normal voice which bore the remnants of a Kansas twang. “I’ve seen more damned historical monuments than I thought existed. Two days in a row.”
    â€œShe’s at the hotel now?”
    â€œYeh. But she’s leaving in the morning. It cost me a pound to find out where she’s going. To some little burg not too far from Brighton.” He gave Barr the name.
    Barr looked thoughtful. “There’s a Norman church there. She could be actually doing what she came here for.” His voice thinned out. “Portia Sloane also is there. At least she has a cottage near the place.”
    Stark grinned maliciously. “It couldn’t be that
you
told her to go there?”
    â€œDon’t be a fool. I haven’t seen Portia for a long time. I’ve never seen this Corey girl, except getting into a taxi at three a.m . That’s when she went to her hotel from Roget’s last night.”
    Stark sipped his beer. “You think she might be working with Roget?”
    â€œAccording to the Chief’s message, he scared all that out of her,” Barr replied.
    â€œRoget’s got it where some women are concerned,” Stark said. He cocked an eye at Barr and grinned nastily. “I’ve heard some of ‘em say you have, too, Rob. Maybe you should move in and give him some competition.”
    Barr said something rude. He was frankly annoyed with the arrival of Lenny Corey in England. As far as he could determine, she only complicated the affair, making them split forces to watch both her and Roget. Although, he admitted frankly, Roget didn’t need much watching these days. From reports given them by co-operative services, both British and American, no one who could conceivably be his contact was in England at the moment. The phase was now in what Barr called a period of waiting. When Roget moved out of that phase, then it would be time to keep a constant check on him.
    Stark broke the short silence. “Any news of Snyder yet?”
    Barr looked broodingly into his beer. “Our friends got nothing out of that Helgos.”
    It was a sore spot with Barr. It seemed years, not just four days ago, since he had landed on the Welsh coast with Helgos and turned the man over to his “friend” waiting to take the launch.
    Snyder had apparently

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