Charles Williams 1954-A Touch of Death(9)

darkness.
The beam of a flashlight hit the ground a few feet
to my left. He walked forward. He was nearly on top
of me now. The beam flipped upward toward the car,
and then swung back. It hit me right in the face. I
stared into it, blinded.
“What are you doing here?” a voice growled. “You
hurt? Or drunk?” Then I heard the sharp intake of
breath. “Hey!”
I came off the ground, right into the light. He
hadn’t had time to pull the gun. I caught part of his
uniform, pulling him down to me and clubbing for
his face with my fist. We were in the sand together.
He kicked backward. I followed, swarming over him,
wild now, my breath sobbing in my throat. I located
his face at last, and swung. He jerked. I held him by
the collar and swung again.
I snatched up the light, my hands shaking and
dropped it. I clawed it up out of the sand again and
flashed it in his face. He was out cold. I ran to the
patrol car, jerked the keys out, and threw them far
away in the darkness. I heaved the flashlight after
them, lunged toward my own car, and fled.
I’d got away from him, but I was just buying time.
And there wasn’t much more to buy. They would
know now that I was here in town.

Charles Williams 1954-A Touch of Death(8)

“I just wondered if you’d heard the news,” I said.
Nothing showed in her face. You couldn’t read it.
She shook her head. “What was it?”
“That deputy sheriff finally came around.” I struck
a match with my thumbnail and lit the cigarette in
my mouth. “And they found Diana James.”
“Oh? Well, naturally they would, sooner or later.”
“Yeah,” I said. “And it was funny. At first they
thought it was you
“They did?” she asked curiously. “But we didn’t
look anything alike. She—” She stopped and did
another take on it. “I see what you mean. The fire.”
I had to admire it. If she was acting, she was
magnificent.

Charles Williams 1954-A Touch of Death(7)

Then I remembered that the news in them
wouldn’t be as late as what she’d heard on the radio
at ten.
She sat down in the big chair and lit a cigarette.
She leaned back and said, “Pacing the floor isn’t
going to help— Incidentally, how soundproof are
these walls and floors?”
I tried to make myself sit still. “They’re all right,” I
said. “I’ve never heard any of the other tenants. Just
be sure you wear those slippers, and don’t play the
radio too loud.”
“Is there anyone who comes in and cleans up? Or
has to read the meters, or anything?”

Charles Williams 1954-A Touch of Death(6)

“Because I like your company. I adore you, and
wouldn’t have you leave me for anything.”
“They’re no good to you alone.”
“I know. But they are to you. And if we get clear of
here tonight you might suddenly decide you didn’t
need any more help—not at today’s prices. I can’t
watch you all the time. I have to sleep occasionally,
and I don’t intend to follow you to the John. So just
to remove the temptation, I’ll take charge of them.”
Her eyes met mine coolly, not quite defying me,
but just testing me and watching.
“There’s an easy way,” I said, “and a hard way.
How do you want it?”
She took the three keys out of her purse and put
them in my hand.

Charles Williams 1954-A Touch of Death(5)

finally stopped for breath, she said, “You are a
vulgar little gutter rat, aren’t you?”
But the blonde was finished. She could only stare
silently. She drew her hands across her face and
shuddered, and at last she turned to me.
“What are you going to do with her?” she asked.
“Never mind,” I said.
“Let me have the gun,” she begged. “Just let me
have it for five seconds. Let me kill her. I’ll give it
back to you. You can kill me, or turn me over to the
police, but just let me have it.”
“Relax,” I said. “You’ll get ulcers.”
“What are you going to do with her?”

Charles Williams 1954-A Touch of Death(4)

A Touch of Death — 61
“Save me from what?” she asked coldly.
I shook my head and took my hands off her arms
to light a cigarette. “Has your car got a radio in it?”
“Yes. Why?”
“I’ll tell you the easy way to find out if I’m telling
the truth. Trying to go back to town is the hard way,
and there’s only one to a customer. In about an hour
there should be some more news. We’ll listen to it.”
“Maybe there’s some on now,” she said. She
picked up her purse and started toward the door.
She had a good start before I realized what she was
up to.
I jumped after her. By the time I reached the door
she had run down off the porch and was standing in
the open, fumbling in the purse for her keys and
looking around for the car.
“Wait!” I yelled. She paid no attention.
She swung her face around and saw the shed at
the side of the house. The car had to be in there. She
whirled, ran one step toward it, and then it
happened.

Charles Williams 1954-A Touch of Death(3)

A Touch of Death — 40
was a fifth, a little over half full. I shoved it in my
coat pocket and picked her up again. She was still
out like a hung jury, and I knew she would be for
hours. As I went out through the kitchen I grabbed
up the purse.
I put her on the back seat of the car and switched
on the flashlight long enough to take a look at the
keys. I sorted out a couple that looked promising,
cut the light, and went back outside, feeling for the
lock of the overhead door. The first key did the trick.
I boosted the door up slowly and got back in the car.
Picking out the ignition key by feel, I started the
Caddy and backed it out onto the driveway. The
drive was white gravel and I could see it all right, all
the way out to the big gates in front. I swung out
onto the street and felt my way very slowly for
another hundred yards. Then I switched on the
headlights and goosed the two hundred horses.
Housebreaking, I thought. Auto theft. Abduction.

Charles Williams 1954-A Touch of Death(2)

Three
She came down and let me in when I rang the
buzzer. Neither of us said anything until we were
back up in the living room. She sat down in the same
place she’d been before, across the coffee table, and
smiled at me, the eyes cool and a little amused.
“I wondered if you’d be back,” she said. “And how
soon.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She lit a cigarette and looked thoughtfully at the
smoke. “Let’s put it this way: If you didn’t have
sense enough to see it, you wouldn’t be smart
enough to be of any help. This is no child’s game,
you know. And it could be dangerous as hell.”
“There’s one thing I’m still not too sure of,” I said.
“And that’s why you’re so certain she’s the one that
killed him and left his car in front of your apartment.
Wasn’t there anybody else who could have known he
was going to run off with you?”

Charles Williams 1954-A Touch of Death(1)

One
It was a fourplex out near the beach. I stopped the
car, looked at the ad again, and went up the walk.
Only two of the mailboxes had names on them, and
neither was the one I wanted.
This was the right address, though, so it had to be
one of the others. I picked one at random and
pressed the buzzer. Nothing happened. I tried again,
and could hear it faintly somewhere on the second
floor.