April Evil Read Online Free PDF

have been a sterile life for Ben without Joan in any event. Inconceivable without Joan, without the special warmth of this marriage.
    After Joan had gone to bed he walked slowly through the house, feeling smug about his home and the warmth it enclosed. These were the good years. He turned out the lights, evicted Buckethead, the calico cat, checked the locks. In the darkness he could see the gleam of lights in the Mather house, shining through the leaves. He felt a recurrence of the anger, wondered if he had let Toby down by not charging over there and demanding apologies. He shrugged and went to bed.

CHAPTER THREE
    He parked just beyond the range of the floodlights of the Sandwind Motel. The Ace had been waiting and he came out quickly, walking with his heavy, plunging stride, his big shadow long in the white lights. He looked into the gray Buick and grunted in affirmation. He put the suitcase in the back, dropped into the front seat beside Harry and banged the door shut. He heaved his big body into a more comfortable position, the front seat creaking under his weight.
    Harry made a wide U turn and headed back along the key toward the causeway road.
    “Beach boy,” Harry said. “Handstands for the girls.”
    “So it’s like a vacation.”
    “When did you get down?”
    “Nearly a week. Last Tuesday. How about this heap?”
    “Don’t sweat. It’s clean. Riverio owed me a favor. Registration and license are okay. In the name of John Wheeler, with a Chicago address that’ll check out, if nobody checks it too hard.”
    “And the kid?”
    “Tomorrow or Wednesday. He comes in by train.”
    “How does he connect?”
    “They’ve got a book at the Chamber of Commerce. A notebook like. For messages. In the morning you go down and putthe address in.… No, you put the phone number in. Ronnie will look for it there.”
    “You got a date set up?”
    “Not yet. We got to ease into this. No slips. This might be as big as Boston.”
    “You kidding?”
    “No. I’m not kidding. And one thing straight, Ace. I’m running it. All the way.”
    “That was the way I heard it.”
    “I’ve got a woman with me.”
    Ace was quiet for a few moments. “I don’t like that a God damn bit.”
    “I don’t care whether you like it or don’t like it. I needed the cover on the way down. She’s all right. She used to run around with Barney Shuseck.”
    “Barney’s dead.”
    “Before they caught up with him, they had her on ice for a week. She gave them nothing.”
    “So he’s still dead.”
    “That had nothing to do with her.”
    “I don’t like it.”
    “You’ll get used to it.”
    “With a woman around the kid is hard to handle.”
    “I’ll handle Ronnie.”
    “How did you tie up with her?”
    “I hid out at Riverio’s place, at the lake. I was about to go nuts. He sent her up.”
    “If this cracks right, where are you going?”
    “I got to go out of the country. You know that much.”
    “I know. Did you get an address?”
    “A couple of them.”
    “This what’s-her-name. She going?”
    “I don’t know yet.”
    “Does she think she’s going?”
    “Yes.”
    “What’s the scoop on this thing, anyway? The little I got, it sounded crazy. I almost didn’t come. I’ll say whether I’m inafter you tell me the whole deal.”
    “You’ll be in.”
    “I don’t like working with the kid.”
    “We need the kid.”
    Ace stretched his big arms and yawned. “How did it feel to make the list?”
    “Don’t ride me, damn it!”
    “Harry Mullin, one of the ten most wanted criminals.”
    “Ace, I’m telling you!”
    “You are jumpy, boy. Ease off. Actually, how does it feel?”
    “It feels like hell. They put those pictures too many places. Too many people got this hobby, checking those pictures. I took off twenty-five pounds. It helps some, but not enough. On the way down I felt like I ought to have my head in a bag. That’s how it feels. Every time anybody looks at you, you wonder if they’ve been