Dark Passage Read Online Free PDF Page A

opened. He begged himself to stop the
shaking.
    “Where are you going, miss?” The same
voice.
    “San Francisco.”
    “I see you live there.” The same
voice.
    “Yes.” It was her voice. “What’s the
matter, officer? Have I done something wrong?”
    “I don’t know yet, miss.” The same
voice.
    Then another voice. “Carrying
anything?”
    Then her voice again. “Yes.”
    “What have you got?” The first voice.
“What have you got there in the back!”
    Her voice. “Old clothes. I’m making a
collection for China War Relief.”
    The first voice. “We’ll have a look, if
you don't mind.”
    Her voice. “Go right ahead.”
    The sound of the door opening. The sound
of the blonde girl moving over so that the policemen could gain
access to the back seat. He started to picture it again. They were
looking at the blanket. They were going to lift the blanket. Then
he could feel it—their fingers touching the blanket, lifting the
edge of the blanket. He pulled his hand inside the sleeve of
Studebaker’s coat. They could see the sleeve now, but they couldn't
see his hand. And they could see part of the coat and that was as
far as they got. They took their fingers away from the
blanket.
    The first voice. “Well, I guess it’s all
right, miss. Sorry to have troubled you, but we're checking every
car on this road.”
    Her voice. “Perfectly all right, officer.
Will there be anything else?”
    “No. You can drive on now.”
    The sound of the door closing. The sound
of the motor rising. The Pontiac rolled again. Parry felt a wetness
against his lips and it was blood coming thickly from the back of
his hand, getting through the place where his teeth had penetrated
the sleeve.
    The Pontiac made a turn. It picked up
speed and it went more smoothly now. Parry knew they were on
another road. He got his head halfway out of the
blanket.
    He said, “You told them to go ahead and
look.”
    “I had to,” she said. “I knew they would
look anyway. I had to take the chance.”
    “Do you think we’ll be stopped
again?”
    “No. From here on it’s going to be all
right.”
    “Everything’s going to be all right,”
Parry said. He looked at the back of his hand. His teeth had gone
in deep. The blood wouldn't stop. And his elbows were beginning to
hurt again. And he wanted a drink of water. He wanted a cigarette.
He wanted to go to sleep.
    He closed his eyes and tried to get
comfortable. Maybe he could fall asleep.
    She said, “How’s it going?”
    “Dandy. Everything’s going to be all right
and everything's dandy.”
    “Stop it, Vincent. You’re
free.”
    “Free as the breeze. I don’t have a worry
in the world. I'm doing great and everything's dandy. Look, if
you're not the police, who are you?”
    “I’m your friend. Is that
enough?”
    “No,” Parry said. “It’s not enough. If
they catch me they catch me, but in the meantime I want to stay out
as long as I can. And I won't stay out long if I make mistakes. I
want to be sure this isn't a mistake. How did you know I was on
that road?”
    “I didn’t. That is, I wasn't sure. But I
had a feeling-”
    “You had a feeling. So you went to a
fortune and he told you Vincent Parry broke out of San Quentin and
was going into the hills and through the woods and getting a lift
in a Studebaker.”
    “Don’t make fun of fortune tellers.” Her
voice was light. He wondered if she was smiling.
    He raised his head a few more inches from
the blanket. He could see her blonde hair above the grey velour
upholstery. All he had to do was get hold of her hair and pull her
head back to get a crack at her jaw.
    “How did you know I broke out of San
Quentin?” he asked.
    “The radio.”
    He brought his head up another inch. He
said, “All right, that passes. Let’s try this one—how did you know
I was on that road?”
    “I know the section.”
    “What are you giving me?”
    “I’m telling you I know the section. “Her
voice was no longer light.” I know all the roads around here. The
first radio announcement said you got away. The second announcement
said