Double Jeopardy Read Online Free PDF Page B

not too clean,' he assured her.
    Then he walked into the bedroom where the faint thumping was repeating itself. He opened both doors of the built-in wardrobe cupboard and looked down. The dark-haired girl on the floor had been trussed up like a chicken and her mouth was sealed with a band of sticking plaster.
    `Hello, Claire Hofer,' he said. 'Thanks for the warning. Now let's make you comfortable. You have got guts…'

CHAPTER 4
    Wednesday May 27
    Hofer was emerging from the state of shock brought on by her ordeal inside the cupboard. She had cleared up the mess in the kitchen and was making coffee for herself and Martel.
    'How did you know that girl was impersonating me?' she asked.
    Their prisoner was lying on the living-room floor. Martel had released her from his belt and replaced it with the ropes used to bind up Hofer. Her mouth was sealed with a fresh strip of sticking-plaster Hofer had provided from the kitchen.
    'She made a lot of mistakes,' Martel explained. 'Although her physical description fitted the one I had been given she wore dark-tinted glasses – in a room where the light was dim anyway. Now we know why – her eyes are brown…'
    'There must have been more…'
    'When I peered into the bedroom your cosmetics were neat and tidy on the dressing-table – one hell of a contrast with the food remains and dirt in here. The bit of sticking-plaster stuck to the scissors intrigued me. She had no visible injury. The normal one is when a woman cuts her hands in the kitchen. There were other things, too…'
    'Such as?'
    'More damning was the fact she didn't know which cupboard held the coffee cups. She denied Warner had ever made a pass at her – he always made one try for an attractive woman. And she called him Charlie. He always insisted on Charles.'
    'You really are observant. Coffee in here?'
    'No, in the living-room. I have questions to ask our imposter. She also over-reacted to my leaving the bedroom door half-open. Plus her elaborate explanation to cover your thumping the inside of the cupboard. You took a chance there…'
    'I heard a man's voice and guessed you had arrived. I felt such a fool that I'd let her overpower me I had to warn you. Was she going to kill you?'
    They had moved back into the living-room where their prisoner was rolled on her side in front of the fireplace. Martel lowered his voice so she couldn't hear him.
    'Was she going to kill me?' He picked up the needle weapon he had earlier rescued from the floor and placed on a table. 'I think so. This ingenious little toy is very like a hypodermic. When I grabbed her she was about to ram it into the back of my neck. Press this button a second time and I'd say it injects the fluid. Let's test her reaction to her own medicine…'
    Holding the weapon out of sight he knelt on the floor and rolled the girl on her back. With the other hand he took a grip on the plaster and ripped it off her mouth. She screamed. He placed a hand over her lips.
    'No more noise. I'm going to ask questions. You're going to answer. Your real name?'
    'Go stuff yourself…'
    'What would happen if I jab this into you and press the button?'
    He showed her the needle weapon. He moved the point close to the side of her neck. Her brown eyes glared up at him with a mixture of hatred and apprehension. -
    Tor God's sake, no! Please..
    'She says please,' Martel observed sarcastically. 'And yet she was about to give me the same treatment. Oh, well, here we go…'
    `Gisela Zobel
    `Where is your home base?'
    'Bavaria… Munich. For pity's sake…'
    `Pity?' Martel glanced up at Hofer who was staring intently, wondering how far he was prepared to go. 'She wouldn't know the meaning of the word, would she?'
    'Not from the way she treated me…' Hofer responded with deliberate callousness. `You decide…'
    She lit a cigarette and the girl on the floor watched her with bulging eyes. Sweat beads were forming on her forehead.
    Martel moved the needle closer as he asked the question. 'Who do