It's a Sin to Kill Read Online Free PDF

please?”
    Mary Lou cradled the receiver, still looking at Ames.
    His flesh felt as if it were crawling. The lump returned to his throat. He had to force his denial past it. “I didn’t. I couldn’t, Mary Lou. Not for five thousand dollars. Not for any amount of money.”
    Her young face was a mask of fear. She cried silently. “So you say.”
    Ames sat cracking his knuckles. Mary Lou’s fear was an ugly thing between them. This wasn’t happening to him. It couldn’t be. He’d had nothing to do with the blonde. He certainly hadn’t harmed her. Still, there were the five thousand dollars and the blood. And Mrs. Camden had disappeared.
    Harry appeared at the mouth of the booth. “You and Mary Lou want anything, Charlie?”
    Ames nodded. “Yeah. Bring us a rum and coke.”
    Mary Lou shook her head. “None for me.”
    â€œOne, then,” Ames said. He found a single dollar bill in the side pocket of his dungarees and laid it on the table. “A double.”
    Neither of them spoke again until Harry returned with the drink, picked up the dollar and left.
    Angry now, Ames said: “Goddamn! You’ve got to believe me, honey. I — ”
    â€œYes,” Mary Lou said. “I know.” The fear left her face. All she looked was tired. “All you did was drink two cups of coffee with her. In the cockpit of the
Sally
.”
    Put that way, it sounded silly. Ames wanted to pound on the table, pound on Mary Lou,
make
her believe him. He closed his eyes and forced himself to think. He’d invited Mrs. Camden aboard. He’d poured her a cup of the coffee he’d just made. They’d had a second cup. And he’d awakened in the cabin of the
Sea Bird
. With the big blonde’s evening gown on the opposite bunk, an empty whiskey bottle on the floor and five thousand dollars in the hip pocket of his dungarees.
    Ames’s anger drained slowly, like water hand pumped outof a bilge. He didn’t blame Mary Lou for not believing him.
    Still, to the best of his knowledge, what he’d told her was trae.
    The ship’s bell over the door struck metallically as someone opened the door of the bar. Sheriff White’s voice was loud in the sudden silence.
    â€œWe’ll try here, first, Miss,” he said. “Take your time an’ look ‘em over careful.”
    â€œWhat’s the idea, Sheriff?” Harry asked.
    White told him. “We’re lookin’ for a man Mrs. Camden’s maid, here, saw aboard the
Sea Bird
. She says she’s seen him before, that he’s one of the charter boat captains, but she doesn’t know his name.”
    â€œOh,” Harry said. “I see.”
    Ames pressed his back to the worn leather of the booth, listening to the click of the maid’s high heels as she moved along the bar. He wished he could make himself small. He wished he’d gone out on his charter trip. His neck felt stiff.
    â€œHere he is,” the maid said. “Sitting een thee back booth with a girl.”
    A deeply tanned, gaunt-faced man in his early forties, White loomed tall behind her. “Oh. You, eh, Charlie?” he said.
    Ames reached for his untouched drink and knocked it over. Mary Lou stood up to save her dress. Ames automatically wiped his wet fingers on his skivy.
    â€œKind of a habit, eh, Charlie?” White asked, “I mean, wiping your fingers on your skivy. Looks sort of interesting from here.”
    Ames tried to speak. He couldn’t. The lump in his throat was too big.
    â€œYou’re positive, now?” White asked. “This is the man you saw aboard the
Sea Bird
this morning?”
    â€œI am positive,” Celeste said.
    White laid a big hand on Ames’s shoulder. “Okay, fellow. Let’s go back to the Camden house. I want to talk to you.”
    â€œWhat about?” Mary Lou asked.
    â€œAbout Mrs. Camden,” White told her.

Chapter Four
    W