Psycho Read Online Free PDF Page B

dream. She knew it, now.
    Maybe she could manage to throw off the police. But Sam would ask questions. _Who_ was this relative she'd inherited the money from? Where had he lived? Why hadn't she ever mentioned him before? How was it that she brought the money along in cash? Didn't Mr. Lowery object to her quitting her job so suddenly?
    And then there was Lila. Suppose she reacted as Mary had anticipated--came to her without going to the police, even consented to remain silent in the future because of a sense of obligation. The fact remained that she'd _know_. And there'd be complications.
    Sooner or later Sam would want to visit her down there, or invite her up. And that would never work. She could never keep up a future relationship with her sister; never explain to Sam why it was impossible to do so, why she wouldn't go back to Texas even for a visit.
    No, the whole thing was crazy.
    And it was too late to do anything about it now.
    Or--_was it?_
    Suppose she got herself some sleep, a good long ten hours of sleep. Tomorrow was Sunday; if she left here about nine and drove straight through she could be back in town Monday morning, early. Before Lila arrived from Dallas, before the bank opened. She could deposit the money and go on to work from there.
    Sure, she'd be dead tired. But it wouldn't kill her, and nobody would ever know.
    There was the matter of the car, of course. That would take some explaining, for Lila's benefit. Maybe she could tell her that she'd started out for Fairvale, intending to surprise Sam over the weekend. The car broke down and she had to have it towed away--the dealer said it would need a new engine, so she decided to junk it, take this old heap instead, and come back home.
    Yes, that would sound reasonable.
    Of course, when she figured everything up, this trip would actually cost about seven hundred dollars. That's what the car had been worth.
    But the price was worth paying. Seven hundred dollars isn't too much to pay for one's sanity. For one's safety, one's future security.
    Mary stood up.
    She'd do it.
    And all at once she was seven feet tall again. It was _that_ simple.
    If she'd been a religious girl, she would have prayed. As it was, she felt a curious sense of-- what was that word?--predestination. As if everything that had happened was somehow _fated_ to be. Her turning off on the wrong road, coming here, meeting that pathetic man, listening to his outburst, hearing that final sentence which brought her to her senses.
    For a moment, she could have gone to him and kissed him--until she realized, with a giggle, what his response would be to such a gesture. The poor old geezer would probably faint!
    She giggled again. It was nice to be seven feet tall, but the question was--would she be able to fit inside the shower stall? And that's what she was going to do right now, take a nice, long hot shower. Get the dirt off her hide, just as she was going to get the dirt cleaned out of her insides. _Come clean, Mary. Come clean as snow_.
    She stepped into the bathroom, kicking off her shoes, stooping to slip her stockings off. Then she raised her arms, pulled the dress over her head, tossed it into the next room. It missed the bed, but she didn't care. She unhooked her bra, swung it in an arc, and let it sail. Now, the panties --
    For a moment she stood before the mirror set in the door and took stock of herself. Maybe the face was twenty-seven, but the body was free, white, and twenty-one. She had a good figure. A _damned_ good figure. Sam would like it. She wished he was here to admire it now. It was going to be hell to wait another two years. But then she'd make up for lost time. They say a woman isn't fully mature, sexually, until she's thirty. That was something to find out about.
    Mary giggled again, then executed an amateurish bump and grind, tossed her image a kiss and received one in return. After that she stepped into the shower stall. The water was hot, and she had to add a mixture from the