The Instant Enemy Read Online Free PDF Page A

troubles—”
    “Troubles with the law?”
    “I didn’t say that. And let’s not talk about me, eh? I’ve had a little luck in real estate, and I like to spread the luck around a little. So I gave Davy a job.”
    “Have you talked to him at any length?”
    She let out a short laugh. “Til say I have. That boy will talk your arm off.”
    “What about?”
    “Any subject. His main subject is how the country is going to the dogs. He may be right at that. He says his time in jail gave him a worm’s-eye view of the whole business.”
    “He sounds like a poolroom lawyer to me.”
    “Davy’s more than that,” she said defensively. “He’s more than just a talker. And he isn’t the poolroom type. He’s a serious boy.”
    “What’s he serious about?”
    “He wants to grow up and be a real man and do something useful.”
    “I think he’s conning you, Mrs. Smith.”
    “No.” She shook her artificial head. “He isn’t conning me. He may be conning himself a little. God knows he’s got his problems. I’ve talked to his probation officer—” She hesitated.
    “Who is his probation officer?”
    “I forget his name.” She went to the telephone directory in the hall and consulted the front of it. “Mr. Belsize. Do you know him?”
    “We’ve met. He’s a good man.”
    Laurel Smith sat down nearer me. She seemed to be warming up slightly, but her eyes were still watchful. “Mr. Belsize admitted to me that he was taking a chance on Davy. Recommending him for probation, I mean. He said Davy might make it and then again he might not. I said I was willing to take my chances, too.”
    “Why?”
    “You can’t just live for yourself. I found that out.” A sudden smile lit her face. “I sure picked a hot potato, didn’t I?”
    “You sure did. Did Belsize say what was the matter with him?”
    “He has emotional trouble. When he gets mad he thinks we’re all his enemies. Even me. He never lifted his hand against me, though. Or anybody else until this morning.”
    “That you know of.”
    “I know he’s been in trouble in the past,” she said. “But I’m willing to give him the benefit. You don’t know what thatboy’s been through—orphanages and foster homes and getting kicked around. He never had a home of his own, he never had a father or a mother.”
    “He still has to learn to handle himself.”
    “
I
know that. I thought you were beginning to sympathize.”
    “I do sympathize, but that won’t help Davy. He’s playing house and other games with a young girl. He’s got to bring her back. Her parents could hang a rap on him that would put him away until he’s middle-aged.”
    She pressed her hand against her breast. “We can’t let that happen.”
    “Where would he have taken her, Mrs. Smith?”
    “I don’t know.”
    She raked her dyed head with her fingers, then rose and went to the picture window. With her back to me, her body was simply an object, an odalisque shape against the light. Framed in dark-red curtains, the sea looked old as the Mediterranean, old as sin.
    “Has he brought her here before?” I said to her black-and-orange back.
    “He brought her to introduce her to me last week—week before last.”
    “Were they planning to get married?”
    “I don’t think so. They’re too young. I’m sure Davy has other plans.”
    “What are his plans?”
    “I told you, about going to school and all. He wants to be a doctor or a lawyer.”
    “He’ll be lucky if he just stays out of jail.”
    She turned to me, clutching and pulling at her hands. Their friction made a dry anxious sound. “What can I do?”
    “Let me search his apartment.”
    She was silent for a minute, looking at me as if she found it hard to trust a man.
    “I guess that is a good idea.”
    She got her keys, a heavy clinking loop like an overgrowncharm bracelet. The card with “David Spanner” written on it was missing from his door. That seemed to imply that he wasn’t coming back.
    The apartment was a