The Toff and the Kidnapped Child Read Online Free PDF

voluptuous feel of the car, the soft sound of Eve Kane’s breathing, the gentle touch of her arm against his because she was leaning slightly this way, were all part of the mood.
    He kept glancing in the mirror.
    Few cars could match this for speed. There was little danger of being followed, but that was a possibility which he could not neglect. His life had been one of fighting crimes of violence; of surviving because he had kept alert when other men, some clever, some brutal, some vicious and many deadly, had nodded for a moment. This might be a simple domestic matter – but Eve’s assessment of her husband’s character made it possible that much more was involved. If this were the case of the kidnapping of a child, there might be deep and secret motives, and deep and unknown dangers. So he watched the mirror, to make sure that no car followed. Everyone he overtook he studied carefully, so as to recognise it again later if he were forced to stop and the other car passed or stopped also. His was the trained mind, disciplined over the years to miss nothing that might later become significant. He had not told Eve, but if this were not simply a case of a father abducting his child, there might be danger for Eve as well as her daughter. If Caroline had been kidnapped from Hapley Station she must have been watched, and the family and school situation studied closely. If that were true of the daughter, it could be true of the mother.
    Eve said unexpectedly: “Rolly.” She gave it a long ‘o’, not short, as in Jolly, but as if it were spelt with only one ‘I’. “Why should anyone want to kidnap a child?”
    Rollison did not answer, and Eve went on: “They wouldn’t do it without a good reason. Why should anyone want to do it?”
    â€œThere are only two possibilities,” Rollison said, and it did not occur to him to lie or to hedge; she would want to know exactly what he thought, would not want to be shielded from fears or dangers. “The first is that of revenge, as with this Leah. I wouldn’t rate it high unless there was much more than you knew about in his association with her. The other is to bring some kind of pressure to bear.”
    â€œDo you mean, ransom?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI didn’t tell you this,” Eve said, and paused before declaring: “I am a wealthy woman – very wealthy, by most standards. I don’t care what it costs to get Caroline back.”
    â€œI don’t think we ought to start thinking of that, yet.” Rollison said, although in fact it was on the top of his mind. “I think—”
    He stopped, and grew tense, and knew that Eve looked at him, startled. He was staring a little way off the road, for the gleam of the great headlights had picked up a reflection from glass, presumably the windows of a car. Then, swiftly, a car swung out of a road just ahead of them, right in the great car’s path.
    Â 

4
WARNING
    Â 
    Rollison trod on the brake and the tyres squealed and he and Eve were thrown forward. She banged her head on the windscreen, and he heard her gasp. The car, vivid in the headlights, had turned in the direction that they were going, and seemed to be moving fast. It might be a lunatic of a driver; or it might have been done deliberately, to slow him down and to stop him.
    Brake lights went on.
    The nose of the Rolls-Bentley and the tail of the leading car were only two yards apart, now, but there was no danger of a heavy collision. The leading car was still slowing down, as if the driver were set on stopping them. Eve was sitting back with a hand at her head, as if she were dazed; too dazed, perhaps, to be frightened.
    Rollison swung his wheel, missed the bumper of the car ahead by a fraction of an inch, and roared past it. He saw the gargoyle-like face of the man at the driving seat, looking as if he had a hand on the door, ready to open it, but terrified that it should be