The Toff and the Kidnapped Child Read Online Free PDF Page B

smashed out of his grasp. Another face was staring from the far side of the car. Rollison said: “Sorry”, and swung the wheel again, so that he was in front and only a few yards ahead of the second car. He stopped, and said: “Are you all right?”
    â€œYes, it’s made me a bit dizzy, that’s all.”
    â€œI’ll go and see if I can make that driver dizzy,” Rollison said grimly.
    â€œNo, please don’t! It will lose time.”
    â€œI won’t let it,” Rollison assured her, and opened the door and swung out on to the road. There was still a possibility that it was no accident, but a deliberate attempt to stop him. If so, he wanted to see the driver, a quick counter-attack now could save a lot of trouble later on. There was no need for Eve to know that he half expected danger – it would be bad enough if she had to know about it if it were true. If it were, he was a sitting bird; but he kept close to the side of the road, watching closely. There was no move from the car. When Rollison reached it, the driver was still sitting at the door, but the window was down.
    â€œWhat the hell are you playing at?” Rollison demanded.
    â€œS-s-sorry,” the driver muttered, and he still looked scared. “I thought you were further away.”
    â€œYou could have killed us as well as yourself.”
    â€œYes, I—I know. I’m sorry.”
    It was too natural to be acting; this had been just a piece of lunatic driving. The girl next to the driver looked scared, too; and they were both young.
    â€œYou might remember that you’ve got just one life,” Rollison said. He felt pompous, and sounded it, partly because of the anti-climax. He realised that in his mind he had almost taken it for granted that the driver had deliberately set out to stop him. “Good night.”
    He was halfway back to his own car before the response from the couple in the car came. He got in next to Eve, who didn’t speak until he had started off again. Then she said: “Did you think they did that deliberately?”
    â€œI thought it just possible.” He put his foot down harder, and the needle spun round to the sixties. “In the kind of crime I’m used to working on, that sort of thing does happen often, and the wise thing is to assume that it was deliberate.” He still sounded pompous, and wished that he didn’t: he wanted to impress Eve Kane well. “It didn’t take a minute, did it?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œHow’s your head?”
    â€œThe bump started it aching again, but I’ll be all right. How long will it be before we reach the school?”
    â€œAbout half an hour.”
    â€œI’ll take your advice again, and close my eyes.”
    â€œDo that,” said Rollison.
    Eve seemed to settle back in the luxurious seat, and he stared at the winding road ahead of him, seeing the glow of lights in the sky from car headlamps. The little encounter had shaken him, because it had shown how easy it would be to do the wrong thing. Usually, he was quite sure of himself. Now, he felt doubts – and he knew that the chief reason for the doubt was anxiety not to fail this woman.
    He glanced at her. The faint light from the instrument panel shone on her profile; a very lovely profile. He pictured her as he had seen her when she had first entered his room, tall, easy moving, with those wide-set blue eyes and the outward calmness concealing the depth of her distress. He put his foot down harder, getting all the speed he could. Eve did not stir, and once he wondered if she had dropped off to sleep from sheer mental and emotional exhaustion; but she moved her position slightly, and in a way which told him that she was wide awake. She didn’t speak.
    Twenty minutes after they had started off again, she sat up.
    â€œThat’s Old Castle,” she said. “It’s only a mile or two now. Do you know where the school