The Zebra-Striped Hearse Read Online Free PDF

probably a few things he left out. Burke doesn’t care about money, he despises it. We’re going to Europe or South America and live very simply, and he will do his work and I will help him and that will be our life.” There were stars in her eyes, dim and a long way off. “If I thought the money would prevent me from marrying the man I love, I’d
give
it away.”
    “Would Burke like that?”
    “He’d love it.”
    “Have you discussed it with him?”
    “We’ve discussed everything. We’re very frank with each other.”
    “Then you can tell me where he comes from and so on.”
    There was another silence. She moved restlessly against the guard rail as though I had backed her into a corner. The chancy stars in her eyes had dimmed out In spite of her protestations, she was a worried girl. I guessed that she was mainlining on euphoria, which can be as destructive as any drug.
    “Burke doesn’t like to talk about the past. It makes him unhappy.”
    “Because he’s an orphan?”
    “That’s part of it, I think.”
    “He must be thirty. A man stops being an orphan at twenty-one. What’s he been doing since he gave up being a full-time orphan?”
    “All he’s ever done is paint”
    “In Mexico?”
    “Part of the time.”
    “How long had he been in Mexico when you met him?”
    “I don’t know. A long time.”
    “Why did he go to Mexico?”
    “To paint.”
    We were going around in circles, concentric circles which contained nothing but a blank. I said: “We’ve been talking for some time now, and you haven’t told me anything that would help to check your friend out.”
    “What do you expect? I haven’t pried into his affairs. I’m not a detective.”
    “I’m supposed to be,” I said ruefully, “but you’re making me look like a slob.”
    “That could be because you are a slob. You could always give up and go away. Go back to Father and tell him you’re a failure.”
    Her needle failed to strike a central nerve, but I reacted to it. “Look here, Miss Blackwell. I sympathize with your natural desire to break away from your family ties and make a life of your own. But you don’t want to jump blindly in the opposite direction—”
    “You sound exactly like Father. I’m sick of people breathing in my face, telling me what to do and what not to do. You can go back and tell him that.”
    She was getting terribly restless. I knew I couldn’t hold her very much longer. Her body mimed impatience in its awkward gangling attitude, half sitting on the rail, with one foot kicking out spasmodically. It was a fine big body, I thought, not meant for spinsterhood. I had serious doubts that Harriet and her fine big body and her fine big wad of money were meant for Burke Damis, either. The little love scene I’d witnessed between them had been completely one-sided.
    Her face had darkened. She turned it away from me. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
    “I’m trying to understand you.”
    “Don’t bother. There’s nothing to understand. I’m a very simple person.”
    “I was thinking that, too.”
    “You make it sound like an insult.”
    “No. I doubt that your friend Burke is quite so simple. That isn’t an insult, either.”
    “What is it?”
    “Call it a warning. If you were my daughter, and you’re young enough to be, I’d hate to see you fling yourself into thisthing in a frantic hurry—merely because your father is against it.”
    “That isn’t my reason. It’s a positive thing.”
    “Whatever your reasons are, you could find yourself in water over your head.”
    She looked out past the kelp beds where the ocean went dark and deep and the sharks lived out of sight.
    “ ‘Hang your clothes on a hickory limb,’ ” she quoted, “ ‘but don’t go near the water.’ I’ve heard that before.”
    “You could even keep your clothes on.”
    She gave me another of her looks, her black Blackwell looks. “How dare you speak to me in that way?”
    “The words came out. I let