Trusted Like The Fox Read Online Free PDF

a girl. The few days he had spent in London had been lonely. If this girl had been something to look at, he would have spoken to her, told her what he’d done to the old twister, perhaps made a friend of her. But as she was, he couldn’t bring himself to bother with her.
    The girl sat there for some time. She scarcely moved. Her eyes followed the early diners as they took their seats before the windows of the Savoy. She leaned forward, an intent expression on her face as she watched food being served.
    Ellis forgot about her. He sat smoking and brooding, wondering what he was going to do, how he could find Scragger. He too sat in the sunshine for a long time, then decided to go back to his lodgings. As he half rose, he looked across at the girl, paused.
    A well-dressed, elderly woman had sat down beside the girl and was reading an evening paper. By her side on the seat near the girl she had placed her handbag. As Ellis glanced across at the girl he saw she was opening the handbag. Her movements were gentle and sly. He saw her dip her hand into the bag, draw out several pound notes.
    Ellis felt no reaction at all as he watched the girl lift the money out of the bag. He sat there limply, his eyes on the girl’s hands, absorbed in what was going on, yet unmoved.
    Suddenly the woman dropped her newspaper and grabbed the girl’s wrist.
    “You little thief!” she exclaimed, staring at the girl who shrank back, tried to pull away.
    Ellis grunted, his heart began to beat unevenly. He knew then that his destiny was to be linked with this girl’s; he knew that he would help her, and in return he would have a hold on her; a debt to be settled at his convenience. He got up, went over to the two, tapped the woman’s arm.
    “Let her go,” he said.
    The woman stared at his thin, scarred face, looked into his bleak eyes and abruptly let go of the girl. Then she put her hand to her face and began to scream.
    Ellis grabbed hold of the girl’s arm, dragged her to her feet. “Come on,” he snarled.
    They began to run towards the Embankment.
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    She sat on the edge of his bed, weeping; the disreputable little hat still on her head. Her face was white and puffy, and her red-rimmed eyes glassy with tears.
    Ellis stood by the window, looking through the dirty muslin curtains into the street below. There was a dryness in his mouth that irritated him, and his heart thudded unevenly. Now and then he glanced at the girl, but almost immediately his eyes shifted back to the street. He was waiting for a police car to pull up before the little grey house and for policemen to come tumbling out — after him.
    “Shut up,” he said to the girl. “Can’t you stop snivelling?” But he wasn’t looking at her, and she had no means of knowing that he was speaking to her. In her tomb of silence no sound reached her. Later, he learned to touch her before speaking so she could read the words as he formed them with his lips.
    She continued to weep, her hands limply in her lap, her shabby little shoes turned in, her knees apart. From where he stood he could see the V of her naked thighs under the skirt, but he was unmoved. Her puffy white face under the awful hat revolted him, and he was regretting the mad impulse that had landed him with her.
    “Can’t you shut up?” he snarled. “Someone will hear you.” Then furiously: “I was a fool to have brought you here!”
    The words beat uselessly against her dead ear-drums. She neither stirred nor looked up. He suddenly remembered she couldn’t hear his voice and he made a movement of exasperation. It was bad enough to have her here, to be witness of her hopeless misery, but to know she was shut away from all sound made her even more useless and repulsive to him.
    He turned back to the window. While he waited for something to happen he reviewed the past hour and was appalled at the risks he had taken. Why had he done it? Why had he given way to this mad impulse? He had been lonely,