The Lime Pit Read Online Free Page B

me like I was some sort of, you know, authority.
Because of Lance and all. Well, we talked and she said she was afraid
that Cratz would get steamed if he knew that she was running off with
a young guy. He was very jealous in that way. So, I suggested that
she tell him she was going home to see her folks and that she was
going to spend the night before she left with us. You see Lance has a
car and she could say that he planned to drive her down to the bus
station around midnight. I mean it wasn't that unusual. She'd stayed
overnight before to listen to music and just to talk. So, she told
Cratz what she was going to do and came over here on Sunday night.
About eleven or so some kid rode up on a chopper and Cindy Ann left
with him. She told me before she left that if Cratz asked about her
to tell him that she'd be in touch when she could. And she cried a
little. And we hugged and kissed each other. And that was it."
    "That's the last time you saw her?"
    Laurie nodded. "Cratz thinks we've made off with
her. I guess that's partly my fault for concocting that cock and bull
story about her folks. Somehow he managed to get their number in
Sioux Falls or wherever the hell she was from. And they hadn't heard
from her and weren't interested in hearing.
    Some family, huh? So he called the cops and told them
we'd kidnapped her! Can you believe it! On Monday morning a fat
little man showed up and started asking all kinds of questions about
the 'alleged' Cindy Ann. Eventually we figured out what was going on
and told him the whole story, just like I'm telling you. But that
wasn't good enough for Cratz. He's a sick old man. Sick in the head.
That stroke must have really addled his brains. On Tuesday he called
the cops again. And he hasn't quit calling them or us since. Our life
is really getting to be a mess. Both Lance and I were late to work on
Monday and Tuesday and, of course, having police cars pull up in
front of your house is really good public relations. And, now, he's
hired you!"
    "Laurie!" Lance boomed from the living
room.
    "Look," Laurie said breathily. "I
gotta go before there's trouble. Be a good guy, will you, and tell
Cratz the truth? Make him believe it. Please. I gotta go."
    She ducked quickly into
the living room and closed the door.
    ***
    It was almost six o'clock when I finished with Laurie
Jellicoe. Outside of Lance, there'd been no surprises. She'd told me
exactly what I'd expected to hear and left me with the distasteful
job of convincing Hugo Cratz that Cindy Ann was gone for good.
    Eight and one half dollars sure buys a lot of your
time, Harry, I thought as I walked back beneath the maple trees and
waited at the street corner for a white-haired woman to maneuver a
Dodge station wagon into a narrow driveway. But I'd known what I was
letting myself in for when I'd driven out to North Clifton that
afternoon. I'd made a rich, easy buck off of Meyer and Cox, and I'd
needed a Hugo Cratz to balance the books. That's all there was to it.
A case of conscience. I get one every six months or so, after a
particularly ugly or particularly easy job; and I hire myself out for
charity work, to assuage that old monster inwit. Hugo was going to
settle the account for a long, long time to come.
    He was waiting for me on the porch, looking red-eyed
and haggard and eager to hear what Laurie Jellicoe had told me. I
supposed that he thought I'd backed her into a corner and beaten the
truth out of her. A neat trick with ol' Lance standing around. But
Cratz didn't seem suprised when I reported to him, word for word,
what Laurie had actually said. He just shook his head and said, "You
believe that crap?"
    I bit the bullet and said, "Yes."
    Hugo sat back in his porch chair and meditated a
moment. "What if I was to tell you that I was watching Laurie's
house from the time Cindy Ann left here until first light Monday
morning and didn't see nobody on no bicycle drive up?"
    "Are you telling me that?"
    "I am."
    I sighed. "Then I'd have to tell you