Flight to Darkness by Gil Brewer Page B

hear
him breathing.
    Morgan said, “I have here a report from the
hospital lab. Gerald Allen’s blood type and the type of the blood
found on the front of your car, Mr. Garth, correspond. It was human
blood, and that alone is enough. Also, hair found with particles of
human tissue on the bumper, headlights, and grille of your car, has
definitely proved to be hair from the victim—Gerald Allen.
Particles of glass from the headlights of your car were picked up
at the scene of the accident. They’ll doubtless be matched with
what glass remains in the headlight of your car. Thus absolute
verification seems to be the case, Mr. Garth. That in view of the
fact that a witness, unknown but nevertheless a witness, gave us
your license number and description of the car.” He laid the paper
down and folded his hands.
    “ I’ve seen the man before,” I said.
I told him of the California car delivery.
    Lieutenant Morgan’s gaze shifted to Leda.
“What about that, Mrs. Garth?”
    Leda chewed her lip, looked down, then up at
Morgan. “I—I—”
    “ Leda,” I said. “Leda, tell
him!”
    She turned to me. “Yes, Eric. I did see what
you saw. But we really can’t swear it’s the same man.”
    Morgan carefully smoothed the sheet of paper
with both hands. Redfern struck a match against the wall and lit a
cigarette. He tossed the match to the floor, looked at me and
shrugged. He blew a cloud of blue smoke at the ceiling.
    Morgan watched Redfern over our heads. Redfern
quietly inspected his cigarette.
    Hartly kept rocking back and forth on his
heels. His shoes squeaked. He made many faces.
    “ Leda. Can’t you tell them
anything?”
    Her lips pressed tight as she shook her head.
She made a vague gesture with her hand, looked appealingly at
me.
    Morgan said, “Sorry. We’ll have to hold you.
He reached in the desk drawer, came up with a bunch of keys, tossed
them to Hartly. “Cell number three.”
    “ I want a lawyer.”
    Nobody said anything. Hartly coughed
twice.
    “ Would you be so kind as to see
Mrs. Garth home?” Morgan said over our heads to Redfern.
    Redfern stood, took a last drag on his
cigarette, dropped the butt and tamped it out with the toe of his
shoe. He talked around the smoke. “It’d be a pleasure.” He nodded
to me, frowned and said, “Come along, Mrs. Garth.”
    It was like swimming behind glass.
    Leda turned to me, touched my arm. “Don’t
worry, Eric. It’ll be all right. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
I’ll think of something.”
    “ Won’t be able to see him till
tomorrow,” Morgan said.
    Hartly already held my arm. I could only stare
at Leda. She winked at me and nodded slightly.
    Redfern said, “Coming, Mrs. Garth?” He frowned
at me again as if puzzled, shook his head.
    Leda smiled reassuringly, touched her lips
with her tongue, swung sharply about, and went through the door,
followed by Redfern. Her quick footsteps were swallowed in the
rainy night. It was like a movie scene.
    “ Okay, Garth,” Hartly said. He
shoved me gently toward the steel door. He unlocked the
door.
    We went down the row of shadowy cells. He
didn’t bother with the cell-block light. It was dim, with only a
single bulb at the far end.
    He unlocked the third cell from the end,
motioned me in with a contemptuous grin. “Pleasant dreams.” He
locked the cell, went away, and I heard the steel door clang shut.
Then their voices reached me from up there, a dull
mumble.
    The cell smelled sour. The walls were damp.
Light from a street lamp through an outside window threw a pale
glow on an iron cot which swung chained against the wall. I
unhooked the chain, let the cot down. A ratty blanket covered steel
slats which were supposed to pass as springs. I dropped the blanket
on the floor, sat on the bare springs. To hell with that. I picked
up the blanket, spread it on the cot, sat down again.
    So there were bugs. Fleas. So what? There was
nothing I could do about that.
    I hadn’t walked in my sleep. In the hospital