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.in return for small favors, of course."She could no longer keep herself from looking at the con-tents of thesuitcase.Her brief spell of bravado was past.Her face looked frightened andyoung, and she seemed to be on the verge of tears.She sat on the edge of thebed as if her legs would no longer hold her up."What are you going to do?" she asked tremulously."First, I'll listen.""To what?""To glamorous Mary Bannerman's true life story.of how she lost her baublesand found them again."Page 67ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlShe sighed."All right.I ran into debt.I needed money, so I invented the robbery tocollect insurance money.""Reasonable enough.And then?""I couldn't keep the things here, of course, or tell anybody else, so Ichecked them at Victoria Station.""What about Liskard's letters?""I don't know.When you asked for them, and I found them gone, I.kind oflost my head.I was afraid of what you might think because of the blackmailyou were talking about and everything so I just said they'd been stolen too.But I don't know.I thought they were there."Simon let considerably more credence show on his face than he felt in hismind."Then you obviously had a real theft here which you didn't know about," hesaid."Who could have taken those letters? More importantly, who would havewanted them?"She got up and paced over to the record shelf and began pulling down all therecords she had pulled down the evening before."Maybe they're here," she said a little feverishly."I'll find them if.""They're not," Simon assured her."I've already looked."She turned back toward the bed and glared at him."You're a regular sneak, aren't you?" she snapped."No, I'm an extraordinary sneak.I see all and know all.So tell me  did JeffPeterson take the letters?"She looked indignant."Jeff? Of course not! Why on earth should he?""Maybe he's gotten himself into debt too.Twenty-five thousand pounds is anice amount of money for an hour or so of playing post office."Mary Bannerman looked at him with puzzled anger and began to lose control ofher temper."Twenty-five thousand pounds? I absolutely do not know what you are talkingabout, and I'm not interested to know.I happen to be in love with JeffPeterson, and I'm not going to have you breaking into my apartment andinsulting him.Go find the letters yourself, if you're so full of ideas.Butwhatever you do, just get out!"Simon did not raise his voice."When and what did you tell Jeff Peterson about Liskard?"The girl tightened her lips in rage, then shouted at him: "None of your damnbusiness! Now get out before I."The Saint was smiling."Call the police?" he suggested."Good.You can save me the trouble."Her spirit crumpled again, and she looked hopelessly at the suitcase."You're not going to tell?" she asked."Why?" She moved closer to him, and hervoice was more pleading than angry."Are you so perfect that you can't letanybody else get away with anything? What do you care about some old insurancecompany's money?"The sweet scent of the room was concentrated in her clothes and hair and skin,and it was fairly obvious that she expected the effect of her proximity to bedevastating."I don't care about the insurance company," Simon said."What I care about is."She ran the tip of one of her fingers along his lapel."Wouldn't it be more fun to help me spend it than to take it away from me?"she murmured."Much more.as soon as you give me those letters."She dropped her arms to her sides."I don't have them, I told you!""Then the moment of truth has arrived for you, darling."Without turning his back on her, he began to repack the contents of thesuitcase.Page 68ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"What do you mean?" she asked,"I mean you must find those letters and give them to me by ten o'clocktomorrow morning," said the Saint."Otherwise I'll arrange a littletête-à-tête between you and the insurance people.And also with a friend ofmine at Scotland Yard who's starving for a pinch."She followed him to the door, ready to grab the suitcase, which he carefullykept just out of her reach."I've told you I don't have those letters!""If you don't, your boyfriend does.So get them.And if you release thoseletters to the papers I'll do worse than I've already promised [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]