“I thought I’d go down to the coast. I wanted a vacation and had got some money put by, so I thought I’d go down there until they had forgotten about me.”
I didn’t want to scare her, but I thought they were not likely to forget her. I just said: “So what happened?”
She twisted her hands in her lap, and a little frown settled in her eyes. “I thought I was being awfully smart,” she said. “I arranged with my landlady to get my stuff to the station, and I went off on a long ramble round town, taking the thin man along behind me. I thought I could give him the slip, get to the station and leave town without anyone knowing.” She smiled at me ruefully. It certainly did me a lot of good when that honey smiled at me.
“I was all set when I ran into Curtis. He wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He stuck to me like glue for the rest of the afternoon and then insisted on bringing me to Barry Hughson’s party. That’s all.”
I shut my eyes and let my brain sort it out.
“Why do you think he brought me to Hughson’s and then walked out on me?”
“Curtis think a lot of you?” I asked.
She looked uncomfortable. “He has been rather pressing,” she admitted. “But then, he’s like that with most girls.”
I could think of a number of reasons why Curtis had taken her to Hughson’s, but I wasn’t going to tell her. Suppose Spencer had planned to get rid of her and Curtis knew about it? If this guy was a little soft on her, and I’m not blaming him if he was, he’d probably hang around with her to see that nothing happened. Once she was round at Hughson’s place, he might think she was safe for a while. Then this other dame rings him up and he has to get out and leave her.
It struck me Mardi wasn’t any too safe running around at large. The point was to find out how much she knew.