Maxison started forward but Tim raised the gun, bringing] the old man to an abrupt stop.
“Stay where you are, Laura,” Maxison grated.
She hesitated, looked at me and then stepped to the coffin. I lifted her up and lowered her in. She sat in the thing, her eyes dark, her mouth working. She looked like something out of the Grand Guignol.
“Lie down,” I said.
Shuddering, she lay down. I took more measurements.
“Fine,” I said, and pulled her up. “Out you come.” When she was out, I turned to Maxison. “I wanted to see if this coffin was big enough to hold two bodies. It is. You and I are putting your dead woman in and Miss Wonderly goes in under her. You’re to fit a false bottom to this box. That’s how I plan to get Miss Wonderly out of jail.”
4
I arrived at Maxison’s place at nine o’clock the next morning. There was a sedate, oldfashioned motor hearse parked outside.
I gave it a quick glance, then pushed open the glass door of the showroom and walked in.
Maxison was waiting for me. He was dolled up in a long black coat with silk lapels and a high hat. His face looked ghastly in the hard sunlight, his mouth twitched.