and broken glass trickled out the end of the scope.

“Where’s the car?” I said.

Something had been eating him away inside for a long time. You could see it in the hot, crazy eyes, and in the way his hands twitched as he rubbed them across his mouth. “Who are you?” he asked. His voice was ragged. “What do you want?”

“A car,” I said. “I thought I mentioned that.”

There was something odd about them, and I saw what it was now that I had time to take a good look. They were brother and sister. He was big, and a lot younger, probably not over twenty-one or twenty-two, but it was unmistakable. Maybe it was the identical ash blondness and the well-formed bone structure of their faces. They were good-looking as hell. And full of it.

“You’ll never take her out of here,” he said. “You’ll never take her out of here alive. I’ll kill her. I’ll kill you.”

I gestured with the gun. “On your feet.”

He hesitated a moment, watching me; then he got up. She continued to sit there

I caught her by the arm and hauled her up. Red fingernails slashed toward my face. I brushed her hand away and shoved her. She bounced against him and he caught her to keep her from falling.

“If she won’t walk,” I said, “carry her.”

He stared hungrily at the gun. “Where?”

“Out to the road. We’re looking for a car, remember?”

She looked at him with contempt. “Are you afraid of this miserable thug?”

“What do you want me to do?” he said. “He’s got the gun.”

“So you’re going to let her get away?”

“She hasn’t got away yet.”

“All right, break it up,” I said. “You can yak some other time.”

“What are you going to do with Mrs. Butler?” she asked.

“I’m going to adopt her. I think she’s cute.”

“Maybe you don’t know what you’re getting mixed up in. The police want her for murder. She killed her husband.”

“I don’t care if she killed Cock Robin,” I said. “I just work here. Now shut up and start walking.”

They started out toward the road. I kept about six feet behind them. When we struck it we were near the edge of the meadow. I didn’t see the car anywhere. It had to be above.

“Turn right,” I said. “Up the hill. And stay in the road.”

We went silently uphill through the sand.

“You could tell me where it is,” I said. “But that would be the easy way. So we’ll just walk. It’s only eight miles out to the road, and eight miles back.”

They made no answer. They walked side by side in icy silence, not looking back.

“If we pass it,” I said, “don’t bother to say anything. We’ve got all the rest of the day to walk around.”

I watched the ruts, fairly sure I’d see where they had pulled it off the road even if they had it hidden. And just before we reached the crest of the ridge I did. It was pulled off in a clump of dogwood. It was the same car the girl had driven up in.

“Who’s got the keys?” I asked.

They stared at me in silent hatred.

It was obvious she didn’t have them, because she didn’t have a purse. I looked at him. “All right, Blondy. How’d you like one through the leg?”

He took the keys out of his pocket.

“You drive,” I said. “And Toots will sit in the middle.”

We got in. He backed it out on the road. “Downhill,” I said. “To the camp. And don’t get any funny ideas about giving it the gun and crashing into a tree. I might walk away from it, but you wouldn’t.”

We were jammed in together, but I held the gun in my right hand over against the door, where she couldn’t grab for it.

She turned her face and stared into mine from a distance of three inches. She was lovely. “You son-of-a-bitch,” she said.

I patted her on the leg. “Did you ever find Gillespie, honey?”

Nine

We stopped in front of the cabin.

I got out. “Inside,” I said.

We went up on the porch. I heard Madelon Butler unlocking the door, and knew she had watched us from the window. The door opened and the blonde went in, followed by her brother. I was in the rear, not expecting it, and they almost pulled it off.

He jumped inside, making some kind of hoarse roaring sound in his throat, and the blonde tried to slam and bolt the door ahead of me. I got a foot in it just before it