41
“I’m not sure.”
I swung around in my seat to look through the rear window. The dark, curly haired man
who she said was her husband was sitting at the back. It was too dark to see his face. I
couldn’t see any following car’s headlights.
“Doesn’t look like it,” I said. “Anyway, they’re not coming after us.”
“You must be crazy to get us mixed up in this, Della!” the man at the back exploded. “Stop
the car and let this fella out!”
She laughed.
“Oh, shut up, Paul. They were going to shoot him. I couldn’t let them do that after he’d
won me a grand.”
“You little fool! You’re always getting into trouble.” Again she laughed. “I’m loving every
minute of this,”
He gave a grunt of disgust and slumped down in his seat.
“Well, let’s get out of here. As soon as we’re away from the stadium, stop and let him out.”
“Don’t take any notice of him,” she said to me. “We’re going to Lincoln Beach. Want to
come?”
“Yes,” I said.
We were approaching the main gates of the stadium now, and it suddenly occurred to me
that Petelli might have got word down there to stop us. I told Della.
“Squat on the floor. You may be right.”
There were a number of cars ahead of us now, moving slowly through the big gates, and
she had to slow to a crawl.
“There’re two guards looking into each car as it passes,” she whispered to me. “I’m going
to stop and let the other cars get on ahead.”
“There’s a car behind us and coming fast,” Paul said, a rasp in his voice.
“You’d better let me out,” I said, but she put her hand on my shoulder and pushed me
42
lower.
“Be quiet!”
She swung around to look through the rear window. From where I crouched I had a good
view of one long, shapely leg and a small foot in a white buckskin shoe. I could also see the
glare of headlights coming through the rear window showing how close the other car was. A
horn blared as she slowed down.
“Better not stop,” Paul said. “Keep in the centre of the road so they can’t pass, but keep
moving.”
The car continued to crawl forward.
“It’s clearing ahead,” she told me. “We’re coming up to the gates.”
I looked up. The car was moving a little faster now. Through the window I caught a
glimpse of a man in a peak cap looking right at me.
“Hey! You! Just a minute …” he said excitedly, and wrenched open the door.
I grabbed the inside handle, slammed the door shut as Della trod down on the accelerator.
The Bentley surged forward as the guard yelled again. I was sitting up now. Ahead of us was
a car, blocking the way out. She swung the wheel and we bumped up on to the grass verge,
missing the other car’s fenders by inches, then we shot out on to the highway.
“Now …” she said, and increased speed.
“They’re right on our tail,” Paul cried furiously. “Goddamn it! I told you not to fool with
this!”
Her reply was to push the accelerator to the boards. The needle of the speedometer began to
flicker up to ninety. It hesitated, then crept up to ninety-two … three and hovered at ninety-four.
