feisty in her drunkenness kept punching away at Ruth's face and body while Ruth tried to defend herself.
Then suddenly the table with the drinks and the snuff box and the scissors fell on the floor. Surveying the crash, Ruth saw the pubic hair on the floor and suddenly her anger mushroomed as she saw that both women were naked below the waist.
'You lousy, kinky bitch,' Ruth screamed… 'You lousy kinky bitch… what have you been doing to her… what the hell have you been doing to my girl?'
The two women began to wrestle and in her fury, Ruth who was much lighter in weight than Allegra, seized the other woman and pushed her toward the rail. As she moved back Allegra slipped on the fallen ice cubes and plunged headlong over the rail.
'Oh my God!' Ruth said as she stared down at the broken body. 'Oh God… no… I didn't mean to… I didn't mean to… I… who thought… Oh God… no… ' The woman's voice suddenly stopped. Mara stared at Ruth's glazed eyes and shook her but no sound came. The shock of what she had done, the sight of the body on the beach eighteen floors below had snapped something inside her. Nothing Mara said brought another sound from her lips.
Mara led her gently to a couch inside the living room and then looked at the ground. The beach was empty. She had to get Ruth away quickly. Disposing of all evidences of her own presence in Allegra's apartment, she opened the door and searched the hall. There was no one in it. As quickly as she could Mara led the helpless teacher to the elevator and to her car in the garage. An hour later she called the doctor she knew Ruth used and waited. Telling him as little as she could, she left Ruth in his care and drove quickly to her own apartment.
She knew what she had to do next and she did not want to waste any time doing it.
Picking up the telephone, she dialed the long distance operator and placed a call.
Chapter 14
The call was to a school in England. To Wendy. When she got the girl on the wire, she did not have to say who she was. Wendy knew at once.
'Darling,' she said. 'I was praying that you would call me.'
There was a long pause and then Mara, her voice, almost hoarse, asked her if she would accept one shilling. 'Just answer yes or no dear. If you meant what you wrote in your letter.'
There was a long pause and Mara thought the connection across the continent and the Atlantic Ocean had been broken.
Then Wendy's answer came loud and clear across the six thousand miles between them.
'I don't need one shilling. I'll meet you in Burma day after tomorrow. It's the first plane I can get.' She said she would cable immediately to get a reservation at the leading hotel in Rangoon.
'I'll be there as soon as I can get on a plane,' Mara said.
Three days later she was on the plane flying over the Pacific. In her hands was a copy of the Los Angeles Times discussing the strange death of Allegra Haskell. There was no mention of either Mara or Ruth. The death was put down as either an accident or suicide. The writer noted that an autopsy had revealed that Allegra been drinking heavily before her fall.
Ruth, Mara knew, was in a hospital, still in a catatonic state. When she had visited her the day before she left, Ruth had not even recognized her. But the doctor was optimistic.
'She has had a past history of psychiatric care and this could have resulted from severe emotional traumas though we are not sure what they are. But I think in time, with care and the right therapy she'll be all right.'
She fell asleep as she read the paper. When she awakened she could see the coast of Malaya approaching on the horizon. Several hours later she alighted from the plane and within an hour she was at the hotel she and Wendy had agreed upon.
In the privacy of their suite the two girls embraced warmly.
'I already checked the school situation,' Wendy said laughing. 'They can use two good teachers of English. We'll have to wait a few weeks while the necessary paper work and interviews are over. But there'll be no problem. And I made enough on my last English teaching job to keep us till then.'
'I have some money too,' Mara said. She looked at the beautiful warm sun outside their window and sighed.
'I never want to go back. I want to stay here forever.' Then she brightened. 'But there is one place I do want to go back to.'
'Where we first made love?' Wendy smiled.
Mara nodded quickly.
'It'll be light for another three hours,' Wendy said suddenly. 'My car's downstairs, full of petrol.'
Mara smiled. 'What are we waiting for?'
Half an hour later on the outskirts of the city, the two girls lay in the luxuriant foliage, kissing each other passionately.
As Wendy's lips sought Mara's pussy hungrily, she looked up and laughed.
'I warn you. I haven't eaten all day.'
As the English girl's hot, greedy tongue sought out her clitoris Mara felt a wonderful feeling of exaltation. Spreading her thighs out full so that Wendy's mouth could make love to her pussy with all the passion of which she was capable, she sighed.
'I'm so glad you're on a diet, darling.'
