"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 290 - Death has Grey Eyes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

things they called the waiter and paid their check.
Meanwhile, snapping from her soulful mood, Irene was flashing the gaiety
that suited her Parisian background.
"Such flattery!" she was saying, not to Dick, but to Jerry and Claire.
"And he said he did not go to Paris. Ah, well, I believe him!" she patted
Dick's shoulder and tilted her head coyly. "About not being to Paris, I mean.
They say the American soldiers everywhere all ask the same questions - like
'Where have you been all my life?'"
Irene was rising before Dick could reply; in fact, Irene was practically
delivering him back to Claire, though the blonde didn't appreciate it. Claire
turned to Dick with the acid comment:
"You'd better get a new line, soldier. That one is frayed."
Dick shook his gaze from Irene's departing shoulders which were shrugging
very gracefully as the assistant manager suggested that he introduce her at
another table.
"Maybe Jerry has suggestions," Dick told Claire. "Or if you wouldn't
know,
don't tell me."
"If you mean," began Claire, hotly. "that I've been seeing Jerry too
often
-"
"Only you haven't, Claire," put in Jerry. "After all, somebody had to
look
out for you while Dick was away. Dick said so himself. Remember?"
Jerry was turning to Dick, but Claire was ahead of him, sliding a diamond
ring so smoothly from her finger that it seemed never to have belonged there.
"And here's one thing you've forgotten, Dick," Claire added. "Tie it
around your own finger for a few years as a reminder we were once engaged!"
Dick slid it in his vest pocket and waved away the apologies that Jerry
was making for Claire. True to her old form, Claire couldn't be humored until
the day after a spat, if Dick's recollections served him rightly. Before Dick
could wonder if his memory was good on that point, a waiter provided a timely
interruption by handing him a telephone message.
"From Eric Henwood," Dick told Jerry. "Says he'll be phoning me at the
apartment later. Guess I'd better be on my way. Look out for Claire and see
that she gets home all right - as usual."
Dick rose and strolled nonchalantly away, conscious that Claire must be
glaring after him and quite aware that Jerry was trying to soothe her. But
Dick
was more interested in the other table that he passed, where he was lucky
enough
to catch Irene's eyes and receive the same smiling nod that she had given him
before.
The smallish men had left their table by the entrance. Even if he noticed
them, Dick wouldn't have guessed that Irene's earlier smile had been a signal
for them.
An artful smile and a nod, a combination that spelled betrayal!


CHAPTER IV