What would he advise her to do? Instinct said, creep down the passage to the sitting room and find a window to climb out of. But where would she go then? It was getting dark outside. Common sense said she was safer here with all her friends to protect her.
Common sense went on muttering in her head. Wasn’t it rather odd that a man who had come to kill her because she might recognize a face should walk into a hotel and show his own face to any number of people? Surely, even in America, he couldn’t hope to get away with killing everyone who saw him!
On the other hand, who else could he be? Could Gilligan have sent a plainclothesman to take her to police headquarters? That prospect was almost as alarming as the notion of a hired assassin stalking her.
A tap on the door made her jump. She held her breath as it opened. Though neither an assassin nor a policeman was likely to knock before coming after her, if he had somehow discovered her whereabouts, she was relieved to see Lambert. Behind him stood Thorwald and Pascoli, their backs turned, keeping watch.
Lambert had brought Stanley with him. The boy was hopping from foot to foot with excitement. “I heard ‘em!” he blurted out. “I snuck up an’ listened. ‘Whatcha want?’ says Kevin. ‘I wanna see Mrs. Fletcher,’ says the guy, real sharp. ‘Mrs. Fletcher checked out,’ says Kevin, but Mr. Blick the desk clerk comes out an’ hears him an’ up an’ says, ‘No she ain’t her key’s not here so she oughta be in but our residents ain’t always careful ’bout handing in their keys when they go out.’”
He was forced to pause for breath, and Lambert put in, “Because there’s never anyone at the desk.”
Stanley brushed this remark aside as the irrelevance it was. “An’ the guy says, ‘Call up an’ see is she in,’ so Mr. Blick called an’ there wasn’t no answer, course, an’ Mr. Blick says, ‘Mrs. Fletcher’s out,’ an’ the guy says, ‘Mebbe she just don’t feel like answering the phone I’ll go up an’ knock,’ an’ Mr. Blick, he makes Kevin take him, so I come an’ tell the gennelmen.”
“Good for you, Stanley!” said Daisy.
“So we’ve got to get you away from here,” said Lambert, “before he comes down.”
“Where could I go? I haven’t even got my hat and coat.” Daisy had an inspiration. “Wouldn’t the safest place be the Cabots’ suite?”
“Maybe, but it’d be mighty risky getting you up there. If we have to wait for the other elevator …”
“I’ll go up the stairs. It’s only the second noor—third to you. But let’s not waste any more time. We’ll have to ask Miss Genevieve’s permission and get her key, and I don’t want to be halfway across the lobby when that chap comes down again and gets out of Kevin’s elevator!”
Pascoli swung round. “You go get the key, Lambert. Thorwald and I will take Mrs. Fletcher to the stairs, where she’ll be outa sight. Come on, let’s hustle!”
So Daisy was hustled to the stairs, and then up them at a breathtaking pace which left Mr. Thorwald far behind. Lambert, youth on his side, overtook theAbroadeditor and caught up with Daisy and Pascoli as they paused on the stairs just below the third-floor level.
“Here’s the key,” he panted, dropping it into Pascoli’s extended hand.
“Bully! Now you better go check the elevator isn’t passing by just when Mrs. Fletcher gets to the top of the stairs.”
“O.K.” Lambert sped off, to reappear a moment later on the landing above them. “It’s just coming down now.”
“You watch and see is the bullyboy in it.”
In the waiting hush, Daisy heard the lift mechanism’s perpetual complaint. Its sudden cessation startled her and she took a step backwards. She had to grab the rail to save herself from a tumble, so that though she was aware of the clang of lift gates and then Lambert speaking in the passage above, she missed his first words.
“I left him knocking on Mrs. Fletcher’s door.” That was Kevin’s anxious voice. “Iwasn’t gonna wait and bring him back down not knowing where she is. You guys get her away safe?”
“She’s going to hide out in Miss Genevieve’s place. Keep the elevator here while she goes past, O.K.?”
“Sure.”
Thorwald arrived from below as Lambert appeared again above to announce in a whisper from the side of his mouth, “All clear!”
Daisy and Pascoli went on up, followed by Thorwald, huffing and puffing. Passing the lift, she waved at Kevin.
“You O.K. now, m’lady?”
“Right as rain.”
“Hot dog! I’ll go on down now, keep an eye on what’s going on,” he said.
Moments later the door of the Cabots’ suite closed behind Daisy and her escort. Lambert stationed himself by the door, presumably to repel boarders. Daisy and Thorwald sank into chairs, while Pascoli started to read the framed newspaper articles hanging on the walls.
“Oh boy, Eugene Cannon sure was some dame!” he exclaimed admiringly.
“In her heyday, she used to terrify me,” Thorwald admitted.
