The Green Dragon by Dorothy Dixon. Part 3.
Watch on KineScope.
The voices came nearer and stopped just by the box. It was the two police officers Howard had seen outside. In the box he tried to breathe quietly. The voices were clear.
‘I want you to have a look around,’ one was saying. ‘You haven’t been here before, have you?’
‘What happened exactly?’ the other said. ‘The old lady was murdered and…’
Howard thought about the police officer. Was he pointing – to the shape at the bottom of the stairs, pointing to the dry blood?
But now he was speaking again, ‘We’ve got the man that did it. You know that, don’t you? He wanted to steal that dragon. We think the old lady heard something. Maybe she was watching television. She came to the bottom of the stairs. He was coming down silently and when he saw her… crash! He hit her. We don’t know what he hit her with. He just hit wildly in the dark and ran back upstairs, and got out through the window. But this time he made a mistake. He slipped and fell.’
In the box Howard was listening very carefully to every word. Was he hearing the true story now? He thought carefully. Why couldn’t he remember? ‘… in the dark’, the police officer had said. No, that was wrong. It wasn’t dark. But how did he know this? Why was it important?
‘The cleaner found him the next morning. He was unconscious under the balcony. He was sleeping like a baby, but he’d hurt his head. The dragon was on the ground beside him.’
Their voices were getting weaker. They were going away. Howard waited… fifteen minutes, twenty minutes. Then he opened the top of the box a little. Everything was still outside, still and dark. The moon was hidden again. He climbed out. He tried to be very quiet.
The room was very dark, and he couldn’t see anything. He held his hands in front of him and moved one foot slowly, then the other. If he could switch on the light, just for a minute, he would be able to see the shape of the room… and the doors. His hands touched something hard. The wall! Good. If he followed the wall, he would find the door. Yes, here it was and here was the handle.
Howard suddenly felt light and happy. In a second he was going to be in the fresh air. And he was going to be free from the heavy walls of this house. They seemed like a prison to him now. He had to go to the police. He had to tell them they were wrong, terribly wrong about him.
He opened the door and stepped quickly through the doorway…
When Howard became conscious again, he was lying on a hard and dirty floor, and every bone in his body ached. He tried to move but the pain was too much. What had happened? This place was darker than upstairs. Upstairs? Then he remembered. He had opened a door and suddenly he was falling, crashing from step to step until he reached the bottom and… blackness.
‘Just like the last time,’ Howard thought. Then he sat up. The last time! Yes, now he remembered! He had been to this house before. He had seen the old lady. She was lying on the floor in a pool of blood but… did he kill her?
It had been about six o’clock when Freddy came. Howard was just finishing his tea. He groaned when he saw Freddy. Freddy was his brother-in-law and he had been married to Howard’s sister, Helen, for nine years, but Howard didn’t like him. He had never liked him.
He had always been suspicious of Freddy. He thought that Freddy wasn’t really honest. He didn’t know why he thought that, but he did. It was just something about Freddy. He didn’t seem to have a job but he always had a big car and expensive clothes. Helen and the two children seemed to have everything they needed, but…
Howard got up when Freddy came into the room. Freddy was white and nervous. He went quickly to the window and looked out. Did he think someone else was coming?
‘You’ve got to help me, Howard,’ he said. ‘I’m in trouble, bad trouble.’
Howard put down his teacup. ‘What can I do?’ he said carefully. You had to be careful with Freddy.
Freddy’s hands were shaking when he lit his cigarette. ‘I need money, a lot of money.’ Howard started to speak but Freddy continued quickly. ‘I know, I know. You haven’t got any money. But you can help me.’ He was looking at Howard nervously.
‘How?’ said Howard angrily. ‘If this is one of your wild plans, the answer is “No”. I’m not going to help you in any crime.’
‘It’s only a little thing,’ Freddy said. He put out his cigarette. ‘One phone call, that’s all. There are some men…’ He looked nervously out of the window again.
‘What men?’ said Howard. ‘Criminals, you mean?’
‘It’s better if you don’t know,’ Freddy said quickly. ‘They’re not… gentlemen.’ The word sounded strange, when Freddy said it. When they’re angry, they’re dangerous… very dangerous. They’re going to…’
Suddenly Freddy covered his face with his hands. Howard saw that he was shaking and jumped to his feet. He put his hand on Freddys arm. Maybe he didn’t like Freddy but he was his brother-in-law.
Freddy looked up. He was terrified. ‘You’ve got to save me, Howard,’ he said. His voice was shaking. ‘You’re the only friend I’ve got. If they don’t get their money soon, they’ll… they’ll kill me!’ For a few minutes he could not continue. He was too frightened.
‘If I’m killed, what will happen to Helen, and the children?’ he whispered. He knew just how to hurt Howard. ‘No husband, no father. Soon there’ll be no house, no money. They’ll be out on the street…’ His voice was getting louder and louder.
‘All right, all right,’ said Howard. He was trying to stay calm. ‘What do you want me to do?’