The Green Dragon by Dorothy Dixon. Part 4.
Watch on KineScope.
Freddy’s plan was easy and it didn’t seem dangerous for Howard. ‘There’s an old lady…’ he began.
Her name was Miss Blake and she lived in a big old house on the north side of the town. The house was hidden behind tall trees. She had lived in the Far East for many years and when she came back, she was a rich woman. Her house was full of valuable things. Most of them were too heavy to move, but then there was the green dragon…
‘Dragon?’ Howard said. He laughed. ‘What dragon?’ It was made of green jade and gold, Freddy had told him, with red jewel eyes, and diamonds on its tail. It stood in a special place in her bedroom and it was lit by bright lights. He knew all about it, because he had been talking to her cleaner at the pub.
‘It’s worth thousands of pounds,’ Freddy said. He was excited now. He was enjoying this. ‘Maybe hundreds of thousands. And it’s light enough to carry, and small enough to hide!’
He wanted Howard to do one thing… just one thing. You phone the old lady,’ Freddy explained. ‘You tell her that a packet has arrived at your address, Primrose Road.’
‘But this isn’t Pr…’ Howard began.
‘I know, I know. You just say it’s Primrose Road,’ Freddy said quickly. ‘Her address is Primrose Avenue – it’s nearly the same, isn’t it? You say your name is Blake, the same as hers. You say that the stamp on the packet says “Singapore” and inside it there is some special tea. You think there has been a mistake. You find her name in the phone book and decide the packet has come to the wrong address.’
He looked at Howard. ‘Do you understand?’ he asked.
‘Yes, yes. Go on!’ said Howard. He wanted to hear the end.
Well, it’s easy,’ Freddy continued. You tell her you would like to bring the packet round to her house, but you can’t walk, you’re in a wheelchair. And you are just going away on three weeks’ holiday. In fact, your daughter is coming soon to take you to the airport. Then you ask Miss Blake, would she like to wait three weeks or would she like to call round at your house immediately and get the packet herself?’
‘But maybe she’ll wait three weeks,’ Howard said. He didn’t like the sound of Freddy’s plan. But he was interested now.
‘She won’t,’ said Freddy. ‘She’ll want her packet. She’ll leave the house immediately because she’ll want to catch you before you go. And I’ll be outside her house. As soon as she leaves, I’ll get into the house, I’ll get the green dragon, and I’ll get out. It’ll be easy. If’ll be like taking sweets from a baby.’
Howard felt unhappy. But what could he do?
‘I’ll bring the dragon back to you,’ Freddy was saying now. You can hide it here.’
‘Here?’ Howard cried. He was frightened. ‘Why here? What’s wrong with your house?’
‘The children,’ Freddy said. He looked away from Howard’s eyes. ‘They may find it. Also, I want to hide it from those men. They won’t look here.’
Freddy’s plan worked perfectly. Howard was terrified when he heard the old lady’s voice on the phone. He had hoped she would not answer. But she did. One hour later the green dragon was on his dining table. It was staring at him with those hot, red eyes. He hated it from the moment he saw it.
Howard had sat and studied the dragon for hours. He was drinking coffee, black coffee, and smoking cigarette after cigarette. At dinner time he couldn’t eat. When he thought about food, he felt sick. Strange things were happening to his head. Once, with a shaking hand, he had touched the dragon again, but he pulled his hand away quickly. It had seemed red-hot. ‘I’m going crazy,’ he thought. I will go crazy if I have to keep that thing much longer.’ He lit another cigarette nervously.
Had someone seen Freddy, someone who knew him? Had those men – those dangerous criminals – been following Freddy? Had they seen him at Howard’s house? The police had probably interviewed everybody who had worked for Miss Blake. Had the cleaner told them that she had talked to Freddy?
The questions went round and round in his head. ‘I was stupid,’ he told himself. Why didn’t I throw Freddy and his crazy ideas out of the house?’
Suddenly he jumped to his feet. This had to stop. There was only one answer. He had to take the dragon back…
Howard lay alone in the cellar below the house. He felt tired. But he felt better because he could remember the true story. It was like living through the story again, the fears, the terrible moments, like the moment when the police stopped him… ‘Yes,’ he thought, ‘I remember…’
Very late that night he had taken the dragon back to Miss Blake’s house. He had put it into his bicycle bag and had started to ride through the silent streets in the moonlight. Moonlight – that was unlucky. It had been dark earlier. Well, he couldn’t do anything about that.
He had turned into Primrose Avenue… and there was a police car! The two officers in the car were immediately suspicious of this lonely cyclist in the early hours of the morning. They stopped him and asked what he was doing.
‘I’m going to my mother’s,’ said Howard. He was shaking inside. ‘They phoned me and said she was ill.’
The police officer wanted to help. Leave your bicycle,’ she said. ‘We’ll drive you there.’
‘No, no,’ said Howard. He was feeling hot and uncomfortable. ‘She’s… my mother’s house is just here, around the corner. But thank you. Thank you very much.’
He got on his bicycle and rode away. He heard the police car’s engine. He didn’t look back. The sound of the police car moved away. Howard breathed normally again.
A few minutes later he found Miss Blake’s house. It looked strange and frightening in the moonlight. It seemed to be waiting for him. Was it a trap? For a moment Howard wanted to turn back but he told himself not to be silly. It was late. The old lady was asleep. He didn’t need to be afraid.
Freddy had told him that he had dressed like a window cleaner and had climbed up his ladder to a balcony. The balcony led to the upstairs hall. He had planned to break a window but he found the window was open.
Now Howard saw the same window. He had no ladder but there was a drainpipe. He could climb it. Soon he was inside, and he was standing at the top of the stairs in the moonlight. He was looking down. He mustn’t wake Miss Blake. He must leave the dragon somewhere. Perhaps on the table in the hall? He could see it below him. Then his heart froze in his body.
There was someone lying at the bottom of the stairs! A body… a real body… and the moonlight was shining on the pool of blood.
And then he had run… back to the open window, to the drainpipe… The dragon was still in his hand! He started to throw it away with a wild cry. He slipped. The air was rushing past. The dragon was falling with him. Its eyes were staring, its mouth was open and its teeth were shining… Was it screaming, like him?