Show fe CARIBBEAN BD CO conspiracy N v ba BRENDA CONRAD THE TER STORY so FAR FAK ann heywood Hey buntic 01 al wealthy hur N new fork eiM paper goei OB so a aresa ares 1 to in pa rico lure us chef I 1 per IS j 1 ise ioa jr her Is patr li id a ai army carrr oa the oot liolu on he aeeti is marto aln build valer and an D en latr umed 1 I od nl whom in hi 1 if ti doe BO sen MOW tb he if actually germun cent ared to or destroy puerto to rico epply II 11 at the hotel in juab annei arfe IS 1 Mr ise 1114 ali nine hafl sei ann nd mr T 1 sz ha tran invited to dinner t re ibb home f or rainell P hortert sue I 1 forter febo it jag did ant to school CHAPTER VIT its early M miss heywood mr me taussig said it as they came into the lobby and nit russells russell s car moved out of the drive why d ont dont we have 1 nightcap nigh tap together oh thanks anks a lot anne said sut but ive really 1 I it d like to talk to you miss heywood mr taussig said quietly mr T taussig us sig was looking at her intently intently all right she said 1 I in the bar H he waited for her to sit down ana it signalled signal led the waiter he might be making a mistake he thought 1 1 I may as well come to t the he wait point gt at once miss heywood he said lit pleasantly ea anne a throat tighten tightened it all ali right she said said what I 1 is it the waiter put their glasses down on tle the table mr me Tau taussig issig raised his T to our better understanding miss heywood heywood anne raised h hers a rs she was aware of what B barbara abara had called the veiled scrutiny behind his lim preg liable ae leists it is low OUT interest in me that confuses confuse a me slightly miss hey wd rd anne looked at him blankly what do you mean mr MI Taus taussig sigI oh not interest it amour miss heywood I 1 dont mon mean that I 1 mean interest in my she shall we sav belongings last night for example anne ame sat perfectly calm and completely P controlled while the bottom of a kind of lovely dream inside her dropped out in shattered frautz fragments miguel had told him 1 I was just returning the co compliment ent mr taussig she said her sales was calm and detached she thong thought lit she saw him start but she b be sure M may y I 1 ask what chat you me mean by that ass miss heywood he aske asked inqui quietly fly you wen went t through my bags y yesterday t aday dian didn t you mr taussig he was staring at her in open and undisguised a astonishment anne misunderstood what il if she was wrong what if it been he be at 1 all I she sh c dide t know immo she ahe was only guessing actually he recovered his composure in an instant if she had lied bed he wouldn t have known what makes you think I 1 did ne tuch h an incredible thing your thumb prints mr tm taus in bg g anne anne said it if shed been wrong he could deny it and she would apologize lie he thought quickly his hands had been moist from the heat he fie smiled I 1 think youve lumped jump it to a very hasty conclusion miss MES heywood you have a bag just like one me of mine the porter p put ut y yours urs in my room main I 1 opened it but 1 I 1 el closed d it at once of course lind and had the porter take it to your you room mom and bring mine am to me you 11 find theres u usually a simple a explanation PI at 0 o for or most bilings ti lings a M miss is heywood oil ih then e I 1 apologize P 1 0 ae pro profoundly o MY mr taussig T S anne ne said aid 1 I in glad tel we talked bitted about tit it sh she e go got t u up P and bel held it out her e hand d S she h eto could ul el a see e a the in indecision de als in the he cold blue gleam of his eyes fastened on do hers bus lie he gasn wasn t sure fastens cheth whether r she was telling the truth or not hot and she knew he had led bed anne lay in the lummous luminous h half alf dark under the he oblong tent of ch cheesecloth eese chith around ler mun her he or bed trying to think without ith va st 1 eeling trying to separate th the things h she h knew from flow the he things aag abit the h e suspected t d but did dd not hot actually k omu low without coloring them with her h e own emotions a h 0 us but I 1 in not wrong about it the she told herself 1 I saw it it its one ahe et t the things thing I 1 know even it I 1 am t know what its it s all a bout about actually there were 1 only I two ot oth things she really kne knew when en she came down to it one was as t that at tr taussig ishad had opened pa 1 ed he her bag 1 and I bone through h her or letters etem and it had bad not told id the truth about it the other was 48 that miguel had told him she we was in his room the rest of it was in that dringer danger qu border line of intuition and nd suspicion I 1 that 1 was I will what she tied had to watch still ali even eve barbara bile bahe ra french had ad I 1 recognized agn d what she he called T Taus sigs 8 veiled scrutiny anne 10 shook ilk her h head ad it did didt t do TO any md good toe to go over r every de of a day or two days the way all slide he was as doing N ight g ht s a in agn f eggl glass a as any wa y she he thought gh t S she he reh reached lb it do down pull pulled ed t the he thin bekta blanket IS up P fr from in the foot of the bed and aid settled c it back hitt into to t the P pillows allow alic was boang to think bout about it and id KI guel she he W gasn wasn t going to think Is bout about she closed her eyes eye just J as she he it hd the h telephone on the table beside aid he her jangled BogI ref stridently trident it rang age again before she could az pull the he t mosquito retting out it fr from under der the matress at a ld and tree her let arm hello she he said aid im sorry it w was petes voice that at came c from fr the he I 1 1 lux fl other t her end I was aust tw wondering 0 ring about b out you if ayou you got home h ome BE all right light I 1 hope I 1 wake you up of course she baid d at last dont t tell me et its part of your Y r job J 0 b t to h check up oil and re see a the tourists let a S are m I 1 all properly yin in bed every night what are you doing up at t this is he hour Y yourself r captain capt wilcox ive just been to a meeting of the fang falange my child P pete te said cheerfully che lely it I it t s called ca it something 1 else now but it athe s the same mo old ad leopard with the same me old spots puts go back to bed I 1 in putting you on the clipper tomorrow former w remember 11 you mean youre Y 0 u re taking me out to dm dinner er force tomorrow r r 0 w night asking gh see you bout about six di good night dear anne put P t down the phone and wr wriggled back under the net she sat s up crossed her legs under hr her and sat staring through her filmy clr go gauze u IS box at a lighted ship moving across the window in the silver a ocean mean beyond the reef the falange of course I 1 never thought of that A whole new pattern wove itself buc quietly t ly in front of her for the nor moment no ent she forgot miguel and rich 1 ard taussig and herself here was you went through my hags bags yesterday you mr taussig her story it was war what shed come down n t to 0 get in the curious way that b better e ater newspaper p e I 1 r people th than an she d ever be slum stumbled bl ed ato to things she had stumbled right into what she ads hunting for entire entirely ly without W knowing it diego bongaro was spanish don alvaro was spanish in everything but the place of his birth the Fa falange largI we was the conservative kirgam organization tion that had bound I 1 the a old sp spam and it colonial spaniards together r especially during the civil we war that had changed the mother c country from ja a republic to a totalitarian power it t was waa through the falange that the axis dominated spam and ad it was the most important sometimes act actual sometimes only potential peterth d fifth column in latin and south america she tried to remember all 11 the things shed she d read about it it U was made up of the wealthier conservative serva tive which down here would usually mean anti democratic groups it was supposed to be the stronghold of the idea of spanish empire at one as time lure when there her we was still peace in the world it hade t meant much more than the various foreign associations in the states state had meant or people had thought it hadn haan t including most of its in members ers tro probably babl in times like the present it me meant ant something very different that was why in puerto rico it had been disbanded or boffl officially it t 1 had ad been apparently therill there were ere e still t ill remnants of it anne lay down again and closed her eyes don alvaro was old spam meg diego G Gong g ros aroa wife who we was gra GIB bielas mother had be been wed killed in the spanish civil we war miguel a orders had bes been cancelled by the war department maybe it all added up to what she couldn coulden t say maybe what it added up to was richard riche id taussig except miguel not but ift miguel it was all back agam go fr from whom where it had bad started richard taussig gripped the me open window ledge of the crowded station wagon with one ban hand d and and hung OR on to his IS gw guide it a b book no k a and d his yachting cap with the h other H he w was us in oos one oft of those h e new c w ve vehicles h le Is known now locally ally a as public cars car t that he t P provide it s a vast hetio network k of cheap transportation n for t the h 0 island an and it milk make tad taxi drivers crA and it chauffeurs h u ff c mp a political iia I 1 t I 1 b bloc ac that no party does dares to ignore at the moment the car at we was careening are g me ma aia I 1 c cally ay ili across the narrow arow r perilous causeway out the bayardo bahamon road f from sap A juan ilah on 11 the right light the garbage r dump 1 I smoked the with evil smelling me 1 pervasiveness eres beyond bayon it in the shallow allow he head d of the bay two I 1 dredges pumped softly and amaly onous ly filling ng the murky owing oozing reri swamp p that stretched on the left ot of the road mad making g firm new land for or the au U S navy it t was dotted with a couple of I 1 thousand oranges orange just then en where whee a truck had gone off th the a to road a and it just behind it a at station stan wagon wagers like hk h mr I 1 r aut bowd sigs g had bad gone Us like adgive a dive bomber motor deep in the mud its reef rear wheels still going around A constant stream of khaki colored army trucks and open men field cars trundled noisily past it and it private cars cam darting in and mi out trying T 9 to P pass tass what seemed to mr me taussig Is to 0 be an already gohd hit line lars into to town an accident would be easy enough he h 1 though 4 tup up in the ile aiila hill where t there h er e was no soft 0 ft cushion hion of mud and ahme he frowned f r cus there were certain complications he esp expected cled and did n not ot mind H he e we was used to accidents when necessary though he preferred to ed avoid them he has was eve even used to t the he emotional a equation that women sometimes some times brought in but not on the level that the girl in across the tha hall had presented he as more mom used to the kind of thing he was headed for now the public car stopped on the side of the crowded road under der so n n almond tree caparra camera senor the driver pointed to a low k group gr aup of buildings just beyond a tick rickety c ety fence they looked more like subterranean branem mushroom sheds shed than the rums arums of the villa fine of ponce police tie de leon lem the first governor who built his first capitol here four our centuries ago before he abandoned it and pu puerto arta rico to go on his search Four for the courtain fountain tain of youth and fo found had instead florida and death mr me richard taussig was on only superficially interested in the blue and yellow tiles and in the story of the indian cacique and the great con quis tadore ord who is still heard and it la even seen clanking clai ing up the ghostly stairs in his battle arm armor he tipped the caretaker enough to make him remember him but not enough gh to make him suspicious and way long along the shaded road mad under the indian almonds and flambo to a roadhouse there he drank a bottle of cool pate pale ale in the garden and read mad his smile guide book that w was for the record to too in ce case one me w was bt being kept so far a as 7 he knew no one had followed him but its deviousness lous and plausibility were m ii a habit as much as a 4 plan and in the half W world eld that mr taussig operated in ev overconfidence or r we was a more danger dangerous 0 than wasted tune time 1 I can get to rio piedras pled s to the university out this wv way he tipped the waiter and nit pointed to the left fork of the wed road he had come on an and it to the hubere tuberculosis okise sanatorium on the way the man nodded si senor Gra gracyas clas senor 1 I if f I 1 walk along a public car will st stop P for mea S sl senor mr me ta taussig aussig set out walking slowly the road was less crowded than the other branch nevertheless he walked past the blue stucco house set b behind e hind a great hedge of red and pink hibiscus because a cart loaded with sugar cane WE was s passing it just the then when the road mad was a R empty he turned back went aul quickly chiy tough through the tall gate in the hedge and closed it securely behind him diego bongaro s car stood in the drive taussig glanced at his watch he had bad allowed hiers himself ed forty five minutes to 0 o compensate I 1 for r the temperamental temi pe disregard of f time te that was another complication n of the let latin a scene that irritated his precise mind he had not wanted to arrive at the house of diego gon garos mistress until fit G bongaro 0 0 seen was there himself he was dult disturbed bed bout about her just as he was disturbed about graciela in fact there were too many women in all this alt all ogeth er r for me his eure except ept little mr mrs porter so far a as he could see she was the one simple aspect of his problem his he impulse in pulse had been to go see her that TT morning g but he had rejected it it we was be best st to let the first move come me ir from her he went up the steps step reached out to ring the bell beside the iron grilled door and stopped from mit inside it he could hear loud and it hyst hysterical weeping it stopped abruptly and a woman shrill voice cried out in rapid spanish but why why diego why not let all 11 of 1 that t chand at let alone l et why endanger kinle yourself I and me and it your family I 1 what I 1 is there to gain that asbe she stopped as a suddenly as a she had begun A heavy chair moved there were sharp steps on the tiled floor taussig step stepped sit back came cam across the porch agam again scraping his rubber soled shoes on a the tile ills bud and rang the be bell li in a in moment D diego ego G bongaro gam came cam from an mile inner room through the portiere made Is of 1 colored glass heads beads unit and short len lengths gh of fine bamboo bambe he be am smiled aad c cordial hal ly as he opened the grill whether h he was unaware that his on caller or had h heard ard the end of the scene or we was simply unconcerned mr taussig could no not t tell come in he said 1 I 1 am hap happy py to in see th that at I 1 it I 1 is possible 1 e for or you to be late also my friend TO BE CONTINUED |