TRUSTED LIKE THE FOX

"Only Death Can Save Me"

Nothing happened for four days.

According to Caleb, Delphina didn't mention the safe to him again. I made slow progress, but I still wasn't strong enough to get

out of bed. I was more easy in my mind, for Caleb didn't go to the house.

At least, I seemed to have thrown a scare into him.

But on the fifth night, I woke around three o'clock in the morning and, looking out of the window, I saw a light on in the sitting room of the house.

That gave me a hell of a jolt. I called out to Caleb, but got no answer. He was over there with her and with the safe!

I was tempted to get out of bed and go over there, but I knew I would never have made it, so I lay there, my heart hammering, waiting and watching.

It wasn't until after four o'clock that the light snapped off, and I saw Caleb come out of the house and cross to the cabin.

As I heard him come in, I called to him.

"Don't put on the light," he said at the door. "She'll see it."

I peered in the direction of his voice. It was too dark to see him.

"What happened?"

"She showed me the safe, and she asked me to open it," he said. "I told her it was an old type, and I couldn't open it."

I drew in a deep breath of relief.

"Then what happened?"

"She said there must be a way of opening it. She wanted me to blast it open. I said it was too dangerous. I told her dynamite wasn't in my line."

"Did she believe you?"

"Why not? I made it sound pretty convincing."

"Did she say why she wanted it open?"

"Yeah." There was a pause, then he went on, "She said there was money in the safe. If I opened it, we would share it."

Another long pause, then he asked, "Is there any money in the safe, John?"

I knew it would be fatal to tell him the truth.

"Three hundred dollars," I lied. "Perry kept it there against an emergency. She's not after that; she's after the confession."

"She said there was a lot of money there."

"She's lying. It was a bait to make you open the safe."

"Yeah... well, she'll be disappointed."

The following morning, while Caleb was workingin the garden, and I was watching him through the window, I heard my bedroom

door creak open Delphina came in. She closed the door and leaned against it.

It jolted me to see how she had changed.

She had lost weight. Her face was drawn and granite hard. There were dark smudges under her eyes, and she looked ten years older.

She stared at me.

"Tell me how to open the safe," she said. Her voice was harsh and unsteady.

"If you don't tell me, I'll call the police and you'll go back to Sentinel."

But she couldn't blackmail me now. I held all the aces."Go ahead and call them," I said. "You won't get the money, and I'll tell them

where to find your husband. Don't kid yourself they won't believe my word against yours. I'm not the only one with a reputation for violence. When I tell them about Frank Finney, you're going to be in a hell of a jam."