The Strange Story of Linda Lee (43 page)

During their long walks and in the evenings, seated beside a cheerful log fire, she told him all that had happened to her while she was abroad, concealing nothing. About Vancouver and Big Bear, about the happy fortnight she had spent in Montreal, of her disastrous encounter with Sid and how he had robbed her, then by his folly forced her to take to flight again, of Lake Louise and The Fisherman’s Paradise, where she had felt herself safe. She told how, to amuse herself there, she had started to write a novel based on her own life, except that the heroine had stolen bearer bonds instead of jewels, and that it was to have a happy ending because it turned out that her middle-aged lover had made a new will after all, leaving her the bonds, of her arrest and escape, of her night in the forest and terrible experience the following day with the brutal lorry-driver, about her narrow escape from the police on arriving in Toronto and how Sir Colin Galahad had got her across Lake Ontario into the States. She continued with her few days in Chicago, telling of Marco and the horror from which she had saved herself after he had sold her into a brothel, about The Top and how she had bought her freedom by posing as Cherril Chanel and, unaware of what the documents really were, taken them across the frontier to Ottawa. And, finally, how she had overcome both Anna and Gerta, failed to get the papers to the High Commissioner but succeeded in fooling the Russians and getting away on the plane flying to Norway.

Inevitably there came their last night at Gypsy Hill. The halcyon days were over. Linda could no longer delay her fateful decision. At breakfast next morning she said to Eric:

‘While I was in Canada, in spite of my being hunted
like a hare, there were at least some bright spots. But here, if I go on the run again, I’ll still be hunted yet never dare mix with the sort of people I should like to know. Only some dreary job, boredom and the never-ending fear of being caught would lie ahead for me. So I’ve decided to give myself up.’

‘I’m glad, darling,’ Eric said quietly. ‘I haven’t sought to influence you, but I’m sure that will prove best for you in the long run. And I’ll be waiting for you when you come out.’

‘That’s sweet of you,’ she smiled. ‘Knowing that, I can stand up to anything. The only sad thing is that we won’t be able to marry.’

‘Dearest, of course we shall get married.’

She shook her head. ‘No, no! We’d never do that, I couldn’t possibly allow you to marry an ex-gaolbird.’

He laughed. ‘Nonsense. You will have paid your penalty for what I know to be only a moment of folly. I’ll be proud to have for my wife, not only the most lovely but the most courageous woman in the world.’

They spoke little on the way back to London. That night Linda slept in a cell. The next morning she was brought before a magistrate and sent for trial. She found the remand prison not uncomfortable, and the wardresses were kind. Eric secured for her a leading criminal barrister to whom, during several sessions, she told everything.

A fortnight later she appeared at the Old Bailey. The judge gave the impression of being severe. The men on the jury eyed her with admiration, but there were five women on it and only one of them looked at her with sympathy. In any case she had pleaded guilty. The counsel for the prosecution described her as a cynical, unprincipled young woman. Elsie was in court,
gloating; but not Arthur. And, to Linda’s surprise and dismay, neither was Eric, for she had counted on his presence for moral support through her ordeal.

The trial was well under way when Eric did arrive. He was carrying a long, thick paper. Hurrying over to Linda’s counsel, he held a whispered conversation with him. Together they looked at the document. When the prosecutor finished his opening speech, Linda’s man stood up and addressed the judge:

‘M’Lud. Most opportunely, new evidence has just come to hand. The late Mr. Frobisher did make a later will. I have it here. By its terms he left my client all his jewels and capital sufficient to bring her in an income of approximately one thousand pounds a year. I submit that there is no longer a case to answer.’

The will was handed up to the judge. He studied it for a few minutes, then said, ‘The case is dismissed. Release the accused.’ The woman on the jury who had looked kindly at Linda smiled at her and waved her hand. Linda burst into tears.

Ten minutes later she was in a taxi with Eric, on their way to the Savoy. With her head on his shoulder, she whispered, ‘Oh, darling, how did you do it? How did you do it?’

He laughed. ‘You did it yourself, my sweet. You remember the novel you started to write when you were up at Lake Louise? Last night, when I was thinking about you, that came back to me and I wondered if there could be anything in it. A sort of second sight. Anyhow, I decided to take a chance. In my job, it is easy to get a search warrant although one can get into serious trouble if one does that without any justification. First thing this morning I made up a story and got one entitling me to search Arthur’s office. I made him
open Rowley’s deed box, and there was the will. I don’t doubt that Elsie had persuaded him to suppress it. But the idiot had neglected to destroy it.’

‘How wonderful. How absolutely wonderful.’

He laughed. ‘I’m the lucky one. I’m getting a lovely wife with a private income and lots of jewels.’

‘No. I’ve lost the jewels, darling. As I told you, I had to leave them in the bank in Vancouver. The police must have found out about that. Elsie would have been notified and she’s probably sold most of them by now.’

‘Oh no, she hasn’t. They are still in Vancouver. The bank would never release them until you had been tried and found guilty, and it had been proved that they were Elsie’s property.’

And so there came about the happy ending of
The Strange Story of Linda Lee
.

DENNIS WHEATLEY
Dennis Wheatley (1897–1977) was an English author whose prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world’s best-selling writers from the 1930s through the 1960s.

Wheatley was the eldest of three children, and his parents were the owners of Wheatley & Son of Mayfair, a wine business. He admitted to little aptitude for schooling, and was expelled from Dulwich College, London. In 1919 he assumed management of the family wine business but in 1931, after a decline in business due to the depression, he began writing.

His first book,
The Forbidden Territory
, became a bestseller overnight, and since then his books have sold over 50 million copies worldwide. During the 1960s, his publishers sold one million copies of Wheatley titles per year, and his Gregory Sallust series was one of the main inspirations for Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories.

During the Second World War, Wheatley was a member of the London Controlling Section, which secretly coordinated strategic military deception and cover plans. His literary talents gained him employment with planning staffs for the War Office. He wrote numerous papers for the War Office, including suggestions for dealing with a German invasion of Britain.

Dennis Wheatley died on 11th November 1977. During his life he wrote over 70 books and sold over 50 million copies.

Discover books by Dennis Wheatley published by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/DennisWheatley

Duke de Richleau
The Forbidden Territory
The Devil Rides Out
The Golden Spaniard
Three Inquisitive People
Strange Conflict
Codeword Golden Fleece
The Second Seal
The Prisoner in the Mask
Vendetta in Spain
Dangerous Inheritance
Gateway to Hell

Gregory Sallust
Black August
Contraband
The Scarlet Impostor
Faked Passports
The Black Baroness
V for Vengeance
Come into My Parlour
The Island Where Time Stands Still
Traitors’ Gate
They Used Dark Forces
The White Witch of the South Seas

Julian Day
The Quest of Julian Day
The Sword of Fate
Bill for the Use of a Body

Roger Brook
The Launching of Roger Brook
The Shadow of Tyburn Tree
The Rising Storm
The Man Who Killed the King
The Dark Secret of Josephine
The Rape of Venice
The Sultan’s Daughter
The Wanton Princess
Evil in a Mask
The Ravishing of Lady Mary Ware
The Irish Witch
Desperate Measures

Molly Fountain
To the Devil a Daughter
The Satanist

Lost World
They Found Atlantis
Uncharted Seas
The Man Who Missed the War

Espionage
Mayhem in Greece
The Eunuch of Stamboul
The Fabulous Valley
The Strange Story of Linda Lee
Such Power is Dangerous
The Secret War

Science Fiction
Sixty Days to Live
Star of Ill-Omen

Black Magic
The Haunting of Toby Jugg
The KA of Gifford Hillary
Unholy Crusade

Short Stories
Mediterranean Nights
Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts

This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Reader

Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square,
London WC1B 3DP

First published in 1942 by Hutchinson & Co. Ltd.

Copyright © 1942 Dennis Wheatley

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The moral right of the author is asserted.

eISBN: 9781448213894

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