breath steamed as he climbed out of the car and gently clicked the door shut behind him. At one time, he thought he heard a faint crackling of leaves and twigs, but when he paused to catch the sound more distinctly, he realized it was probably just a bird in the upper branches of the oaks. Every now and then he stopped to listen for dogs, but the whole estate was buried deep in darkness and silence. Gene skirted along the southern side of the house, almost as far as the gravel drive that came from the main gateway. This time, he had driven past the main gates and followed the road that led around the high brick wall to a point that, he hoped, was nearer the house itself, He had parked the car in the shadow of the overhanging trees on the opposite side of the road, and he left the keys in the ignition in case he needed to make a quick getaway. She thought for a moment longer, and then she stood up. He just hoped that if he needed to climb back up his rope in a hurry, he could remember where it was. He straightened the revolver in his belt, and began to stalk carefully through the long grass, stopping every few moments to listen. "But it depends where it's directed, don't you think?"
There was an aluminum rod tied to the end of the rope, and he hoped to toss this over the wall and tug it back until it was firmly wedged between the metal spikes. He unwound a knotted nylon rope from his waist, and stepped back so that he could judge the height of the old, moss-crusted bricks. Quickly, he padded across the narrow road, trod softly through the banked-up leaves against the wall, and paused. The lighted window was now only two or three feet away, and he could hear voices more distinctly and the creak of floorboards as someone walked around in the room.
#ADVANCE WARS BY WEB DAYS OF RUIN FULL#
He pressed on it with more weight, and then decided to try his luck and stand on it with both feet with his full 192 pounds. Further along it was rusted through, but from the verandah roof to the bay window it looked as if it was reasonably intact. He walked softly along the whole length of the verandah, concealed in shadow, until he reached the end of it, where the trunk of the creeper grew.Īt last he was able to reach out his left foot and cautiously test the guttering. He waited awhile and then went up the verandah's four wooden steps, taking care not to tread on the empty frames of abandoned deckchairs and the pieces of a garden swing. He pushed his way through a tangled screen of bushes, and found himself on the very edge of the copse, with a wide stretch of lawn between him and the Semple mansion.ĭucking low, he ran across the open lawn until he reached the verandah. Maybe if he was- quiet enough he wouldn't wake them. There was still- no sign of the dogs, and he wondered if they were asleep. It took him ten minutes to make his way through the scrubby copse that led towards the house. I'm only going to take a quick look around the grounds and maybe a fast check through the windows." Christ, Maggie, I'm not going to burglarize the place.
Semples mistakenly took me for a prowler.
All I have to say is that I was paying her a visit, and that the. "It won't do that, even if I'm caught red-handed. The place is enormous, they'll never see me." All I'm going to do is hop over the wall. "Maggie, you're just making things sound awkward. He switched off the car's engine and sat there for four or five minutes, listening to the soft rustle of the night. He carried a small canvas bag with Mace gas and anti-dog sprays, a coil of rope around his shoulder, and a long-barreled. He was driving a rented, dark-blue Matador, and he was dressed in a black, polo-neck sweater, black corduroy pants, and a charcoal-gray cap pulled down over his eyes. It was a few minutes after eleven Thursday night when he arrived outside the Semple mansion. The low, gray clouds still blotted out the moon, although a faint luminescence illuminated the lawns and distinguished the copse as a dark sea that rustled and washed around it. He thought he could hear faint voices and the sound of music, but that was all.
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