The Instant Enemy Read Free Page A

pink bird with a keen dark outthrust head. “Did you know what was going on between her and that boy?”
    “I couldn’t help it.”
    “And yet you never told us? That wasn’t very friendly of you, dear.”
    The girl was close to tears. “
Sandy
is my friend.”
    “Good. Fine. Then you’ll help us get her safely home, won’t you?”
    The girl nodded. “Did she run away with Davy Spanner?”
    “Before I answer that, remember you have to promise not to talk.”
    I said: “That’s hardly necessary, Mrs. Sebastian. And I really prefer to do my own questioning.”
    She turned on me. “How can I know you’ll be discreet?”
    “You can’t. You can’t control the situation. It’s out of control. So why don’t you go away and let me handle this?”
    Mrs. Sebastian refused to go. She looked ready to fire me. I didn’t care. The case was shaping up as one on which I’d make no friends and very little money.
    Heidi touched my arm. “You could drive me to school, Mr. Archer. I don’t have a ride when Sandy isn’t here.”
    “I’ll do that. When do you want to go?”
    “Any time. If I get there too early for my first class I can always do some homework.”
    “Did Sandy drive you to school yesterday?”
    “No. I took the bus. She phoned me yesterday morning about this time. She said she wasn’t going to school.”
    Mrs. Sebastian leaned forward. “Did she tell you where she
was
going?”
    “No.” The girl had put on a closed, stubborn look. If she did know anything more, she wasn’t going to tell it to Sandy’s mother.
    Mrs. Sebastian said: “I think you’re lying, Heidi.”
    The girl flushed, and water rose in her eyes. “You have no right to say that. You’re not my mother.”
    I intervened again. Nothing worth saying was going to get said in the Sebastian house. “Come on,” I told the girl, “I’ll drive you to school.”
    We went outside and got into my car and started downhill toward the freeway. Heidi sat very sedately with her satchel of books between us on the seat. She’d probably remembered that she wasn’t supposed to get into an automobile with a strange man. But after a minute she said: “Mrs. Sebastian blames
me
. It isn’t fair.”
    “Blames you for what?”
    “For everything Sandy does. Just because Sandy tells me things doesn’t mean I’m responsible.”
    “Things?”
    “Like about Davy. I can’t run to Mrs. Sebastian with everything Sandy says. That would make me a stool pigeon.”
    “I can think of worse things.”
    “Like for instance?” I was questioning her code, and she spoke with some defiance.
    “Like letting your best friend get into trouble and not lifting a finger to prevent it.”
    “I didn’t
let
her. How could I stop her? Anyway, she isn’t in trouble, not in the way you mean.”
    “I’m not talking about having a baby. That’s a minor problem compared with the other things that can happen to a girl.”
    “What other things?”
    “Not living to have a baby. Or growing old all of a sudden.”
    Heidi made a thin sound like a small frightened animal. She said in a hushed voice: “That’s what happened to Sandy, in a way. How did you know that?”
    “I’ve seen it happen to other girls who couldn’t wait. Do you know Davy?”
    She hesitated before answering. “I’ve met him.”
    “What do you think of him?”
    “He’s quite an exciting personality,” she said carefully. “But I don’t think he’s good for Sandy. He’s rough and wild. I think he’s crazy. Sandy isn’t any of those things.” She paused in solemn thought. “A bad thing happened to her, is all. It just
happened.”
    “You mean her falling for Davy?”
    “I mean the other one. Davy Spanner isn’t so bad compared with the other one.”
    “Who’s he?”
    “She wouldn’t tell me his name, or anything else about him.”
    “So how do you know that Davy’s an improvement?”
    “It’s easy to tell. Sandy’s happier than she was before. She used to talk about