چرا حرفم رو باور نمیکنی؟

CHAPTER NINE

‘Why don’t you believe me?’

Patience opened the door of her flat. Lone was standing inside, pointing a gun at her.

‘I’m sorry, Patience,’ he said. ‘I’ve come to arrest you.’

Patience was at the police station. ‘I don’t like this room,’ she thought. There were no windows, just a table and two chairs. How long had she been here now? It seemed like hours.

Lone sat opposite her.

‘I’ve told you again and again,’ she said. ‘Slavicky had proof that Beau-line was dangerous. Laurel killed him to keep him quiet. George discovered the truth and she killed him too. Why don’t you believe me?’

‘The gun was in your hand,’ said Lone. ‘The gun that had killed Hedare a few seconds before. The gun that killed Slavicky. You murdered them. Why should I believe anything different?’

‘Because you know me. And because sometimes things aren’t as they seem. Do you remember the first time that you saw me?

‘Yeah,’ said Lone.

‘What did you think?’

‘I thought you were rescuing a cat.’

‘No, you didn’t. You thought I wanted to kill myself. But you were wrong. And you’re wrong now. Please believe me, Tom.’

‘I’m trying to believe you, Patience,’ he said. ‘But I just can’t. I’m sorry.’

He called to a policeman outside the door. ‘Lock her up again.’

As she followed the policeman, Patience started to cry. But then she stopped feeling sad and began to feel very angry.

‘Be a good kitty,’ laughed the policeman as he locked her door.

Catwoman hissed at him.

At the Hedare office building, Laurel Hedare was talking to a crowd of newspaper reporters.

‘My husband dreamed of a world where every woman could be beautiful,’ she was saying. ‘I’m going to make that dream come true. Tomorrow I will give you Beau-line.’

‘And nothing is going to stop me now,’ she thought.

‘It’s time to turn out the lights, prisoners,’ shouted the policeman in the hall. The moon was shining through the window into Patience’s room. Midnight the cat squeezed through the bars.

‘Hello, Midnight,’ said Patience. ‘You’ve given me an idea.’

She got up and put her arm through the bars. Then she turned her head completely around and put that through too. Finally, she squeezed her body through the bars.

Catwoman found a window and looked out. It was a long way down. Ten floors! She saw a car - a Jaguar - coming down the road. She smiled. She jumped out of the window and landed on her four legs. The Jaguar stopped suddenly with a loud scream of its wheels. The driver got out. ‘Are you OK’ he asked.

‘Never better, thank you,’ said Catwoman, as she jumped into his car and drove off.

Laurel Hedare was giving pots of Beau-line to female reporters.

‘After they’ve started using this, they won’t be able to stop,’ she was thinking. ‘And I’ll make lots of money.’ She smiled to herself.

‘Excuse me, Mrs Hedare.’ Lone appeared from nowhere. ‘Have you got a moment? I’d like to ask you a few more questions.’

Laurel felt cold but she smiled. ‘Yes, of course, Detective Lone. Please excuse me, everyone.’ She walked with Lone to her office.

‘I saw Catwoman with a gun and my husband’s dead body on the floor,’ Laurel said. ‘There were claw cuts all over him.’

‘But there weren’t any claw cuts on Slavicky’s body,’ said Lone. ‘And Catwoman didn’t have a reason to kill either Hedare or Slavicky.’

He remembered Patience’s explanation at the police station. And there was something about Laurel Hedare that he didn’t like. He decided to test her.

‘I know who really killed your husband,’ he said. ‘I know about Beau-line too. And I’ve got proof. It was you.’

‘Me? Well, if you’ve got proof, why haven’t you arrested me’ she asked.

‘You’re a rich woman. I thought perhaps you would pay me for my silence,’ he replied.

She looked at him coolly. ‘How much do you want’ she asked.

‘You’ve just given me the only thing that I want. You’ve just told me that it was you.’

Laurel took a gun out of the desk. She pointed it at Lone. Lone tried to take out his gun but Laurel was too quick for him.

Bang went her gun. The bullet hit him in the shoulder. He dropped his gun and fell against the wall.

‘Don’t be stupid,’ he shouted. ‘You don’t want to kill a policeman.’

‘Don’t I’ she said. She hit him across the face and he fell to the floor.

‘Now I’m going to kill you.’ She pointed the gun at his head.

Suddenly there was a hiss and a whip cracked. The gun flew from Laurel’s hand. Catwoman jumped into the room.

‘Did you really think that you’d win’ she asked. ‘Well, think again.’

She helped Lone to get up and walked with him to the door. She didn’t see the gun on the floor.

As soon as they had left, Laurel ran over to the desk and picked up the phone. ‘Come up here,’ she shouted. ‘Now!’

It was time to kill Lone and Catwoman.