James Chase: Fast Buck

You’ll find that out, too. Of course it won’t be a permanent thing. I don’t think the chap will last much more than five or six years at the rate he’s spending his money. But you and I will be able to feather our nests pretty well by then.’

‘I’m glad you’ve got a job, Adam. I hope you’ll be very successful, and have a lot of pickings.’

He looked at her slim back suspiciously.

‘I’ll take good care I am successful,’ he said shortly. ‘But never mind about me. I told him you’d cal at his hotel tomorrow and have lunch with him. Naturally he’s anxious to get to know you as soon as possible.’

‘I’m sorry to disappoint him, but I won’t be able to go,’ Eve said, still with her back turned.

‘But you can’t have anything more important to do than to see him,’ Gil is said sharply. ‘You must go.’

She turned then, and he was startled to see how white she was, and how her eyes glittered.

‘Do you realise what you are suggesting?’ she asked, in a cold, level ed voice. ‘Do you realise this man’s coloured?’

‘Now, please don’t be ridiculous,’ Gil is said. ‘The Rajah’s a high-born gentleman. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge.’

‘That doesn’t make the slightest difference to me. Anyway, even if he wasn’t coloured, the answer’s still no. I’m going back to the Fol ies. I’ve had enough of this kind of life.’

‘My dear girl, I doubt if the Follies would have you. There’ll be a hell of a scandal when the press hear Kile’s been arrested. I can’t imagine the Follies will want the discarded mistress of a jail-bird decorating their theatre.’

She looked away, biting her lip, her hands clenched into tight fists.

‘Now, look, do be sensible, Eve,’ Gil is said, pressing his advantage. ‘See the Rajah tomorrow. He’s got a lot of charm. He won’t rush you. Maybe on the boat you’l be expected to do your job, but certainly not until you get on the boat.’

‘You’d better go, Adam,’ she said, without looking at him.

He stared at her, startled.

‘What do you mean?’

‘What I say. I don’t want to see you again. I’ve been trying to make up my mind to end our sordid association for weeks, but I’ve never had the courage. But I have now. There was a time, Adam, when I loved you. I was ready to do anything for you, but you’ve killed all that. Looking at you now, I can’t understand why I have been such an utter fool. Well, I’m glad you’ve got a job. I’m glad you’re going to India. We needn’t meet again. I sincerely hope we don’t.’ She turned back to the window. ‘Please go now.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, Eve,’ Gil is said, with an uneasy laugh, ‘You don’t mean it. As soon as I get home you’ll cal me up as you always do. Let’s get down to earth. This is a chance of a lifetime for both of us.’

‘Will you please go?’

There was something in her voice that made him realise suddenly that she meant what she said. He experienced a sick, empty feeling of rage.

‘Now, look here, Eve,’ he said, his voice sharpening, ‘this has gone far enough! You can’t do this to me! You’ve just got to do what I tel you. I won’t get the job if you don’t. It is because the Rajah wants you, he’s giving me the job. Don’t you understand? I don’t mind telling you he was livid with me because I let Baird trick me. He wouldn’t believe it wasn’t my fault. If I hadn’t thought of you, he was going to prosecute me. I’ve signed one or two of his blasted cheques, and he’s found out. He could send me to jail, Eve! Don’t you understand? It was only because I promised you’d be nice to him, he’s withdrawn the charges. You’ve got to…’

‘Get out!’ Eve said, turning. ‘I never want to see you again!’

‘Oh, no!’ Gil is said, his face flushing, ‘you’re not going to talk to me like this. I’ll go when I damn well want to. You’re going to listen to me or you’ll be sorry!’

‘If you don’t get out I’ll cal the janitor and have you thrown out!’

‘You won’t!’ Gil is snarled, turning from red to white. ‘What you want is a damn good hiding! You’ll get it too if you don’t do what I tel you. I’m not going to lose a perfectly good job because you’re suddenly squeamish about the colour of a man’s skin. That cat won’t jump.’

‘There’s a name they call men like you,’ Eve said quietly, ‘and it isn’t a pretty one.’ She walked over to the telephone. ‘Are you going?’

‘No, I’m not!’ Gil is said, and started around the table towards her. ‘I’ve warned you. Put that phone down or you’ll be sorry.’

Eve hurriedly began to dial the janitor’s number. Gil is reached her and wrenched the phone out of her hand. She gave him a violent and heavy slap across his face.

Not knowing quite what he was doing, but too viciously furious to think or care, Gillis snatched up the whisky bottle and smashed it down on top of her head.

Baird sat at the wheel of the Packard, driving with one hand. His left arm hung uselessly at his side. It was swollen now to twice its normal size, and the forearm was black and green.

Sweat ran off him as if he had had a sponge of water squeezed over him. His body shook with extreme rigor, and every muscle ached. He drove the car automatically along the broad highway. Only his will-power kept him upright at the wheel.

At that hour — it was three o’clock in the morning — there was no traffic on the road, and he could keep the car moving without having to slow down or manipulate the gears.

He had long lost all sense of time. He knew he was dangerously ill. He knew, too, his arm was so badly infected that he would probably lose it. He had decided to die rather than stop and seek help.

Somehow he had managed to carry Hater from the police launch to where he and Rico had hidden the car. He had dumped Hater on the floor of the car, behind the driving seat, and had covered him with a blanket. Then he had changed his wet camouflage suit, taking a change of dry clothes from the suitcase.

He now wore his jacket slung cape-wise over his shoulders, as he had found it impossible to get his coat sleeve over his swollen arm.

He had set out for the long drive to the shooting-lodge. It was during the drive the fever that had taken hold of him became worse. He felt hot and cold in turns, and he began to shiver violently. When it came to the time to turn off the highway to the back roads that would take him to the shooting-lodge, his mind couldn’t cope with the change of direction. The broad highway out of Louisiana seemed now so uncomplicated and easy to drive on that he gave up the idea of going to the shooting-lodge.

It suddenly occurred to him that he was dying, and he was seized by an obsession to see Anita Jackson before he died. The attraction he had felt for the girl now dominated his mind, and it was this obsession to see her again that gave him the strength to stay at the wheel.

Hour after hour passed. He stopped only for gas, pulling up at isolated service stations, and getting away again as soon as the tank was filled, without leaving the car.

He was beyond noticing the curious looks the service station attendants gave him. Those who were able to get a good look at him were startled by his ravaged face and sickened by the putrefying stench that came from his arm. They stared after the car, wondering if they should report what they had seen to the police, but finally deciding it wasn’t their business.

Baird had forgotten Hater. His mind was confused by his raging fever, and he couldn’t remember what he was doing on this broad highway, or even how he had injured his arm. Anita’s face floated before his eyes as he drove and sustained him, giving him the will to keep the car moving.