James Chase - Well Now, My Pretty…

He watched her struggle out of her sleeping bag. She was wearing only bra and sky-blue panties. The sight of her as she stood up and stretched set his blood on fire. But he knew he was working himself up for nothing, and he looked away.

She went behind a bush to relieve herself, then came back, snapping the elastic of her panties.

“This I love,” she said bitterly. “Crouching behind a bush! What a way to live!”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, shut up!” Tom snarled. “Can’t you ever stop complaining?”

She squatted on her sleeping bag and sipped the coffee. After the first sip, she shuddered and threw the rest of the coffee into the shrubs.

“What did you put into it… earth?”

“What’s the matter with it?” Tom demanded, glaring. He had to admit the coffee tasted like hell. Probably he hadn’t waited for the water to boil, but he had made it… at least he had done that.

“The matter with it? Don’t make me laugh!” She reached for her slacks. “What do we do now? I want to get home.”

“Do you imagine you’re the only one?” Tom forced himself to finish his coffee although it made him feel slightly sick. “We’ll have to walk or do you want to wait here?”

“Wait here? Alone? I’m no t staying here on my own!”

“Well, okay, then you’ll have to walk.”

“If you imagine I’m going to walk five miles you need your head examined!”

He drew in an exasperated breath.

“Make up your stupid mind! You either stay or you walk! I’m going right now.”

She hesitated. At this moment the rising sun reflected on something close by that glittered. She looked at the glitter, her face puzzled, then she walked over to a high mass of dead branches and peered into the undergrowth.

“Tom! Here’s a car!”

“What are you yapping about now?” Tom said impatiently. He was putting on his windcheater.

“Look… a car!”

Maisky was lying at the mouth of the cave. He could see them now. His shaking hand gripped his .25 automatic. There was a dull, warning pain in his chest. Slowly, carefully, he lifted the gun.

Tom joined Sheila. Pulling aside some of the dead branches, he discovered Maisky’s Buick.

“What’s this doing here?” he said blankly.

Sheila dragged more dead branches away. They both stared at the car, then she said, “See if it will start.”

“We can’t do that. Someone’s hunting or something,” Tom said uneasily.

“See if it will start!” Sheila screamed at him.

Tom groped in his hip pocket and brought out a set of keys. As a G.M. agent, he always carried a master key for all of their cars. He unlocked the car door, slid under the driving wheel, sank the key into the ignition lock, turned it and put his foot down on the gas pedal. The engine fired.

“Well… talk about luck!” Sheila said. “Come on. We’ll borrow this and get home. Then you can get a new pump, come back here and fix our ruin.”

“We can’t do that! We could be arrested for stealing!”

“What a jerk you are! Okay, so the guy has to wait a couple of hours. So what? You can explain. You’re not stealing the car… you’re borrowing it.”

Tom hesitated, but he saw the sense in this. He got out of the Buick and walked down the path, out of the glade, to where his car was parked. He found in the glove compartment a pad of paper and a ball pen. He wrote:

I have broken down so I have had to borrow your car. I’ll be returning in two hours. Excuse me.

Tom Whiteside, 1123, Delpont Avenue, Paradise City.

That should keep him right with the Law, he thought as he fixed the note under his windshield. He hurried back to where Sheila was completing her toilet.

“All right,” he said. “Let’s go.”

She regarded him with that exasperated look of contempt that had so often made him squirm.

“Oh, boy! How bright can you be! Are you going to leave all the camping equipment in the car? Suppose some bum comes along and steals it? Are you going to pay for it, Mr. Cheapie?”

Tom hadn’t thought of this and it irritated him.

“Well, okay, okay.” He got into the Buick and started the engine.

Maisky tried to aim his gun at him, but in his weak, shaking hand, the gun barrel danced as if it were alive. He cursed as he lowered the gun. With murderous rage and sick frustration, he watched Tom back the Buick, turn it and then drive out of the glade.

Reaching his car, Tom pulled up. Both he and Sheila transferred all their clothes and the camping equipment on to the back seat of the

Buick. They were then left with the gas cooker which wouldn’t fit into the back of the car.

“Put it in the boot,” Sheila said impatiently. She got in the passenger’s seat of the buick and lit a cigarette.

Tom unlocked the boot and opened it. In the boot was a big cardboard carton with the initials I.B.M. painted in black letters on its side. He wondered vaguely what it contained, but as Sheila called to him to hurry up, for God’s sake, he put the cooker against the carton and slammed down the lid.

He got in the car and drove down the five-mile-long dirt road until they reached the Paradise City highway.

Sheila was relaxed now, her arm on the window frame of the car. This was the first time in months that she had been in a car that didn’t rattle and showed signs of power.

“Why don’t you get a better car?” she asked suddenly. “You work for these jerks. Why can’t they give you something better than our stinking ruin?”

“Just rest your mouth,” Tom said. “If I have anything more from you, I’ll go screwy.”

“Screwy? Who said you aren’t already screwy?”

“Oh, will you shut up!” Tom leaned forward and snapped on the radio. Anything to keep her quiet.

A voice was saying: “… the Casino robbery the night before last. Four of the wanted men are now accounted for, but the fifth, believed to be the ringleader, is still at large. The police are anxious to question Serg Maisky, alias Franklin Ludovick, who they think may help them with their inquiries. The description of the wanted man is as follows: age sixty-five, slimly built, height five foot seven inches, thin, sandy-coloured hair, grey eyes. He is thought to be driving a Buick coupe. The police believe he is in possession of a large cardboard carton with the initials I.B.M. painted on its sides. This carton may contain the two and a half million dollars taken from the Casino. Anyone seeing this man is asked to notify the police immediately. Paradise City 7777.”

The Buick swerved and a driver, overtaking, blasted his horn and cursed Tom as he stormed past.

“What are you doing?” Sheila demanded. “You could have had a smash,” then seeing his white face, she asked sharply, “What’s the matter?”

“Shut up!” Tom snapped, trying to control himself. He slowed the car, feeling cold sweat on his face. Had he heard aright? He thought of the big carton in the boot. He saw, again the initials I.B.M. painted on the box. Two and a half million dollars!

“You look as if you’ve swallowed a bee,” Sheila said, now worried. “What is it?”

He drew in a long, slow breath.

“Turn the radio off!”

She shrugged impatiently and snapped off the radio.

“What’s biting you?”

“I think this car belongs to the Casino robbers,” Tom said, his voice strangled. “The money is in the boot!”

Sheila stiffened, staring at him.

“Have you gone crazy?”

“There’s a carton in the boot with painted on it!”

Her eyes grew round.

“This could explain why the car was hidden,” Tom went on. “What the hell are we going to do?”

“Are you sure about the carton?”

“Of course, I’m sure… do you think I’m blind?”