James Chase - Strictly For Cash

Did it? Maybe it did, but I wasn’t going to admit it.

“That doesn’t come into it.”

“Are you sure? It would be easy. He could fix Hame. You’d be surprised what Hame does for money.”

“But not murder. You don’t kid me he’d cover up murder.”

“I didn’t say murder. I said an accident.”

I got up and began to move restlessly about the room.

“What’s on your mind, Della? All day you’ve been hinting at something. Let’s have it.”

“I haven’t been hinting at anything. I’ve been showing you a kingdom you can inherit. Hasn’t it sunk into your head yet the casino and the rake-off from Bay Street are yours for the taking? Yours and mine? Can’t you see that?”

“No, I can’t. What are you getting at?” Looking at the intent, set expression on her face I suddenly felt my mouth go dry.

“With me behind you, Johnny, you could run this place. Between us we could clean up a fortune. Do you really think I’m so cockeyed as to imagine Reisner would let us walk off with the reserve?”

I was getting rattled now, and I came and stood over her. “But that was the idea, wasn’t it? That’s why you brought me here!”

“That’s what I told you,” she said, and swung her legs off the divan and stood up. “I wanted you to see the set-up. It was a bait to bring you here. Well, you’ve seen it. Haven’t you the itch to take it? And you can. You can take over right away — if you have the guts.”

I lit a cigarette. My hands were unsteady: whether from excitement or fear I didn’t know.

“So there’s no half million?”

“Of course there is. That goes with the casino, but we can’t walk off with it. Take over the casino and you take over the reserve.”

“And Reisner? What’s he supposed to do? Welcome me with open arms? Dust off his desk chair for me? A moment ago you said he was going to put a bullet in me.”

“I said if you had the guts, Johnny. Reisner must meet with an accident.”

Well, it was out now. At the back of my mind I had known this was coming. The way she had talked all the morning pointed to it, but I had refused to believe it. Now the cards were on the table, face up.

I stubbed out my cigarette, not looking at her.

“Get rid of Reisner,” she went on as calmly as if she were discussing the weather, “and the casino and Bay Street automatically fall into our laps. By the time Ricca tries to move in it’ll be too late. Once we get our hands on the reserve and books, he’ll have to make a deal with us. We’ll keep Lincoln Beach. He can have Los Angeles, and Levinsky can have Paris. Then we’re set for life.” She moved closer. I could smell the perfume in her hair. Her hands slid up to my shoulders while she looked into my eyes. “What are you going to do about it, Johnny?”

I knew right away what I was going to do about it. She had made one mistake, and she didn’t know it. She was certain she had sunk her hook in too deep to come out, but she hadn’t. All right, I was sold on the place. The idea of taking control of a set-up like this was something that got me by the throat, but not at that price.

“You talk about an accident,” I said, “but it won’t be an accident: it’ll be murder.”

She continued to look at me, her face as set and as cold as granite.

“It’s your life or his, Johnny. As soon as he finds out you’re not Ricca he’s coming for you with a gun. You’ve got to get in first. That’s not murder: it’s self-defence.”

I shook my head.

“Don’t let’s kid ourselves. It’s murder.”

She moved away from me and walked over to the window.

“This is what we tell Hame,” she said, her back to me. “Reisner has been dipping into the reserve. We came down to check the books. He is caught, and he knows it. There’s no out for him, so what does he do? He walks to the window of his office and keeps walking. They find him lying on the terrace with a broken neck.”

“Do you think Hame would believe that? Reisner’s not the suicide type.”

“He would believe it. It would cost money, but he’d believe it. Use your head, Johnny. The casino is yours if you’ve got the nerve to take it. All you have to do is to give Reisner a push. That’s not asking much, is it?”

“It’s murder,” I said. “And I’m not touching it. I don’t care how much it pays off. It’s murder.”

She sat on the divan and held out her hand to me.

“Come and sit down,” she said. “Don’t look at me like that. You love me, don’t you?”

I didn’t move.

“We’ll leave love out of it,” I said. “Look, maybe I am only a third-rate fighter, but I hope I’m not a dope. You worked this out ten seconds after you found Wertham was dead, didn’t you? You knew unless you could get rid of Reisner you were sunk. Someone had to kill him, and you picked on me. You thought all you had to do was to show me this place, give me a car and throw yourself in as a make-weight, and I’d take murder in my stride. Well, you’re wrong. I can only hope you don’t realize what it means to commit murder. It’s a thing you live with for the rest of your life. Maybe you haven’t thought of it like that. I hope you haven’t. Even if we could fix Hame, we have still ourselves to live with, and every now and then the thought will drop into our minds we killed Reisner, and that thought will poison any happiness we can get out of this place. We’ll never know if Hame will continue to keep his mouth shut. He’ll have us on a spot for the rest of our days. He’ll want more money and more power as he gets used to the idea. It won’t be long before he’ll want to run the casino himself. He might even do a deal with you. He might pin the murder on me and take my place. Oh, no, I’m not getting into a jam like that. I’m not all that crazy. Murder is out! I’m not doing it: not for you nor the casino nor for all the money in Lincoln Beach!”

She sat still, watching me while I talked, her face expressionless, her eyes hot and intent.

“You don’t really believe that, Johnny,” she said, and got up. “It’s not true.” She came over to me and put her hands on my arms, looking up at me. “I do love you. I didn’t give myself to you for any other reason except I love you. I couldn’t refuse you last night. I knew it was dangerous. I knew we were taking a risk that could ruin my plans, but I couldn’t refuse you.” Her arms went round my neck. “Oh, darling, I’m crazy about you. I’ve never felt like this before about any man. You must believe me! I know you’re right about Nick. But what are we to do?” She was clinging to me now, her face pressed against mine. “If we don’t get rid of him, he’ll get rid of us. Can’t you see that? We’ll have nothing. We’ll be lucky to get out of here with our lives. It’s he or us, Johnny. You must see that!”

I started to say something, but her mouth covered mine, and I felt her breath against the back of my throat. We stood like that for a long moment of time; my heart was hammering, blood pounded in my head.

“Johnny...”

She pressed herself against me. Her eyes were closed. Only she and I mattered at this moment; the rest of it, Reisner, the casino, the money and murder were a bad dream after you had wakened up.

My fingers sank into the hard, firm flesh above her hips. She gave a soft little moan and her mouth opened against mine.

“All right, break it up,” Reisner’s soft voice said from the doorway. “There’s a time and place for everything.”

I felt her shudder and stiffen, and she tore herself away from me with a strangled scream. Her face had gone blue-white like the colour of ice. I turned.

Reisner was standing just inside the room. His mouth was fixed in a stiff little smile, and the .45 automatic in his hand looked as big as a cannon.