James Chase - Strictly For Cash

“He’s bleeding!”

She ran into the bathroom and came back with a bath-towel and did something I couldn’t have done. She caught hold of his long, chalk-white hair, lifted his head and slid the towel under it.

There was blood on her hands when she stood up, and I looked at the red stains in horror.

“Johnny!”

“I’ve killed him!”

“Pull yourself together!” Her voice was sharp. “No one knows but you and I. This is what I’ve been praying for.”

I remembered Reisner had said the same thing when he had heard Wertham was dead. Some prayers to have! That made them a pair.

“But they’ll find out,” I said. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

She came up to me.

“Don’t be a fool! Can’t you see this is what we want? This is the set-up! He’s dead, and we can take over. There’s no one to stop us now!”

I stared at her. There was a ruthless look of triumph in her black, glittering eyes, and her scarlet lips were parted. There was no fear in that hard, lovely face: only triumph, and a suppressed and violent excitement.

I grabbed hold of her arm and shook her.

“It’s you who’re the fool!” I shouted at her. “We’ve killed him — you and I! They’ll come after us! They’ll catch us and they’ll fry us! Don’t you think you’re going to get away with this! You’re not! Maybe we can hide the body for an hour or so, but they’ll find him...”

She put her hand over my mouth.

“Sit down, Johnny, and be quiet. It’s going to be all right. Keep your nerve: that’s all you have to do. I know how to handle this. It’s going to be all right.”

I sat down, my back to Reisner’s body. All right, I admit it. I was in a bad way. I had killed a man, and it was like taking a punch in the belly.

“What are you going to do?” I managed to jerk out.

“Look at his face. Doesn’t that tell you what to do?”

I couldn’t look at his face.

“What are you getting at? You make me sick! Haven’t you a spark of feeling? How can you look at his face?”

She came around the bed to stand in front of me.

“Perhaps I’ve more guts than you, Johnny. Aren’t the stakes worthwhile? He was going to shoot us! You killed him in self-defence. Why should you care about him?”

“It’s murder! It’s something that’s going to live with me! It’s something that’ll poison my whole goddamn life!”

“In a week you’ll have forgotten he ever existed. But if you don’t pull yourself together and help me, we’ll both go to the chair. Can’t you see that, you poor, frightened booby?”

Slowly I turned and looked at him. He was still a horrible sight, with the splinter of glass in his eye and his face smashed and bloody.

She bent over him and gently pulled out the glass. It was the most gruesome thing I’d ever watched. I couldn’t look away, and the horror of it brought me out into an ice-cold sweat.

She squatted back on her heels, the splinter of glass between her finger and thumb, and looked at the battered dead face, her brows drawn down in a frown of concentration.

“He could have been mauled by an animal,” she said softly. “And that’s what they are going to think.” She glanced up. “Don’t you see the way out, Johnny? All we have to do is to drop him into the lion’s pit. It’s as simple as that. He feeds them. He even goes into their cages. Sooner or later there was bound to be an accident. Everyone knows the risks he took. Hame knows, and that’s important. They won’t think anything of it if we don’t make mistakes. It’s fool-proof.”

I could only sit and stare at her.

“You mean you’ve just thought that up?”

“Why not? You have only to look at him to see it’s the way out.”

Spider’s legs ran up my spine. She was incredible. The moment she was in a jam, her brain devised a way out. Wertham hadn’t been cold before she had thought up how she could use me to gain control of the casino. Reisner hadn’t stopped bleeding before she had a fool-proof idea to explain away his death. And it was fool-proof if we could only get him to the pit without anyone seeing us. She just wasn’t human.

“It’s all right, isn’t it, Johnny?”

She looked up at me, her black eyes glittering, her fingers blood-stained, and she was like a lovely, gruesome ghoul.

“Yes, it’s all right if no one sees us.” Already I was beginning to breathe more freely, and my heart eased off its violent hammering. “We can’t do it until after dark.”

“No. Stand up and let me look you over. Show me your hands.” Her examination was searching and thorough, but finally she satisfied herself I had no blood on my clothes. “You’re all right. Now, listen: go out into the grounds and be seen. Go and play a round of golf. If you can get someone to play with you, so much the better. Don’t come back until midnight. If anyone asks you where Reisner is, tell them he’s with me, and we’re not to be disturbed.”

“Golf? Do you think I could play golf with this on my mind?” I was almost yelling at her. “Are you crazy? Haven’t you a spark of feeling?”

“It’s you who are crazy. If you can’t play golf, have a swim or walk around or go to the bar! Do anything you damn well please, but get out of here and let them see you! You’ve got to keep them away from here. That’s your job. You’ve got to make them think he and I are too busy to be disturbed. Get a grip on yourself. Play this wrong, and we’re sunk!”

I drew in a deep breath.

“And what are you going to do?”

The awful little smile I had seen when she was a split second away from shooting me flickered across her mouth.

“I’m staying here — with him. I’m making sure no one gets in and finds him. That’s what I’m going to do.”

“You’ve got nine hours of it.”

“That won’t kill me. I’ve things to think about. You don’t think I’m scared to be alone with him, do you? He’s dead. I’m not squeamish, even if you are. I’ve got my life to plan.”

I longed to get away from that ghastly room, from her, from him. I wouldn’t have stayed with that battered body for nine hours for all the money in the world.

I moved to the door.

“And, Johnny...”

I paused.

“What is it?” Out of the corner of my eye I could see his white and brown shoes and his gaudy yellow socks. I hurriedly looked away.

“We have to trust each other, Johnny,” she said, as still as a statue. “Don’t lose your nerve and run away. You might be tempted, but don’t do it. If you did I couldn’t cover this up. I must have your help. So don’t run away.”

“I’m not going to run away.”

“You might be tempted. A nine-hours’ start is tempting, but if you did bolt I’d have to tell Hame it was you who killed him, and Hame would believe it.”

“I’m not going to run away,” I said, and my voice was a croak.

She came to me and put her arms around my neck, and I felt a shudder run through me at her touch.

“You still love me, don’t you, Johnny? It’s going to be all right. It’s going to work out the way we planned. We’re set up for life now.”

All I could think of was that her fingers, stained with his blood, were touching the back of my neck. I wanted to shove her away from me, but I didn’t because I knew she was as dangerous as a rattlesnake, and there was nothing to stop her going to Hame and pinning the murder on me. So I kissed her, and the touch of her hot, yielding lips made me feel sick, and the sight of him lying there with his head wrapped in the towel made me feel even sicker.

“I’ll be waiting for you,” she said, her face against mine. “Keep your nerve, Johnny. It’s going to be all right.”