A. Fair - The Bigger They Come

I slipped in through the door, closed it behind me and snapped the bolt.

‘The package,’ she asked. ‘How about it? Did you get rid of it?’

I nodded.

She said, ‘You shouldn’t have come back here.’

‘I had to talk with you,’ I said.

She put her hand on my shoulder. ‘Oh, I’m so frightened,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what it means. Do you suppose that Morgan — that Alma—’

I slipped my arm around her waist and said, ‘Take it easy, Sandra.’

That arm seemed to be the signal she was waiting for. She insinuated her body up close to mine. Her eyes looked into mine. ‘Donald,’ she said, ‘you must help me.’

And then she kissed me.

She may have had other things on her mind. Probably there was plenty to worry her, but it didn’t interfere with that kiss. There was nothing sisterly or platonic about it.

After a moment she held her head back so she could look into my eyes. ‘Donald,’ she said, ‘I’m depending on you.’ Then before I had a chance to say anything, she said, ‘Oh, Donald, you’re such a dear. It’s such a comfort to me, knowing that I have you to depend on.’

‘Hadn’t we,’ I suggested, ‘better get my mind on our work?’

‘Oh, Donald, you will help me, won’t you?’

‘What do you suppose I came back for?’ I asked.

She was smoothing my hair back with the tips of her fingers. ‘I feel so much better already,’ she said. ‘I feel that I can trust you, Donald. I’ve felt that way from the first. I’d do anything for you, Donald. There’s something about you that—’

‘I want some money,’ I said.

She stopped. ‘You want what?’

‘Money.’

‘What do you mean money?’

‘Currency,’ I said. ‘Lots of it.’

‘Why Donald, I gave Mrs. Cool a retainer.’

‘Unfortunately,’ I said, ‘Mrs. Cool hasn’t joined any of the Share-the-Wealth movements— At any rate, not as we go to press.’

‘But you’re working for her, aren’t you?’

‘I thought you wanted me to work for you,’ I said. ‘Perhaps I misunderstood you.’

‘But, Donald, she’s working for me, and you’re working for her.’

‘All right,’ I said. ‘Have it your own way.’

She slowly pushed herself back so that the warmth of her body was no longer perceptible through my clothes. ‘Donald,’ she said, ‘I don’t understand you.’

‘All right,’ I said. ‘I thought perhaps you would. It’s my mistake. I’ll go hunt up Bertha Cool.’

‘How much money would you want?’ she asked.

‘Lots of it.’

‘How much?’

‘When you hear how much,’ I said, ‘it’s going to knock the props out from under you.’

‘But why do you want it?’

‘For expenses.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I’m going to take the rap,’ I said.

‘Donald, tell me what you mean.’

I said, ‘Bertha Cool’s got funny ideas. She thinks she can use Bleatie as a red herring and blame this on him simply because Bleatie can’t be found. She might have done just that if it had been a simple bedroom killing. The way the cards stack up now, it can’t be done. A Kansas City police officer was killed. You know how cops feel about people who shoot police officers. They don’t like it.’

‘What do you mean, you’re going to take the rap, Donald?’ she asked, her eyes shrewd and calculating as she searched my face.

‘I mean I’m going the whole hog,’ I said. ‘I’m going to give you both an out. I’m going to say I shot him, but I’ve got to do it in my way.’

‘But, Donald, they’ll hang you,’ she said.

‘They won’t hang me.’

‘But, Donald, you can’t. You wouldn’t be willing to. You couldn’t be—’

‘We can either waste time arguing about it,’ I said, ‘or we can do something about it. Those cops didn’t take you into custody because they decided they didn’t have enough on you; and a smart lawyer could get you loose. So they figured they’d give you plenty of rope and see just how you’d go about hanging yourself. They also wanted to see what other fish would get drawn into the net. As soon as they get back and report to police headquarters they’ll have this apartment sewed up so tight not even a cockroach could get out without being picked up and shadowed and classified. Do you want to wait for that?’

‘Of course I don’t.’

‘I don’t either. I want to get out before that happens. That means just about now.’

I started for the door. ‘How much do you want, Donald?’

‘Three thousand dollars.’

‘Three what?’ she cried.

‘Thousand,’ I said. ‘Three grand. I want it now.’

‘Donald, you talk as though you were crazy.’

‘You act as though you were,’ I said. ‘This is your only out. I’m giving it to you. Do you want it, or don’t you?’

‘How do I know I can trust you?’ she asked.

I wiped lipstick off my lips and said, ‘You don’t know.’

‘I’ve been betrayed lots of times by men whom I’ve trusted.’

‘How much did Morgan leave in those safety deposit boxes?’ I asked.

‘He didn’t have any.’

‘They were in your name. It won’t be long until the police sew those up too.’

She laughed then, and said, ‘Do I look as though I was born yesterday?’

‘I suppose,’ I observed, ‘you went out and stripped the boxes, and thought you were being smart. By the time the prosecuting attorney gets finished with that, it’ll make a swell motive for murder.’

I could see startled realization in her eyes.

‘And if you happen to have that money on you,’ I said, ‘you’re just crazy, because every move you make from now on is going to be shadowed. Sooner or later the police are going to take you down to jail and a great big broad-hipped matron is going to take all your nice clothes off and search your pretty little body. While that’s going on, detectives will be searching the apartment. What do you think of that?’

‘Donald, they wouldn’t!’

‘They’re going to.’

She said, ‘It’s in a money belt on me.’

‘How much?’ I asked.

‘Lots.’

I said, ‘You don’t dare to ditch it all, Sandra. You’d better leave some money, a hundred or two, in the money belt so they won’t realize you’ve slipped one over on them. As far as the rest is concerned, you can do either one of two things. You can either trust it to me, knowing that I may go south with it; or you can split it up in a lot of letters, address those letters to yourself at general delivery, and drop them in the mail chute. You’d better do something quick.’

It took her about five seconds to make up her mind. During those five seconds she stood staring at me, her head slightly on one side. I stood still. She looked at me and I met her look. Then she unsnapped buttons at the side of her skirt, slipped it down and fumbled with buckles — it wasn’t exactly a money belt. It was a money corset. She handed it to me. I couldn’t get it around me. I loosened my belt, shoved it down along my back, and pinched my belt tight.

‘God knows why I’m doing this,’ she said. ‘I’m putting myself absolutely in your power. I’m stripping myself of everything.’

I said, ‘Just one thing— Give Alma a square deal and I’ll give you a square deal. I’m doing this for her.’

‘Not for me?’ she asked, pushing out her lips in a little pout.

‘No,’ I said. ‘For Alma.’

‘Oh, Donald, I thought it was because you―’

‘Well, think again,’ I said, and stepped out into the corridor, pulling the door shut behind me.

I’d got as far as the head of the stairs when she opened the door and screamed, ‘Donald, come back here!’