Джеймс Чейз - There’s Always A Price Tag

Then, just as I was getting over that shock, I ran into another for, looking across the kitchen to the half-open door, I saw Helen standing in the doorway, her cold, beautiful face set and white and her green eyes glittering. I saw she had a .25 automatic in her hand which she was pointing at Marian.

‘Wait!’ I said in a forced whisper. ‘Don’t move.’

She looked across at me, then at Marian who was now methodically putting the bottles back on the top of the cabinet.

I swung my leg over the window-sill and slid into the kitchen. ‘She’s walking in her sleep,’ I said. ‘Don’t wake her.’

Helen lowered her gun hand. She drew in a long, slow breath. I could see her breasts rising and falling under the oyster-coloured wrap.

I circled the room until I reached her.

‘She’s seen inside,’ she said softly.

‘She’s asleep.’

‘I don’t care. We’ve got to get rid of her!’

‘Keep your voice down. We mustn’t wake her.’

We stood away from the door and watched Marian replace the bottles. It took her some time, but finally she put the last bottle in place. She had put the bottles back exactly as she had found them. If I hadn’t seen her move them, I wouldn’t have known they had been touched.

Then she turned and walked slowly to the door, turned off the light, switched on her flashlight and went down the passage. We stood in the darkness, listening. We heard her mount the stairs. A few seconds later, we heard a door close quietly.

I reached out and put on the light.

‘She saw him!’ Helen said fiercely. ‘She’ll remember. We’ll have to silence her.’

There was a vicious, murderous expression in her green eyes that shocked me.

‘She was sleepwalking,’ I said. ‘She won’t remember. She didn’t even see him. She went through the motions of opening the cabinet, but she wouldn’t know what was in it.’

‘How do you know? It would be safer if she met with an accident.’

‘Are you crazy?’ I faced her. ‘That’s the last thing that’s going to happen. If there’s a death here before they find Dester, we’ll be in trouble.’

‘Not the way I’d arrange it. I’d take her up on the roof and push her off. We could always say she was walking in her sleep.’

Her cold-blooded, matter-of-fact tone chilled me.

‘I said no, and I mean no. She won’t remember. I’m sure she won’t.’

She studied me, her face had a scraped bony look to it that made it seem as if it were chiselled out of stone.

‘You want to keep her alive because you’re in love with her,’ she said. ‘Well, I’m not going to endanger our plan because you’ve happened to fall in love with the little fool. I’m going to silence her.’

I reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulders, forcing her against the wall.

‘I warn you: if you touch her I’ll tell the police where he is! I mean it! You leave her alone or you’ll never get the money!’

She wrenched free from my grip, her face white, her eyes on fire.

‘All right, if you must act like a fool, then act like one, but you’ll be sorry!’

She side-stepped me and went quickly out of the kitchen and up the stairs. For a long moment I stood looking after her then, when I heard her bedroom door click to, I went up to Marian’s room. I listened outside the door then, hearing nothing, I gently eased the door open and looked in.

The moonlight fell directly across the bed. I could see Marian as she lay with her head on the pillow. Moving quietly into the room, I stood at the foot of the bed, looking down at her.

She slept restlessly, murmuring and moving her head to and fro. Then suddenly she opened her eyes and lifted her head. She stared at me, catching her breath in a soft, strangled scream.

‘It’s all right,’ I said quickly. ‘It’s only me.’

She sat up, pulling the bedclothes up in front of her, her eyes alarmed.

‘I just wanted to see if you were all right,’ I went on. ‘You’ve been walking in your sleep.’

‘Have I? You frightened me,’ she said, and relaxed back on the pillow. ‘I’ve been walking in my sleep?’

‘Yes. I saw a light on in the kitchen. I came over. You were taking all those bottles off the top of the deep-freeze.’

I watched her closely as I was speaking, but her face showed only surprise and bewilderment.

‘I did dream about the cabinet. I was worried about the water in it. You said because I turned off the motor.’

I drew in a long, deep breath. It was all right. She hadn’t seen him. She couldn’t speak like this if she had.

‘You silly kid, there was nothing to worry about. I told you it doesn’t thaw out for at least four hours. You gave me a scare. I thought it was a burglar.’

‘I’m sorry. I haven’t walked in my sleep for months.’

‘Well, don’t do it again. I didn’t mean to frighten you, but I wanted to see if you were all right.’

She looked up at me, her eyes bright, a faint flush on her face.

‘I’m all right.’

I came around the side of the bed. She smiled up at me and held out her hand. I took it, then I bent and kissed her. For a long moment our lips remained together, then I drew back.

‘Go to sleep, kid.’

‘All right. Good night, Glyn.’

I went out of the room and closed the door. As I walked down the passage, I felt I was treading on air.

I had no chance of seeing Marian alone during Friday and Saturday: Helen saw to that. She got Marian to turn out the guest bedrooms, a job that kept her upstairs for most of the two days.

On Friday afternoon, Helen and I continued to work on the plan. She was smart enough to spot the falling off of my enthusiasm.

‘What’s the matter?’ she asked as she lay back in the lounging chair in my sitting room. ‘Are you getting scared or are you trying to make up your mind whether you can have Marian as well as the money?’

She had put her finger right on the spot.

‘She’s no use to you,’ she went on as I didn’t say anything. ‘If you continue to make a fool of yourself, you’ll regret it.’

‘Will you mind your own business?’ I snapped at her. ‘I’m not scared and I’m going through with this, so shut up!’

She gave me a jeering smile and shrugged her shoulders.

We were all set to go. Everything now depended on the fall of the cards. If we didn’t run into a State trooper, have a breakdown or meet someone at the wrong time, we would be all right, but we did have to have some luck.

‘I think, that covers it,’ I said after we had gone over the plan for the third time. ‘Don’t forget, you will have to give your statement to the police after I have given mine. Don’t add any details. Stick to what we have arranged. Don’t let them rattle you.’

She stared at me with her cold, hard eyes. ‘They won’t rattle me. You watch it they don’t rattle you.’

‘I’ll watch it.’

She got to her feet.

‘Marian has some sewing to do for me tonight,’ she said as she moved to the door. ‘So don’t wait in for her.’

I didn’t argue.

In a way I was glad not to see Marian. I was edgy, and the thought of Sunday sat on my mind like a lead weight. I had an idea that she might realize I had something on my mind. I knew after Sunday night I would have the police in my hair and I would also have Maddux to cope with. Right now I could walk past a cop without seeing him. But after Sunday, a cop would be a lot more than a hunk of beef in a blue uniform.

I spent Friday night at a dance hall, dancing with one of the hostesses. If the cops checked up on my activities I wanted them to know I was just a regular guy. Saturday dragged by. I saw Marian for a few seconds, but Helen was with her. We exchanged glances and I noticed she gave me a second, sharper look. Maybe I was already beginning to show the strain.