Джеймс Чейз - There’s Always A Price Tag

Marian said, ‘Yes, of course, Mrs. Dester.’

‘I expect he’ll be all right. I’m going up now.’

I returned to the bedroom. The time was seventeen minutes past ten. I wished now I had left a bottle of whisky in the room. I wanted a drink pretty badly.

I heard Helen come up the stairs. She entered the room, leaving the door open.

‘Can you manage, Erle?’ she asked in a loud, clear voice. ‘Let me help you with that.’

For a moment I stared stupidly at her, not realizing she was already into the act we had planned.

‘Get on with it, you fool!’ she whispered fiercely.

I pulled myself together.

‘I can manage,’ I mumbled, making my voice deep and indistinct.

‘The car’s at the door,’ she went on. ‘You don’t have to get fussed. There’s no one in the house except me.’

I mumbled again.

Helen pushed over the bedside table. It landed on the carpet with a thud. The glass of water and the bedside lamp smashed, adding to the noise,

‘Steady, darling,’ she said. ‘Look what you’ve done.’

I mumbled again.

We looked at the clock on the overmantel.

‘Yes,’ Helen whispered.

I put on the camel-hair coat and the hat, pulling the hat well down over my face. I turned up the collar of the coat. Helen looked critically at me, then nodded.

We moved to the door. I paused and mumbled again.

‘But, Erle, if I turn off the hall light, you may fall,’ she said, pitching her voice well up.

‘It hurts my eyes,’ I said without opening my lips.

She went to the head of the stairs and turned the two-way switch up. The main light in the hall went out, leaving on only the four wall lights.

‘Give me your arm, Erle.’

We started down the stairs. I walked heavily and slowly, dragging my feet. My heart was banging against my side. Would Marian recognize me? I hunched my shoulders and slightly bent my knees, attempting to disguise my height. We got down the stairs into the hall.

The front door stood open. I could see the Rolls under the porch light. Helen had parked the car so that the light from the porch lamp fell only on the back of the car.

We went slowly down the steps. I could almost feel Marian’s eyes watching us.

‘I’ll open the car door,’ Helen said.

I put a gloved hand on the side of the car as if to support myself while she opened the door. I got in and she shut the door.

Then she said, ‘I’ll just get your case. I won’t be a moment.’ She turned and went back into the house. I bent and pulled off Dester’s shoes, ready to slip into my own shoes as soon as she returned with the suitcase. I heard her speaking to Marian. Then she came out, closed the front door, ran down the steps, got in the car, slid the suitcase to me, started the engine and drove quickly down the drive. By the time we had reached the gates, I had changed my shoes and had wriggled out of the camel-hair coat. I got out of the car, took off Dester’s suit and took my suit that Helen handed to me through the car window. I struggled into it.

‘I’ll be as quick as I can,’ I said.

She turned off the car’s lights.

‘Don’t let her keep you.’

That was easier said than done, but I had to show myself to Marian: it was the vital part of my alibi. I ran up the drive and when I saw the lights of the house I slowed to a quick walk. I entered the hall and paused. Marian came out of the lounge.

‘You’ve got back?’ I made out I was surprised. ‘I thought you were going to be late. Where’s Mrs. Dester?’

‘She’s just gone.’

‘Gone? With Dester?’

‘Yes.’

‘Damn it! I was supposed to be here. I’ve had a hell of an evening. The Buick broke down. I’ve been all this time, trying to fix it. In the end I took a bus back. I promised Mrs. Dester I’d get back to give her a hand with Mr. Dester.’

I was aware that Marian was looking intently at me. There was a puzzled expression in her eyes.

‘Did he go off all right?’ I went on, stepping back into the shadows so she couldn’t get a good view of my face.

‘Yes. He’s only just gone. Didn’t you see the car?’

‘I must have just missed it.’ I took out my cigarette-case, then lit a cigarette. ‘Well, I’ve got to call the sanatorium and tell them he is on his way. Mrs. Dester didn’t call them, did she?’

‘I didn’t hear her.’

‘Look, you go to bed if you want to. I’ll phone from the garage apartment.’

‘Mrs. Dester said she wouldn’t be back before one o’clock,’ Marian said. ‘Won’t you stay with me for a little while, Glyn? I want to talk to you.’

That was just what I had been scared she would say.

‘Not tonight, kid. I’ve got to fix the car yet. As soon as I’ve talked to the sanatorium, I’m going back to where I left the car.’

‘I could come with you, Glyn. I don’t want to stay here alone.’

I felt a trickle of sweat run down my face.

‘Better not. She wouldn’t want the house left. You stay here, kid. No point in you coming.’

I tried not to overplay my hand, but I must have done it for a look of alarm jumped into her eyes.

‘Glyn! What is it? Why are you looking like this? Has something happened?’

Panic just below the surface nudged my temper.

‘For the love of mike! I’ve been trying to get that goddamn car to go!’ I said, aware I was shouting at her but not able to control my voice. ‘I’ve got to go back and get it going! I should have been here when Dester took off and you ask me if something has happened! Look, go to bed! Leave me to handle this, will you?’

She stepped back. I could see my vehemence had frightened and hurt her.

‘Yes, of course.’

She turned and went quickly up the stairs, and a moment later I heard her bedroom door shut.

I cursed.

If this was the way I was going to play my hand when I came up against the police and Maddux we were sunk.

Neither of us spoke until we were well clear of the house, then Helen said abruptly, ‘Did you have trouble with the girl?’

I was sitting beside her, sunk down in the seat, the wide-brimmed hat pulled well down over my eyes and the collar of the camel-hair coat turned up. I was still pretty rattled, and during the first quick rush down Hill Crest Avenue, I had been thinking of Marian, wondering what she was doing, wondering what she could be thinking.

‘It was okay,’ I lied. ‘She wanted convincing, but I did it.’

Helen looked sharply at me.

‘We could have trouble with her. Why had you to make a fool of yourself over her?’

‘Shut up!’ I snarled at her. ‘I handled her, and don’t drive so fast. Do you want a cop to come after us?’

She slowed down. ‘She could spoil this for us, Glyn. We may have to do something about her.’

‘I tell you I handled her! She loves me. She wouldn’t give me away.’

‘I’m not thinking of you. I’m thinking of myself. She doesn’t love me. I have an idea she doesn’t believe Erle was ever in that room.’

I felt a cold, spooky sensation run through me.

‘You’re crazy! She would have told me if she had thought that.’

‘Did she tell you?’

‘Of course not!’

Again she looked at me. In the light of the dashboard I could see the glitter in her eyes.

‘We made a mistake having her. I’m sure of it.’

‘We had to have her. Now shut up, will you? I’ve got things to think about.’

The highway was almost empty. Every now and then we overtook a big oil truck or a truck hauling oranges to San Francisco. We only met five or six private cars, and they were going flat out, heading towards Los Angeles.

Then Helen said suddenly, ‘There’s a speed cop behind us.’