Джеймс Чейз - You Never Know With Women

“They won’t pick me up. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“I’m sorry. Until I’ve fixed Gorman you must be somewhere where they can’t find you. You’re going to Mick’s place.”

“No.”

“That’s where you’re going, Veda.”

“I said no.”

We stared at each other. The spark we had guarded against so carefully was now in the powder.

“When I’ve fixed Gorman you’ll be as free as the air. That’s the way it’s going to be Veda, and you’d better make up your mind to it.”

“You want to murder me as well, don’t you?” Her voice was shrill.

That was something I hadn’t expected. She was full of surprises this morning.

“What are you talking about?”

“You want to murder me as you murdered Brett and Max.”

“Don’t start that again...”

The table was between us, otherwise I would have beaten her to the jump, but she got the .25 first. It was still on the mantel, and I’d forgotten about it. She snatched it up, whirled around and pointed it at me as I threw the table out of my way. The look on her face brought me to an abrupt stop. I was looking at a stranger: fierce, hard and dangerous.

“That’s how you planned it, isn’t it?” she cried. “First Brett, then Max, now me! You fooled me all right. I believed all that stuff about Gorman killing Brett until you killed Max. You cold-blooded brute! No one but a killer could have done what you did. He was defenceless; his hands were tied and he was asleep. How could you?” her voice shot up. “How could I ever trust you again? I’m in your way now, aren’t I? I know too much! Your precious friend, Casy, would keep me until you were ready to kill me. But not this time.”

“You’re crazy! I didn’t kill Brett!”

“Go on — say it! Tell me you didn’t kill Max either.” Her jeering little laugh set me raging. Then I let her have it.

“That’s right — I didn’t kill him. It was you! You — in your sleep. How do you like that? You — walking in your sleep — did it! I saw you!”

Contempt and loathing showed in her eyes.

“And to think I loved you! Boyd said you were a cheap crook, and you are. You’re worse than that — you’re despicable.”

“All right, I’m despicable.” I was shouting at her now. “But that’s how it happened! I wasn’t going to tell you, but you’ve asked for it! You went out there—”

“Do you think I believe it?” she screamed at me. “Do you think anyone would believe it? Only a dirty warped mind like yours could have thought up such an idea. You don’t frighten me! I’m through with you! Do you hear? I’m through with you!”

I stared at her, and suddenly my rage went from me. She was right. No one would believe a yarn like that. I shouldn’t have told her. I should have tried to have held on to what little respect and feeling she had had for me. It was too late now.

“Okay, forget it. Forget everything. You’ll need money. We’ll split what I got from Boyd. If you think you can look after yourself, go ahead and look after yourself.”

“I wouldn’t touch a nickel of yours. I despise you. Sit over there. If you make one suspicious move you’ll get it.”

“All right, if that’s how you feel. Do you think I give a damn?”

“Sit over there and keep quiet.”

I sat over there and kept quiet. Nothing seemed to matter at the moment. If the cops had walked in I’d have welcomed them.

She picked up the two bags in one hand. The .25 still covered me.

“I’m taking the car as far as the dirt road. If you want it, you’ll find it there.”

“Take it to hell and go with it!” I said, and turned my back on her.

The door slammed. I just sat there, feeling like hell. After a few minutes I heard the car start up. I ran to the door and looked out. The Buick was bumping over the grass towards the distant cart track. I could see her at the wheel. Her head was held high and there was a defiant tilt to her chin.

“Veda!”

She didn’t look back. I don’t know if she heard me, but I didn’t call again. The Buick gathered speed. I watched it for a long time until it was a tiny moving speck against the slope of the hills. When it disappeared I returned to the shack.

It was still early, not yet seven o’clock, and there was no heat in the sun. I felt cold. My first move was to the whisky bottle. As I picked it up I remembered it had been like this with every woman I’d known. As soon as they had walked out on me, I’d fly to the bottle. Well, it wasn’t going to be like that this time. I was through with making a dope of myself over a woman. I balanced the bottle in my hand. The label called it an aristocratic liquor, and it was, but that didn’t stop me. I threw the bottle across the room. It smashed against the wall and whisky sprayed over the floor and glass flew around like shrapnel.

I told myself I was going to cut Veda out of my life; and I meant it. I had a job to do. I was going after Gorman. I had money and a lot of rude health. I was tired of being chased by the cops. I was going after Gorman and I’d get him, providing the cops didn’t get Veda first. If they caught her, she’d talk. She wouldn’t bother to shield me now. I was sure of that. There was no time to waste.

I went into the inner room, packed my bag and had a last look round. There was plenty of evidence that we’d stayed here, but I had no time to cover our tracks. If anyone found the shack they’d know right off that it had been used as a hide-out, and it wouldn’t take long to guess who’d used it. Well, no one had found it up to now; maybe no one would find it when I’d gone.

There was nothing belonging to Veda, except the faint smell of her perfume. I was sentimental enough to look carefully in the hope of finding a memento, but I didn’t.

She had said she’d leave the Buick near the dirt road. The sooner I got down there the better. I’d have to risk driving the car to Mick’s place. There was nothing else for it. With a little luck, and knowing how dumb the Santa Medina cops were, I’d get through without being spotted.

And that’s how it worked out. I found the car a quarter of a mile from the dirt road, out of sight behind some trees. As I got in, I smelt her perfume. It gave me an odd, lonely feeling, but I nudged it out of my mind. She had left the ignition key in the glove compartment. I always thought she had a tidy mind. Driving along the Altadena road I caught myself staring at every woman I passed; none of them was Veda.

At Altadena I went into a drug store and put through a call to Mick. No one looked at me. No one started running. When Mick came on the line he sounded as if he’d just woken up. I told him I was coming in, that I didn’t think anyone would recognize me, and I was calling myself Frank Dexter.

“Can you get Lu to meet me with a car at the second crossroads? It’ll be safer if he handled the Buick.”

Mick said he’d fix it.

“I’ll be waiting for you Got the frail with you?”

“I’m on my own.”

He grunted and hung up. He was never a guy to ask questions: action first and talk after. It was a good policy.

Lu was sitting in the Cadillac when I arrived at the crossroads. He waved and smiled and seemed glad to see me.

“Still tired of life?” he asked, as he got into the Buick. “I thought you were in sunny Mexico by now. Where’s the blue-eyed babe? Don’t tell me you ditched her?”

“We parted,” I said shortly. “You’d better get going. This car’s hot.”

I drove the Cadillac into Santa Medina and the first person I saw was O’Readen. He was climbing the steps to Police Headquarters. He looked old and stooped and wasn’t smiling. He didn’t see me. It was odd running into him like that, but I didn’t bat an eyelid. I had taken a good look at myself in the mirror before leaving the shack. If I couldn’t recognize myself, how could he?