Bill Pronzini: Vixen

Spread out on the desk in front of him were the P&L printouts Abby had left for him. He kept trying to tell himself they were full of discrepancies, misconceptions, but he knew they weren’t; Abby was too good a bookkeeper to make mistakes. The statements might as well have been printed in red ink. Drowning in it the past six months — the miserable goddamn economy. Orders and profits way down, creditors yammering for payment of overdue bills, accounts receivable not much more than two-thirds of the operating expenses and getting harder and harder to collect.

Projections for the next six months didn’t look much better. He’d had to lay off three workers this past year, might have to let another go pretty soon. Couldn’t afford to replace the extrusion machine that kept breaking down, and if it crapped out completely, they’d have trouble filling the orders that did come in. At the rate things were going, and without an infusion of cash, he might be able to keep Chaleen Manufacturing afloat another a year or so before his creditors and the fucking bank forced him into Chapter Eleven.

Maybe he should have listened to the old man’s advice. Don’t be too ambitious, don’t try to expand too soon, don’t overextend the profit margin. But Christ, the old man had always been dispensing advice like that, trying to mold him in his own tight-fisted, tight-assed image. Don’t throw your money around, Frank, don’t chase women, don’t gamble, don’t do this, don’t do that. And what had his conservative business practices and vanilla lifestyle gotten him? A heart attack and a hole in the ground at fifty-two without ever really having lived. That wasn’t Frank Chaleen’s way. Never had been, never would be.

Still, there was no denying the bind he was in now. Banks wouldn’t give him a new loan, not for any amount, not with all that red ink; he’d already been turned down half a dozen times. Nobody would float him a private loan, either, none of the rich bastards he’d met in his City Hall days — Vorhees had seen to that. Even Margaret had turned him down, and all he’d asked her for was fifty thousand. “You know I don’t believe in loaning money to anyone for any reason, Frank. And I won’t make an exception for you. You’re a wonderful lover but a poor businessman.” Bitch. She’d deserved what she got the other night—

No. He didn’t want to think any more about Margaret.

He shuffled the P&L statements together, banged the rose quartz paperweight down on the pile. Fifty thousand wouldn’t save the company, but it would’ve helped hold the wolves at bay a while longer — bought the new extrusion machine so the present production pace could be maintained, kept the bills more or less current until the economy finally started turning around. Fifty thousand. Cory’d promised she could get him that much out of Vorhees once she was married to the bugger, and there’d be a whole lot more when they figured a safe way to get rid of Vorhees and she inherited. She’d keep her promises, too; he wouldn’t have let her talk him into doing the things he’d done for her if he didn’t believe that.

Except that now all of a sudden everything was up in the air. That frigging Runyon and his boss. How the hell had they found out Cory was sleeping with him, too? That fit Vorhees had thrown at her last night, after those two put the bug in his ear... she said it could’ve been worse but it was bad enough. She’d played innocent, calmed him down, let him screw her again, but Vorhees wouldn’t be that easily satisfied. No telling what he might do, especially if he got a whiff that Margaret’s death wasn’t an accident. He could be a pit bull when he was crossed. Chaleen had learned that when he’d mistakenly decided to have a fling at city politics and worked on the bastard’s campaign for supervisor. Did those two private snoops suspect the truth about Margaret, put that bug in Vorhees’ ear, too? Runyon was the one who’d found her body...

Cory said no, Vorhees didn’t doubt the official verdict of a drunken accident. Said Vorhees wasn’t going to walk out on her, either, she wouldn’t let that happen. Stay cool, Frank, be patient; nothing’s changed, it’s still going to go according to plan. Well, what else could he do? In too deep now not to trust she knew what she was doing, but it didn’t keep him from worrying.

The worst of it was her insisting they stop seeing each other until she was sure Vorhees was no longer suspicious and would own up to his marriage proposal. Even an hour or two together somewhere out of town was too risky. So he was looking at days, weeks, without her. Along with everything else weighing heavy on him, he wasn’t sure he could stand that.

Just remember I love you, Frank. As if he could forget it. Christ! He loved her just as much if not more. Never imagined he could feel about any woman the way he felt about Cory. But then he’d never imagined a woman remotely like her existed anywhere on the planet. Smart. Ruthless. A little wild, a little scary. Unique. Exciting. Best sex he’d ever had, ever hoped to have. Incredible sex.

Took his breath away the first time he saw her naked...

Don’t think about that, either. All he was doing was giving himself a useless hard-on.

He drained the last of the scotch, got up to pour a refill at the wet bar. Back at his desk, he stared at the pile of P&L statements without touching them again. A sudden sharp surge of frustration made him slam his fist down on the blotter hard enough to rattle the objects on the desktop. He caught up his glass before it spilled, took another pull.

Somewhere out front, the sound of a car engine broke the silence. Growing louder, coming onto company property; Abby must have forgotten to lock the gates when she left. But it wouldn’t be her coming back, not this late. Who the hell—?

A squeal of tires as the driver braked near the office building. The slam of a car door. And a few seconds later, he heard the outer door open and then bang shut.

He knew who it was by then and he was on his feet when Andrew Vorhees came through into his private office. In spite of himself he felt a cut of fear. Stupid, stupid! He should have known Vorhees would come looking for him. Should have been prepared for it.

Vorhees stomped past the wet bar and the long leather couch to the near corner of the desk. “I thought I’d find you here, Chaleen.” Aggressive tone, hard-eyed stare — the bugger’s pit bull mode.

“What’s the idea busting in here like you owned the place? It’s after business hours—”

“I didn’t come on business. You know why I’m here.”

“No, I don’t. What do you want?” Chaleen was too rattled to keep a faint quaver out of his voice; hearing it made him angry, brought heat to his face. He had to will himself not to reach down for the glass of Glenlivet.

“What the fuck do you think? Cory Beckett.”

“What about Cory Beckett?”

“Don’t play dumb. And don’t bother lying to me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The hell you don’t. I know you’ve been sleeping with her.”

“Me? What gave you that idea?”

“She did. She admitted it to me.”

“She wouldn’t do that—”

Chaleen caught himself too late. Vorhees’ lips peeled in against his teeth; he stomped forward until only a few inches separated them. “I knew it was true,” he said. Spittle came out with the words, sprayed hot against Chaleen’s face. “You sneaking, backbiting son of a bitch.”

“It’s not true. Listen to me, Andy—”

“Shut up! You do the listening.” Vorhees poked him in the chest with a forefinger. “It wasn’t enough for you to cozy up with Margaret. No, you had to put the moves on Cory, too. Prove what a stud you are.” Another poke, harder than the first. “How difficult was it to get into her pants? Easy? Or did you have to work at it?”