James Cain - The Postman Always Rings Twice

I was so groggy I had to do something about it quick. All I could think of was to get sore. “All right, suppose we did. We didn’t, but you say we did, and we’ll let it go at that. Well, if it was all that easy, what would we be knocking him off for? Holy smoke, judge, I hear tell of guys that would commit murder for what you say I was getting, when they weren’t getting it, but I never hear tell of a guy that would commit murder for it when he already had it.”

“No? Well I’ll tell you what you were knocking him off for. A piece of property out there, for one thing, that Papadakis paid $14,000 for, cash on the nail. And for that other little Christmas present you and she thought you would get on the boat with, and see what the wild waves looked like. That little $10,000 accident policy that Papadakis carried on his life.”

I could still see his face, but all around it was getting black and I was trying to keep myself from keeling over in bed. Next thing, he was holding a glass of water to my mouth. “Have a drink. You’ll feel better.”

I drank some of it. I had to.

“Chambers, I think this is the last murder you’ll have a hand in for some time, but if you ever try another, for God’s sake leave insurance companies out of it. They’ll spend five times as much as Los Angeles County will let me put into a case. They’ve got detectives five times as good as any I’ll be able to hire. They know their stuff A to izzard, and they’re right on your tail now. It means money to them. That’s where you and she made your big mistake.”

“Judge, I hope Christ may kill me, I never heard of an insurance policy until just this minute.”

“You turned white as a sheet.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“Well, how about getting me on your side, right from the start? How about a full confession, a quick plea of guilty, and I’ll do what I can for you with the court? Ask for clemency for you both.”

“Nothing doing.”

“How about all that stuff you were telling me just now? About the truth, and how you’d have to come clean with the jury, and all that? You think you can get away with lies now? You think I’m going to stand for that?”

“I don’t know what you’re going to stand for. To hell with that. You stand for your side of it and I’ll stand for mine. I didn’t do it, and that’s all I stand for. You got that?”

“The hell you say. Getting tough with me, hey? All right, now you get it. You’re going to find out what that jury’s really going to hear. First, you were sleeping with her, weren’t you? Then Papadakis had a little accident, and you and she had a swell time. In bed together at night, down to the beach by day, holding hands and looking at each other in between. Then you both had a swell idea. Now that he’s had an accident, make him take out an accident policy, and then knock him off. So you blew, to give her a chance to put it over. She worked at it, and pretty soon she had him. He took out a policy, a real good policy, that covered accidents, and health, and all the rest of it, and cost $46.72. Then you were ready. Two days after that, Frank Chambers accidentally on purpose ran into Nick Papadakis on the street, and Nick tries to get him to go back to work for him. And what do you know about that, he and his wife had it already fixed up they were going to Santa Barbara, had the hotel reservations and everything, so of course there was nothing to it but Frank Chambers had to come with them, just for old times’ sake. And you went. You got the Greek a little bit drunk, and did the same for yourself. You stuck a couple of wine bottles in the car, just to get the cops good and sore. Then you had to take that Malibu Lake Road, so she could see Malibu Beach. Wasn’t that an idea, now. Eleven o’clock at night, and she was going to drive down there to look at a bunch of houses with waves in front of them. But you didn’t get there. You stopped. And while you were stopped, you crowned the Greek with one of the wine bottles. A beautiful thing to crown a man with, Chambers, and nobody knew it better than you, because that was what you crowned that railroad dick with, over in Oakland. You crowned him, and then she started the car. And while she was climbing out on the running board, you leaned over from behind, and held the wheel, and fed with the hand throttle. It didn’t need much gas, because it was in second gear. And after she got on the running board, she took the wheel and fed with the hand throttle, and it was your turn to climb out. But you were just a little drunk, weren’t you? You were too slow, and she was a little too quick to shoot the car over the edge. So she jumped and you were caught. You think a jury won’t believe that, do you? It’ll believe it, because I’ll prove every word of it, from the beach trip to the hand throttle, and when I do, there won’t be any clemency for you, boy. It’ll be the rope, with you hanging on the end of it, and when they cut you down they’ll bury you out there with all the others that were too goddam dumb to make a deal when they had the chance to keep their neck from being broke.”

“Nothing like that happened. Not that I know of.”

“What are you trying to tell me? That she did it?”

“I’m not trying to tell you that anybody did it. Leave me alone! Nothing like that happened.”

“How do you know? I thought you were stinko.”

“It didn’t happen that I know of.”

“Then you mean she did it?”

“I don’t mean no such a goddam thing. I mean what I say and that’s all I mean.”

“Listen, Chambers. There were three people in the car, you, and she, and the Greek. Well, it’s a cinch the Greek didn’t do it. If you didn’t do it, that leaves her, doesn’t it?”

“Who the hell says anybody did it?”

“I do. Now we’re getting somewhere, Chambers. Because maybe you didn’t do it. You say you’re telling the truth, and maybe you are. But if you are telling the truth, and didn’t have any interest in this woman except as the wife of a friend, then you’ve got to do something about it, haven’t you? You’ve got to sign a complaint against her.”

“What do you mean complaint?”

“If she killed the Greek, she tried to kill you too, didn’t she? You can’t let her get away with that. Somebody might think it was pretty funny if you did. Sure, you’d be a sucker to let her get away with it. She knocks off her husband for the insurance, and she tries to knock off you too. You’ve got to do something about that, haven’t you?”

“I might, if she did it. But I don’t know she did it.”

“If I prove it to you, you’ll have to sign the complaint, won’t you?”

“Sure. If you can prove it.”

“All right, I’ll prove it. When you stopped, you got out of the car, didn’t you?”

“No.”

“What? I thought you were so stinko you didn’t remember anything. That’s the second time you’ve remembered something now. I’m surprised at you.”

“Not that I know of.”

“But you did. Listen to this man’s statement: ‘I didn’t notice much about the car, except that a woman was at the wheel and one man was inside laughing when we went by, and another man was out back, sick.’ So you were out back a few minutes, sick. That was when she crowned Papadakis with the bottle. And when you got back you never noticed anything, because you were stinko, and Papadakis had passed out anyhow, and there was hardly anything to notice. You sat back and passed out, and that was when she slid up into second, kept her hand on the hand throttle, fed with that, and as soon as she had slid out on the running board, shot the car over.”

“That don’t prove it.”

“Yes it does. The witness Wright says that the car was rolling over and over, down the gully, when he came around the bend, but the woman was up on the road, waving to him for help!”