James Chase - I Would Rather Stay Poor

Kit huddled down in the chair, her face growing paler.

‘In other words, Alice dies,’ Calvin said. ‘At five minutes to seven, and you must be dead on time, you’ll arrive by the back entrance. You’ll put on Alice’s hat and coat and we will leave the bank together by the front entrance. While I am locking up, you will go over to where my car is parked and get in. You mustn’t hurry or loiter. This will be the most dangerous part of the plan, but the sheriff or Travers must see Alice leave the bank. I don’t see why it should come unstuck. It will be dark. You will walk under two or three street lights on the way to the car. The mustard-coloured coat should convince either the sheriff or Travers he is seeing Alice leave. How do you like it so far?’

‘Go on,’ Kit said, a rasp in her voice. ‘Then what happens?’

‘We drive back here. The old people will be watching the serial on television. You’ll hang up Alice’s hat and coat. Then we’ll stage a little scene for the benefit of the old people. You’ll go upstairs and I’ll call out, loud enough for them to hear, that you should go to bed. They’ll imagine, of course, I am talking to Alice. When they come in for dinner, I’ll tell them that Alice had a bad headache and has gone to bed. You will tell them you have been up to see her, given her aspirin and she is sleeping.’

‘What really has happened to her?’ Kit asked.

‘Her body will be left in my office,’ Calvin said.

Kit stiffened, her hands closing into fists.

‘You — you’re going to leave her there?’

‘Don’t let’s rush this,’ Calvin said. ‘Let’s go through it step by step. We will have dinner. After dinner, I’ll watch television with the old people and then go up to my room. I’ll dress up as Johnny Acres. I’ll have to walk to the bank. It’ll take me a good hour. I will have left the back entrance open. I’ll remove all the electric lamps from their sockets except the lamp in the vault, then I’ll turn on the light switches. That will put the electronic eye out of action. I’ll have Alice’s key to the vault. I’ll break open the boxes containing the payroll and transfer the money to one of the deed boxes in the vault.’

Kit leaned forward.

‘Why do that? Why not bring the money here?’

‘The safest place in which to keep money is in a bank,’ Calvin said. ‘They will never think of looking for the payroll in one of those deed boxes. I’m sure… if s a foolproof hiding place. We can’t use the money for some time and that’s where it is going to be hidden.’

She hesitated, then realising the shrewdness of this idea, she shrugged.

‘Well, go on…’

‘Now it is your turn to come to the bank. You’ll also have to walk. It would be fatal for the old people to hear a car start up. The time now will be around three o’clock. You’ll have to be careful your daughter doesn’t hear you leave. What time does she get back from Downside?’

‘Around two.’

‘Okay. I’ll have to watch out I don’t run into her. By the time you leave, she should be asleep, but be careful. At that hour no one should be around, but on the way to the bank, you’ll have to be sure no one sees you. You know where we have left the Lincoln… at the back of the bank. Go there, move the car close to the back entrance of the bank and wait. You’ll remain in the car. You will, of course, be wearing Alice’s hat and coat. I’ll bring her out and put her in the boot.’

Kit took a handkerchief from the top of her stocking and wiped her sweating face. In a voice she tried to make nonchalant, she said, ‘Why not leave her in the bank?’

‘I want to give Johnny Acres plenty of time to get away,’ Calvin said. ‘We’ll drive to Downside. There’s a filling station on the main road and we’ll stop there. I’ll buy gas and let the attendant get a look at me as Johnny, of course. You will remain in the car. You’ll shield your face, but I want him to see the coat. While he is filling the tank, you and I will start an argument about the last train out from ’Frisco. I want him to imagine that we’re going to ’Frisco.’ He stubbed out his cigarette and lit another. ‘There’s one thing I’ve forgotten to tell you. The day before we do the job, you must drive to Downside in your car and leave it in the station car park. You’ll have to come back by train. We must have your car waiting for us to come back in. Got that?’

She nodded.

‘Okay, after we have filed the tank, we drive to Downside and leave the Lincoln in the station car park. We’ll use your car to come home in. That’s the plan. What do you think?’

Kit rubbed her forehead with a shaky hand.

‘It’s complicated,’ she said, not looking at him. ‘If you think it will work, I’ll do it with you. I’m no good at making plans. I’ve got to leave all that to you. There is one thing… if Alice is supposed to be running away, shouldn’t she take some of her clothes?’

Calvin lifted his head off the pillow and he stared at her. Then he nodded.

‘Of course… I had forgotten that. That’s important. And another thing, there will have to be two suitcases: one for her clothes and the other to carry the money in. The cases will have to be on the back seat so the gas attendant will see them. She must have a suitcase. Do you know where it is?’

‘Probably in her room.’

‘Okay. That’ll be your job. You pack some of her clothes and bring the suitcases in the Lincoln. The gas attendant must report to the police he saw two suitcases.’

‘You really think this is going to work?’ Kit asked, leaning forward to stare at him.

‘It’ll work,’ be said. ‘We’ll need some luck, but that’s not worrying me. We have three weeks. We must talk about it: think about it: polish it.’

‘How long will it be before we can spend the money?’

‘You’ve certainly got that subject on your mind, haven’t you?’ he said and grinned. ‘A month after the robbery, we’ll get married. Two months after we are married and you have sold this place, I’ll resign from the bank. You’ll be able to spend some of the money in three months’ time. You’ll be able to splash around with your share in three years’ time.’

‘You really think this is going to be safe?’

He looked fixedly at her, his eyes glittering.

‘It’s got to be safe. If it isn’t, you and I will probably run into Alice again… if we are lucky.’

The following afternoon Calvin had a visitor who surprised him. He was busy at his desk When a tap came on the door and thinking it was Alice he called to come in and went on working.

‘Am I disturbing you?’

He looked up then and was startled to see Iris Loring standing before his desk. For a moment he stared fixedly at her, then his fleshy face brightened and he smiled his charming smile as he got to his feet.

‘Why, this is a surprise. Sit down.’

Iris sat down. Calvin regarded her curiously. He noted there was a worried expression in her grey-blue eyes.

‘I hear you are going to become my step-father,’ she said. ‘Kit told me this morning.’

Calvin sat back in his chair. He was thinking it would be much more amusing to have this girl for a wife. She was so much younger, so much fresher and so much more sexually exciting than Kit.

‘That’s right,’ he said. ‘I hope you approve.’

‘If it will make Kit happy, then of course, I approve,’ she said quietly.

‘I’ll make her happy,’ Calvin said, his charm very much in evidence.

She looked searchingly at him and he had an uneasy feeling that his charm wasn’t working the way it usually worked.

‘I’m worried about her,’ Iris said. ‘That’s why I’m here. She’s got something on her mind. We’ve always been very close and I can tell when something’s bothering her. I’ve asked her, but she won’t tell me. Do you know what it is?’