James Chase - I Would Rather Stay Poor

It was Sunday after lunch. Kit, Iris and Calvin sat in the lounge. Miss Pearson and Major Hardy had gone to their rooms for a nap. Kit and Iris were both pale and silent. Calvin was relaxed and very confident.

‘It’s one of those things,’ he was saying to Iris. ‘You can’t go through life without some of the gilt being rubbed off. I admit it: we shouldn’t have done this thing, but we did it, and now we have to make the best of it. Three hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. If you think about it, you’ll realise why we were tempted. I’m sorry about Alice. She just happened to get in the way, so…’

‘Shut up, you swine!’ Kit screamed at him.

Iris closed her eyes and her hands turned into fists. For the past twelve hours she had been through a nightmare. The sound of the violent, drunken voice of the woman who was her mother sickened her.

Calvin’s eyes blazed with fury. He half started out of his chair, then controlled himself.

‘If you scream like that,’ he said, an edge to his voice, ‘the old people upstairs will hear you.’

Kit stared at him, her face convulsed with hate.

‘Then stop talking… do something!’

‘There’s nothing I can do. If anyone is to do anything it will have to be Iris.’ Calvin twisted around in his chair to look directly at Iris. ‘If you want to save your mother from the gas chamber, you’ll have to help. You’ll have to see Travers and tell him you had the chance to search the bank yesterday and you found nothing. You’ll tell him you went through all the deed boxes and found nothing relating to the robbery. You’ll give him a carbon of one of the bank letters. I have one ready for you. I went into Downside yesterday and typed a letter on a Remington in a typing bureau. You’ve got to convince him he has made a mistake in picking on me. Do you understand?’

Kit was watching Iris anxiously. Iris continued to stare down at her hands. She didn’t say anything.

‘After you have talked to Travers,’ Calvin went on, ‘you’ll go to ’Frisco on Monday and you’ll take the money with you. Once it is out of Pittsville, your mother will be safe. If it is found here, she won’t be safe. Don’t imagine I’ll let them arrest me without dragging her into it. Once I have the money in a safe deposit in ’Frisco, your mother and I will leave here. You’ll be free to marry Travers. You can then forget about us, I expect you’ll be glad to.’

Still Iris said nothing.

‘Well, come on,’ Calvin said, his voice suddenly impatient. ‘What are you going to do? You can’t just sit there like a dummy. Are you going to help your mother or aren’t you?’

Iris looked up and stared at Kit, then she said quietly, ‘Yes.’ She got to her feet. ‘I’ll do what you want. When I go to ’Frisco, I’m not coming back; I hope I’ll never see either of you ever again.’

She went out of the room. Calvin got quickly to his feet and followed her. She was putting on her coat. He gave her the carbon copy of the letter. She took it without looking at him, then turning away, she opened the front door and walked quickly towards the garage.

Calvin watched her drive to the highway, then shrugging his heavy shoulders, he returned to the lounge. Kit had lit a cigarette. She stared at him as he came in.

‘Well, that’s that,’ he said. ‘She’ll do it. In less than a month you’ll have your share of the money. I told you it would work out, didn’t I?’

‘Get out of my sight!’ Kit said softly. ‘And keep away from me! I don’t want the money. You take it. I’m not touching it. I want you out of here. Do you understand? Pack up and get out! I won’t have you in this house. You’re evil. Get out!’

‘It’s not going to be that easy,’ Calvin said. ‘We have got to stay together. I’ve explained why and I’m not going over it again. For the next year or so, you and I are going to be Siamese twins. Don’t think I like it. I don’t, but there is no other way. And don’t talk about not taking your share. You’ll take it once you see it. Don’t kid me you won’t.’

He went out of the room. Kit suddenly covered her face in her hands and began to cry.

Travers had Sunday duty. He had just finished a sandwich lunch when he saw Iris drive up and park her car outside the office. He hastily tossed the paper bag into the trash basket and wiped the desk free of crumbs, then he got to his feet and went to the door just as Iris entered.

‘Hello, honey. I was getting worried about you,’ he said, kissing her. Immediately he was aware something was wrong. He drew back to look at her. She was pale, and there were dark smudges under her eyes. She looked steadily at him. ‘What’s up?’ he asked. ‘Come in and sit down.’

Iris sat with her back to the light.

‘It’s nothing,’ she said. ‘I had a headache.’ She forced herself to smile. ‘I’m all right, Ken… we were wrong. It isn’t Calvin. I’m sure of that now.’

Travers went around and sat behind his desk.

‘What’s new then?’ he asked sharply.

‘He went to Downside yesterday and left me the keys,’ Iris said, speaking rapidly and looking down at her hands. ‘I went through the whole bank. I even opened all the deed boxes. The money isn’t there nor the Remington. Look, I have a carbon copy of the letter you wanted.’

With hands that shook a little, she opened her bag and gave him the carbon.

She watched him study it, then he grimaced.

‘The Remington we’re after didn’t write this,’ he said and laid the carbon down. Something was wrong, he told himself. Why did she look so ill? Why, when she told him she had found nothing in the bank, had she avoided looking at him? ‘Well, that seems to be that,’ he said. ‘I was practically certain Calvin was our man. He still could be. He might have hidden the money somewhere else. I’m not giving him up as a suspect. We haven’t anyone else.’

‘You’ve got to give him up as a suspect!’ Iris said. There was a note of hysteria in her voice. ‘My mother is marrying him! You can’t hound him now!’

‘But look, honey,’ Travers said uneasily, ‘the fact you didn’t find the money and this carbon doesn’t match the Remington doesn’t prove Calvin didn’t do the job. I still think he did. I think he’s smart enough to fool us, and I’m not staying fooled.’

Iris got to her feet.

‘I can’t stop you,’ she said, ‘but I don’t have to be on your side any longer.’ She pulled off her engagement ring and placed it on the desk. ‘I’m going away, Ken. You must please yourself what you do. I don’t want to marry you. I’ve thought about it. I don’t want to marry someone working for the police.’

Travers stared at the ring as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. Then as Iris made for the door he jumped to his feet and came quickly around his desk.

‘Iris! Wait! You can’t do this! Let’s talk about it. You just can’t break our engagement like this.’

She paused.

‘I’m sorry, Ken, but I have to go away. I don’t know where I’m going yet. Tomorrow I’m going to ’Frisco for the bank. When I get there, I’ll decide what I’m going to do. I have to get away from here. I’ve decided I’m too young to get married. I want to look around. I’m sorry.’

Travers went red and then white.

‘So that’s it? It’s suddenly occurred to you, I’m not good enough. So you want to look around. Well, for Pete’s sake! Have you gone crazy or something?’

‘I just want to look around,’ Iris said. ‘I’m sorry, Ken. I think it would be better if you forget about me. I hope you will,’ and she went out and over to her car.

Travers made a move to go after her, then stopped. He went around the desk and sat down. He stared for some minutes at the modest emerald and diamond ring, then he reached out, picked it up and put it in his pocket.