James Chase - Like a Hole in the Head

“Why should you care? It’s a personal thing. I want my wife back. There’s a chance she’s using a house along this coast. The rest is my business.”

She pouted.

“You don’t have to shout at me. She might be happy without you. Have you thought of that?”

“What the hell has that to do with you?” I barked. “I’m going to find her !”

She blinked. I was sure no man had ever spoken to her in that tone of voice.

“You’re right out of a cave,” she said. “If I were your wife, I would love you. I’ll help. I know all the houses along this coast for around five miles.”

“He will have rented a place. Do you know the ones for rent?”

“Has she run off with some man? She must be soft in the head!”

“So she’s soft in the head. When I find her I’m going to give her a hiding. She’s been aching for a hiding ever since I married her and she’s going to get it.”

Her eyes lit up.

“I wish someone would give me a hiding,” she said. “I need it. I wish .. .”

“To hell with what you need.” I was now sure I was handling her right. “I know what my wife needs and that’s what she’s going to get. Do you know the houses for rent along this strip?”

“Yes. There are three about half a mile from here. About two miles further on there’s another… a good one.”

“Let’s go to look at them.”

“Don’t you want a drink?”

“I’ll have that later.” I stared at her. “Let’s go.”

She went down into the cabin and started the engine. While I had been talking to her, I kept looking towards the forest that hid the guest bungalow from the boat house, wondering if the regress was watching me, but I didn’t see her. I went down into the cabin as the girl began to reverse the boat out of the harbour.

“I’m Nancy,” she said. “What’s your name?”

“Max.” It wasn’t a lie. Max is my second name.

She looked at me over her shoulder.

“I like Max. It’s a gorgeous name.” She cleared the harbour. “What do we do now, Max?”

“Take her along the coast, not too fast and not too close.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” She giggled. “Did you and her boy friend fight?”

I was always forgetting the marks from Raimundo’s fists on my face.

“Not him… I got into an argument.”

“I like men who fight. What happened?”

I looked at her. Her eyes were unnaturally bright. I could see under the thin material of her bra that her nipples had come erect.

“Why should you care?”

She pouted.

“I like a good fight. I like it when two men…”

“Skip it ! What’s that house we’re coming to?”

She grimaced, then looked to where I was pointing.

“It belongs to Van Hesson. He’s quite a gorgeous man, but his wife is the worst kind of creep. Don’t let them see you. She would tell my husband.”

We passed the house. I could see a number of people on the lawn under gay sun umbrellas.

Nancy advanced the throttle and we swept past the place.

“Some women are drags, aren’t they?” She giggled. “She’s terrified her husband is going to lay me. She won’t let him come near me.”

“How about this one?”

We were approaching another house built on the same lines as the previous one.

“That’s rented. He’s gorgeous to look at. She’s building a baby. She’s enormous. He doesn’t leave her for a second. I’ve never been able even to speak to him.”

We went on, passing two more houses. Two elderly people on the lawn of one and a party of old, fat people, playing cards under the shade of the trees at the other.

I was beginning to think the ninety-five to five chance wasn’t going to pay off.

“You see the cape ahead?” Nancy said, putting her hand on my naked shoulder. “That’s the place I was telling you about. It belongs to Jack Dexter. He’s marvellous, but God! his wife’s a drip ! Right now they are in the South of France. The place has been rented. jack hates renting his houses — he has around six of them — but she’s so mean, she insists.”

I was beginning to get worried. Time was running out.

“Are there any more rented houses along here?”

“Dozens of them, but they are all gruesome… strictly for the tourist trade. This one’s nice.”

Graceful cypress trees screened the approach to the house. I could see a harbour, then as we got closer, a powerful motor boat. Beyond the harbour was a sandy beach.

As we came around the screen of trees, I saw an expanse of lawn and a ranch-type house surrounded by flower beds packed with multicoloured begonias.

“That’s Jack Dexter’s place,” Nancy said. “It’s nice, isn’t it? I haven’t had time yet to find out who has taken it.”

I wasn’t listening.

Sitting on the lawn under the shade of a spider orchid tree was Timoteo Savanto.

My immediate reaction on seeing Timoteo was to shout to Nancy to steer into the harbour, but I checked the impulse. There was a remote chance that Lucy wasn’t there. I felt sure she was, but I couldn’t take that chance.

“That’s not the boy friend?” Nancy asked. She had joined me at the cabin window and was looking at Timoteo. “He looks a drip, doesn’t he?”

Timoteo had found another pair of sun goggles. At the sound of the motor boat, he looked towards us, the sun reflecting on the black glass of the goggles. Although I knew he couldn’t see me at this distance and through the blue anti-glare glass of the cabin window, I moved back a little.

“No… that’s not him,” I said.

I looked searchingly at the ranch house. Then I was thankful I had checked the impulse to take the boat into the harbour. I saw Nick in his yellow-and-red shirt, standing on the verandah looking towards us. I saw two other men in white ducks and sweat shirts suddenly appear around the building. They too looked towards us.

“Hey! A house full of men!” Nancy said excitedly. “Shall we call in and say hello?”

“No. How far is the next place?”

“About a mile.” Reluctantly she opened the throttle and the boat surged forward.

We looked at four other houses. I didn’t want her to know I had found my objective. After the fourth house, I said, “I guess this is a waste of time. It was a long chance. She’s probably at a hotel or taken an apartment. We’ll go back.”

“There are still dozens of places along this coast you haven’t seen,” Nancy said. “Don’t be faint-hearted.”

“We’ll go back.”

She shrugged and turned the boat. We returned at high speed. As we flashed by Savanto’s place, I saw Timoteo was no longer in the garden. The two men in white ducks were sitting on the verandah. There was no sign of Nick.

As we neared the Willington harbour, Nancy slowed the boat. “Come and have dinner with me. I’m all alone. We can talk about your wife,” she said.

“No, I’ve got to get on,” I said. “Thanks for your help.”

She cut the engine and moved close to me.

“Don’t rush off, Max. Let’s have fun. There’s lots of time to look for your wife.”

“Thanks for your help.” I pushed by her and gained the deck. I dived into the sea and began a fast crawl away from the boat. After a couple of hundred yards, I eased off and looked back. She was standing on the cabin roof, her hands on her hips, her legs wide apart.

“You stinker!” she shouted. “I hope you drown!” Then she waved.

I waved back and continued on my way.

I was pretty sure the ninety-five to five chance had paid off, but I wasn’t certain that Lucy was there. If I had seen her T would have borrowed Nancy’s telephone and alerted the police, but that would be asking for trouble if they walked in and didn’t find her.