James Chase: Like a Hole in the Head

“You can’t be serious.” My voice was husky.

“I am, Mr. Benson. Make my son an expert shot in nine days and these bonds are yours.”

To gain a moment of time, I said, “I don’t know anything about bonds. These could be just pieces of paper.”

Savanto smiled.

“So you see, I am right when I said enough money buys anything. You now want to know if these bonds are forgeries. You no longer tell me that you can’t perform a miracle.” He leaned forward, tapping the bonds with his finger nail. “These are genuine, but don’t take my word for it. Let us go to your bank and see what they have to say. Let us ask them if they will convert these two pieces of paper into fifty thousand dollars cash.”

I got up and moved to the window. The little room felt suffocatingly hot. I stared out of the window at the black Cadillac and at the beanpole sitting motionless in the back seat.

“That won’t be necessary,” I said. “Okay… so they are genuine.”

Again he smiled at me.

“That is good for there is little time to waste. I will now return to the Imperial Hotel where I am staying.” He glanced at his watch. “It is just after five o’clock. Please telephone me at seven o’clock this evening and tell me whether or not you will perform a miracle for fifty thousand dollars.”

He put the bonds in his pocket and stood up.

“Just a moment,” I said, annoyed with myself at sounding so breathless. “I have to know why your son has to shoot so well and what his target will be. Unless I know, I can’t hope to prepare him. You talk about an expert shot, but there are all kinds of experts. I must know, Mr. Savanto.”

He thought for a long moment. He had picked up his hat and was

staring into it.

“So I will tell you. I made a foolish bet with an old friend of mine for a very large sum of money. My friend is an excellent shot and always boasting about what he can do with a rifle. Foolishly I said that anyone could become a good shot with training.” He regarded me sharply with his flat snake’s eyes. “Even I, Mr. Benson, when I have had too much to drink, can be stupid. My friend betted me that my son couldn’t kill a fast- moving animal with a rifle after nine days’ tuition. I was drunk and angry and I accepted the bet. Now, I must win.”

“What animal?” I asked.

“A monkey swinging in a tree : a deer in flight : a hare running from a dog… I don’t know… something like that. My friend has the choice, but it must be a clean, certain kill.”

I wiped my sweating hands on the back of my jeans.

“How much did you bet, Mr. Savanto?”

He showed his gold-capped teeth in a smile.

“You are very curious, but I will tell you. I bet half a million dollars. Although I am a rich man, I can’t afford to lose that amount of money.” His smile became fixed. “Nor do I intend to.”

As I stood hesitating, he went on, “And you can’t afford to lose ten per cent of that kind of money either.” He stared at me for a long moment. “Then at seven this evening, Mr. Benson.”

He left the room and started off across the hot sand towards the Cadillac. I watched him go. Halfway to the Cadillac, he paused, turned and raised his hat. He was saluting Lucy.

Fifty thousand dollars!

The thought of owning such a sum turned me hot with a frightening, terrible desire.

Fifty thousand dollars for a miracle ! So I was going to perform a miracle !

I heard the front door open, then Lucy came in.

“Any luck, Jay? What was it all about?”

The sight of her brought me sharply down to earth. In those few moments as Savanto was driving away and Lucy was coming for news, my mind had been ablaze with the thoughts of becoming rich.

“Get me a beer, honey,” I said, “and I’ll tell you.”

“There’s only one… Shouldn’t we keep it?”

“Get it!”

I didn’t mean to speak so sharply, but I was pretty worked up and I wanted the beer because my mouth was dry and my throat constricted.

“Of course.”

She gave me a startled look and then ran off to the kitchen. I walked out of the bungalow and sat down on the sand under the shade of the palm trees.

Fifty thousand dollars ! I kept thinking. God ! It can’t be possible! I scooped up a handful of dry sand and let it run through my fingers. Fifty thousand dollars !

Lucy came from the bungalow, carrying a glass of beer. She came to me, gave it to me and then sat down beside me.

I drank until the glass was empty, then I found a cigarette and lit it.

Lucy watched me.

“Your hands are shaking,” she said, her expression worried. “What is it, Jay?”

I told her.

She didn’t interrupt, but sat still, her hands clasping her knees, looking at me and listening.

“That’s it,” I said, and we looked at each other.

“I just don’t believe it, Jay.”

“He showed me the two bonds… Each are worth twenty-five thousand dollars… I can believe that ! ”

“Jay ! Think a moment ! No one would pay that sum of money without a good reason. I don’t believe it.”

“I’d pay that sum of money to save half a million. Don’t you call that a good reason?”

“You don’t believe he made that bet, do you?”

I felt blood rising to my face.

“Why not ! Rich men make big bets… He said he was drunk at the time.”

“I don’t believe it !”

“Don’t keep saying that ! I’ve seen the money !” I found I was shouting at her. “You don’t know anything about this ! Don’t keep saying you don’t believe it!”

She flinched away from me.

“I’m sorry, Jay.”

I pulled myself together and gave her a wry grin.

“I’m sorry too. All that money ! Think what we can do with it ! Just think! We can turn this place into a dude ranch. We can have staff… a swimming pool… we can’t miss! I’ve always thought with enough capital…”

“Can you teach this man to shoot?”

I stared at her. Those words brought me down to earth. I got up and walked away from her, stopping a few yards from where she sat. She was right, of course. Could I teach this beanpole to shoot?

I knew I couldn’t teach him to shoot for six thousand dollars, but for fifty thousand… a miracle, I had said. This is the age of miracles, Savanto had said.

I looked at Lucy.

“This is a chance in a lifetime. I’ll teach him to shoot if it’s the last thing I do. Let me think about this. I have only an hour and a half before I telephone Savanto. If I say yes, I’ve got to know what I have to do. I’ve got to convince him and I’ve got to convince myself I can do it. Let me work it out.”

As I started across the sand to the shooting gallery, Lucy said, “Jay…”

I paused, frowning at her. My mind was already busy. What is it?”

“Are you sure we should get mixed up in this? I — I have a feeling… I…”

“This is something you have to leave to me,” I said. “Never mind how you feel, honey… this is a chance in a lifetime.”

I sat in the gallery and smoked cigarettes and thought. I sat there until it was close on 19.00 and by then I had convinced myself that I could earn Savanto’s money. I had been one of the top range instructors in the Army, and God knows, I had had dozens of dopes through my hands who didn’t know one end of the rifle from the other. Somehow, with patience, by shouting at them, by cursing them, by laughing with them, I had turned them into respectable riflemen, but a respectable rifleman is miles away from an expert shot. I knew that, but the thought of all that money lessened the problem.

I left the gallery and crossed the sand to the bungalow where Lucy was still painting the window frames. She looked at me, her eyes troubled.