William Bayer - Blind Side

I strolled about, the afternoon wore on, the shadows lengthened and the light started turning sweet. When I sat down on the saloon porch to eat my chocolate bar, I heard a sound that made me jump. A rattlesnake slithered out from beneath the steps. After that I kept clear of the set.

At 6:15 I started watching the valley, alternately looking at my watch. By 6:30, when our rental car had not appeared, I began to worry. Had something gone wrong? Maybe Darling had changed his mind, or maybe he'd pulled a fast one in the car. What if he'd decided to take Kim hostage, only agreeing to release her when we handed over the photographs?

Finally, on the verge of despair, I spied a trail of dust. It was the car. The sun was behind me; its rays caught and glittered off the chrome. If it was Kim, she was driving extremely fast. I watched awhile to be certain it was really she, then retreated to my position behind the saloon doors.

She drove straight to the place where I'd been standing, then stopped hard, creating a little storm of dust. I saw Darling sitting beside her wearing his blindfold. He didn't look animated. Then, when I saw her leave the car clutching his brass-cornered attache case, I realized something was wrong.

She set the case down in the dust, then continued around to the passenger side. I remember thinking how curious it was that she was wearing an evening dress. Then, when she opened the door and Darling fell out, I knew right away that he was dead. I rushed out of the saloon. By that time she was backing the car away. I stared down at Darling, then pulled his blindfold off. Even in death his tight thin lips were pursed and his chin tilted up with arrogance.

Kim had parked a hundred feet away. Now she rushed toward me, looking radiant.

"Geoffrey! I did it! It's over!" She plunged into my arms.

"'What happened?"

" I shot him as soon as he put on the blindfold. It wis spooky driving out here sitting beside him, but I couldn't just dump him on the road. Open the briefcase, Geoffrey." I stooped and opened it. It was stuffed with neatIy arranged bundles of fresh currency bound by rubber band."

"See! I got it! Frank's idea. I mean, why go through that whole dumb payoff routine? Just see that he had the cash, then let him have it. He said you wouldn't do it, you'd hesitate. 'Do your wetwork as soon as you can,' Frank said. So that's just what I did."

I believed Frank had told her that, that there'd been more than one part of the plan he'd kept compartmentalized. I was angry with him for that, but not half so angry as I was afraid. For now I was truly afraid of Kim. If she was capable of assassinating Darling as he sat right beside her in a car, she was perfectly capable of killing me.

"What did Grace tell you to do?" I whispered.

"Grace? What are you talking about?"

I exploded: "Don't try and fake with me, Kim! Frank spotted you. He took pictures of the two of you kissing in her patio."

"Pictures! Why, that prying little sneak!"

"You're the sneak. Whose idea was it anyway, hers or yours?"

She shook her head and glared at me.

"Fuck you, Geoffrey! Whose do you think?"

"Tell me!"

"Hers, of course. She thought up the whole thing."

"Yeah. So now that you've got the money, what does she expect you to do about me?"

She lowered her voice.

"Kill you, of course."

"Of course. Then make it look like Darling and I killed each other, right?"

"Oh, Geof!" she moaned.

"What about Frank? He'd fol ow you to the ends of the earth if you pulled a stunt like that."

"I know, I know . . . . "

"So? Are you going to kill me?"

Tears formed in her eyes.

"Do you really think I could?"

"I can't be sure. Can I, Kim?"

She nodded, as if to acknowledge that was true. Then d me.

"I'm a bad person, Geoffrey. I make My ON Sometimes I think – . ." She lowered her voice"Sometimes I think I'm really evil." She pulled back, placed her hands on my shoulders, then linked them behind my neck. "We'll have to kill Grace. We won't be safe until we do. She'll want the money. She'll come after us. We'll never breathe free with her alive."

"What about Frank?"

"Kill him too. Then there'll be more for us."

"He's my friend!"

She squinted at me as if I were some kind of fool.

"Fine, Geoffrey, if you feel that way, you can split your share with him."

"So long as you get half?"

"That's my deal with Grace."

"And I'd better match it. How can I ever trust you now?"

"I don't know, Geoffrey. I don't suppose you really can:" She pressed herself against me, forced her mouth against mine.

"I want you, Geoffrey. I want to make love with you-right here. Now. In the dust. With Darling's body on the ground. And the money … the money very close. The light playing on us, spotlighting us. How do you call it, Geoffrey? The 'splendorous failing light." That would be great. The look of it, I mean. The splendor of it. The baroque effect. With the shadows long and ominous. Like the end of an opera. Or those weir(ifilm noir movies you like. Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't it?"

She kissed me again, then rolled her tongue across my lips. Then she burrowed her mouth into my shoulder and nibbled on my skin. I could feel the bite of her teeth, smell the lemon-and-musk scent of her hair.

ere's something I have to tell you," she said, speaking softly against my chest.

"Frank's dead. Grace killed him, walked into his studio an hour ago and shot him in the face. It was fast. Frank never even knew. But she's crazy, you see. That's why we have to get rid of her."

I felt something go weak within me then-my best friend dead, Mai a widow, four kids orphaned on account of me. This was worse than Guatemala, worse than anything. Now the whole enterprise was meaningless.

"Where's Grace now?"

"Back at our motel."

Grace was waiting back in our motel, because she knew Kim was coming back alone. I took a step, backwards. I knew then what I was going to do.

"What's the matter?"

"I want to take your picture," I said.

"You always want to do that when you're afraid. Think I'm going to kill you, Geoffrey? That I'm a black widow spider or something? Are you really still afraid of me?"

I raised my camera.

"Sure. Maybe a little bit."

She brushed my camera aside.

"Later."

"Now, Kim. While there's light. Before we make love. A shot of your … eagerness." She smiled. She liked that. She stepped back from me. We stood six feet apart.

"Afterwards we'll make love in the dirt. Promise?" I promised.

She stood looking at me.

"How do you want me to pose?"

"You're fine the way you are."

"Isn't there some special thing you want me to do?" She placed a hand on her hip, stuck out the other and assumed a self-mocking sultry pose.

She should do something.

"Tell me you're evil, Kim. Whisper it just the way you did."

I raised Frank's gun-camera to my eye, cocked it by pulling the depth-of-field lever.

"How did I say it?"

"Softly. You smiled at me in a way I'd never seen you smile before."

She smiled then, that same special way, and, when she did, I plugged her. There was a little pop, nothing loud at all, and simultaneously a neat little hole appeared in her throat. She raised her hand instinctively to protect herself, but she was a good two seconds too late. She looked at me surprised, then fell to her knees, then rolled onto the ground. The setting sun painted her red. I watched as the blood spurted from her wound.

"I'm going to die," she said.

I stood and watched her. She was pressing her fingers against her throat.

"I'm afraid, Geoffrey. Help me. Help me. Please . I looked down at her. She was still pressing the wound, trying to stop the flow.