James Chase - You Can Say That Again

chapter five

We lay side by side on the big bed. The time by the bedside clock was 03.15. The pilot light above the bed made faint shadows. I could see her nakedness: a body that couldn’t have been more perfectly sculptured.

She had come silently into the room some thirty minutes ago. Our love making had been fierce, but this wasn’t love: this was blatant lust. She was irresistible, but there was this thought at the back of my mind, warning me not to trust her.

We lay there. The clock ticked on. We lay silently until our breathing returned to normal. I reached for a cigarette.

‘Smoke?’

‘Yes.’

I lit two cigarettes and gave her one. I wondered when she would go. I was sleepy after this violent coupling.

‘You are a marvelous lover, Jerry.’

‘So are you.’

Was there to be much more of this banal talk?

A long pause, then she said, ‘Durant is very pleased with you. He said you handled a telephone conversation marvelously.’

‘That’s what I’m being paid for,’ I said, closing my eyes. Why didn’t she go?

She went on, ‘John is much, much worse. I saw him today. He didn’t recognize me.’

‘A dreadful thing.’

‘Yes.’ Another pause, then ‘You should know about his mother.’ Her cigarette end glowed red.

I became alert.

‘His mother?’

‘You have met her. She arranged your kidnapping. You know she’s a ruthless, dangerous old woman.’

Did I? Well, maybe. I remembered her smooth talk about my talent, how she had drugged me, and how completely I had been fooled.

‘She is quite a character,’ I said.

‘All she thinks about is money. She has no interest in her son except his wealth. She lives in Frisco. She never comes here to see him. Every day, she telephones to inquire about him. She doesn’t want to know if he is improving. She wants to know when he is going to die. When he is dead, she will become the President of the Corporation and she will inherit his private fortune. Money is her god, so she is impatiently waiting for him to die.’

I was now very alert.

‘You are his wife,’ I said. ‘His mother can only get what he leaves her in his will. He can’t leave everything to her. As his wife, you are protected.’

She rolled away from me to stub out her cigarette.

She had a long, beautiful back. It was a sensual maneuver that wasn’t lost on me, and I became even more alert.

As she rolled onto her back, she said, ‘There are two major problems. John has never made a will.’

I thought for a long moment about this. It was hard to believe a man like John Merrill Ferguson shouldn’t have made a will, but there are some arrogant men who won’t believe they will eventually die.

‘As his wife, you are protected,’ I said. ‘It will cause legal trouble, but your lawyers will sort it out. Anyway, is it too late? Can’t you persuade him to make a will?’

‘Hopeless. He doesn’t even recognize me. He just sits and stares into space.’

‘What’s the second problem?’

She put her hands on her breasts and closed her eyes.

‘Can I trust you, Jerry? We are lovers. Lovers should trust each other.’

Where had I heard that corn before? In some disaster I had acted in?

‘If you mean whatever you want to tell me will be confidential, it will be confidential,’ I said carefully.

‘Thank you, Jerry. You are the only one I can tell and the only one I can trust.’

‘So what’s the second problem?’

‘I am not his wife.’

That really gave me a jolt.

‘What are you saying?’ I slid off the bed and put on my shortie dressing gown. I turned on one of the shaded lamps. I stared at her, lying on the bed like a Playboy centerfold. ‘Not his wife?’

‘I am not his wife. Come and sit here, Jerry, and let me tell you.’

This was something I had to know so I sat on the bed by her side and let her take my hand.

‘Are you telling me he isn’t married?’

‘He’s not married.’ She slid her fingers up my arm. Why did I think of spider’s legs? ‘We met two years ago. He was in Las Vegas, doing a deal. He wanted a woman. Mazzo came to me. I was in show business. He hired me. Who wouldn’t want to bed with the richest man in the world? John was never such a good lover as you, Jerry, but I fell for him and he for me. He offered marriage. He meant it, but he was so busy there was no time to arrange the elaborate wedding he wanted. Then his dreadful illness began attacking him. He kept telling me that as soon as his deal was completed, we would marry and go on a world cruise. He brought me here. He told everyone, his mother, Durant, the staff, I was now his wife, and we had married secretly. I was and am, accepted as his wife. I am in name, but not in fact. I kept asking him, even begging him to legalize our union, but the illness was now too far advanced and he just made promises.’ She stared at me. ‘So you see, Jerry, if he dies, my life, as I know it now, comes to an end. His mother hates me. She suspects we aren’t married. She is a greedy, wicked old woman, and when John dies she will easily prove he didn’t marry me.’ She lay back and stared up at the ceiling. ‘All this luxury, all this money will be snatched away. I don’t know what will happen to me.’ She looked towards me. ‘There it is, Jerry. I am now asking you to help me.’

I stood up and walked around the big bedroom. I wanted to get away from her caressing fingers. Red lights were now flashing in my mind. I thought of Larry Edwards. Had Loretta told him what she had told me? Had he refused to help her? Had she turned down her thumb, and he had died?

I felt cold sweat on my body. I was a prisoner in this opulent house! I had seen the tough looking bodyguards patrolling the grounds.

‘Help you?’ I tried to steady my voice. ‘How can I help you? Look, I was hired to impersonate your . . . Ferguson. I am doing that. That’s all I’m paid to do.’

She got off the bed and walked to where she had thrown her wrap. Slowly, she put it on.

‘We are lovers, Jerry. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?’ she asked, looking directly at me. Her face could have been chiseled out of marble.

I was scared. I thought of Larry Edwards, of Charles Duvine. Play the wrong card, I told myself, and you too can finish up dead.

Because I knew I was helpless to stop them murdering me if I refused to cooperate, I decided to play for time.

‘If I can,’ I said. ‘I will help you.’

As she regarded me, I could see she knew I was scared witless. Her face lit up with a sardonic little grin.

‘I knew you would say that.’ She went over to a lounging chair and sat down. ‘I knew I could rely on you.’ She smiled. ‘You are going to marry me.’

This was so unexpected, I just gaped at her.

‘It’s the only solution.’ Again the sardonic little grin. ‘Oh, sit down! I’ll explain, now I have your promise to help me.’

So, unsteadily, I sat down, facing her.

‘How would you like to own two million dollars, Jerry?’

No words came. I continued to stare at her.

‘Jerry! How would you like to earn two million dollars?’

I pulled myself together.

‘That’s quite a lump of money,’ I said huskily. ‘Yes, who wouldn’t?’

‘You are to marry me in your disguise as John, and in return, I will give you two million dollars.’

She must be out of her mind! I reached for a cigarette, lit it while she watched me.

‘It wouldn’t work,’ I said finally. ‘This is crazy thinking. If there’s a probe, and there will be, the marriage wouldn’t stand up. The certificate will be dated. His mother will know that John is beyond marriage. You and I would get into real trouble. No, it just wouldn’t work.’