Paula was back in shorts again, white duck shorts and white T shirt and thong sandles. Just looking at her was all I needed to get me excited again. She didn't say a word. She just sat there smiling that slow smile, knowing that she was being stared at and liking it.
She knew what I was thinking, all right. She knew what was in my mind.
Sheldon said, “We're in luck, honey. He's saved a place for us.”
You sonofabitch, I thought. Do you think I'm so stupid that I don't know sarcasm when I hear it? I was tempted to hit him with it right there. I wanted to grab him by the throat and say, “Listen to me, you pompous bastard, I'm cutting myself in for one third of your take tonight. What do you think of that?”
But I played it straight. I signed them in, then took them to the cabin.
Sheldon came around to the back of the car and began unlocking the trunk. I didn't offer to help. Somewhere in that car there was enough nitroglycerin to blow us to hell, and I wanted no part of it. I unlocked the cabin and opened some windows. When I turned around, Paula was standing right behind me. I grabbed her.
I hadn't meant to. I had it all planned not to do a thing until I got everything settled with Sheldon. But I simply couldn't keep my hands off her. That bright hot arc jumped between us and suddenly she was straining against me.
“You haven't changed,” she said huskily.
“It's been a long time.”
“Only a week.”
“Do you know how long a week can be?”
“Yes, I know.””
That ripe mouth didn't slip away this time as I kissed her. I felt her nails digging into my shoulders again, into my arms. “You're strong, aren't you, Joe? Hard and strong.”
“Yes.”
“I believe it. I've thought about you, Joe. Your arms like leather rope. I like men with arms like that.”
“You've got some points too that I've thought about.”
Her arms went around my neck and pulled tight. The words came through her teeth. “There's no future in this, Joe. You know that, don't you?”
“We'll talk about that later.”
“There won't be any later. Tomorrow I'll be gone. Besides, there's Karl.”
“You said you didn't love him.”
“That has nothing to do with it.”
I had the feeling that she didn't like what was happening, but she was unable to stop it, just as I was unable to stop it. A handful of iron gets caught in an electrical field and jumps to the magnet. The iron has nothing to say about it.
Outside, an impatient horn blared out, and I knew it was somebody at the station wanting gas or oil. Then Sheldon called, “Hooper, you've got a customer.”
I had forgotten about Sheldon, the station, and everything else. Sheldon hit the steps, but before he got the door open Paula was out of my arms. She threw herself on the bed and lay there like a marble statue, as white and unmoving as marble statue, that red mouth of hers partly open.
She lay there on her back, her arms and legs forming a white letter X on the bed, her eyes closed. For just a moment I remembered some paintings that I had seen once. They were nudes, painted by some Italian with a name I couldn't pronounce. The nude women all looked alike and they were all painted orange; their bodies, their faces, every thing was orange but the hair, and they were the nakedest women I ever saw.
Sheldon was in the room now, standing there by the door. I looked at him but couldn't tell what he was thinking.
“I think you've got a customer,” he said again.
“Yes. I heard.”
I'd have to wait until Ike relieved me at the station before I could hit him with the robbery business. Anyway, I needed to calm down a little. I got out of there.
I went back to the station, took care of the customer, and tried to keep my feet on the ground until Ike came. I didn't hear any noise from the Number 2 cabin, so I figured Sheldon hadn't noticed anything out of the way. I didn't give a damn whether he had or not.
Maybe fifteen minutes had passed when Sheldon backed the Buick out of the carport and headed toward town. That meant he was going to make his contact with Manley and get their plans jelled.
Sheldon had been gone almost an hour when the telephone rang.
“Hooper?”
“Yes.” I didn't recognize the voice at first.
“This is Karl Sheldon. Would you give my wife a message for me?”
“Sure, Mr. Sheldon.”
“Just tell her that some important business has come up and our plans have been changed. Please ask her to get everything packed and I'll be back as soon as possible.”
“You're checking out, Mr. Sheldon?”
“That's right. Sorry if we've inconvenienced you, Hooper, but of course we'll pay the usual rental fee.”
“I see.”
I didn't see worth a damn. But something had gone wrong. Something had exploded right in my face and I didn't know what it was. All I could think of was that I had to talk to Paula and talk fast before her husband of back. Maybe, between the two of us, we could straighten the thing out.
Then Ike Abrams drove up in that jalopy of his, and I was never so glad to see anybody in my life. I turned the station over to Ike, then went to my own cabin, as I always did. When I saw that Ike was busy in front of the station I went over to the Sheldon's cabin.
Paula was still on the bed, but she came off it the minute I stepped through the door.
“Something's wrong,” I said. “Your husband just called and said for you to get packed.”
“What?”
“That's all he said. He's checking out as soon as he gets back and he wants you to get packed. Do you know what it means?”
Something happened to that beautiful face of hers; it wasn't so beautiful now. “Yes,” she said, almost hissed. “I know what it means. It means he's backed out on the factory job.”
“Why would he do a thing like that?”
“Because everything has to be perfect. If everything isn't absolutely perfect, he won't touch it.”
“I still don't get it,” I said.
I had never seen anger just like hers. It was almost as though she could turn it off and on by throwing a switch. Now she switched it off, sat on the edge of the bed, and put her hand to her forehead. “I really can't blame him so much. He spent five years in a cell for making a mistake once, and he doesn't want to make any more. Probably Bunt Manley couldn't get the information he wanted, so he called it off.”
“Just like that he'd turn thumbs down on thirty thousand dollars?”
“It's more than thirty thousand dollars—it's his life.”
I remembered what Paula had said about how much it had cost to get her husband a parole. “It's the string-pullers you're worried about, isn't it? What happens to your husband if they don't get paid?”
“They always get paid, one way or another.”
“How much time does he have?”
She looked up. “It ran out a week ago. Karl thinks he can outrun them, but I know better.”
It would suit me fine to let the string-pullers take cafe of Sheldon in their own way, but I needed him myself. That safe had to have an expert's attention, and Sheldon was the only expert I knew.
“This is important to you, isn't it?” I said.
I am convinced that she could read my mind. “No, Joe.
Not you!”
“What's the matter with me? Am I made of old china? Do I go to pieces when I'm dropped? You say you're not in love with your husband—that's good enough for me. Maybe you'll tell me someday why you're so concerned about him, but that isn't important now. If I get your husband off the hook by convincing him that this job can be brought off, with my help, would you drop him?” “For you, Joe?” “For me.”
For one long moment she said nothing. Then, without looking at me, she said, “You wouldn't like it, Joe. I would want things that you couldn't give me.”