That, she knew, was not really what he’d meant. It’s a shame we have to kill you anyway, he meant. You’re a smart kid, and even a pretty kid, but all the same you’re going to get a bullet between the eyes, and it’s a shame.
She pictured her father, waiting by the telephone. If he called the police, she knew it would be all over for her, and he might very well call them. But if she could stop him, if she could make sure that he let the delivery of the ransom money go according to plan, then maybe she would have a chance. It wouldn’t be the best chance in the world, but anything was better than nothing at all.
When Howie said he was going to make the second phone call she asked him to take her along. “Let me talk to him,” she begged. “I want to hear his voice. I want to hear him in a panic. He’s always so cool about everything, so smug and superior. I want to see what he sounds like when he gets in a sweat.”
“I don’t know—”
“I’ll convince him that you’re desperate and dangerous,” she continued. “I’ll tell him—” she managed to giggle “—that I know you’ll kill me if he doesn’t cooperate, but that I’m sure you’ll let me go straight home just as soon as the ransom is paid as long as he keeps the police out of it.”
“Well, I don’t know. It sounds good, but—”
“It’s a good idea, Howie,” Ray said. “That way he knows we’ve got her and he knows she’s still alive. I think the kid knows what she’s talking about.”
It took a little talking, but finally Howie was convinced of the wisdom of the move. Ray untied her and the three of them got into Howie’s car and drove down the road to a pay phone. Howie made the call and talked for a few minutes, explaining how and where the ransom was to be delivered. Then he gave the phone to Carole.
“Oh, Daddy,” she sobbed. “Oh, Daddy, I’m scared! Daddy, do just what they tell you. There are four of them and they’re desperate, and I’m scared of them. Please pay them, Daddy. The woman said if the police were brought in she’d cut my throat with a knife. She said she’d cut me and kill me, Daddy, and I’m so scared of them—”
Back in the cabin, as Howie tied her in the chair, he asked, “What was all that gas about four of us? And the bit about the woman?”
“I just thought it sounded dramatic.”
“It was dramatic as a nine-alarm fire, but why bother?”
“Well,” she said, “the bigger the gang is, the more dangerous it sounds and if he reports it later, let the police go looking for three men and a woman. That way you’ll have even less trouble getting away clear. And of course I’ll give them four phony descriptions, just to make it easier for you.”
She hoped that would soak in. She could only give the phony descriptions if she were left alive, and she hoped that much penetrated.
It was around three-thirty in the morning when Howie left for the ransom. “I should be about an hour,” he said. “If I’m not back in that time, then things are bad. Then we’ve got trouble.”
“What do I do then?” Ray asked.
“You know what to do.”
“I mean, how do I get out of here? We’ve only got the one car, and you’ll be in it.”
“So beat it on foot, or stay right where you are. You don’t have to worry about me cracking. The only way they’ll get me is dead, and if I’m dead you won’t have to worry about them finding out where we’ve got her tucked away. Just take care of the chick and get out on foot.”
“Nothing’s going to go wrong.”
“I think you’re right. I think this is smooth as silk, but anything to be sure. You got your gun?”
“On the table.”
“Ought to keep it on you.”
“Well, maybe.”
“Remember,” Howie said, “you can figure on me getting back in an hour at the outside. Probably be no more than half of that, but an hour is tops. So long.”
“Good luck,” Carole called after him.
Howie stopped and looked at her. He had a very strange expression on his face. “Yeah,” he said finally. “Luck. Sure, thanks.”
When Howie was gone, Ray said, “You never should have made the phone call. I mean, I think it was a good idea and all, but that way Howie tied you up, see, and he tied you tight. Me, I would have tied you loose, see, but he doesn’t think the same way.” He considered things. “In a way,” he went on, “Howie is what you might call a funny guy. Everything has to go just right, know what I mean? He doesn’t like to leave a thing to chance.”
“Could you untie me?”
“Well, I don’t know if I should.”
“At least make this looser? It’s got my fingers numb already. It hurts pretty bad, Ray. Please?”
“Well, I suppose so.” He untied her. As soon as she was loose he moved to the table, scooped up the gun, wedged it beneath the waistband of his trousers.
He likes me, she thought. He even wants me to be comfortable and he doesn’t particularly want to kill me, but he doesn’t trust me. He’s too nervous to trust anybody.
“Could I have a cigarette?” she asked.
“Huh? Oh, sure.” He gave her one, lit it for her. They smoked together for several minutes in silence. It isn’t going to work, she thought, not the way things are going. She had him believing her, but that didn’t seem to be enough. Howie was the brains and the boss, and what Howie said went, and Howie would say to kill her. She wondered which one of them would use the gun on her.
“Uh, Carole—”
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. Just forget it.”
He wanted her to bring it up, she knew. So she said, “Listen, Ray, let me tell you something. I like you a lot, but to tell you the truth I’m scared of Howie.”
“You are?”
“I’ve been playing it straight with you, and I think you’ve been straight with me. Ray, you’ve got the brains to realize you’ll be much better off if you let me go.” He doesn’t, she thought, have any brains at all, but flattery never hurt. “But Howie is different from you and me. He’s not — well, normal. I know he wants to kill me.”
“Oh, now—”
“I mean it, Ray.” She clutched his arm. “If I live, Dad won’t report it. He can’t afford to. But if you kill me—”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Suppose you let me go.”
“Afterward?”
She shook her head. “No, now, before Howie comes back. He won’t care by then, he’ll have the money. You can just let me go, and then the two of you will take the money and get out of town. Nobody will ever know a thing. I’ll tell Dad the two of you released me and he’ll be so glad to get me back and so scared of the tax men he’ll never say a word. You could let me go, Ray, couldn’t you? Before Howie gets back?”
He thought it over for a long time, and she could see he wanted to. But he said, “I don’t know, Howie would take me apart—”
“Say I grabbed something and hit you, and managed to knock you out. Tell him he tied the ropes wrong and I slipped loose and got you from behind. He’ll be mad, maybe, but what will he care? As long as you have the money—”
“He won’t believe you hit me.”
“Suppose I did hit you? Not hard, but enough to leave a mark so you could point to it for proof.”
He grinned suddenly. “Sure, Carole, you’ve been good to me. The first time, when he made that first phone call, you were real good. I’ll tell you something, the idea of killing you bothers me. And you’re right about Howie. Here, belt me one behind the ear. Make it a good one, but not too hard, okay?” And he handed her the gun.
He looked completely astonished when she shot him. He just didn’t believe it. She reversed the gun in her hand, curled her index finger around the trigger, and pointed the gun straight at his heart. His eyes bugged out and his mouth dropped open, and he just stared at her, not saying anything at all. She shot him twice in the center of the chest and watched him fall slowly, incredibly, to the floor, dead.