She looked at her watch but it was too dark to tell the time, so I lit a match and held it close to her wrist and we could see that it was almost ten o’clock.
“I’ve got to be going,” she said.
I held the burning match between us and looked at her and I could see her eyes shining in the light like a cat’s. We stared at each other and the silence built up and what we were thinking was ready to come out.
We knew what we wanted and we knew what we had to do to get it and that scared us. The thinking about it made us lie there staring at each other without saying a word while the match flickered and finally went out.
The darkness covered everything. But we still looked at each other; when my eyes got used to the dark again I could see her eyes, two shiny points in the blackness.
“We’ve got to get rid of him, Johnny,” she said.
I knew she was going to say that. If she hadn’t I would have had to myself. But when the words came out, and what we were thinking was in the open, I felt a chill go up my back.
“Yes, we’ve got to get rid of him,” I said.
It was out in the open and it took the pressure off us. We knew what we had to do, and we knew where we stood.
I kissed her then and she closed her eyes.
“I love you, Johnny.”
“You’ve got to be going,” I said. “Don’t even think about what we just said. Let me do the thinking. We’re going to get rid of him but we’ll do it so they’ll never connect us with it. We’ve got to make it fool-proof and air-tight, and when we do it we’ve got to stick together all the way.”
“How long will it take?” she said.
“That doesn’t matter. The thing is it’s got to be right. We can’t take even the slightest chance. We don’t see each other from now on, get that? When I’ve got it figured out I’ll get in touch with you at the office. If anything breaks and you have to talk to me call me here at noon. And call from a drug store. Have you got all that?”
“I’ve got it, Johnny.”
“All right, get dressed. We don’t want to make him any more suspicious than he is already.”
“It’s all right now, Johnny, but I’m going to be afraid again when I’m alone.”
That’s the way I felt. But I didn’t say anything more about it.
When she kissed me goodbye and cried a little, I was still all right. She went to the door and on out without looking back.
Then I was afraid. I knew what we were going to do and I knew what it was going to mean.
The room was quiet and warm now and I was twenty stories above the street in a comfortable bed. But I was cold and empty.
Chapter IV
The next morning the idea came to me. It didn’t come in pieces, one at a time, but suddenly it was right there in my mind, all put together, neat and perfect.
I was shaving when it hit me and I must have stood there looking at myself for a couple of minutes, with my razor in my hand and the lather drying on my face.
It looked so perfect I was afraid of it. I turned it around and around and I couldn’t see a flaw anywhere. I was so excited that my hands started shaking, because this would do it. No slip-ups and no risks. I don’t know where it came from, the idea I mean, but there it was, a perfect way to get rid of him and leave Alice and I in the clear.
I finished shaving in a hurry and dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. I went into the lobby restaurant, a cheerful room with light-wood paneling, brown linoleum on the floor and flowers on the tables.
I sat down at a table in the corner and a girl I knew, a kid named Marie, came over to get my order. She worked there as a waitress and she was a cute twist. I had taken her out a few times a long while ago.
I told her what I wanted and she went away with the order. I sat there, smoking, turning over all the angles of this idea of mine.
Marie brought my orange juice, and right then another idea clicked in my mind. I was going to need a girl when things broke. I had to have a cover-up, so no copper would connect me with Alice and get any funny ideas. Right here with my orange juice was the girl I could use.
She had started away, but I said, “Hey, wait a minute.” She came back. “What’s the matter, Johnny?”
“Can’t you say hello to an old friend? Here I am, all tired out and I don’t even get a cheery hello from an old pal.”
“You all tired out? That’s hot. It’s eleven o’clock and I’ll bet you just got up. I know guys that have been working three or four hours already this morning.”
She was smiling and so was I. “I had a bad night, Marie. I was up all night with a sick friend’s wife.”
“You haven’t changed any then.”
“Cut it out. You know I’m not that type.”
“You have changed then.”
She was kidding and she kept smiling. She was what I needed all right.
She was little, with nice slim arms and legs and a tiny waist. She had blonde hair curled close to her head and she always looked clean and fresh. There wasn’t anything bright about her — she even looked dumb in a nice way, with bright, baby-blue eyes, a snub nose and a red little mouth she kept half open most of the time. But, like most girls, she was smart about guys.
She was the kind of girl who would let you do about anything you wanted if you were going to marry her, and if she thought it would help the deal along. But if you just wanted a good time you couldn’t get near her.
That’s why I’d stopped taking her out. She hadn’t been mad about it, she knew the kind of a guy I was and she knew she wasn’t losing anything when I stopped coming around.
Now I needed her for this idea of mine, and suddenly I knew it was going to work.
“Look, honey,” I said. “How about looking the town over tonight with me?”
She smiled, an uncertain, almost cautious smile. “What’s all this? You think I’ve changed about things?”
“What things?”
“Oh, you know.” Her smile widened a little. “What’s the matter? All your other girls getting married?”
“All my girls? Thanks for the compliment, but I’m living like a monk. Well, how about it?”
She laughed a little and made a few more cracks but finally she said okay. I told her I’d pick her up at six-thirty and she said that would be fine. She was through at six and she needed a half hour to change and get cleaned up.
I made the date to pick her up at the restaurant because I didn’t want to drive out to where she lived.
She brought the rest of my food and stood around while I ate, kidding with me. I left her a half buck tip and stood up to go.
She said, “Six-thirty, right here?”
“Right here, honey.” I patted her on the shoulder and went back up to my room.
I felt wonderful. The first step of the idea was already working. I called Alice’s office and gave the operator her local number. In a few seconds she was on the phone.
“Don’t use my name,” I said. “But I’ve got to see you at noon.”
There was a little pause. Then she said, “He was pretty bad last night. I don’t know—”
“Get over here. This is important. It’s about what we talked about last night.”
“...All right.”
“Good. See you at one.”
I hung up and put the phone back in place. It was eleven-thirty and I had some work to do so I got at it. I checked over my bets and found out I was way ahead. The favorites all ran out and that’s always good for a bookie. He naturally takes a lot of bets on the favorites, and when they don’t show, it’s money in his pocket. Not heavy dough, but it all adds up.
I put in a few calls and took a few bets by twelve-thirty. Then I took a shower because it was another one of those humid days and my shirt was stuck to my back. After that I sat around and waited for Alice.