"You know, Hap. I traded something for it that's going to be worthless."
"Uh-hah, your show. That's what I supposed. But there's one little point I'm not quite clear on. Our friend Taylor doesn't know that your house is going to be worthless. He regards it as a little gold mine. Why wasn't he suspicious when you swapped it for his prize white elephant?"
I'd stepped into one again; he knew now that I was walking a pretty ragged rope.
He laughed softly.
"This is much better than I thought, laddie-or worse. Y'know, I think I'll raise my sights on you. I really think I shall."
"What's the Taylor deal got to do with you?" I said. "You don't know anything, Hap."
"Haven't I said so all along? I know enough to sound the alarm. The firemen, speaking metaphorically, will do the rest." He tapped a yawn back with his hand. "Odd how this subject of fires keeps cropping up, isn't it?"
"What do you want?"
"Well, what kind of holdup are you pulling on little Solly? Honor bright, now. I'd be very hurt to catch you in a falsehood."
"I've got a check for fifty grand in my pocket."
"Uh-hah. A very neat evasion. Perhaps I'd better ask Sol about it and explain my interest in the matter."
"I get a hundred and fifty more," I said, "when he moves in."
"You see?" Hap shrugged. "You can tell the truth when you have to." He sat up and reached for the whisky bottle. "Shall we drink on it-partner?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Partner?"
"Partner," I said.
He poured us a drink and we touched glasses; and I couldn't help thinking how nice it would be to drop a little arsenic in his. Then, I saw a shadow in the hall and I knew Carol was listening, and I thought-Well, never mind. Sometimes you get an idea in your head, and it's pretty hard to get it out.
Hap swished the liquor around in his glass, studying me. "Y'know," he said, "you're really a very lucky man, Joe."
"Sure," I said. "Sure, I am."
"Oh, but you are. If I hadn't become interested in the success of your little plan-which necessarily involves your own safety-I probably would have stood aside and let Fate take her course with you. A very unpleasant course."
"Now what?" I said. "What are you trying to pull now?"
"Take yourself back to the morn of the tragedy, old man. You stop by the show and visit the projection booth, and, lo and behold, you discover that your supply of photoelectric cells is exhausted. It comes as a complete surprise to you. You hadn't planned on going to the city, but now you must. Ergo, you provide yourself with an alibi for being out of town."
"Well?"
"But you had your suitcase in your car. Jimmie Nedry saw it when he passed by on his way to work. So you must have planned on going to the city before you ever noticed the alleged absence of those cells."
"So what?" I said. "Maybe I was-"
"-taking some clothes to the cleaners? Not good enough, laddie. That could be checked on. And that isn't the clincher, at any rate. It wasn't the first time you'd hopped Jimmie about missing equipment; and he'd taken certain precautions. He's ready to swear that the cells you supposedly bought in town bore the same serial numbers as those that were missing from the show. In other words, old chap, your alibi is a phony."
"He-he told you all this?"
"Mmm. Got quite fond of me, did Nedry. And in the morning, when Blair swings his transfer, he's going to tell him."
He grinned at me over his glass, and I began to see red. What the hell! This was my deal. I'd taken the risk and done all the thinking, and here was another guy with his hand out!
"Let the little bastard talk," I said. "Let him go to hell. He's lying! He got the numbers of those cells wrong. He-"
"Huh-ah. But even if he had it wouldn't make any difference. You still couldn't afford to have him tell that story."
"He can tell anything he pleases! By God, I'm-"
Hap's hand shot out. He caught his fingers in my collar and jerked and twisted.
For a minute I thought my neck was broken.
"That's how a rope feels, laddie. Just a little like that. But don't fret. If you crumb this deal, I'll settle with you myself."
My throat felt like I'd swallowed a cantaloupe. "How-h-how much do you think-"
"Nothing. Not a red."
"Nothing?"
"No money. It wouldn't do any good. Your projectionist has one of the most alarming cases of honesty I've ever seen. He's even conscience-stricken at having used his information to pry a better job out of Blair."
"But he hasn't told him yet?"
"He hasn't. And he won't."
"I see," I said. And he nodded and looked at his wrist watch.
"Well, I really must be shoving along. I told them at the hotel that I'd be checking out tonight. Told several people, in fact. Must be getting back to the city."
"I hate to see you leave," I said.
"It's trying, isn't it? But the best of friends, you know, and all that rot- Oh yes-"
"Yeah?"
"It's terribly lonely when friend Nedry gets off work. Been thinking it might be awfully awkward for you if he should be slugged by footpads or some such thing. Perhaps you'd best be at home here around eleven-thirty. Miss Farmer can alibi for you."
"Okay, Hap," I said.
"On second thought, I incline to the belief that some doubt might be cast on the Farmer veracity. Call your telephone operator at eleven-thirty. Ask her the time. They still give it here, don't they?"
"Yes."
"Cheerio, then."
"Cheer-so long," I said.
26
There was a chocolate cake in the refrigerator and part of a baked ham. But I passed them up and opened a can of soup. I wasn't particularly hungry, and I'd been eating too much recently. Just this morning I'd noticed that I was getting a little paunchy.
I heard Carol come through the door, and I could feel her standing behind me. I went on eating and pretty soon she walked around into my line of vision. And it was all I could do not to burst out laughing.
She had a new kind of hairdo, and a plain black dress, and she was trying to stick her nose in the air and hold her chin down at the same time. Sure, Elizabeth. Or Carol's idea of Elizabeth.
I ducked my head over my soup.
"You look mighty pretty, Carol," I said, as soon as I could say anything.
"Do you like me better this way?"
I wasn't sure of the answer to that one. "You always look good to me. How about some soup?"
"I've already ate-eaten."
"Coffee?"
"No. You go ahead."
I went ahead, taking my time about it, doing some thinking. This was the second or third time she'd listened in on my conversations. She was nervous and scared, of course, but, hell, I was a little uneasy myself, and I didn't pop out at her every time she opened a door.
I wondered if it was always going to be like this. I wondered if I could never go any place or do anything without having her breathing down my neck.
Without worrying about her getting worried.
I shoved my plate back and lighted a cigarette. "I guess you know," I said, "that there's been some trouble."
She nodded. "Yes. I know now."
"I'm glad you heard," I said. "I intended to tell you as soon as I could see my way out. Didn't want to worry you unless I had to."
"You-you weren't afraid to tell me, Joe?"
"Now, why do you say a thing like that?"
"I-I couldn't stand it if you were afraid of me, Joe! I know how you feel-how you got to feel. I'm different, now! When you kill someone it changes you. But-"
"I was afraid," I said, "but not that way. You'd stuck your neck out. It looked like it might not get you anything. You might have thought that we-I-had known it wouldn't get you anything. That I'd put you on a spot, and was going to walk off and leave you."
"And try to go to Elizabeth?" she snapped.