"You see?" I said. "Now get that idea out of your head, Carol. I had Elizabeth and I didn't want her. She had me, and she didn't want me. I figure she brought you here with the idea that I'd fall for you."
"Oh, no, she didn't!"
"She had some reason for doing it, and it sure wasn't charity."
"She wanted me around to make herself look good! I'm a woman myself and I know. That's why I hated her so much! Don't you suppose if she'd wanted to get rid of you she'd have got someone that didn't look like-like-"
"Carol," I said, and I got up and put my arm around her and gave her a hug.
The dame was nuts if she thought that about Elizabeth. Elizabeth didn't need anyone around to make her look good.
"Well, it's the truth," Carol said.
"No, it's not," I said, leading her into the living-room. "And you're getting yourself all upset over nothing. All that matters is that we'll be in the clear after tonight, and we'll have plenty of money. Let's not spoil it."
"Promise you won't try to see her, Joe."
"Of course, I won't," I said. "Do you think I'd run a risk like that?"
"You'll give me her-the money and let me send it to her?"
"I told you I would. Now forget it."
She wiped her eyes and smiled, sort of trembly; and I fixed us a drink. I thought for a minute the arguments and explanations were over, but of course they weren't.
I was beginning to see that they weren't ever going to be over. I wondered how Elizabeth felt about it all now.
"How long will it be before everything is settled, Joe?"
"Two or three months, anyway."
"Can I stay here until-"
"No," I said. "You know you can't, Carol."
"Just until that insurance man leaves, Joe! Just let me stay that long. He-he scares me. I don't want to be away from you as long as he's around."
"Well," I said, "we'll see."
I meant to get her out of the house in the next day or two if I had to pitch her out a window.
Rain began to patter on the roof. It started in easy, and got harder and harder. Inside of a half hour it was a regular downpour. There was a hell of a crash of lightning somewhere near by, and Carol shuddered and snuggled close to me. I reached back to the wall and turned on the furnace.
"Joe."
"Yeah," I said.
"It's kind of nice being this way, ain't-isn't it? Being able to do just what we please around the house."
"I'll say."
"Elizabeth would say it was too early for the furnace."
"Yeah, she sure would." It sounded pretty half-hearted, so I had to say something else. "If you wanted to see someone that was really tight you should have seen her old lady. We cleaned out her room after she died, and she had darned near a whole closet full of dry bread-just scraps, you know."
Carol snickered. "She must have been crazy."
"I guess she was along toward the last. You could hardly blame her, though, with a husband that spent all his life writing a history of the county."
"What'd he do that for?"
"God knows," I said.
Carol snuggled closer. The room began to get warm. The wind rose and fell, throwing the rain against the roof in long steady swishes; and she seemed to breathe in time with it.
My knees began to ache from her weight, but I didn't move. I didn't want to talk any more about Elizabeth or her folks or anything. Everything was all right now. I'd told her about a hundred times that I loved her and didn't love Elizabeth. A man can't spend his life hashing over the past.
I dozed for a few minutes, what seemed like a few minutes. When I woke up, the clock had just finished striking.
I jerked out my watch. Eleven-thirty. I shoved Carol off of me, waking her up, and stumbled out to the hall. My legs had gone to sleep and I could hardly walk.
The phone rang just as I was gripping the receiver.
I answered it automatically.
"Joe?"
"Yes."
"I've got to talk with you, Joe. How soon can you come down?"
"Why," I said, "what's wrong?"
"I'm at my office. You'll be right down?"
"Well- It's kind of a bad night."
No answer.
"Well, sure," I said. "I'll be right down."
I hung up.
Carol was still sitting on the lounge, her face whiter than anything I ever hope or want to see. Her lips moved, but no sound came out of them.
"Web Clay," I said; and, as if she didn't know: "Our county attorney."
27
She swallowed a couple of times and finally found her voice.
"W-What does he want?"
"I don't know."
"Mr. Chance?"
"Goddamit," I said. "I told you I didn't know!"
Hap wasn't supposed to call; he was going right on into the city. But I didn't think it could be about him. Hap was too smooth an operator to be taken in by any of the Stoneville clowns. If there'd been a chance of being caught he wouldn't have taken it.
But even if they had got him, what could he say? What could Jimmie Nedry say, for that matter? Enough to start the ball rolling, sure, but the ball hadn't had time to roll yet. Even Web Clay wasn't dumb enough to tip his hand to me until he had a lot more to go on than he would have.
I went over to the hall tree and took down my hat and coat. And…
And she didn't say anything and I didn't hear her move. But her hand went past mine and grabbed her coat.
I jumped, startled. Before I knew what I was doing, I whirled and slammed her against the wall. It hurt her. It hurt and I was damned glad of it.
She bounced forward, trying to dodge around me; and I caught her by the wrists and we struggled. And then we stopped, posed like a couple of wrestlers in a picture. Ashamed. Scared stiff.
"Sorry if I hurt you, baby," I said. "You kind of startled me."
"It's all right, Joe." She tried to smile back at me. "I just want to go with you."
"You know you can't. How would it look, Carol?"
"I've got to, Joe!"
"You can't!"
"No one knows there's anything between-"
"You're damned right they don't," I said, "and they're not going to, either. What would you be doing up at this time of night? Why would you be traipsing along with me?"
"You don't understand, Joe. I-I-"
"I understand all right," I said. "You're afraid I'll spill something. You want to get in on the ground floor when the talking starts."
It was a bad break but I couldn't hold it back. I'd held myself in as long as I could. Anyway, she might as well know that I was onto her. We knew where we stood now.
"Do-do you really think that, Joe?"
"What do you expect me to think? You're certainly not worried about me chasing off after Elizabeth."
"No. I'm not worried about that."
"Spit it out, then, if you've got anything to say."
"You'd better go on, Joe."
"You'll stay here?"
"Where else would I go? Yes, I'll stay here."
I shrugged on my coat and pushed past her. She spoke again, just as I was opening the door.
"Joe-"
"Now what?"
"I just wanted to tell you, Joe. Everything's going to be all right. You don't have anything to be afraid of."
"Not any more than you have," I said. "Not as much. Don't forget it."
I got the car started, and went slipping and skidding down the lane to the highway. At the intersection I jerked the wheel toward the right, toward town. I had to jerk it. Something had almost made me turn the other way.
People in Stoneville go to bed pretty early, even when there isn't a storm to keep them off the streets. I toured around a dozen blocks without passing anyone or without seeing any lights except those in the courthouse. There were a few cars parked out, but none of them was Hap's. I began to breathe easier. He must have done the job and got away.
There was just one way to make sure, of course. That was to drive by Jimmie Nedry's house and see if he was there. But I didn't have any reason for doing that, any excuse I mean, and there wasn't time.