Together, we walked to the Alfa and she slid under the wheel.
‘I’ll take you,’ she said.
I got in beside her and she drove away from the waterfront: expert, fast driving, perfect control and I sat back and enjoyed being driven.
We got onto the hill road and we drove fast for three or four miles, then she turned up a dirt road and finally pulled up outside a knotty pine cabin.
‘This is my retreat,’ she said, sliding out of the car, ‘where I exercise my hobbies.’
As she was unlocking the door. I remembered what Bernie had said about Harry Erskine: Mrs. Essex dangled herself and he fell for it and then she cut him down to size That’s her speciality: turning it on, making a guy think he’s going to get into her bed, then telling him he isn’t.
The set-up looked good, but she could just be dangling herself I decided to play it cool. She would have to make all the advances.
I followed her into a large, comfortably furnished room and I saw a big divan across by the picture window.
‘Pretty nice,’ I said. ‘What are your bobbies?’
‘I paint: I’m not bad.’ She walked over to a cocktail cabinet ‘A whisky?’
‘Thanks.’
She made two drinks, handed me one and dropped down into a lounging chair. On the arm of the chair was a number of buttons. She pressed one and then sipped her drink. Soft music came from concealed speakers.
‘That’s neat,’ I said and sat on the arm of another lounging chair. ‘What it is to be rich.’
‘Do you want to be rich?’
‘Who doesn’t?’
‘It has its disadvantages.’
‘Such as?’
She shrugged.
‘Oh, boredom. When you have everything, you also have boredom.’
‘You would know... I wouldn’t,’ I said.
She set down her glass, smiled and stood up.
‘Let’s dance.’
She looked very inviting as she stood there: too inviting.
I sat where I was, looking at her.
‘Mrs. Essex,’ I said quietly, ‘I have some inside information about you and I don’t want to take advantage of you. You should have some inside information about me.’
Her smile slipped away and the violet eyes became hard.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I have been told you are a copper plated bitch. What you don’t know is I am a copper plated bastard. It’s only fair for you to know this. You see, Mrs. Essex, although I think you are the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen, the most desirable, the sexiest, no matter how good you look, I don’t tease. You either get out of the dress and get on the divan and give out or I get out. Is that plain enough for you?’
Her eyes opened wide.
‘How dare you talk to me like that!’
‘That’s what I thought. Well. I’ll be running along. See you,’ and I started towards the door.
She sprang at me grabbed my arm, swung me around and slapped my face.
‘You devil!’
I caught her up, gave her a stinging slap on her bottom, then tossed her onto the divan.
‘Get out of that dress,’ I said, standing over her, ‘or do you want me to tear it of?’
‘You hurt me!’
‘Okay, so I tear it off.’
‘No! I have to have something to go home in!’
I laughed.
‘So go ahead and get out of it.’
Her eyes glittering, her breasts heaving, she slid out of the dress.
I got to the cafe-bar twenty minutes before the others were due. I ordered a coke and sat in the shade on the veranda and waited.
While I waited, I thought about Mrs. Victoria Essex I knew she would be good, and that’s what she was. She acted like a woman who had been sexually starved most of her life. But why go into details? When it was finally over, she had got of the divan, had taken a shower while I lay there feeling as if I had been hit by a truck.
She had dressed while I still lay there.
‘Lock up,’ she said. ‘I have a car. Put the key under the mat,’ and she was gone.
I waited until I heard her car drive away, then I dressed, locked up put the key under the mat and drove back to the hotel.
Well, I told myself you have laid one of the richest women in the world: what happens next? Would she tell Wes Jackson to get rid of me or did she want another session? It was a matter of waiting and seeing.
Olson’s Buick came down the sandy road and pulled up. He, Pam and Erskine got out and joined me.
‘Good trip?’ I asked as the girl served cokes.
‘The usual,’ Bernie shrugged. ‘The boss got held up. We’ve only just got in.’
I didn’t tell him I knew this.
When the girl had gone, I said, ‘It looks all right. I’ve checked the runway. No problem. It’s raining like hell out there and the fly in could be tricky.’
I went on to give him a detailed description of my reception, how I had met O’Cassidy and what he had told me.
‘I think he’s right: this is a political thing,’ I concluded. ‘Not that it matters to us. The thing that does matter is to be sure Kendrick pays up. We don’t shift the kite until we get that bank receipt.’
‘How do you react now about us getting knocked of once we deliver?’ Erskine asked.
‘I think if we do what we’re told and don’t make reasons for them to turn rough, we’ll be okay.’ I had thought about this a lot. ‘You see, you two have to train their pilots. As we’ve delivered the kite the agreement is we get the full payment. So we’ll probably have to stay at the airfield for a couple of weeks while the pilots are being trained. It seems to me once we have done that, fulfilled all obligations, there is no reason for them to get rid of us. They can’t get their hands on the money once it has been paid into the bank so what’s the point in knocking us of?’
Erskine thought about this, then nodded.
‘But...’ I paused to look directly at Bernie, ‘Pam doesn’t fly with us.’
He stiffened, but before he could say anything, Pam snapped, ‘I’d like to see you stop me!’
I ignored her, looking directly at Bernie.
‘The airfield is staffed with thugs, Bernie. There are no women there. With you two busy training their pilots, Pam could run into trouble. I’m not taking the responsibility of looking after her. That’s strictly out. If one of those greasers makes a pass at her, we could have the trouble I want to avoid. So she doesn’t come with us. She takes a flight to Merida and stays at a hotel and waits for us, but she doesn’t come with us on the flight. Can you see that?’
‘Bernie!’ Pam’s voice was shrill. ‘You’re not listening to this jerk, are you? I’m coming with you!’
‘I guess I’d better think about this Jack,’ Bernie said uneasily.
‘There’s nothing to think about. She doesn’t fly with us. I’ve seen these thugs... you haven’t. The moment they set eyes on her, they’ll come after her and then we’ll have real trouble.’
‘Makes sense.’ Erskine said ‘Why look for trouble?’
Bernie hesitated, then reluctantly nodded.
‘Yes. Okay, she doesn’t come with us.’
‘And what am I supposed to do? Sit in some stinking hotel and wait? Suppose you three decide to ditch me! I’d look a mug. wouldn’t I?’ Pam said viciously. ‘I’m coming with you!’
I shoved back my chair and stood up.
‘Want a lift back?’ I asked Erskine.
‘Sure.’
‘Bernie, this is your problem: she’s your woman. You fix it.’
I walked down the steps with Erskine at my side to the Alfa.
Six
I was trying to make up my mind what I was going to do with myself on this Monday morning when the telephone bell rang. I was hoping the call would be from Mrs. Essex suggesting a ride, but it was Bernie.