Even when they were alone, her discretion, although considerably qualified, was not abandoned, and she was clearly not inclined to commit herself in passion to some-thing she would regret in satiety. There was far too much to lose, and Hugo Archer was always a threat. Squat and ugly in a strangely alluring way, he was richer than anyone knew, and he wielded immense power in a shadowy world without appreciable inhibitions. He commanded, Steve knew, a small army of dedicated men who would do for him at a word whatever he wanted done but no longer wanted to do for himself, having acquired a certain position. He was not a man, in brief, to betray. He could, when it suited him, forget a friend or a favor, but he never forgot an enemy or an offense.
And so that was the way things had been before becoming as they now were, and they had begun to change, to become different from before, suddenly yesterday afternoon, only twenty-four hours ago. They had been then, yesterday, in Hannah’s home, which was a place he had rarely been, and he was there at this time only because Hugo Archer was away on one of the mysterious business trips that sometimes took him out into his shadowy world. Hannah was lying propped on her elbows on the floor. She was wearing a white jersey blouse and a pair of tight black velvet pants, her legs bent back above her thighs from the knees and her heels dangling above her lovely stern. She looked beautiful and at least ten years younger than she was, which was thirty-five. Balanced precariously in the thick pile of off-white carpeting a few inches from her nose was a tall glass filled with ice and vodka and orange juice. A long, transparent plastic straw was leaning against the glass on the inside, and every once in a while, Hannah, without ever touching the glass with her hands, would stretch a little forward and suck briefly on the straw. Doing this now, she smiled lazily at Steve, who was sitting on a soft white leather ottoman and watching her with candid desire in brown eyes that looked black in passion and anger.
“Darling,” she said, “if only you weren’t so dreadfully poor.”
“Excuse me,” he said. “I know it’s depressing.”
“It’s just that it would be so wonderful if you weren’t.”
“Everyone can’t be as rich as Hugo.”
“That’s true. Hardly anyone can be as rich as Hugo, but it is hardly necessary. Not for you, darling. With you as a bonus, I’d be willing to settle for less.”
“How much less?”
“It could be a great deal less and still be enough. There is no advantage in having far more money than one can spend.”
“I’m happy to know that you’re prepared to be reasonable.”
“Darling, I am almost entirely free from avarice. All I require is enough to supply the simple necessities.”
“Did you say necessities or luxuries?”
“Darling, for me they are the same thing.”
“Well, let’s get down to specifications. How much, would you say, would be enough to supply the simple necessities for a person who is almost entirely free from avarice? Name a figure.”
“Make me an offer.”
“Would one hundred G’s be enough?”
“I should think that would do very well for quite a while. Do you happen to have that much?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. Darling, you mustn’t imagine that you can trick me or anything like that. I’m very shrewd in such matters.”
“Perhaps I could get it, however.”
“You mustn’t indulge in fantasies, either, darling. It’s hard on the mind.”
“I could get it tonight. By nine o’clock, say. One hundred thousand in large bills.”
“That’s the way I like it. Large bills is absolutely the nicest way that money comes. Darling, you are so charming when you dream. So small-boyish. If you will come down here beside me, I think I would like to kiss you.”
He came down beside her, as directed, and they kissed each other, as it turned out. It did not turn out, however, to be the kind of kiss a woman gives a small boy, nor on the other hand the kind a small boy gives a woman. It was too long and too ardent. When it was over, she rolled back onto her tummy and sucked again on the clear plastic straw and looked at him sidewise from smoky eyes.
“If only you really could,” she said.
“I can.”
“No, no. You mustn’t torment yourself and me with delusions, darling. You are charming and lovable and exciting, but you are simply not the type to acquire that much money tonight or any other night or ever at all.”
“If I can get the money tonight, will you go away with me before Hugo gets back?”
“Permanently?”
“Yes.”
“Certainly, darling.
“Then you had better be prepared to go, because I know just where it is, and I’ll get it.”
She had been watching him closely sidewise all the while, and now she rolled over suddenly and sat up, hugging her knees in her arms and staring at him intently over them. In her eyes, behind the smoke, there was a new glitter of excitement.
“I do believe you’re serious.”
“You’d better believe it. I’ll simply take it.”
“Steal it?”
“Yes, if you want to put it that way.”
“Darling, there is no good in speaking in euphemisms. We may as well be candid.”
“Would you object to spending stolen money?”
“Not at all. I would only object if you were caught stealing it.”
“I won’t be caught.”
“Where is all this money? Just lying somewhere waiting for you to pick it up?”
“That’s right. Just lying there waiting.”
“Waiting where?”
“In Hugo’s safe at the casino.”
“Steal from Hugo! Darling, are you insane?”
“No, I’m not.”
“He would certainly have you killed. Me, too.”
“He would have to find us first.”
“I must confess that I didn’t dream you could have the nerve. Perhaps you won’t, when it comes down to it.”
“You’ll see.”
“How do you know the money is in the safe? Did you see it?”
“Hugo told me. You know he likes me. Sometimes he invites me into his office for a cigarette and a drink of private stock. The night before he left town, I was in there, and he had this package, just a brown paper package tied with heavy twine, lying on his desk. He was in an expansive mood, a little tight, and he asked me if I knew what was in the package, and I said no, and he said one hundred thousand dollars in large bills. Then he said, as a joke, that I had better watch over things closely while he was gone, because he was leaving the package in the office safe until he returned from wherever he was going.”