His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper.
“Good grief, Lois! Are you out of your mind? I told you never to call here, under any circumstances!”
“So you did, old Doc Hanky-Panky. And you told me a lot of other things, too. Does Melissa know you’re going to break her neck next summer?”
“You’re drunk, Lois!”
“Oh, no I’m not. I’m just getting sober, Hank — for the first time in two years. I’m just getting wise to you.”
“Please, Lois. Sleep it off. I’ll come by first thing in the morning.”
He must be holding the phone as a crooner holds a mike. She could scarcely hear him.
“That’s what you think. I’m through, Hank. Joe was here, trying to get in, and I know he’ll be back. I’m not going to wait for that. I’m calling the police. I thought I’d give you a chance to do something about it first, but you don’t rate a chance. I’m going to tell everything I know.”
“Lois, you can’t! Don’t be a fool, Lois. You know what we’ve got waiting for us.”
His voice was louder now. He was excited. She had touched him where it hurt. He hadn’t been upset about her skin, but now it was his own skin. He had yelped.
“I know what we’ve got waiting, Mr. Irby,” scoffed Lois. “You can forget the act. She ought to be comfy by now, so you just run along.”
She banged the receiver down on his sputtering, and then sat staring at the dead phone, at the only thing that offered her an avenue of escape. Calling the police was no good; calling Hank had been worse.
She paced the room, trying to stop the panic that was rising, the feeling of utter desolation. She was going to die and nobody cared. She’d even lost Hank now!
It had been foolish to snap at Hank that way, but she hadn’t known what she was doing. She couldn’t think — she just couldn’t think!
She slumped into a chair and dug her fingers into her skull. If she could only think of something, anything, to prevent this awful moment that was going to come to her. But the fear had been with her too long; her mind was frozen. There was this new sensation now of being alone, absolutely alone, and not knowing what to do...
When the phone rang, she gave a small scream, far back in her throat. She felt as if a hand had reached into the silent room to touch her.
She lifted the receiver with icy fingers. It almost slipped out of her grasp.
“Darling, are you there? Speak up.”
She managed a weak, “Yes.”
“I’m in a pay booth now, Lois. I’m sorry, but you know I can’t talk in front of Melissa. Tell me calmly, dear. What do you want me to do? I’d cut off my right arm for you and you know it. Do you want me to come over?”
His voice again. The one that belonged to her, not Melissa, the sound that kept her from being alone.
“I... I don’t know, Hank. I can’t think. There isn’t much time. He’ll be back. I just want to get away from here, to be safe...” Her throat knotted with the effort of talking. “I can’t think, Hank. I just can’t think!”
“Have you called the police yet?”
“No.”
“Good! Are you sure Joe isn’t in front of your building now?”
“He wasn’t a few minutes ago. He walked away, up Kensington.”
“All right, darling. You’ve had enough of this. Will you do just what I tell you to?”
“Yes,” she cried. “Yes, Hank. Only... only the bolt isn’t going to work the next time.”
“I know. Forget the bolt. Call a cab right now and go to Skinner and Clayton. I’ll drive over and meet you there. Unless you’d rather I came all the way down for you?”
“No, Hank! There won’t be time. I’d better leave right now, while he’s gone. I’m sure he’s gone after something...”
“Sure, baby, sure. Duck out now, then. I’ll be waiting. And Lois...”
“Yes?”
“You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved.”
“Yes, Hank.”
She didn’t feel a thing as she rang for a cab. She’d thought she never wanted to see Hank again, but now she knew that anything was better than being alone. She knew she couldn’t stand it alone. This way, she might have a chance.
The cab arrived in five minutes. As soon as the buzzer sounded, she looked out the windows. Just as normal as living — the white car waiting, the little lights on the top blinking, the driver on his way back to wait for her. Nothing menacing below. No tilted shoulders, no shadowy figure dipping his head to light a cigarette.
She left the lights burning, as she always did, and ran out to the self-service elevator, her full skirt swishing about her beautiful legs. She broke a thumbnail pushing the elevator button, but the cage finally arrived and then she was sinking toward the street, toward her flight to safety.
She ran to the cab and stumbled in, without looking around. The driver closed the door, rounded the car, and settled himself leisurely behind the wheel. He turned half around to smile at her.
“What’s the matter, lady? You seen a ghost?”
“No,” she gasped, her lungs bursting. “But I’m terribly late for an appointment. Hurry, please!”
“Sure thing.” He started the motor, then turned around again, grinning.
“I could hurry better if I know where to.”
“Skinner and Clayton.”
He made a U-turn and they were off. She pulled great gasps of air into her shaking frame and settled back against the cushions. She had escaped!
“Mind going through the park, lady? It’s quicker.”
“Surely,” she said. “Make it the quickest way.”
“You bet. But I always ask. Lot of people think you’re trying to pull a fast one the minute you get off a straight street. But I been hackin’ in this town for ten years and I know her upside down.”
Lois was composed now. The driver’s habitual monologue was having a therapeutic effect. It was just any night in the year to him. A safe night, a night that he expected to live through.
She got there before Hank, but it was a well-lighted corner with a movie, a drug store, a hamburger stand, street car tracks and a cab stand. It was safe; it was far away from Joe Hilton. She paid her driver, gave him a generous tip, and let him go. She stepped inside the hamburger stand so she could watch through the plate glass window. She was just considering coffee when Hank’s blue convertible pulled up.
As soon as he had settled her on the seat beside him, she dropped her head to his shoulder. She closed her eyes. She was so tired! If she could just stay this way for a little while — not moving, not thinking.
He drove the car away from the lighted area into the dark rim of the park. Then he stopped and turned to face her.
She caught a glint of his eyes from the dash light.
“No, Hank!”
“I’m afraid so, sweet. You sort of loused me up tonight. I don’t like your nervous system. When you crack, you crack wide open. God help me, you’re the most beautiful thing that ever lived, but I have to be practical. You’d tell the police someday. I can’t take a chance on that, Lois. Your beauty wouldn’t do me any good in jail.”
“I wouldn’t, Hank! Please! I wouldn’t. Look at me, Hank. You know how you feel about me—”
His lips curled in derision and he moved his arm across the seat, resting his hand on her shoulder.
“All right, Lois. But Melissa knows now, too. That was stupid of you. You’re just a little country jake, scared to death because you did wrong. Hell! Your beauty isn’t that important to me.”
His hands were coming toward her throat, and she twisted, struggled, scratched him, and kicked her way out of the car.