He was right about another thing too: the trail through Grace in Cleveland to Kim's hideout in Key West had been much too easy to follow.
I'd congratulated myself on what a shrewd detective I'd been. Now I understood I'd been a fool.
I made love to Kim that night. I had to. I was afraid that if I didn't she'd suspect that I knew. At first it was awful. Her lies were so abundant, calculated and ensnaring, I quivered at each caress. She misunderstood my trembling, mistook it for passion. And when that seemed to arouse her, I played along. Then I actually started to enjoy it. It was so easy to play false, revel in deceit. Perhaps I was beginning to understand her. was Frank right? was she motivated only by love for race and money? Or was there something more-some actual pleasure she took in perfidy? I tried to put myself in her place, understand how it felt to have done what she had done, to plan the things that she was planning-as if life were a game in which to play was to cheat, to speak was to lie, and the only purpose a lover had was to be used and then betrayed.
Frank came by early in the morning, first to show Kim the way out to the battlefield, then to drive her to Albuquerque to see if Darling came in on the plane.
I stayed in our room at the Seek And Ye Shall Find, trying to make sense out of what was happening. I even considered walking up to the Alamo to have my own little talk with Grace. But what could I say to her, when, it seemed, I had totally misinterpreted our encounter? And then it struck me that even as she had pretended to be my friend, I had betrayed that "friendship" when I broke into her house.
Lies, lies… everywhere mendacity. And now all our individual lies, reaching a critical mass, were about to converge and to explode.
The phone rang a little after 1:00 P.m. It was Frank, calling from the airport.
"He's here!" he said.
Not only had Darling arrived, but he was exerting an especially tight grip on an oxblood leather attache case.
"It's even got brass corners," Frank said.
"That's where the money is."
There was, he said, no sign of accompanying goons. He was sure the man had come to deal. And Darling hadn't spotted Kim. After she'd pointed him out, Frank had kept her in the background. Even if Darling suspected he was being watched, he had no knowledge of who his watcher was. He put Kim on the line.
"God, it's exciting! I've been dreaming about this for weeks. Just a few more hours, Geoffrey.
"Yeah. Then easy street," I said. they returned to the motel a little after 3:00 P.m. to give me their report.
Darling had rented a car and driven to Saiita Fe. As instructed, he'd taken a casita at the posh Rancho Encantato. As soon as he'd checked in, Kim had called him on the house phone, told him to present himself at the front gate at 5:45. She'd pick him up no later than 6:00. If anyone was with him, or if he wasn't carrying the money, or any attempt was made to follow her car; the deal was off. He had only one shot at buying our photographs. Blow it, she told him, and he'd be out of luck.
Now she wanted to rest until it was time to pick Darling up.
"Got to come down from the high," she said.
"See you on the battlefield." She kissed me at the door.
Once we were back in Frank's car, he turned to me.
"Play kissy-pussy games with Grace-that's what she means by 'rest."
" I asked him what he thought of her.
"Attractive and seductive. Can't blame you for falling for her, Geof.
"But you wouldn't have-is that what you're saying?"
"No, I'm not saying that. I might have fallen for her too. "
"So, I haven't been a total fool."
"The only fools in this game," he said, "will be the guys who end up dead."
Out at the site we went over everything, walking through the exchange three times. I played Darling's part, Kim's, and then my own. I understood my most important task was to give Kim and Darling the impression that Frank was hidden behind the storefront watching my back.
When Frank thought I was sufficiently rehearsed, he presented me with a chocolate bar and a thermos of water. He suggested I take some pictures. He thought using my camera would help me pass the hours until Kim and Darling arrived.
He wished me luck with Kim, and I wished him luck with Grace, then he got into his car.
"So, now it's just the two of us," I said. "Yep. Just like a buddy picture, Geof."
I didn't use my camera to pass the time. At that point photography seemed irrelevant. There were two cameras around my neck, one of which wasn't a camera but a gun. But, on that particular afternoon, it was the phony camera that seemed most real.
I strolled about, the afternoon wore on, the shadows lengthened and the light started turning sweet. When I sat down on the saloon porch to eat my chocolate bar, I heard a sound that made me jump. A rattlesnake slithered out from beneath the steps. After that I kept clear of the set.
At 6:15 I started watching the valley, alternately looking at my watch.
By 6:30, when our rental car had not appeared, I began to worry. Had something gone wrong? Maybe Darling had changed his mind, or maybe he'd pulled a fast one in the car. What if he'd decided to take Kim hostage, only agreeing to release her when we handed over the photographs?
Finally, on the verge of despair, I spied a trail of dust. It was the car. The sun was behind me; its rays caught and glittered off the chrome. If it was Kim, she was driving extremely fast. I watched awhile to be certain it was really she, then retreated to my position behind the saloon doors.
She drove straight to the place where I'd been standing, then stopped hard, creating a little storm of dust. I saw Darling sitting beside her wearing his blindfold. He didn't look animated. Then, when I saw her leave the car clutching his brass-cornered attache case, I realized something was wrong.
She set the case down in the dust, then continued around to the passenger side. I remember thinking how curious it was that she was wearing an evening dress. Then, when she opened the door and Darling fell out, I knew right away that he was dead. I rushed out of the saloon. By that time she was backing the car away. I stared down at Darling, then pulled his blindfold off. Even in death his tight thin lips were pursed and his chin tilted up with arrogance.
Kim had parked a hundred feet away. Now she rushed toward me, looking radiant.
"Geoffrey! I did it! It's over!" She plunged into my arms.
"'What happened?" , I shot him as soon as he put on the blindfold. It wis spooky driving out here sitting beside him, but I couldn't just dump him on the road.
Open the briefcase, Geoffrey." I stooped and opened it. It was stuffed with ne'atIV arranged bundles of fresh currency bound by rubber band "See! I got it! Frank's idea. I mean, why go through that whole dumb payoff routine? Just see that he had the cash, then let him have it. He said you wouldn't do it, you'd hesitate. 'Do your wetwork as soon as you can,' Frank said. So that's just what I did."
I believed Frank had told her that, that there'd been more than one part of the plan he'd kept compartmentalized. I was angry with him for that, but not half so angry as I was afraid. For now I was truly afraid of Kim. If she was capable of assassinating Darling as he sat right beside her in a car, she was perfectly capable of killing me.
"What did Grace tell you to do?" I whispered.
"Grace? What are you talking about?"
I exploded: "Don't try and fake with me, Kim! Frank spotted you. He took pictures of the two of you kissing in her patio."
"Pictures! Why, that prying little sneak!"
"You're the sneak. Whose idea was it anyway, hers or yours?"
She shook her head and glared at me.
"Fuck you, Geoffrey! Whose do you think?"
"Tell me!"
"Hers, of course. She thought up the whole thing."