I looked at her.
She lay there, naked, a cigarette between her long, slim fingers, her eyes closed, her face as expressionless as a death mask.
‘Say that again.’ I raised myself up and looked down at her.
‘Nothing.’ She must have known I was leaning over her, but her eyes remained closed. ‘Women talk... nothing.’
She moved her hand. Hot ash fell on my chest.
‘When am I seeing you again, Keith?’
I brushed off the ash.
‘Do you know he is going to be worth a million dollars when his aunt dies?’
She moved her long legs, opening them, then bringing them together.
‘Know? Why else do you imagine I married him?’
I thought of Marshalclass="underline" fat, a drunk and then looking at her: lean, long: a lioness.
‘Yes. There could be no other reason.’
‘And you?’ She half turned her head so she could look at me, her black eyes remote. ‘You are interested in his money, aren’t you Keith?’
This startled me, but I kept my face expressionless as I said, ‘I am interested in money... any money.’
She gave a malicious little laugh.
‘Well, he hasn’t got it yet. So no one, including you and including me, need to get interested.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong.’ I told her about the Planning committee and how I had become involved and that I was playing along with them and that I was seeing them on Friday evening.
She listened while she stared up at the ceiling.
‘By playing along with them,’ I went on, ‘it gives me a legitimate excuse to be with you if we are seen together. There are eyes everywhere, Beth.’
‘Hmmm.’ She stretched her long legs. ‘You can tell them Frank won’t give them a cent. He hates Wicksteed. If he died, I wouldn’t give them a cent either.’
‘I won’t tell them that. That’s not the way to handle it if we’re going to go on seeing each other.’
She shrugged her naked shoulders.
‘Tell them what you like, but you now know not one cent of old Mrs. Fremlin’s money will ever be spent on this stinking little town... that’s for reaclass="underline" neither by Frank nor by me.’
She rolled over to stub out her cigarette. She had a long, lean beautiful back right down to the cleft of her buttocks.
‘Keith... don’t underestimate Frank. No one... repeat no one... will get anything from him. He may be a drunk, but he still remains smart. Don’t make any plans.’
I stiffened, staring at her.
‘Plans?’
She didn’t look at me. Her eyes were half closed, her lips parted in a half smile.
‘I’m not with you, Beth. What do you mean... plans?’
‘There isn’t one man nor one woman in Wicksteed who isn’t hoping to grab some of the money when that old woman dies.’ Her smile twisted cynically. ‘And you are no exception.’
‘And neither are you,’ I said.
Again the malicious little laugh.
‘I’ll get the lot anyway if he dies. He is years older than I am and he is drinking himself to death. I can wait.’
‘Are you sure he is leaving the money to you?’
She nodded.
‘I’m sure. I have seen his will.’
‘He could change his mind.’
‘Not now... his mind isn’t capable of changing.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘He drinks. He has set ideas. He’s made a will. I’ve seen it. He won’t be bothered to make another. Why should he care anyway? He can’t use the money when he’s dead.’
‘What would you do if he died and you got all this money?’
She drew in a long slow breath. Her hands moved over her tiny breasts and caressed them.
‘Do? I would go back to Frisco where I was born. A woman with a million dollars can have a ball in Frisco.’
‘Alone?’
She looked at me, her black eyes suddenly glittering and she dropped her hand on mine.
‘You are never alone with a million dollars, but would you want to come along?’
Would I want to?
‘I would want to come along, Beth, without the million dollars.’
Her fingers tightened on mine.
‘That’s a pretty speech.’ She smiled at me, her eyes remote again. ‘But, Keith, no man on earth could take me away from Frank while he is alive.’
Somewhere below, a clock struck six.
I remembered where I was and that I had a half hour drive back to Wicksteed.
‘I must go. If I’m late for dinner there will be gossip.’ I swung off the bed and began to dress. ‘The same time tomorrow?’
‘Hmmm.’
We looked at each other, then I bent and kissed her. Her lips felt dry and they didn’t move undermine.
‘Then tomorrow...’
As I reached the door, she said quietly, ‘Keith...’
I paused and looked at her, lying flat on her back, naked, her long legs tightly together, her black silky hair spread on the pillow, her lips parted in a strange little smile.
‘Go on,’ I said.
‘Don’t make any plans without me.’
I stared at her, again feeling that spooky feeling.
‘Plans?’
‘You know. You want his money and so do I.’ She lifted her hair and resettled it on the pillow. ‘Both of us, Keith... both of us together.’
The clock chimed the quarter hour.
‘We’ll talk about it tomorrow,’ I said.
Leaving her, I walked down the stairway and to my car. As I drove down the dirt road, I thought of what she had said.
There was something about her that made me uneasy. There was something fatal about her. Fatal? An odd word, but the only word that seemed to fit her.
How had she guessed? Intuition?
You want his money.
Then she had said: ‘Don’t underestimate Frank. No one... repeat no one... is going to get the money when he gets it.’
A warning?
Then she had said: ‘Don’t make any plans without me.’
Unless I was reading her wrong, and I was sure I wasn’t, this was a plain invitation to join her in some plan to get his money.
As I edged into the traffic on the highway, I decided I would have to play it by ear. I had time, I told myself. The old lady was still alive. Tomorrow, I would talk again to Beth and there must be no more hints, no more hedging.
Leaving the car in Mrs. Hansen’s garage, I walked into the hall and started up the stairs to my room. Mrs. Hansen came out of the living room, a handkerchief in her hands, her eyes red from crying.
‘Oh, Mr. Devery, I do apologize... your dinner will be late.’
I paused, staring at her.
‘That’s okay, Mrs. Hansen. Has something happened?’
‘My dear friend... Mrs. Fremlin... passed away an hour ago.’
My heart skipped a beat, then began to race. Somehow, I forced the right expression on my face.
‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Thank you, Mr. Devery. It was inevitable, but it is still a great shock and a great loss to me.’
I said all the things one should say on such an occasion. I said not to bother about dinner. I would eat out. I even patted her shoulder.
As I walked back to the garage, all I could think of was that Marshall was now a millionaire and the time I had thought I had now had run out.
On the way down town, I stopped off at a call booth.
‘She’s dead,’ I said when Beth came on the line.
I heard her catch her breath.
‘Say that again!’
‘She died an hour ago. It’ll be all over the town by now.’
‘At last!’ The note of triumph in her voice gave me that spooky feeling again.
‘You are now the wife of a millionaire,’ I said.
She didn’t reply, but I could hear her quick breathing over the line.
‘I must talk to you, Beth... about plans. I’ll come up tonight when it is dark.’