His mind raced. Bad luck she had to be here. Abelson had told him that she would be dangerous. He stood up. “Come on. We’ll take a walk.”
Carla glanced at them as they passed her, then looked back out to where two heads swam close together.
When they were a hundred yards away, Alice said, “All right. Who are you?”
“Police. A federal agency.”
“Where’s the rest of them?”
“There isn’t. Just me. I’m not here to make arrests. I’m here to get information and get out.”
She stopped and looked at him. “And you came walking right in here thinking they’d let Allan Farat walk right back out again?” He nodded. She began to laugh with a hysterical note in it. Her face was screwed up, distorted. He grasped her bare shoulders and shook her, hard.
“Listen, Miss Fane. You’re in danger here, aren’t you?”
“Danger, he says. I’m dead. Standing right here I’m dead, unless Rocko has changed a hell of a lot, or unless the real Allie comes and gets me out of this.” Her face changed. “Where is he? How come you’ve got his clothes?”
“He’s dead,” Cooper said flatly.
“No,” she said. “No!” Her knees gave way and she fell into the traditional pose of helpless grief.
Cooper yanked her back up onto her feet. She was blind with sorrow, loose in his hands. He steadied her and hit her three times, hard, with the flat of his palm. The red fingermarks jumped out on her cheek.
“Do you want to go on living?” he demanded. “Do you?”
“Who killed him?”
“Police. He put up a fight. Answer my question. Do you want to go on living?”
“I... guess so. Anyway, I don’t want to die the way Rocko will want me to die.”
“Then maybe I can help. But can’t you see? They sent me here without enough information. I don’t know what this is all about. I know you were brought here against your will. I know they were going after Allan Farat to bring him here too. It would have to be Rocko’s orders. What’s his grudge against you and Farat?”
Her face was slack. “Oh, just a little thing. You’re a cop. Don’t you know how they got the evidence that deported Rocko?”
“It was a tip,” Cooper said. “That’s all I know.”
“And it told you where to look, didn’t it? And told you what you’d find?”
“I don’t know about that. I was with a different agency then.”
“I was Rocko’s girl. One of Rocko’s girls. Allie was bag man for Rocko, doing the pickups from all the territories. Allie and I, we — got sorta friendly. But Rocko never wanted anything real bad until he found out somebody else wanted it. Rocko began to get wise about Allie and me. I guess we went a little crazy. That was five years ago. I found out where Rocko kept the papers the government wanted and couldn’t find. I told Allie. We worked it out. We timed it just right. They came and got Rocko the night Rocko was waiting for Allie to come with the collections. They got Rocko, and Allie and I ran out with a hundred thousand cash. We hid for a whole year, living pretty good, out on the west coast.
“Then we got a message from Rocko. He’d guessed the whole thing. In the message he said that we didn’t have to worry, that he wasn’t going to have anybody take care of us. He was saving that for himself. It gave Allie and me a creepy feeling. The money went too fast. We dropped a big wad of it on the tables at Reno. Allie had to go back to work two years ago. Before that you people didn’t want him. But you know how things went bad for him when he went back to work. He stepped right into that federal rap and had to run for it. A month ago we got the message that Rocko wanted to see us and thank us here at Carla’s. We decided to split up for a while. I got lonesome. I met Schanz. I thought he was nice. And I went on a binge and here I am.”
Cooper said, “We thought Farat had helped make the arrangements to get Rocko back in this country.”
She laughed flatly. “That’s a funny joke. All you had to do was say ‘Rocko!’ and Allie would jump seven feet in the air. Hell, we were afraid of our own shadows after we got that note.”
“Who is bringing Rocko back? And why?”
“Don’t ask me. They deported him and you know as good as I do what happened to the country they deported him to. I heard Carla talking to Schanz. It sounded screwy to me. Something about how many of Rocko’s friends were coming in.”
“Is Carla financing it?”
“Not her, friend! Rocko’s got something he can use against her. But I don’t think she’s paying the shot. She just has to play ball by letting him come in here.”
“Can we get out of here?”
“Sure. We can dig a hole and go to China. I got out of the house one night. They’ve got all that damn wire and a guy with a rifle at the gate and a guy at each end of the beach. One day I sobered up and tried swimming. They bring that launch around in about twenty seconds and they’ve got a big pole with a hook on the end. The guy with a hook acted disappointed that I climbed in without any argument.”
“Farat couldn’t swim.”
She pursed her lips. “Now that’s an angle. Everybody knew Allie was scared of water. They won’t watch you so close.”
“And I’ve got a gun.”
“Oh, sure. You’ve got a gun. Mister, they even took the nail file out of my manicure set.”
“When does Rocko come?”
“Tomorrow night, they say.” She shivered. “I got to have another drink.”
“Look. Pretend I’m Farat. Tell yourself all the time that I’m Farat. Then you won’t make any slips.”
She tilted her head on one side. “Allie had a meaner look than you got.”
“If you see me doing anything out of character, let me know, will you?”
“Why should I?”
“Because I’m the only chance you have.”
She nodded slowly. “A little bitty chance, but the only one. You’re right.”
They walked back up the line of surf. Barbara and Schanz came out of the water, laughing. Barbara looked at Cooper and Alice Fane. She said politely, “Do you swim, Mr. Farat?”
“I don’t know. I never tried.”
She ignored the rudeness of his tone. “You should learn. It would be very easy in this water, it’s so buoyant.”
“Want to teach me?” he asked.
She gave him a long look. “Not particularly. What’s your business, Mr. Farat?”
Schanz said easily, “Real estate. He has some properties Carla is interested in.”
“How very apt!” Barbara said in a gay tone. “And dear Mr. Susler manages tourist courts, and Billy is an accountant and you, Bud, are an expert on food buying.” She laughed gayly, and her eyes were hard. “Isn’t it odd, Bud, that Susler won’t talk about tourist courts and Billy doesn’t know a debit from a credit and you don’t even know the price of beer? I wonder if Mr. Farat knows as little about real estate. What sort of baby does Carla think I am?”
“A pretty baby,” Schanz said mildly, “who shouldn’t ask silly questions.”
Carla strode down into the group. “Exactly what is going on?” she demanded.
“Little sister doesn’t think I sell real estate,” Cooper said.
“Lunch will be ready soon, Barbara,” Carla said. “I suggest that when you go to your room and change, you also pack your bags. You’ll leave today.”
Barbara lifted her chin. “I will not leave today. I’ll leave when I get ready.”
“You’ll leave today.”
Barbara looked at Cooper and then at Schanz. “Why don’t you have one of these gentlemen hit me on the head and take me away by force? They seem to be the type.” She pushed by Carla and walked up toward the house without looking back.
“Damn, damn, damn,” Carla said softly.
“You’re not kidding her a bit,” Bud Schanz said. “Why don’t you let her in on it?”