They watched Harper get in his car and drive away. The door had been left ajar and they had all listened to the conversation between Chita and Harper. Now, Chita came back into the room.
“Okay,” Moe said, relaxing a little. “Just one of those things. Get those windows open.”
Riff pushed open the windows and let in the light evening breeze.
Moe said, “Listen you two. I don’t give a damn what you all do after we’ve got the ransom. You can marry this girl or her grandmother for all I care, but you’re not leaving here until Kramer comes back with the ransom. I’ve handled punks like you most of my life. If you think you can do something about it, try, but I warn you the next time you try to start something, I’m shooting first and crying over you after. That understood?”
Riff eyed him. He was seething with fury, but the way Moe had produced the gun as if by magic had chilled him. He knew he hadn’t the equipment to go up against a man who could draw a gun that fast. He had no guts for a showdown with Moe.
“You’re crazy in the head!” he snarled. “Can’t you see this lets us out? We take her back and we’re in the clear. We take the ransom and we’re in trouble. Can’t you see that, you stupid Wop?”
“No one’s getting into trouble,” Moe said quietly. “It’s all been worked out. You two...” he waved his gun at the Cranes, “keep out of here. From now on, you’re going to live in the cabin over there. She...” he waved his gun at Zelda, “is staying right here. If either of you come within fifty yards of the house, you’ll get a bullet. I won’t kill you, but you’ll get a broken leg. Got it?”
Riff grinned evilly at him.
“And what are you going to do, Wop?” he sneered. “Keep awake for three nights?”
The room shook with the bang of the gun. The vicious yellow flame that lit the shadows like a photographer’s flash gun made Zelda scream.
Riff staggered back. His hand went to his ear. Blood showed on his fingers. Blood began to run down the side of his neck. Riff stared at his bloodstained fingers as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
Moe watched him. A faint wisp of smoke drifted from the gun barrel.
“I can shoot, Riff,” he said softly. “Now get the hell out of here and stay out! You too!” to Chita.
Shocked and bleeding, Riff went out of the room. He was now holding a dirty handkerchief to his ear. The bullet had flicked off the lobe of his ear with the precision of a surgeon’s knife.
As Chita followed him, Junior began to cry. Zelda had flung herself face down on the bed, sobbing and pounding the bed with her clenched fists. Carrie, white-faced from the shock of the exploding gun, picked Junior out of his cot.
Moe stood by the open window and watched Riff and Chita cross the expanse of green lawn until they reached the cabin and went inside, then he turned and looked at Carrie.
“You’ve got to watch this girl,” he said gently. “Don’t let her out of your sight. I’ll watch the other two. They’re bad. If you and your bambino want to get out of this alive, you’ll have to work with me. We have three days before the ransom arrives.” He paused, then said, “Are you going to be on my side?”
Carrie hesitated. So far this fat, swarthy Italian had behaved like a human being, she reasoned. The Cranes and this stupid girl were people she couldn’t possibly trust. She realized she couldn’t remain neutral in this nightmare affair. She had to take sides and there was no choice. She nodded slowly.
“Yes,” she said. “I’ll be on your side.”
Moe visibly relaxed. He put his gun away. He stared at Junior who was still crying and Moe smiled.
“My brother had ten children,” he said. “He was killed in the war. I looked after his kids. I’m good with babies. Could I have him?”
Carrie felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She began to refuse but there was this odd, kindly look in Moe’s eyes that stopped her.
“He... he doesn’t like strangers,” she said. “Perhaps you...”
But Moe reached out and reluctantly she let him take the baby. The gangster and the baby stared at each other. Then Junior suddenly stopped bawling and screwed up his face as he continued to peer at Moe. Moe blew out his fat cheeks. He made a soft whistling noise, stopped, started the noise again and then grinned widely. Junior considered this, decided it was pretty funny and began to laugh.
Realizing no one was paying any attention to her hysterics, Zelda stopped crying and turned over. She glared at Moe and Carrie who continued to pay no attention to her.
“I like babies,” Moe said. “They like me.” He put Junior back into Carrie’s arms and walked to the door. “You and me and the bambino together, huh? You watch her. If she gets troublesome, call me. I’ll slap her.”
He went out on to the verandah and sat down. From where he sat he could see the cabin and he could watch the windows that led out on to the veranda. He felt very uneasy. He was pretty sure he could trust Carrie, but the Cranes were like snakes. He couldn’t remain awake for three nights. Riff had put his finger right on the weak spot of Moe’s plans. He could only hope that Kramer would telephone and he could alert him to what was happening. Maybe Kramer would send someone or come himself. He looked across at the cabin. The shutters were closed. The door too was closed. He wondered what the Cranes were doing in there.
In the cabin, Riff was bent over the toilet basin, sopping cold water on his ear and cursing. The experience of being shot at had unnerved him.
Chita lolled in an armchair in the small sitting room. From where she sat she could watch her brother. She made no effort to help him.
“Can’t you do something?” Riff snarled as the blood continued to drip into the basin. “Don’t just sit there! Can’t you stop this bleeding?”
Chita didn’t say anything. For the first time in her life she had no desire to help her brother. That he should have even contemplated marrying this rich little bitch had raised such a hatred and jealousy in her that she felt that the binding link that had always held them together had been severed with the force of an executioner’s axe.
She knew Riff as she knew herself. She knew that when he had said he was going to marry Zelda that this was no cynical lie: he really meant to marry the girl. Already, he was planning how he would live on her money, how he was going to quit the rut of their tough, drab lives that Chita so much enjoyed. How he was going to wallow in the softness of riches. Chita knew that sooner or later he would drop her. He wouldn’t want her continually tagging along. She would be in the way. He would give her money... she was sure he would do that, but he would want to be rid of her to absorb himself into the soft, futile, aimless life of the rich that would sap the guts out of him and he would become just another of the hundreds of playboys Chita had bedded with: spineless, gutless and useless.
Still cursing, Riff went into the bedroom, tore a strip off one of the sheets, made a pad and fixed it to his ear. He tied another strip of sheet around his head and finally stopped the flow of blood.
By the time he had finished, it was growing dark. He came into the sitting room, his leather jacket bloodstained, his face pale, his eyes vicious with fury.
“What’s eating you?” he snarled. “Couldn’t you have helped me?”
Chita said nothing. She stared down at her long, slender legs, her face expressionless.
“That Wop!” Riff exploded. “Who’d have imagined he could shoot like that! He could have killed me!”
He might just as well be talking to himself for all the notice Chita took of him.
He stared at her for a long moment, feeling uneasy. She had never behaved this way to him before. Then because his pride wouldn’t allow him to persuade her to talk to him, he went over to the window. He peered through the slits in the shutter. He could see Moe sitting on the veranda. If he had a gun, he could have picked Moe off. The range was nothing. From where he was standing, he couldn’t have missed Moe. Then suddenly he remembered the mystery of the missing gun. He had put Dermott’s gun in the hip pocket of his trousers. When he had gone to fetch the gun... it had gone! Someone must have taken it! It wasn’t Moe because Moe hadn’t been in the ranch house at the time the gun disappeared. So it had to be one of the three women who had taken it.