‘Oh, yes. I wanted this thing of ours to go on, but I knew sooner or later you would get tired of it, and you would find someone else. And I knew it wouldn’t be difficult for you to find someone else. And I knew, too, you would talk about me to the slut you found. You can’t resist ta king, can you, Caesar? You’ve talked to me. Do you think I liked to lie by your side and listen to all the details about the other girls, knowing that one day you would be telling some other girl about me? But you’re not going to do that, Caesar, nor are you going to tell any girl about any other girl, not ever again.’
‘You’re crazy,’ Mills said, his voice off-key.
‘No, I’m not. I should be crazy if I let you walk out of here, but you’re not going to do that. They’ll find you in the morning, and they’ll reconstruct the shooting, and they’ll know it’s a woman, but they won’t know which woman. There have been so many, haven’t there, Caesar? Regiments of women: all who would have wanted sometime or other to have shot you. I don’t think they’ll even suspect me. Everyone in this pick-nosed town knows I can’t walk. How could I come out here and shoot you? They may think I did because this house belongs to me, but they’ll only have to talk to Dr. McKinley and he’ll tell them I can’t walk. He couldn’t afford to admit I’ve been fooling him for months. And then there’s faithful Franklin. He knows I’ve come here to see you. The news of the shooting will please him, Caesar. He doesn’t like you, and he won’t give me away.’
Mills said through white, stiff lips, ‘Put it down, you little fool! Don’t point it at me! Put it down!’
‘Good-bye, Caesar,’ she said, and the short, glittering barrel moved to aim at his head. ‘You’re going to be lonely. That’s something you don’t know the meaning of yet. But you will. You’ll be lonely when you’re dead, Caesar.’
‘Don’t do it!’ he shouted, and threw up his hands, half-turning, seeing she was going to shoot and knowing there was nothing he could do about it.
I swung my fist and hit her elbow as the gun went off. The blow paralysed her arm and she dropped the gun, swung round and struck at me. I felt her nails scrape down the side of my face and I grabbed at her, but she dodged out of reach, and ran past me into the garden.
I let her go, watching her run down the moonlit path to the gate and to the car.
IV
‘Hello, Mac,’ Mills said. ‘So there are times when you come in on cue.’ He sat down abruptly as if his legs couldn’t support him. Sweat beaded his tallow-white face. ‘Have a drink? If you need it the way I need it, brother, you need it!’
I moved into the room, dabbing at the scratches on my neck with my handkerchief. One of the scratches was bleeding; the others felt raw.
‘Sort of shook you up, didn’t it?’ I said, and sat on the arm of the chesterfield where Natalie had sat but a few minutes before. ‘You won’t be closer to a coffin than you were just now.’
‘I know it,’ Mills said. He tried to pour whisky into a glass but his hand shook so much most of the whisky went on to the carpet.
‘Better let me do it,’ I said, and took the bottle from him.
He lay back in the armchair, the sweat was now pouring down his face. Olaf Kruger had said once you got him going he’d turn yellow. Natalie had got him going all right.
I made a couple of drinks big enough to float a yacht on, handed him one and poured die other down my parched throat. It was the nicest drink I’d had for forty-eight hours.
Mills put his down in three long swallows. It might have been water. And when he had drained the glass, he shoved it at me again.
‘I could use another like that,’ he said. ‘Sweet Pete! That bitch scared me. If you hadn’t barged in like that...’
‘You had it coming,’ I said, fixing another drink for him. ‘It’s a wonder to me more of you heels don’t get wiped out. If I hadn’t wanted to talk to you I’d have let her shoot you.’
He gave a thin, smiling grimace.
‘You’re my pal, Mac,’ he said. ‘I owe you something. What a spot I was in! She’s crazy. You know that? She’s as crazy as a rattlesnake you kick accidentally, and as dangerous. I thought I was a goner. Did you hear what she said? That stuff about being lonely when you’re dead. That’s a nice crack to make when you’re shooting at a guy, isn’t it? That’ll tell you how crazy she is.’
I handed him a drink to match the first.
‘Don’t toss that lot down all at once. I want you sober for the next ten minutes.’
‘Gimme a cigarette,’ he said. ‘My nerves are creeping up and down my spine like spider’s legs. I’m going to get the hell out of here. I know her. Know what, Mac? I wouldn’t put it past her to go home, get another gun and come out here again. Well, I’m not staying. I’m not taking any more chances with a crazy twist like her.’
I gave him a cigarette and lit it for him. Although he kept talking I could see he was in a bad way. The reaction had hit him all ends up, and I shouldn’t have been surprised to have seen him slide out of his chair in a faint.
‘Take it easy,’ I said. ‘She isn’t coming back. Get hold of yourself.’
He took another drink and sat staring blankly at the carpet. I could see it was no use hurrying him. He had had a shock, and he hadn’t the guts to shake it off quickly.
It was nearly five minutes before he spoke again, and then his voice sounded a little more normal.
‘What are you doing out here, Mac?’ he asked. ‘Don’t tell me if you don’t want to. I’m glad you came. I’d be growing cold by now if you hadn’t bust in the way you did.’
‘I’m here to talk to you,’ I said. ‘You can help me straighten out a little problem I’m working on if you want to.’
He looked at me and gave a pinched grin.
‘After what you did for me, Mac,’ he said seriously, ‘Anything I can do is for the asking. And I’m sorry I pushed you around that day. I guess you feel sore about that. Well, I’m sorry.’
‘I was sore all right, but forget it. I thought that dame couldn’t walk. What’s behind it all?’
‘She’s trying to get back on Cerf,’ Mills said. ‘I tell you she’s crazy. And I mean crazy.’
‘What’s Cerf done to her?’
‘Do you want to hear it?’ Mills asked, huddling farther down in his chair. ‘I’ll make it short if you really want to hear it.’
‘Go ahead,’ I said.
“Well, it’s this way,’ Mills said. ‘She was nuts about her mother, but she hadn’t much time for Cerf. To complicate things Cerf was crazy about her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her and was jealous the way she used to hang around her mother. The three of them took a trip in a car. Cerf drove. They stopped some place for lunch and Cerf livened himself up with a load of booze. He was all right in the hotel but when he got into the air he was stinko — just like that!’ And Mills snapped his fingers. ‘Instead of turning the wheel over to one of the women, he got obstinate and insisted on driving. He hit a truck head on. It was a hell of a smash. The trucker was killed, Nat was knocked out and her mother thrown through the windscreen, cutting her throat on the glass. Cerf wasn’t even scratched When Nat came to she found herself covered with her mother’s blood and her mother laid out beside her with her head hanging on a strip of skin. Know what I think?’ He leaned forward to stare at me. ‘I think that sent Nat crazy. It didn’t show, but it’s there. Cerf nearly went crazy himself when he found Nat was hurt, and she was quick enough to see the way he reacted. Up to then, she told me, he’d never shown any feelings. He was responsible for her mother’s death, and she hated him from then on with a hatred that has been growing ever since. To punish him she pretended she couldn’t walk. Maybe for the first couple of months she did punish him; from what she told me, he was genuinely fond of her, but after a while I guess he got used to the setup. She wouldn’t have it he didn’t care, but that’s my bet. Can you imagine? She kept to a wheel chair or in bed for two solid years, going out only when Cerf was away or at night when she knew he wouldn’t come to see her. That shows you what a nut she is.’