1953 - The Sucker Punch (11 page)

"I feel sorry for that girl," she said. "She's so out of everything."

"Why should you worry?" I said, as I began to undress. "She's good at her work, isn't she?"

"She's wonderful. Before she came I was nearly driven crazy by inefficient fools."

"How long has she been with you?"

"About three years. In a way, I suppose it is just as well she does look dowdy. If she had looks she might get married, then I'd lose her."

"Well, I guess you'll lose her sooner or later."

"I don't think so," Vestal said, coming away from the window. "I've told her I would remember her in my will. Servants always stick to you if you tell them that. At one time Hargis wanted to leave, but after I had told him he was going to get a legacy, he changed his mind."

I was careful to conceal my sudden interest.

"What are you leaving Miss Dolan?"

She looked sharply at me, but I had made my question sound casual.

"Just a few hundreds."

"Does she know the amount?"

Vestal giggled.

"Oh no. I expect she imagines she's going to get much more than she is. They always do."

"You'd better get into bed. It's late."

Long after Vestal had fallen asleep, I lay in the darkness, brooding.

So she had made a will.

I wondered how much of her money she was planning to give away in legacies and how much to charity. I wondered how much would come to me.

Up to this moment I had been planning to persuade her to let me control her seventy million dollars. I knew it would be a long and tricky process, and it might not come off. But now, at the mention of her will, it suddenly dawned on me that there might come a time when I would get the money without restrictions, and without Vestal to watch what I did with it.

Don't jump to the conclusion that it was at this moment I planned to murder her. I never thought of murder, but it did flash through my mind that she might fall ill; she might meet with an accident; she might die.

What an easy way out for me if she did! No planning, no persuading, no disappointments, no frustrations and no more playacting.

If she died. .. .

We spent the next afternoon in the violent heat of a glass factory at Murano, watching men fashion miracles out of molten glass, and we were glad to get back to the cool of our sitting room.

"I guess I'll take a shower," I said. "That factory was too damned hot."

"Yes, it was hot," Vestal returned, sitting limply in a chair. She held her head in her hands. "It's given me a headache."

"Have a drink?"

"No, I don't think I will. I'll just sit for a moment and rest. I’ll be all right. What shall we do tonight, Chad?"

"Whatever you like. Want a gondola?"

"Let's decide after dinner."

I went into the bathroom and took a shower. After I had changed I returned to the sitting room. Vestal wasn't there. I looked for her in the bedroom. I found her lying on the bed, her face drawn and white.

"What's the matter?" I asked, bending over her. "Don't you feel well?"

"I have a terrible headache and I feel sick."

I looked down at her. I could find no pity for her. She looked hideous and awful.

"I'm sorry. I expect the heat has upset you. Why not go to bed?"

"I've taken some Veganin. I'll be all right in a little while."

"Well, I guess I'll have a drink. You take it easy. I'll be up in a few minutes."

I went along to Eve's room and knocked on the door. She opened the door and looked inquiringly at me. She wasn't wearing her glasses, and although her scraped back hair still gave her the spinsterish look, there was that hint of beauty I had seen before.

"Mrs. Winters has a bad headache," I said. "You might see if you can do anything for her."

"I'll go at once."

"She may feel like going to bed," I said, aware that my voice was a little unsteady. "If she does, will you keep me company tonight?"

Her blue eyes were completely expressionless as she said, "She will want me to stay with her."

"She may not. If she doesn't, will you meet me outside the San Marco at nine?"

"I don't think I shall be able to," she said and moving past me, she walked quickly along the corridor to Vestal's room.

I went down to the bar, ordered a double whisky and drank it slowly.

My hand was shaking. I was surprised the barman didn't notice the way my heart was pounding.

No other woman had ever made me feel like this. I knew instinctively that Eve would be waiting for me at nine. The pattern was falling into place. This night was to be the beginning of our destiny together. I felt it.

A little later I went up to Vestal's room.

Her maid met me at the door.

"Mrs. Winters is sleeping," she said. "She doesn't wish to be disturbed."

"Look after her," I said. "If she wants to know, tell her I've gone for a walk."

At ten to nine, I left the hotel and walked along the waterfront, over the Ponte della Paglia, past the Doges' Palace to the square of San Marco.

There was a big crowd in the square, moving slowly around the arcade, looking at the brilliantly lit shops, or sitting at tables, listening to an orchestra that played outside one of the many cafes.

I stood before the great doors of San Marco. Against the purple sky I could see the four bronze horses that stood sentinel on the roof of the basilica.

I was one of many people standing before the building, and I looked anxiously from right to left for Eve.

There was no sign of her, but I waited—sure she would come.

The bronze giants on the Clock Tower were striking the bell for nine o'clock when I felt a hand touch mine.

I turned quickly, my heart skipping a beat.

A girl in a white evening dress, held up by a narrow strap of brilliants stood close to me: a dark-haired beauty whose blue eyes glittered as if a fire burned behind them.

"Why, Eve...I didn't recognize you."

I stared at her.

Her hair was dressed so it framed her pale face and it reached nearly to her shoulders and curled inwards.

"There's a gondola waiting," she said, and she took my arm and moved through the crowd to the waterside.

I went with her down the steps to the cabin gondola.

The gondolier raised his hat and bowed to us as we slipped into the dark little cabin.

The curtains were drawn. We were suddenly in a gently moving, dark little world of our own. There were thick cushions spread on the floor and she lay down, her hands supporting her head while she looked up at me.

I knelt beside her.

"I've been waiting for this moment ever since I saw you swimming," I said. "It has been a long wait."

"Don't talk now," she said, her voice husky. "Please don't talk now."

Across the waters came the sound of the bronze giants striking the half-hour.

The gondola bobbed gently in the ripples left by the vaporetta as it steamed from San Marco to the Lido.

"Half past nine," Eve said, raising her head. "We haven't much longer together." She lifted one of the curtains and called something in Italian to the gondolier. "We must go back now."

"We have the whole night before us," I said, pulled her down beside me. "We're not going back so soon. There's no need to."

"There is. You can stay out if you want to, but I must get back. I know her so much better than you do. When she wakes, she'll ask for me, and I've got to be there. She won't sleep longer than an hour."

"But I want to talk to you. There's so much I want to know about you.”

She turned to look up at me.

"We have no time to talk. We may never have time to talk. We have only time for hurried love. You don't want her to find out, do you?"

I thought of those seventy million dollars.

"No."

"Nor do I. Listen, Chad, if you don't do exactly what I say, this stops, and it will never happen again. I'm not going to lose my job for a love affair. Do you understand?"

"This is more than a love affair. I'm crazy about you."

She touched my face with cool slender fingers.

"Yes; and I'm crazy about you too, but I won't take risks. You must leave it to me to find another opportunity. Do you understand?"

"Well, I found this opportunity," I said sharply. "As soon as she got that headache I thought of you. It was I who fixed the meeting."

"Was it?" She laughed softly. "But who gave her the headache, Chad? Without the headache you couldn't have done anything."

I stared at her; a cold, creepy sensation ran up my spine.

"What do you mean?"

"What I say. This isn't the first time she has had a headache. When I can bear her no longer I give her something. It's harmless; it just makes her feel sick and gives her a headache."

"Are you sure it's harmless?" I said, not liking this at all.

"Of course. A doctor friend of mine gave it to me. It's quite harmless— it won't kill her, if that's what you mean."

"That's what I do mean, Eve. It's dangerous to monkey with drugs."

"Don't you want it to happen again then?"

I stared down into the glittering blue eyes. There was something in the set, determined face that startled me.

"You must hate her, Eve."

"More than anyone else in the world," she said softly. "More even than you do."

"What has she done to you?"

"Nothing: nothing at all. In fact she's always been as nice to me as she could be to anyone. It's just that she has everything I want, and she's not worthy of having it."

"Then why the hell do you work for her?"

"Why did you marry her, Chad?"

"That's different."

"It isn't. You married her for her money. I work for her so I can live in the shadow of her luxury." She glanced out of the cabin window. "We'll only be a few more minutes. Kiss me, Chad."

I held her to me, my mouth on hers.

I didn't believe this was happening to me. For the first time in my life I was in love with a woman. Eve was in my blood, like a virus, burning me up.

"No more, darling."

She pushed me away.

"We've got to face facts, Chad," she went on as she tidied her hair. "We may never get another opportunity like this again. This is safe. Chad, but it won't be safe when we get back to the cruiser. You don't know her like I do. She's suspicious and jealous, and she will ferret out any secret."

“I’ll think of something. It'll be easier when we get back to Cliffside."

"Oh no, it won't. It will be much more difficult. She expects me to be within call every minute of the day. She'll expect you to be with her at night. It will be almost impossible for us to meet alone."

"I’ll think of some way."

"It’s got to be safe or it will have to stop. I mean that."

"It’ll be safe."

The gondola slid up against the San Marco steps.

"Let me go first, Chad." She leaned forward and kissed me. "I love you."

I watched her slip out of the cabin. I waited a minute or so, then I got out of the gondola, paid off the gondolier and walked slowly back to the hotel.

I realized that by falling in love with Eve I was making my life with Vestal impossible. I didn't dare think of the future.

At that moment as I thought of Eve's beauty and passion and her love for me mv only hope was that Vestal might die. If she died my problem was solved.

Even then it never entered my mind to murder her.

chapter nine

A
s the weeks crawled past, I began to realize the truth of what Eve had said. It seemed impossible to find another opportunity to get her alone.

After three days, my nerves were stretched to breaking point. On the sixth day, I decided to take action.

While I was in the bathroom with the shower going, I telephoned Eve's room.

Vestal was in bed. I knew the danger. She had an extension telephone on the bedside table, and she could easily listen in to our conversation.

I didn't think she could possibly hear me above the sound of the running shower. I whispered Eve's number to the desk clerk, and while I waited, I listened intently for any telltale click to warn me Vestal had lifted her receiver.

Eve's voice said, "Yes?"

"You've got to do something for tonight," I said. "I can't go on…"

I heard the click of Vestal's telephone. Eve must have heard it too for she quickly hung up.

"Is that you phoning, Chad?" Vestal asked.

I could have strangled her if I hadn't been so shaken.

"Chad!"

"You've cut me off," I said curtly. "I was calling Miss Dolan."

"Why?" Her voice sharpened.

I hung up, turned off the shower and walked into the bedroom.

Vestal was sitting up in bed, her pinched face suspicious.

"Why were you calling Eve?"

I managed a stiff smile. It couldn't have looked very convincing. It felt terrible.

"I was arranging a surprise for you," I said, and came over to sit on the foot of the bed. "Why must you be so inquisitive?"

"A surprise? Why did Eve hang up so quickly?"

"She didn't. You cut us off."

"It sounded as if she hung up."

"For the love of Mike, don't get worked up about it! I thought you'd like a swim at the Lido this morning. I was about to ask Miss Dolan to get a motorboat for us."

She gave me an odd, doubting stare.

"I would rather I gave orders to Eve, Chad, if you please. If there is anything you want, let me know and I'll see Eve does it."

"Just as you like," I said, trying to sound casual. I got to my feet. "I'll finish shaving."

I returned to the bathroom and shut myself in. I sat on the edge of the bath and lit a cigarette. I was shaking with rage. Had Eve heard my message? Would she do something? I had to see her again.

She did do something.

Just after dinner, Vestal was taken ill. She complained of a headache, and a little later, she became violently sick.

"You'd better get to bed right away," I said. "You sat in the sun too long this morning. I told you it was too hot, but you wouldn't listen."

"Tell Eve to come to me," Vestal said, sitting on the bed, holding her head in her hands. "Don't bother about me, Chad. Go out and enjoy yourself. Just tell Eve to come to me at once."