Nothing to Lose But My Life (12 page)

“I like it,” she said. “I was hoping we might go sometimes—early in the morning.” She saw me looking at her and flushed. “All right, so that’s the way I felt about you ever since I saw you examining us in the hotel dining room mirror. But I don’t do it for every man I meet.”

“I thank you for the compliment, ma’am,” I said, “but this is hardly the time for me to model this outfit.”

Tanya had to laugh. That made me feel better. I wanted her loose and free, not taut for the job that lay ahead. She said, “Can you think of a better costume for being out so early in the morning? If we should be stopped …”

I didn’t even want to think about that. Going into the bathroom, I made the change, bundled up my clothes and put them in the trunk of the Lincoln along with Hoop’s, and then went back and looked down at the bundle that was Hoop.

“All right,” I said.

Tanya looked a little pale. “All right, Lowry.”

We had only to take him through the kitchen, into the garage, and then maneuver him into the rear of the Lincoln. But Hoop was no lightweight and he had grown stiff. It was no pleasure handling a dead man, especially for Tanya who was on her second round. Both of us were panting and sweating—and shaking a little—by the time we had him on the floor in the rear.

Tanya lit cigarettes for us while I warmed up the motor. When the car was ready, she opened the garage doors and closed them after I was out. Around us was dull gray but full-fledged daylight.

“We picked a hell of a time,” I observed.

“Where are we going, Lowry?”

“In these outfits there’s only one place—the beach.”

“Wonderful!” She smiled at me as proudly as though I’d discovered some of the secrets of the universe. “No corpse, no crime.”

“Huh?”

“In the harbor,” Tanya said. “We can sink him.”

The directness of the feminine mind in handling apparently complicated matters never failed to surprise me. My first reaction was to agree with her, but then I had an idea.

“I don’t want him to disappear,” I said. “I just want to postpone having the spotlight turned on me. Ultimately, I think this little trick may help me get what I want. But if we could get him onto his cruiser—” I stopped and added, “He still has one?”

“Naturally,” Tanya said dryly. “It’s kept in Charles’ boathouse.” She was all smiles. “That’s a wonderful idea, Lowry!”

And so it seemed—until we got down to the details. The boathouse was easy enough of access, but to drive right up to it would mean exposing ourselves to view from the house. Even if it was an ungodly hour of the morning, we couldn’t risk it. Someone just might be awake up there. That left two alternatives: to park in the trees at the side and carry him around, hoping we wouldn’t be observed where a car might, or try to bring him in from the water side.

“How well do you swim?” I asked her.

“With all this arm and leg, fast.” Tanya looked down at herself. “I’m very bouyant too.”

“Then let’s try it this way.” I detailed my idea. Tanya made suggestions based on her better knowledge of the boathouse. Finally we reached a working agreement. It sounded like simplicity itself.

I swung around the Hill, taking a gravelled road that ended up on the coast and on its way went along the edge of the trees that separated it from the Hill properties. Those trees were actually a miniature forest, and here and there faint dirt tracks went in where trucks had gone in for wood. By following one of these tracks, I managed to get us near the boathouse and, at the same time, almost on the beach. It looked like a good spot with the car completely screened from view by the trees.

So far so good. We maneuvered the body out of the car and to the edge of the trees where they met the beach. The entrance to the boathouse was not ten feet away. It was so close that I was almost tempted to try the land entrance. But there was no point in taking chances. I glanced out over the water. It appeared gray and quiet between sprays of mist rising from it. It was not a cloudy day; soon the sun would rise and burn that mist away. We had to hurry if we wanted to take advantage of it.

“Let’s make a run for it,” I suggested.

Tanya took off her beach robe and so did I. Bending, she got a grip on his ankles. I took the armpits again, hating the feel of that hard head beating against my now bare stomach. Tanya poised herself.

“Go!”

We went, dashing across the pebbly sand and trying to look like two people out for a morning swim, running with one of those inflated rubber beach monstrosities. Tanya hit the water first. I could hear her gasp. The first shock was always that way, even in summer. Afterwards it was pleasant.

I gasped too but not because of the water. Tanya hit a hole and lost her grip. Hoop started sliding away from me when the water was up to my knees. A fair-sized wave chose that moment to break behind me and then roll back. The suction was more than I had bargained for. That and wetness took him right out of my hands.

“I lost him!”

“Shut up,” Tanya whispered hoarsely. She reached and missed. She reached again and then kicked with her legs and went under. I followed, striking out through the waist-deep water on foot. It shelved suddenly and I had to swim. I couldn’t see anything but fog now. There was no sign of Tanya or Hoop.

Her green bathing cap popped up a few feet to my right.

“He’s being pulled out and down, damn it,” she whispered at me.

I took a deep breath and dove. It was murky enough to begin with, and after a few feet I couldn’t see a thing. I was out of training for this sort of work and I had to surface more quickly than normally. Tanya was gone.

I went down again as she came up. I could tell by her expression that she had had no luck either. We spent a good hour in that damned water. But the currents there and the sudden shelving were too much for us. Unless he’d got hung up on a rock somewhere, we had no chance of finding him.

Finally we swam back to the beach. Tanya walked wearily out of the water. She looked at me and began to cry. “I’m sorry, Lowry. I didn’t mean to drop him. I—”

I was starting for her, to comfort her, when I realized that we weren’t alone. Not half a dozen feet from us, coming across the sand, was Sofia Conklin. And Tanya hadn’t been whispering either.

I said, “Don’t be so upset. I’ll get you another one.”

Tanya opened her mouth, saw my expression, and looked beyond me. She closed her mouth and sniffed. “Sofia!”

Sofia smiled. It was the right smile to use to welcome a guest, even one uninvited. She wore the bathing suit style that was being shown in the better stores. It had very little to it and there was just the right amount of Sofia filling it out in just the right places. Only it didn’t come off. It was too perfect.

“You are early birds,” she said cheerfully. “I thought I was the only one who liked to be up at this hour.”

I said, “I’m afraid it wasn’t Mrs. Mace’s idea. I presumed on short acquaintance and woke her up this morning. She suggested this—to sober me up.”

Tanya laughed a little too heartily. “He was really only a little squiffed, Sofia.” She smiled at me as if forgiving me. “And not at all obnoxious. Now that I’ve done this to him, I think I should feed him.”

“She’s a real Texan for hospitality,” I said.

It was hard to tell whether Sofia was buying it. Her expression was too mechanical, too geared to correctness for anything out of the ordinary to show through. I had a sudden and unholy desire to ruffle her composure just to see if there were any traces of a genuine person left.

She said, “You could come to the house for breakfast …”

“We wouldn’t think of it,” Tanya said. “Especially since Mr. Curtis showed up with a lot of ham.”

I winced. Sofia smiled again. “Did I hear you say you’d lost—something?”

I was ready for that. “A toy dog I won somewhere last night, Mrs. Conklin. I don’t remember where except I won the ham at the same time. The dog worked by jet propulsion. We thought we could make him skim the water. Mrs. Mace thinks she dropped him. It was my fault, really.”

“Oh, I see.” She glanced at Tanya and then at me. It was obvious what was bothering her. And because I was curious to know just how deep a secret Enid’s condition was supposed to be, I didn’t try to send Tanya away.

Finally, Sofia said, “About that telephone call—”

I looked embarrassed for her. “She woke up shortly afterward and she was all right,” I lied. “I gave her a sedative and left. Maybe I shouldn’t have, only she was all right and—”

“Please don’t apologize, Mr. Lowry. And I’m sorry that I made you angry.”

“My fault, ma’am. I was a little upset.”

“I can understand that. I agree that it called for a drink.”

“Quite a number of them,” I said ruefully.

She traced a line in the sand with one toe. It was the first natural gesture I had seen her make. “Is she—I mean, will it be embarrassing to get her away from where she is?”

That one stumped me until I realized that she must think Enid was in my motel room, that we had started out to spend the night together. Before I could answer, Tanya stepped in. “Not at all, Sofia. Enid’s at my place.”

She lied even better than I did. “You see, Mr. Curtis brought her to me after it happened. Only I was out. She was there under the sedative when I came home. It was rather late.” She smiled. “I had an urge to gamble last night. Don’t tell the Colonel, please.”

“Of course not, dear.”

“I think that’s why he really came back. Mr. Curtis, I mean. To see about Enid. You won’t tell the Colonel about that—and this either, will you?”

“I’d be very ungrateful if I did,” Sofia said. “Thank you both for helping Enid.”

Murmuring a few more pleasantries, I suggested that Tanya cook the ham I’d “won” and we started toward the trees. When we were nearly there, I stopped and turned.

“What are we waiting for?” Tanya asked.

“To see if she can swim naturally or if she does it as mechanically as she does everything else.”

“I don’t know about the everything else,” Tanya said, “but I doubt if she swims. Sofia hates the ocean. She won’t even go out on the cruiser.”

I said, “But she came down dressed for her morning dip.”

“Yes,” Tanya said soberly, “I’ve been thinking of that.”

I was too. I stood my ground. Sofia looked back and waved. We waved. We didn’t move. Finally she put a tentative toe in the water and walked forward. We stayed until she had gone in almost to her neck. I enjoyed being mean about it.

BY THE TIME
we got back into town, the sun had burned away the mist and people were appearing on the streets. Tanya crouched down in the car, out of sight of anyone who might glance our way. For Sofia Conklin to know about our being together at that hour of the morning was one thing, for the town to know was another.

I dropped her off at her place and returned to the motel. There I assured the clerk that I was still interested in the room, and that I wanted to use the car for a few more days. Then I went to my bungalow and changed into a gray flannel slacks suit. My toilet articles were at Tanya’s, so I would have to wait until I got back there to shave. My tuxedo was at her place too. If this sort of thing kept up, I thought, I might as well move in.

I returned to the Slope to find breakfast almost ready. I took a moment and went downstairs to check on Enid. She was still asleep. I changed the note I had left her, letting her know where I was, and returned to the upper floor.

Tanya set a wonderful table, ham and eggs, a mound of toast, quantities of coffee, and orange juice, without which no Californian could start his day. We ate heavily and almost in silence. The last of the coffee we took into the living room.

The warm sun splashed in. It was very pleasant. “Now,” I said, lighting cigarettes for both of us.

Tanya had the divan. I took a chair. I wanted to listen without interference, and looking at her as she was dressed now in smooth lounging pajamas was enough. Having to sit by her would have been too much.

“Now what, Lowry?” Tanya asked.

“Now I want some answers,” I said. “We’re both in this up to our necks. I did what you asked—trusted you. I haven’t got time enough to keep on trusting you. I need information.”

“Go ahead,” Tanya said in a resigned voice. “Ask questions.”

“Why did Conklin want you to marry Hoop right away?”

“A matter of business,” she said vaguely. “They’re partners, you know.”

That was no answer at all. I could see that any co-operation I got would be purely accidental. I tried again. “What did you do after you left Hoop’s?”

“I told you that before. And it’s the truth. I stopped for a drink and a sandwich. Then I came home. I found the Colonel on my garage floor and I dragged him to Enid’s place. I’m sorry about that. I thought it was smart at the time.”

“What did you do after you left Sofia’s last night?”

She said sweetly, “I stopped at that steak house where you saw me parked.”

“You’re observant, aren’t you,” I said.

“I had to make sure you weren’t following me. I wanted a clear track so I could go back to the Colonel’s and get out what I’d put in the safe.”

“If you wanted it out, why put it there in the first place?”

“I put it there before I knew he was dead,” she said as if that was an explanation.

Considering the dynamite that was in the little envelope, I couldn’t see why she would have done anything but burn it. But all I said was, “Go on.”

“I went back and Dobbs told me that the Colonel was in Los Angeles on business—agreeing with Charles’ story. I have the run of the house so I went into the library and opened the safe.”

She was looking steadily at me. I looked back, not saying anything, waiting. She said, “The envelope was gone. So was fifty thousand of the Colonel’s money.”

She was thinking of the receipt I had signed that she had found in the Colonel’s pocket. I said, “I wonder who else besides yourself and Hoop has the combination to that safe?”

“You left the receipt there, didn’t you, Lowry?”

I saw no point in denying it. “Yes. It was my money.”

“It was still a foolish thing to do,” Tanya said.