Nothing to Lose But My Life (13 page)

“That was before I knew he was dead,” I said, mimicking her.

“And the envelope, Lowry.”

“It’s with the money,” I said.

“I want it, please.”

“Sure,” I agreed. “Any time—any time you answer my questions. That’s a fair exchange, isn’t it? I’ll give you the envelope and mail the money to his estate.”

She got up and came to me. Taking the coffee cup out of my hand, she drew me to my feet. “Lowry, don’t be a fool. It’s your money. It won’t pay for your wife’s death, but then no amount of money could do that. But he owed it to you.”

“Sure,” I said, “but this is no time to collect it. I’ll wait and let the court handle it.”

“Were you planning to go to court, Lowry? After you’d killed and made the Colonel crawl and beg for mercy, were you going to wait around and take your case to court?”

There was no sarcasm in her voice; there was no scorn either. I looked into her green eyes and thought that I saw something there I wanted to see. But only for a moment. Then she veiled them against me.

“No,” I admitted. “I wasn’t going to court. I was going to go back to Mexico. I have a place there.”

“Then why change your plan?”

“Including Nikke?”

“No, except for Nikke. It’s too late to make the Colonel crawl now, but you have the money. Why not take it and go to Mexico.”

So that was it. I stepped back from her. I felt a little ill, wondering if last night—at Enid’s—had been a step toward this, toward trying to get me to go as Nikke had tried to get me to go. I didn’t want to believe that. Remembering it, I found it hard to believe. And yet what she had just said was plain enough.

“You’re clever, Tanya, but not clever enough. Sorry, sweetheart, but I’m not leaving until I finish the job I came to do.”

I started for the guest room. “Lowry!” I ignored her and went on in, gathered my stuff together, and then headed out.

“Thanks for the breakfast.”

“Lowry!” There was so much that was unlike Tanya in her voice that I turned. “You can’t win, Lowry,” she said pleadingly. “Believe me, you can’t win. You’ll end up like—like the Colonel.”

I had the rear door open. “You should see that I don’t,” I told her. “Remember that I have your envelope now, Tanya. Maybe I’ll swap you one of these days—when I’m ready to go back to Mexico, I’ll give you the envelope for a goodbye kiss.”

It was cruel but I was feeling mean. I didn’t like being taken for a patsy, especially by Tanya. I slammed the door and started down the service stairs toward Enid’s place. I could hear Tanya running toward the door. She cried something at me. It sounded like, “Lowry, go to Mexico now—and take me with you.”

I wasn’t sure of what she said because I was hurrying. I didn’t want to hear anyway.

I went into Enid’s living room yawning so hard I nearly dislocated my lower jaw. I swallowed the yawn in a hurry when I saw her. She was on the divan, curled with her legs tucked under her. She wore a loose robe and her hair was still down. She was just sitting there in the dimness.

“I read your note but I knew you’d be back,” she said. Her voice was completely normal, wide awake. “Is Tanya nice, Lowry?”

“Very,” I said. “She likes you a lot, Enid.”

She wasn’t interested in that. “Is she as nice as I am—all over?”

I said quickly, “I went to see her on business.”

“Don’t be cross. Haven’t you had any sleep, Lowry?”

“No.”

“You were—watching me?”

I said, “Yes.”

She patted the divan. “Come here. No, don’t.” She got up and walked toward me, her hands out. “Come with me.”

I balked and she said, “To sleep, silly. Use my bed. It’s better than the couch. And you can’t sleep in the other one.”

No, not after Hoop had used it. I let her lead me to the bed. I sat down heavily. I said, “Hoop is all taken care of.”

“You told me before,” she said. She was evidently over any chance of shock.

I dropped my shoes and began unbuttoning my shirt. She showed no inclination to leave so I worked my way down to my shorts and rolled under the covers. The pillow smelled of Enid’s hair scent. I wouldn’t have cared if it had been skunk. It was a pillow, and that was all that mattered.

“Lowry, who did it?”

“I don’t know, but I think I can find out.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and stroked my forehead. I closed my eyes. She crooned over me as though I were a doll she had put to bed.

“Lowry, I know where I can get money, a lot of money. And we can go away.” Worry crept in to her crooning. “I worry for you, Lowry. You aren’t safe.”

My God, I thought. Enid too. Had Nikke put her up to this like he had Tanya? I didn’t answer.

“There’ll be money enough for us both, Lowry, and …”

I didn’t argue with her. I couldn’t. I went right to sleep in the middle of what she was saying.

And I dreamed. Twice I awoke, sweating. Finally I seemed to have got it out of my system and I slept a restful sleep. But I remembered the dreams and when I awoke I knew what I had to do. All I needed now was a way to do it.

• • •

It was late. I had slept through the day. I was hungry and I felt dirty from having sweated so much, but I was refreshed from my long sleep. A shower, a quick shave, and I was ready.

I called out, “Enid!” and my voice echoed hollowly through the flat. I dressed hurriedly and went to look for her. Somehow, it hadn’t occured to me that she would be gone.

I found the note after I returned to the bedroom. The note was propped on the bedstand as mine to her had been:
Had to go out. Listen to the radio before you leave. Do be careful
.

It was scrawled hurriedly and a little too cryptic for me. I went into the living room and snapped on the radio. I was heading for the kitchen to make myself something to eat when the telephone rang. I hesitated.

As far as I knew, only three people were aware that this was Enid’s place. So the call was either from her or to her. If it was to her, then it could only be from Conklin, Tanya, or Nikke. Of those three, only Conklin presumably did not know that I had been here, might still be here. I decided to take the chance.

I lifted the receiver and coughed lightly. A masculine voice said, “Hello? Lowry?”

It was Nikke. I said, “Lowry here.”

“You fool,” he said. He sounded almost savage. “You’re in a bad jam. Look, if I get your money for you, will you get out of town?”

“What money, Nikke?”

“The money you got from the Colonel,” he said.

So Tanya had run straight to Nikke! I said, “I can get that for myself, Nikke. I don’t need any help.”

“You can’t go to the motel,” Nikke said. “The place is crawling with cops.” There was no satisfaction in his voice, only worry.

My mouth was dry. My throat hurt. Nikke didn’t sound as if he were stringing me. “Cops—looking for me?”

“Looking for you, Lowry. They found Hoop.”

I was silent, putting this together. Obviously Tanya had been to see Nikke. Maybe she was with him now. And just as obviously, she had told him everything. It gave her one more black mark in my book. As I saw it, she was using Nikke to put the squeeze on me so I would go to Mexico. And she had a really brilliant idea. Nikke would get my money for me, and at the same time, he would get her envelope for her. It was very neat.

I said, “Go to hell.”

Nikke swore. I had seldom ever heard him swear. I had seldom ever heard his voice as rough as it was now. He swore at me in English and French and in a couple of obscure Balkan languages that I had never heard. I didn’t need to know the words; the meaning came through easily enough.

When he was through, I said, “Is Tanya there, Nikke?”

“Tanya’s all right, Lowry.”

“If the cops get me, it might cause trouble for her,” I said.

“You wouldn’t bring her into it, Lowry. You aren’t built that way.”

I had to admit that. I said, “No, but someone else might. How did the cops find Hoop anyway?”

“They dragged the harbor for him—on an anonymous tip.”

“Sure,” I said. “And who gave the tip? The only person that saw Tanya and me at the water was Sofia Conklin. I wouldn’t need to drag Tanya into it, Nikke. If Sofia tipped the cops on one thing, she would on another.”

I was thinking, damn Sofia Conklin. She had better eyes than I had given her credit for. And she had too good a poker face. But damning her didn’t help. She had put the needle into me—probably out of a sense of “civic duty.” She was the kind of person who would have a strongly developed sense of civic duty.

Nikke was quiet for some time. Then he said, “That means you’ll have to take Tanya with you, Lowry.”

“You go to hell!” I said for the second time. But I was thinking about a man with the guts to let the woman he loved go with another man just to protect her from possible harm. And I could tell by the way Nikke said, “… you’ll have to take Tanya …” that he had a lot of feeling for her buried under his urbane shell.

“Gladly,” Nikke said. “I’ll go anywhere you say—if you’ll only be smart and get out of here.”

I wasn’t buying that, not yet. I said, “What made the cops start looking for me when they found Hoop—the same tip?”

“They added two and two,” Nikke said dryly. “More than one person has recognized you. I suppose they got a hint from someone. Anyway, they went to Hoop’s and found your footprints under the library window—a pair of shoes in your bungalow match them perfectly. They got Dobbs, Hoop’s butler, to describe you. They came up with Malcolm Lowry. That’s all I could find out so far.”

It was enough. I was really boxed in. I should have been less sanguine after finding Hoop’s body. The frame was plain enough, God knew. I should have bought a spare outfit and put myself in a position to get away. But I hadn’t. I’d played it cute instead, and now I could do nothing. Except let Nikke help me. That was the last thing I wanted.

I said, “Have they connected me with Tanya officially yet?”

“Not that I know of.”

I said slowly, “And so I’m to let you get my money and slip it to me. What else do you do for me, Nikke?”

Nikke sounded almost eager. “I’ll get the money and whatever else you need, Lowry. And I’ll get you on a plane—”

“Us on a plane,” I corrected him.

“Both of you on a plane,” he said as if it hurt. “I’ll get you out.”

“Sure,” I agreed, “and that leaves you still in the saddle and safe here, doesn’t it?”

“Lowry, damn it—” He broke off and swore and stopped. “Listen, you fool. You’ve been running around this town, a prime target, since you came. If I’d wanted to get rid of you, I could have done it easily enough. Believe it or not, but the only reason you’re running loose right now is because I’ve worked to keep you that way.”

“You touch me,” I murmured.

“You still want your pound of flesh, don’t you, Lowry? You can’t do any more to Hoop but there’s still me.”

“That’s right,” I admitted.

“All right,” Nikke said. I thought I heard a gasp but it wasn’t from me and it wasn’t from Nikke. “Come ahead, Lowry. If it makes you feel any better. Let me get your stuff for you and arrange for a plane. Then come ahead. I only want one thing.”

“A gun in the belly?” It was a stupid remark, but I wasn’t feeling particularly sharp. I had too much on my mind at the moment.

“Ten minutes of your time,” Nikke said. “Ten minutes with you keeping your mouth shut and your mind open.”

“You’re a good talker, Nikke,” I said. “But you aren’t that good.”

“If I’m not, then why won’t you listen to me?”

He had me there. “I’ll listen,” I said. “Where are you?”

“At my place. The old one. I’m always here.”

“Okay,” I said. “And thanks for the tip. I’ll be along after I get my money. I’ll do that much for myself.” I hung up.

The phone rang almost at once. I let it ring. It jangled until I thought my head would come apart but finally it stopped. Let Nikke run in circles for a while, sweating about me getting caught, about that leading to Tanya. I had sweated once because of Nikke; let him sweat now because of me.

A cute pair they made, Nikke and Tanya.

I went into the kitchen and got myself something to eat. I wished I had asked him where Enid was. I wanted to get her and warn her so she wouldn’t fall into this mess. I suspected that she was at the club on the highway, but it wasn’t anyplace I could go to find out.

I waited a while before I ate what I’d prepared. My stomach was in a knot. I didn’t want to stuff it in that condition and add indigestion to my other troubles. I let myself simmer down and then I ate. I spent the time thinking.

I had wakened fully aware of what I must do. The answer was simple—find out who killed Hoop for my own protection. The method was the hardest part. I had seen the one way—start with his friends. That meant with the Conklins. Only now it wasn’t going to be a matter of walking in on them and asking a few leading questions. I doubted if their hospitality would extend to keeping their mouths shut even if, in a sense, I would be their guest. Especially now after Hoop’s body had been found and I was chief suspect. Especially since I believed that Sofia was behind the anonymous tip.

I also had a few necessary things to do. One of them was to get rid of Hoop’s clothes still in the Lincoln. The meal finished, I shoved the dishes in the sink, got my hat and coat, and went to the garage.

It was a dark night. Inside the garage it was even darker. The light switch did nothing but click futilely. I was busily thinking of what to do with the clothes and so all that crossed my mind was to curse light bulbs that burned out at the wrong time.

I should have been more alert, knowing what I did. I walked right into it.

IT WAS A SAP
, nicely loaded but not skilfully wielded. The attacker was too eager. I heard the hiss and had enough sense to duck and try to run. But I wasn’t fast enough and in that darkness I could see nothing. I had turned out the house lights and even though the kitchen door was open, it gave me no help. All I did was duck into the doorway and frame myself against the lighter background there. The first time the sap caught my right shoulder, numbing it. The second time it got me behind the ear.