‘I do understand, Eve,’ he said. ‘It won’t be for much longer. I promise you that. If you’l only stick it for another month. After that you needn’t ever see Kile again.’
‘I hope not,’ she sighed, acutely aware of her defeat.
He put his arm round her and pulled her to him.
‘Snap out of it,’ he said lightly. ‘Everything’s going to be fine and dandy. Think of the things I’m going to buy you when we get the money!’ His sudden good humour didn’t deceive her. She knew how untrustworthy, how shiftless and dishonest he was. There was nothing she could do about it. He was part of her: the Hyde to her Jekyll; something she was helpless to rid herself of. ‘You told Kile tonight? He knows now?’
‘Yes. I told him.’
‘How did he take it?’
‘Oh, he’s enthusiastic’ She felt the thin cloth of his suit. It had been pressed again and again. It was threadbare. Only he could have worn it and made it look something. On any other man it would have been a rag. ‘Didn’t you buy the suit, darling?’ she went on. ‘I was hoping you’d wear it tonight.’
‘Oh, yes, I bought it,’ he said glibly. ‘If I’d known you were going to be so late I’d have stopped to change.’
She knew at once he was lying: that he hadn’t used the money she had given him to buy a suit. She knew from past sordid experience that the money had been spent on some woman.
‘But never mind the suit,’ he went on. ‘Is Kile going to approach Rico?’
‘Yes, of course. I told him Rico should be consulted. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?’
‘Rico knows this chap Baird. If anyone can pul this off, Baird can. I’ve watched him for weeks now.
He’s terrific. Nothing wil stop him once he’s made up his mind. I wish I could say the same of Rico. Of course he may be all right, but I wish I was sure of him. Kile’s not tel ing him the details, is he?’
‘No. He’s just asking Rico if he’d come in with him, but he’s not tel ing him much.’
‘Did Kile say if he was going to give you anything for the idea?’ Gil is asked.
Eve laughed bitterly.
‘Of course not. It never entered his head. He’s quite sure I’l be with him to spend it with him.’
‘Oh, wel , he’s due for an unpleasant surprise,’ Gil is said carelessly. He glanced at his wrist-watch.
‘You’d bet er get back. For the moment there’s no point in let ing him know I’m in this. I’ll drop in tomorrow night. I might be a little late; about half-past twelve. Leave the shade down if he’s there.’
‘He won’t be. He’s going out to dinner. Can’t you come earlier, Adam? I’ll be alone from eight o’clock.’
Immediately he became shifty.
‘I don’t know if I can. I’l try. I might get round by nine. Yes, I think I could manage nine.’
Again she knew he was lying, but she hid her knowledge from him. It would be stupid and dangerous to warn him that his lies were so transparent to her. So long as he wasn’t on his guard, she knew she could spot his lies, but if he took more trouble to deceive her, he might succeed. She told herself that one day he might tell her a serious lie; a lie that might affect them both. It was this lie she knew she had to recognise when it came.
‘Al right, darling,’ she said, trying to make her voice sound gay. ‘Then, if I don’t see you at nine, I’ll expect you at half-past twelve.’
‘You’l see me at nine,’ he said, deciding that half-past twelve was quite early enough. He had no wish to sit with her all the evening. There were times when she bored him to distraction. She would be so serious all the time: she would fuss over him.
She opened the car door.
‘Oh, Eve…’
Holding the door half open, she glanced quickly at him. She knew what was coming: every parting of theirs had this sordid little postscript.
‘How much do you want?’ she asked gently.
‘Oh, damn it! You make it sound as if I were always sponging on you,’ he said irritably. ‘But you wait… in another month I’l have al the money I need. I’l pay you back. I know exactly how much I owe you. I’ve writ en it down in a book.’
‘How much, Adam?’ she asked again.
‘Well, I owe a fella thirty dollars. I had to borrow off him tonight. You were so late I had to settle an account…’
‘Never mind the details, darling, just tell me how much.’
‘Would fifty ruin you?’ he said sullenly. He liked to explain why he wanted the money. He justified himself in his own eyes when he gave her a fictitious list of debts.
She opened her bag and checked the amount of money she had in it.
‘I’ve only forty.’
‘That would do. I’l be seeing you tomorrow night. Can’t you squeeze something substantial out of Kile? I hate this continual asking. Three or four hundred would see me through to the end of the month.
He should be good for that if you’re nice to him.’
‘You mean if I behave more like a tart than I usual y do?’ she said quietly.
