‘We’d better use the bus whenever we can.’
‘I have four pots to deliver tomorrow. I can’t use the bus.’
There was a sharp note of exasperation in her voice I had never heard before. I looked at her. She faced me, her dark eyes unhappy and angry. The prick of conscience made me angry too.
‘I didn’t say you couldn’t use the car,’ I said. ‘I just said when we could we’d better use the bus.’
‘I heard you.’
‘All right then.’
She hesitated. I could see she wanted to say something further, but instead, she turned and left the room.
I felt bad. This was the nearest we had ever come to a quarrel. I left the bungalow and walked to the bus stop. I settled the two bills: that left me with fifteen dollars. At the end of the week Bill Holden would want the rent for the cabin, but with any luck, I would be worth fifty thousand by then.
I spent the rest of the day at the beach cabin, swimming, lounging in the sun and watching the clock, counting the minutes to the time when Odette would come up the veranda steps.
Again the beach became deserted soon after half past eight. I was now sitting on the veranda, as tense as any schoolboy waiting for his first date.
A little after nine o’clock, she came out of the darkness. As soon as I caught sight of her, I was out of my chair, stupidly excited, my heart thumping, and as she came up the steps, I caught hold of her, my hands gripping her arms, pulling her to me.
Then I got a shock.
She put her hands on my chest and gave me a hard shove, sending me backwards.
‘Keep your paws to yourself,’ she said in a cold, flat voice. ‘When I want you to paw me, I’ll tell you,’ and she walked past me into the cabin.
I felt as if I had come under a douche of icy water. I felt suddenly deflated and horribly cheap. After a moment’s hesitation, I followed her into the cabin and shut the door.
She was wearing powder blue slacks and a white pleated shirt. Her black hair was caught back by a white bandeau. She looked very desirable as she curled herself up on the settee.
‘You should never jump to conclusions, little man,’ she said and smiled. ‘You mustn’t ever take any woman for granted. You amused me the other night, but you don’t amuse me tonight.’
This was my moment of truth. I could have killed her. I could have taken her by force, but those words put a picture of myself in a frame. They were needles, pricking a balloon.
I sat down. With an unsteady hand, I lit a cigarette.
‘I’m glad I’m not your father,’ I said. ‘That’s one thing I’m really glad about.’
She giggled, drawing smoke down into her lungs and expelling it through her pinched nostrils.
‘Why bring my father into it? You’re just mad at me because I’m not the easy toy you thought I was.
They all say the same: stupid, unsuccessful men with the sex itch.’ She smoothed down her dark hair as she stared mockingly at me. ‘Now we have got over all that, shall we talk business?’
I hated her then more than I thought it possible to hate anyone.
I had trouble in opening my briefcase and taking out the papers on which I had written my questionnaire. My hands shook so badly, the papers made a rustling noise.
‘I’ll ask the questions,’ I said, my voice scarcely under control, ‘you give me the answers.’
‘You don’t have to get upset, little man,’ she said. ‘You’re being very well paid.’
‘Shut up!’ I snarled at her. ‘I don’t want any of your cheap remarks,’ then I began to fire questions at her. ‘Why did she go to the Pirates’ Cabin?’ ‘What was the room like in which she was imprisoned?’
‘What was the woman like who fed her?’ ‘Did she see anyone else besides this woman while she was in the farmhouse?’ and so on and so on.
Her answers were slick and smooth. Not once did she hesitate nor make a mistake.
We kept at it for over two hours. During those hours of intensive questioning, she never once put a foot wrong.
Finally, I said, ‘You’ll do. Just so long as you don’t alter the story and you watch out for traps, you’ll do.’
She gave me a small, mocking smile.
‘I’ll watch out fop traps… Harry.’
I got to my feet.
‘Well, okay, then we’re ready for Saturday. I’ll be at the Pirates’ Cabin at nine-fifteen. You know what to do.’
She uncurled herself off the settee and stood up.
‘Yes, I know what to do.’
We looked at each other, then her expression softened, and smiling, she moved towards me, that thing in her eyes.
‘Poor little man,’ she said. ‘Paw me if you want to. I don’t really mind.’
