‘A bottle of Scotch, two glasses and charge water, Toni,’ Rima said, ‘and hurry it up.’
The fat man stared at her.
‘Who’s paying for it?’
She nodded to me.
‘He is. Hurry it up.’
His black, blood-shot eyes roved over me, then he nodded and went back into the inner room.
I pulled up one of the bamboo cane chairs and arranged it so I would sit near her when she came back to her chair and yet be able to see the entrance to the lobby. I sat down.
She came back to her chair. As she walked I saw she had runs in both stockings and her shoes looked ready to fall to pieces.
‘Wel , it’s like old times, isn’t it?’ she said, sit ing down. ‘Except of course you’re married now.’ She took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one, blowing smoke down her nostrils. ‘You’ve certainly done pret y well for yourself considering you could have spent all this time in a cell or maybe even by now you could be fertilising the soil of a prison yard.’
The fat man came with the drinks. I paid him what he asked, and after looking curiously at me, he went away and back into the inner room.
With an unsteady hand, she poured a big shot of whisky into one of the glasses, then pushed the bottle over to me.
I didn’t touch it. I watched her drink half the whisky neat, then add charge water to what was left.
‘You haven’t much to say for yourself, have you?’ she said, looking at me. ‘How have you been getting on all these years? Ever think of me?’
‘I’ve thought about you,’ I said.
‘Ever wondered what I was doing?’
I didn’t say anything.
‘Did you keep that tape of me singing?’
Long before I had got home, I had got rid of the tape; I hadn’t wanted anything to remind me of her.
‘It got lost,’ I said woodenly.
‘Did it? That’s a pity. It was a good tape.’ She took another drink. ‘It was worth a whale of a lot of money. I was hoping you had kept it and I could sell it.’
It was coming now. I waited.
She shrugged her shoulders.
‘As you lost it, and you’ve made so much money, I don’t suppose you’l mind paying me for it.’
‘I’m not paying you anything,’ I said.
She finished her drink and poured more whisky into her glass.
‘So you’re married. That’s a change for you, isn’t it? I thought you didn’t care for women.’
‘We’ll skip that, Rima. I don’t think there’s much point carrying on this conversation. You and I are in two different worlds. You had your chance. I’ve taken mine.’
She slid her hand inside her grubby shirt to scratch her ribs. It was a gesture that brought the past back with an unpleasant impact.
‘Does your wife know you murdered a man?’ she asked, looking directly at me.
‘I didn’t murder a man,’ I said steadily. ‘And we’ll leave my wife out of this.’
‘Well, okay, if you’re so sure you didn’t, then you won’t mind if I go to the cops and tell them you did.’
‘Look, Rima,’ I said, ‘you know as well as I do, you shot the guard. No one would take your word against mine now. So let’s skip it.’
‘When I saw your photo in
‘Not a dime,’ I said. ‘Is that plain enough?’
She laughed.
‘Oh, but you are. You are going to compensate me for losing that tape. I reckon it is worth sixty thousand. It’s probably worth more.’
‘You heard what I said, Rima. If you try to blackmail me, I’ll hand you over to the police.’
She finished her drink and sat, nursing her glass, as her stony eyes moved over my face.
‘I’ve kept the gun, Jeff,’ she said. ‘The L.A. cops have a description of you on their files. They know the man they want for murder has a drooping right eyelid and a scar along the side of his jaw. All I have to do is to walk into the nearest Station house and tell them you and I are the ones they are looking for.
When I give them the gun, you’ll find yourself in the death row. It’s as easy and as simple as that.’
‘Not quite,’ I said. ‘You would be an accessory to murder even if they did believe your story against mine. You would also go to jail. Don’t forget that!’
She leaned back and laughed. It was a harsh, horrible sound.
‘You poor sap! Do you imagine I would care if I went to jail? Take a look at me! What have I got to lose? I’m washed-up! I’ve lost what looks I ever had. I can’t sing a note now. I’m a junky, always on the hunt for some money to buy a shot. Why should I care if I went to jail? I’d be better off than I am now!’
She leaned forward, her face suddenly changing to a vicious harshness, ‘But you’d care if you went to jail! You have everything to lose! You want to build that bridge, don’t you? You want a new home, don’t you? You want to go on sleeping with that nice wife of yours, don’t you? You want to hang onto your position in life, don’t you? You have everything. I have nothing. If you don’t toe the line, Jeff, we’ll go to jail together. I mean that. Don’t think I’m bluffing. What’s better than money? I want it and I’m going to have it. You’re going to pay or we go to jail!’
I stared at her. What she had said was true. She had nothing to lose. She was at the bottom of civilised existence. I could even believe she would be better off in jail.
I had to try to frighten her, but I knew it was hopeless.
‘They’d give you at least ten years. How would you like to be locked up in a cell for ten years without any dope?’
She laughed at me.
‘How would you like to be locked up in a cell for twenty years without your nice wife? I couldn’t care. Maybe they would cure me. How do you imagine I’ve been living these past years? How do you imagine I have managed to scrape up the money to buy my shots? I’ve been walking the streets. You think about it. You try to imagine that nice wife of yours coping with men every night. You can’t scare me with the thoughts of jail, but I can scare you! Jail would be like a home to me after what I’ve been through! You either pay up or we go to jail!’
Looking at the desperate, degenerate face I knew I was caught. There was a case against me. Maybe I might beat the murder rap, but I was certain to land in jail. My fear turned to a smouldering rage. I had come so far. I was now right at the top. Until she had telephoned, my future was assured. Now I was in her trap. She had only to crack her whip and I would have to obey. I was sure she planned to bleed me white.
‘Well, all right,’ I said. ‘I’ll give you some money. I’ll give you five thousand dollars. That’s all I can spare. Think yourself damn lucky to get it.’
‘Oh no, Jeff. I have a score to settle with you. I haven’t forgotten how you once treated me.’ She put her hand to her face. ‘No sonofabitch slaps me without paying for it. I’m dictating the terms. That tape you lost is going to cost you sixty thousand dollars. I want ten thousand this week. Ten thousand on the first of the month and thirty thousand on the following month and ten thousand as a final payment.’
I felt a rush of blood to my head, but I kept control of myself.
‘No!’
She laughed.
‘All right: please yourself. You think it over, Jeff. I’m not bluffing. You either pay up or we go to jail.
That’s the proposition. Please yourself.’
I thought about it. I could see no way out. I was caught. I knew it wouldn’t stop there. Once she had run
