through the sixty thousand, she would come back for more. The only escape from her continual blackmail would be if she died. I suddenly realised that if I were to live the life I wanted to live I would have to kill her.
The thought didn’t shock me. I had no feeling for her. She was a depraved, degenerate animal. It would be like killing some disgusting insect.
I opened my cigarette case, took out a cigarette and lit it. My hands were rock steady.
‘Looks as if you have me over a barrel,’ I said. ‘Well, all right. I’ll get the ten thousand. I’ll have it ready for you by tomorrow. If you will meet me outside here at this time, I’ll give it to you.’
She smiled at me: it was a smile that chilled my heart.
‘I know what you are planning, Jeff. I’ve thought this thing out. I’ve had plenty of time to think while you have been so busy making money. I put myself in your place. How would I react, I asked myself, if I were you and found myself in such a fix?’ She let smoke drift out of her open mouth as she paused, then she went-on, ‘First, I would try to find a way out. It wouldn’t take me very long to realise there is no way out except one way.’ She leaned forward and stared at me. ‘The same idea has occurred to you, hasn’t it? The only way out is for me to be dead, and you’re already planning to kill me, aren’t you?’
I sat motionless, staring at her. The blood drained out of my face and my body felt damp and cold.
‘I’ve taken care of that angle,’ she went on, and opened her shabby handbag. She took out a scrap of paper and flicked it into my lap. ‘You’ll mail the cheques to this address. It’s the address of the Pacific and Union Bank of Los Angeles. It’s not my bank, but they have been told to credit my account somewhere else and you won’t know where it is. I’m taking no chances with you. There’ll be no way for you to find out where my bank is or where I’ll be living. So don’t imagine you are going to murder me, Jeff, because you’ll never find me after tonight.’
I kept control of the urge that made me want to fasten my hands around her throat and choke the life out of her.
‘You seem to have thought of everything, haven’t you?’ I said.
‘I think I have.’ She held out her hand. ‘Give me your wallet. I want some money right now.’
‘You can go to hell,’ I said.
She smiled at me.
‘Remember years ago when you asked me for my purse and you took every dollar I had? Give me your wallet, Jeff, or we’ll take a walk to the Station house.’
We stared at each other for a long moment, then I took out my wallet and dropped it into her lap.
That morning I had been to the bank. I had two hundred dollars in the wallet. She took the lot and then tossed the wallet onto the table.
She got up, putting the money in her bag and she crossed the lobby to the reception desk and rang the bell.
The fat Italian came out of the inner room. She spoke to him. I couldn’t hear what she was saying.
She gave him some money. He grinned at her, nodding, then went back into the inner room.
She came back to me.
‘I’m leaving now. You won’t see me again unless you try something smart. You will send a cheque sometimes this week for the ten thousand dollars to the Los Angeles bank. On the first of the month you will send another cheque for ten thousand. The following month you will send me a cheque for thirty thousand. The month after that, another cheque for ten thousand. Have you got that?’
‘Yes,’ I said, thinking if she was leaving now I must follow her. I was sure if I lost her now, I would never find her again. ‘But don’t imagine it’s going to be all that easy.’
‘Isn’t it?’
The fat Italian, followed by two hard looking characters, came out of the inner room and grouped themselves in front of the entrance to the hotel.
I was on my feet now.
‘I’ve asked these boys to keep you here until I drop out of sight,’ Rima said. ‘I wouldn’t start anything with them. They’re tough.’
The two men with the fat Italian were both young and strong looking. One of them, with a lot of blond limp hair, wore a leather jacket and had leather patches on the knees of his trousers. The other, with a brutal hammered face of an ex-boxer, was in a filthy white shirt, the sleeves rolled up and a pair of jeans.
‘So long,’ Rima said to me. ‘Don’t forget our little arrangement or we’ll be meeting again in a place you won’t like.’
She picked up a battered suitcase that was standing, out of sight, behind her chair and walked across the lobby.
I remained motionless.
The three men stared at me, also motionless.
Rima went out of the hotel, and I saw her walk briskly down the steps and away into the darkness.
After a moment or so, the blond tough said, ‘Should we rough this mug up a little, Battler? Work him over a little?’
The other snorted through his broken nose.
‘Why not? I ain’t had any exercise for weeks.’
The fat Italian said sharply, ‘None of that stuff. He stays here for five minutes, then he goes. No one touches him.’
The blond tough spat on the floor.
‘You’re the boss.’
We all stood there while the minutes ticked away. After what seemed a lot longer than five minutes, the fat Italian said, ‘Come on. Let’s get back to the game.’
The three of them slouched back into the inner room, leaving me alone with the old negro.
He stared at me, rubbing the back of his head with a large, black hand.
‘I guess you’re leading a charmed life, mister,’ he said. ‘Those guys are mean.’
I went out into the night and got into my car.
II
As I drove across the City towards my home, my mind was active.
There seemed no way out of this trap. It would be impossible to find Rima again now. She could continue to blackmail me in safety and out of my reach. I would have to give her all the money I would earn from the bridge job and then more. I knew she would continue to blackmail me for the rest of her days.
I realised that Terrell’s cottage was now just a pipe dream. How was I going to explain this to Sarita?
It was the thought of Sarita that stiffened my back bone. I slowed the car and pulled up at the kerb.
I couldn’t take this lying down, I told myself, and a hot wave of rage ran through me. I must find a way out.
For several minutes I sat staring through the windshield at the mass of traffic moving ahead of me, trying to calm my jumping nerves. Finally, I did get control of myself and I was able to think more coolly.
Rima had given me the address of a Los Angeles bank. Did this mean that she was leaving Holland City for Los Angeles or was it just a trick to throw me off her trail?
I had to find her again. It was my only hope of survival. I had to find her and then silence her.
I started the car moving and drove fast to the Ritz-Plaza hotel, a couple of blocks ahead. Leaving the car outside, I went in and made my way to the Travel Bureau.
The girl in charge smiled brightly at me.
‘Yes, sir?’
‘Is there a ’plane out to Los Angeles tonight?’
‘Not now, sir. The first plane out would be ten twenty-five tomorrow morning.’
‘How about a train?’
She picked up a time-table, flicked through the pages, then nodded.
‘There’s a train at eleven forty. If you hurry, you could catch it.’
I thanked her and went back to my car.
I drove fast to the railroad station, parked and walked to the Information Bureau. The time was now half past
