happened.
So now she knew; she must know. Her actions today proved that she did.
The police had called her about him, yet she had not been concerned. She had known that he would be all right, that just as his front had held up for years, it would continue to hold up in this trouble whatever that trouble was. So, having found out all that she needed to, she had gone off to the races.
The races…
Abruptly, he sat up scowling, his mild annoyance with her turning to anger.
She had stalled on coming to La Jolla. After being so anxious for the trip, she had unreasonably found reason to postpone it-until this week.
Or… maybe not. He couldn't be absolutely sure that she was nosing into Lilly's business as she had nosed into his. It might be that she was simply sore at him for leaving her alone so long, and that she had gone to the races as a way of expressing her displeasure.
Moira returned to the hotel around four o'clock. Fretting humorously over the discomforts of her cab ride; pretending to pout at Roy for going off without her.
'I just thought I'd teach you a lesson, you big stinker! You're not mad, are you?'
'I'm not sure. I understand that the police called you about me.'
'Oh, that,' she shrugged. 'What was the trouble, anyway?'
'You wouldn't have any idea?'
'Well…' She began to draw in a little bit. Coming over to the bed, she sat down gingerly at his side. 'Roy, I've been wanting to talk to you for a long time. But before I could, I wanted to make sure that-'
'Let it ride a little,' he said carelessly. 'Did you see Lilly at the races?'
'Lilly? Oh, you mean your mother. Isn't she living in Los Angeles now?'
Roy said that she was. 'But the L.A. meets closed last week. So she'd be down here at Del Mar, wouldn't she?'
'How do I know? What are you getting at, anyway?'
She started to get up. He held her, taking a grip on the front of her dress.
'Now, I'll ask you again. Did you see Lilly at the Del Mar track?'
'No! How could I? I sat in the clubhouse!'
Roy smiled thinly, pointing out her blunder. 'And Lilly wouldn't be in the clubhouse, hmm? Now how did you know that?'
'Because I-I-' She colored guiltily. 'All right, Roy, I saw her. I was snooping. But-it's not like you think! I was just curious about her, wondering why she'd come to Los Angeles. And she was always so nasty to me! I knew she was knocking me to you every chance she got. So I just thought who is she to be so high and mighty, and I talked with a friend of mine in Baltimore and-and-'
'I see. You must have some very knowledgeable friends.'
'Roy,' she begged. 'Don't be angry with me. I wouldn't do anything to hurt her any more than I would you.'
'You'd better never try,' he said. 'Lilly travels in some very fast company.'
'I know,' she nodded meekly. 'I'm sorry, dear.'
'Lilly didn't see you today?'
'Oh, no. I didn't hang around, Roy. Honest.' She kissed him, smiling into his eyes. 'Now, about us. – .'
'Yes,' he nodded. 'We may as well go back to Los Angeles, hadn't we? You've found out what you wanted to know.'
'Now, honey. Don't take it like that. I think I must have known for a longtime. I was just waiting for the right opportunity to talk to you.'
'And just what do you know about me, anyway?'
'I know you're a short-con operator. A very good one, apparently.'
'You talk the lingo. What's your pitch?'
'The long end. The big-con.'
He nodded; waited. She snuggled close to him, pressing his hand against her breast. 'We'd make a hell of a team, Roy. We think alike; we get along well together. Why, darling, we could work for two months out of the year and live high for the other ten! I-'
'Wait,' he said, gently pushing her away. 'This isn't something to rush into, Moira. It's going to take a lot of talking about.'
'Well? So let's talk.'
'Not here. We didn't come here on business. We don't talk it here.'
She searched his face, and her smile faded a little. 'I see,' she said. 'You think it might be hard to give me a turndown here. It would be easier on the home grounds.'
'You're smart,' he said. 'Maybe you're too smart, Moira. But I didn't say I was turning it down.'
'Well…' She shrugged and stood up. 'If that's the way you want it…'
'That's the way I want it,' he said.
20
They caught the six o'clock train back to Los Angeles. It was crowded, as the train coming down had been, but the composition of the crowd was different. These passengers were largely business people, men who had put in a long day in San Diego and were now returning to their Los Angeles homes, or those who lived in San Diego and were due in Los Angeles early in the morning. Then, there were those few who had overstayed their weekends, and faced reproaches-or worse-when they arrived in the California metropolis.
The holiday spirit was definitely absent. A kind of moodiness pervaded the train, and some of it enveloped Moira and Roy.
They had a drink in the half-empty lounge. Then, discovering that the train carried no diner, they remained in the car for the rest of their ride. Seated in the cozy closeness of a booth, her thigh pressed warmly against his, Moira looked out at the aching loneliness of the sea, the naked and hungering hills, the houses closed firmly to all but themselves. The idea that she had propounded to him, something that was merely desired, became a tigerish must-a thing that had to be. It was either that or nothing, and so it had to be that.
She could not go on as she had the past few years, eking out her capital with her body, exchanging her body's use for the sustenance it needed. There were not enough years left, and the body inevitably used more than it received. Always, as the years grew fewer, the more rapidly the flesh depleted itself. So, an end to things as they had been. An end to the race with self. The mind grew youthful with use, increasingly eager with the demands of its owner, anxious and able to provide for the body that gave it shelter, to imbue it with its own youth and vigor or a reasonable facsimile thereof. And thus the mind must be used from now on. The ever-lucrative schemes which the mind could concoct and put into practice. Her mind and Roy's, the two working together as one, and the money which he could and must supply.
Perhaps she had pushed her hand a little too hard; no man liked to be pushed. Perhaps her interest in Lilly Dillon had been a blunder; every man was sensitive about his mother. But no matter. What she suggested was right and reasonable. It would be good for both of them.
It was what had to be. And damn him, he'd better-!
He made some casual comment, nudging her for a response, and seething with her own thoughts she turned on him, her face aged with hatred. Startled, he drew back frowning.
'Hey, now! What's the matter?'
'Nothing. Just thinking about something.' She smiled, dropping the mask so swiftly that he was not sure of what he had seen. 'What was it you said?'
He shook his head; he couldn't remember what it was now. 'But maybe I should know your name, lady. Your right one.'
