grasp.
“Ten thousand dollars! Could I use money like that!” She came around and sat by his side.
He watched her read the letterpress and he knew at once when she came to the fatal line: Known to favour a St. Christopher medal. He saw her stiffen, stare at the photograph, then look at him.
“Is this you?” she asked and tapped the photograph.
Johnny hesitated, then he said huskily, “Yes.”
“Have you lost your memory?”
He shook his head.
“Who are these people… Dyson & Dyson?”
His tongue touched his dry lips.
“Mafia people,” he said, watching her.
Her eyes widened.
“Mafia?”
“That’s right.”
She put down the paper.
“I don’t understand,” and he could see she was shaken, but not so shaken that it curtailed her curiosity.
“You don’t want to understand.”
“Are you a mafioso?”
“No.”
“Then why are they offering all this money?”
“They want to find me and kill me,” Johnny said quietly.
She flinched.
“Kill you? Why?”
“I did something bad to them.”
She stared at him for several moments, then she tore the page containing the advert from the paper and offered it to him.
“You’d better burn this, hadn’t you? Ten thousand is a lot of
money. If Ed sees it he could be tempted: it only means a telephone call, doesn’t it?”
“You mean you wouldn’t be tempted?”
“Do you think I would?”
He shrugged helplessly.
“As you said, it’s a lot of money. You want money. I don’t know.”
She got to her feet.
“I’m going for a swim.”
“Wait… I want you to understand. I…”
She had piffled off her shirt, struggled out of her stretch pants and pantees and dived into the lake.
Johnny set fire to the sheet of newspaper, then tossed it still burning into the water. He found he was shaking. He sat there, staring at her bobbing head, watching her swim further and further away. Could he trust her? In the night, might she not start thinking of what that money could mean to her? It only means a telephone call, doesn’t it? She would go across the lake to the village tomorrow. He wouldn’t know if she had telephoned or not until Toni, Ernie and the rest of the mob arrived. He wiped the sweat off his face. He had better get out: pack now and clear out. Yet he didn’t move. It dawned on him that this woman meant more to him than any woman he had ever met.
Suppose he decided to trust her? Suppose he stayed on? What about Scott? Sooner or later he would see the advert, but he knew nothing about the medal. It was the medal that alerted Freda. He was sure of that. It was the medal that had given him away. Why should Scott connect him with the advert? The photo was taken twenty years ago.
With shaking fingers he undid the chain around his neck and stared at the medal, lying in his palm.
He thought of his mother: a poor, ignorant, superstitious peasant! Goddamn it! Twice the medal bad-landed him in real trouble! If it hadn’t been for the medal he wouldn’t now be in hiding. If it hadn’t been for the medal Freda wouldn’t have guessed who he was.
He stood up.
Away in the distance he could see Freda swimming. The sun was beginning to sink behind the pines.
Lifting his hand, he threw the medal and chain with all his strength into the gathering dusk.
He watched the tiny splash as the medal hit the water.
It was done! It couldn’t betray him again!
He was sitting on the deck when she came out of the lake, water streaming off her golden body. She picked up her clothes and walked past him into the living-room.
The sun made a red rim around the pines. In another hour, Scott would be back.
During the time she had been swimming, Johnny had thought about her. He had come to the conclusion that this was his woman. He had never had this feeling before. He told himself he was crazy. What did he know about her except there was something in those blue eyes that told him he could trust her.
And that look, surprise, then the hurt showed and she had thrown off her clothes and had swum away from him.
That wasn’t the action of treachery. Surely, if she planned to betray him, she wouldn’t have behaved like that.
Then she was beside him, dressed and sitting down. She looked seriously at him.
“I think we’d better talk, Johnny,” she said. “Do you think, by staying here, Ed and I will be in danger?”
He hesitated, then nodded.
“Yes.” He paused, then went on. “I’ll get Ed to drive me to
Richville tomorrow and forget about me. It’s the best way.”
“I don’t want to forget you. I’m in love with you,” and she put her hand on his.
He felt a surge of emotion go through him. Many women had told him they loved him. Melanie had, often enough, but none of them had said it the way this woman said it.
“That makes two of us, but I’d better go.”
“Could we talk about it?” The slim fingers fondled his wrist. “Could you explain?”
The caressing fingers lulled his caution.
Speaking quietly, staring across the dark waters of the lake, he told her the story of his life. He told her of his yearning to own a boat, about Massino, how Masssino had cheated him. He told her about the Big Take, but he didn’t tell her how much money was involved.
“I have the money stashed away in East City. If it wasn’t for the medal there would have been no problem. I could have stayed there. Massino wouldn’t have suspected me. Then later, I would have taken the money and ducked out.”
“Is there much money?” she asked.
He looked at her. Her face was expressionless and she wasn’t looking at him.
“Enough.”
“If you got the money would you take me away from here?”
“Yes.”
“Would you choose between me and your boat? Would you give up your boat to keep me?”
He didn’t hesitate.
“No. You either go with the boat or I’ll stake you and we part. I’m risking my life for the boat: it’s that important to me.”
She nodded.
“I’m glad. I said it before and I’ll say it again: you’re all man. I’ll come with you and I’ll help on the boat.”
“If they find me here, they could kill you.”
“If I’m going to share this money with you, Johnny, I must share the risk… that’s fair, isn’t it?”
