The Rip-Off (18 page)

The story didn't go down very well with Jeff Claggett, but he couldn't call her a liar without calling me one, so he let it go. And Kay not only kept her job with the department, but she received a commendation and promotion. The increase in pay, she estimated, would pay for the all-white gown and accoutrements. Which, she advised me unblushingly, she intended to wear at our wedding.

To move on:

Connie and Luther Bannerman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, and attempted murder. They received ten years on each count, said sentences to run consecutively.

Manny's husband remained mute, and was convicted of attempted murder. But other charges were dug up against him before he could begin serving the sentence-he was a very bad guy, seemingly. The last I heard, he had accumulated two life sentences, plus fifty years, and he was still standing mute. Apparently, he saw nothing to gain by talking.

Manny was taken from her hospital to the criminal ward of the county hospital. Pat Aloe could have got her out, I am sure, since the charge against her of harboring a criminal-failing to report her husband to the police-was a purely technical one. But Pat had grimly washed his hands of Manny. He wanted nothing more to do with her. He had no further need for her, for that matter, having begun the swift closing out of PXA's affairs.

Manny cooperated fully with the authorities, and their attitude toward her was generally sympathetic. She had attacked her husband without intent to kill him. His abuse had driven her temporarily insane, and when she recovered her senses, she was holding a steam pressing- iron in her hand and he was sprawled on the ground at her feet. The storm was gathering by now, and she was forced to flee back inside her resort cabin. When the police came in the morning to investigate the storm's havoc, she was near death with shock and she was never questioned about her husband's supposed death.

Actually, he wasn't even seriously hurt, but there was a dead man nearby-one of several who had died in the storm-who resembled him in size and coloring. Manny's husband made the features of the dead man unrecognizable with a few brutal blows, switched clothes with him and planted his identification on him.

He disappeared into the night then, and no one ever questioned the fact that he was dead. Possibly because so many people were glad to have him that way. Rumors had been circulating for some time that he had irritated people who were not of a mind to put up with it, and only his apparent death saved him from the actuality.

There followed an extended period of hiding out, of keeping out of the way of former associates. Finally, however, believing that feeling about him had cooled down, and having sized up Manny's situation, he had paid her a covert visit.

She was terrified. Anyone who knew him well would be.

Also, she was vulnerable to his threats, thanks to the nominal attempt on his life and the malicious mischief she had made for me. She couldn't go to the police. She couldn't go to Pat, who was already furious with her. So she acceded to her husband's demands. She would go away with him, if he would leave me alone.

She collapsed after his visit, and was forced to go to the hospital. His reaction was to try to kill me. She hoped to buy him off, and he accepted the money she gave him. But, of course, he could not stay bought. Again, he gave her an ultimatum: She would go back to him, or I would go, period. So she had agreed to go back to him, but the ugly prospect had brought on another nervous collapse with its resultant hospitalization.

Actually, he had no intention of leaving me alone, regardless of what she did. He was a handsome hood, and as vain and mean as he was handsome. And it was simply not tolerable to him to allow his wife's lover to live.

So he had tried to kill me for the third time. At the same time the Bannermans were attempting to kill me for the second time. And so much for them.

The charge against Manny was dismissed, with the urgent recommendation that she seek psychiatric help. She gladly promised to do so.

Mrs. Olmstead was caught up with in Las Vegas. She was drunk, thoroughly unremorseful and some twenty thousand dollars ahead of the game. She returned most of my money, I
think
. I'm not sure, since I don't know exactly how much she got away with. Anyway, I declined to prosecute, and she was still in Vegas the last I heard.

Still drunk, still unremorseful and still a big winner.

The doctors hinted that I was malingering, and suggested that I do it elsewhere. Jeff Claggett gave me a stern scolding.

"You don't want to marry Nolton. You
shouldn't
marry her. Why not lay it on the line with her, instead of pulling the sick act?"

"Well… I do like her, Jeff," I said. "And she saved my life, you know."

"Oh, hell! She was goofing off when she should have been on the job, and we both know it."

"Well… But I promised to marry her. I didn't think I'd ever be free of Connie at the time, but…"

"That wasn't a promise, dammit! Anyway, you've got a right to change your mind. You shouldn't go ahead with something that's all wrong to keep a promise that should never have been made."

"I'm sure you're right," I said. "I'll have a talk with Kay as soon as I get some other things out of the way."

"What things?"

"Well…"

"You've got a go-ahead on your erosion book, and a hefty advance from the publisher. You're getting a good settlement on your condemnation suit; my lawyer friend says it will be coming through any day now. So what the hell are you waiting for?"

"Nothing," I said firmly. "And I won't wait any longer."

"Good! You'll settle with Nolton right away, then?"

"You bet I will," I said. "Maybe not right away, but…"

He cursed, and stamped out of the room.

The phone rang, and of course it was Kay.

"Just one question, Britt Rainstar," she said. "How much longer do you plan on staying in that hospital?"

"What's the difference?" I said. "My divorce hasn't come through yet."

"Hasn't it?" she said. "Hasn't it?"

"I, uh, well"-I laughed nervously. "I haven't received the papers yet, but I believe I did hear that, uh-my goodness, Kay," I said. "You surely don't think that I don't want to marry you."

"That's exactly what I think, Britt."

"Well, shame on you," I said. "The very idea!"

"Then, when are you leaving the hospital?"

"Very soon," I said. "Practically any day now."

She slammed the phone down.

I lay back on the pillows, and closed my eyes.

I was thoroughly ashamed of myself. My shame increased, as the days drifted by and I stayed on in the hospital. The naive, evasive- child manner I maintained was evidence of my general feeling of hopeless unworthiness. The I-ain't-nothin'-but-a-hound-dawg routine set to different music.

Whatever I did, I was bound to make someone unhappy, and I have always shrunk from doing that. I am always terribly unhappy when I make others unhappy.

I wondered what in the name of God I could tell Manny. After all, I had told her that the only reason I didn't marry her was because I couldn't. I was married to Connie, and there was no way I could dissolve our marriage. Now, however, I was free of Connie, and Manny was free of her husband. So how could I possibly tell her that I was marrying Kay Nolton?

I was wrestling with the riddle the afternoon she came to see me, the first time I had seen her since that seemingly long-ago day when she had come to the house.

I stalled on giving her the news about Kay, staving it off by complimenting her on how nice she looked. She thanked me and said she certainly hoped she looked nice.

"You see, I'm getting married, Britt," she said. "I thought you should be the first to know."

I gulped and said, "Oh," thinking that took me off the hook all right-or sank it into me. "Well, I hope you'll be very happy, Manny."

"Thank you," she said. "I'm sure I will be."

"Is it, uh, anyone I know?"

"We-ell, no…" She shook her head. "I don't believe you do. You're going to get acquainted with him, because I intend to see that you do. And I think that you'll like him-the real
him
-a lot better than the man you think you know."

"Uh, what?" I frowned. "I don't understand."

"Well, you'd just better!" Her voice rose, broke into joyous laughter. "You'd better, you nutty, mixed-up mixed blood, or I'll take your pretty gray-streaked scalp!"

She came to me at a run, flung herself down on the bed with me.

Naturally, the bed collapsed noisily.

We were picking ourselves up when the door slammed open, and a nurse came rushing in. She had red hair and beautiful long legs, and a scrubbed-clean look.

"Kay-" I stammered. "W-what are you doing here?"

She snapped that her name was Nolton,
Miss
Nolton, and she was there because she was a nurse, as I very well knew. "Now, what's going on here, miss?" she demanded, glaring at Manny. "Never mind! I want you out of here, right this minute! And for goodness sake- -
for goodness sake
-do us all a favor and take him with you!"

"Oh, I intend to," Manny said sunnily. "I'm getting married, and he's the bridegroom."

"Well, I'm glad to hear it," Kay said. "I'm g-glad that s-some-one's willing to marry him. He said t-that-that I-"

She turned suddenly, and hurried out the door.

Manny came into my arms, and I did what you do when a very lovely girl comes into your arms. And then, over her shoulder, I saw the door ease open. And I saw that it was Kay who had opened it.

She stuck her tongue out at me.

She winked and grinned at me. And, then, just as she closed the door, she turned on a truly beautiful blush.

And when it comes time to close the door on someone or something I know of no nicer way to do it.

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20/10/2007

LRS to LRF parser v.0.9; Mikhail Sharonov, 2006; msh-tools.com/ebook/