Strictly for Cash Page 6

  she had to slow to a crawl.

  “There’re two guards looking into each car as it passes,” she whispered to me. “I’m going

  to stop and let the other cars get on ahead.”

  “There’s a car behind us and coming fast,” Paul said, a rasp in his voice.

  “You’d better let me out,” I said, but she put her hand on my shoulder and pushed me

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  lower.

  “Be quiet!”

  She swung around to look through the rear window. From where I crouched I had a good

  view of one long, shapely leg and a small foot in a white buckskin shoe. I could also see the

  glare of headlights coming through the rear window showing how close the other car was. A

  horn blared as she slowed down.

  “Better not stop,” Paul said. “Keep in the centre of the road so they can’t pass, but keep

  moving.”

  The car continued to crawl forward.

  “It’s clearing ahead,” she told me. “We’re coming up to the gates.”

  I looked up. The car was moving a little faster now. Through the window I caught a

  glimpse of a man in a peak cap looking right at me.

  “Hey! You! Just a minute …” he said excitedly, and wrenched open the door.

  I grabbed the inside handle, slammed the door shut as Della trod down on the accelerator.

  The Bentley surged forward as the guard yelled again. I was sitting up now. Ahead of us was

  a car, blocking the way out. She swung the wheel and we bumped up on to the grass verge,

  missing the other car’s fenders by inches, then we shot out on to the highway.

  “Now …” she said, and increased speed.

  “They’re right on our tail,” Paul cried furiously. “Goddamn it! I told you not to fool with

  this!”

  Her reply was to push the accelerator to the boards. The needle of the speedometer began to

  flicker up to ninety. It hesitated, then crept up to ninety-two … three and hovered at ninety-four.

  The glare of the following headlights receded.

  “Losing them now,” she cried, her eyes fixed on the pool of light that rushed before us from

  the Bentley’s headlamps. “They can’t catch us now.”

  “Watch the road or you’ll have us over!” Paul shouted, and sat forward to look over her

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  shoulder through the windshield. “The road curves ahead. You’ll have to slow down before

  long.”

  “Don’t pester me!” she snapped. “I know this road as well as you do!”

  I looked behind. The pursuing car wasn’t all that far in the rear: not more than two hundred

  yards, and as Della was forced to reduce speed as the road began to curve around the

  palmetto thickets that lay on either side, the big Cadillac began to creep up on us.

  Della held the car in the middle of the road. The speedometer showed seventy-six now: too

  fast on a road like this.

  “Watch out! Car ahead!” I exclaimed as I spotted the distant glare of approaching

  headlights.

  Della dipped her lights and her foot eased off the accelerator.

  The approaching car was coming like a bat out of hell. It flashed into view. I heard a high,

  squealing sound of tyres biting into tarmac behind us, and looking round saw the Cadillac

  was stopping. I felt the Bentley swerve to the right. I swung round. The car coming towards

  us sat right in the middle of the road, and its huge blinding lights hit us as it roared down on

  us.

  Della pulled more to the right. The offside wheels banged and jumped along the grass

  verge. I saw her struggling frantically with the wheel, trying to keep the car straight. The

  driver of the approaching car just didn’t seem to see us. I heard Paul yell. The car was on us

  now. It side-swiped us as it went past. Della screamed. There came a crunching, ripping

  noise. The car that had hit us slewed across the road, then crashed into the thickets. I grabbed

  hold of the dashboard as I felt the Bentley lift. The windshield suddenly turned into a spider’s

  web of cracks and lines. There was a grinding noise of splintering wood, then a hell of a jolt,

  and a scorching white light burst before my eyes. Above the grinding, tearing sounds, I heard

  Della scream again, then the white light snuffed out and darkness came down on me.

  44

  PART TWO

  FOG PATCH

  I

  THE smell of iodoform and ether told me I was in hospital. I made an effort and

  rolled back eyelids that weighed a ton. A tall, thin guy in a white coat was standing over me.

  Behind him could see a fat nurse. There was a bored, harassed expression on her face.

  “How do you feel?” the thin guy asked, leaning over me. “Do you feel better?”

  He seemed so anxious I hadn’t the heart to tell him I felt like hell. I screwed up a grin and

  closed my eyes.

  Lights flickered behind my eyelids. I felt myself swimming off into misty darkness. I let

  myself go. Why bother? I thought, you can only die once.

  The darkness crept down on me. Time stood still. I slipped off the edge of the world into

  mists, fog and silence.

  It seemed to me I was down in the darkness for a very lone time, but after a while lights

  began to flicker again and I became aware of the bed in which I was lying and the tightness of

  the sheets. A little later I became aware of the screens. There were tail white screens around

  the bed, and they worried me. I seemed to remember they only put screens around a bed when

  the patient was going to croak.

  I also became aware that a thick-set man was sitting beside me. His hat rested on the back

  of his head, and he chewed a tooth pick, a bored, tired expression on his fleshy, unshaven

  face. He had copper written all over him.

  After a while he noticed my eyes were open, and he shifted forward to peer at me.

  “I wouldn’t win a dime with a double-headed coin,” he said in disgust. “Talk about luck!

  So you have to come to the surface just when I’m signing off.”

  A nurse appeared from behind the screen. She also peered at me: not the fat nurse. This one

  was blonde and pretty.

  “Hello,” I said, and my voice sounded miles away.

  “You mustn’t talk,” she said severely. “Just lie still and try to sleep.”

  “Sleep — hell!” the copper said. “He’s gotta talk. Keep out of this, nurse. He wants to talk,

  don’t you, pal?”

  “Hello, copper,” I said, and closed my eyes. When I opened them again the thin guy in

  45

  white was standing over me.

  “How am I doing, doc?” I asked.

  “You’re doing fine,” he told me. “You’re a miracle.”

  I blinked him into focus. He was young and eager and interested. I liked him.

  “Where am I?” I asked, and tried to lift my head, but it was too heavy.

  “You’ve had an accident. Just take it easy. You’re coming along fine.”

  The copper appeared from behind him.

  “Can I talk to him?” he asked, an exasperated note in his voice. “Just one or two questions.

  That can’t hurt him.”

  “Make it short,” the doctor said. “He has a bad concussion.”

  He stood aside and the copper took his place. He had a notebook in his hand and an inch of

  blunt pencil in his thick fingers.

  “What’s your name, pal?” he asked. “Don’t bear down on it. We just want to get things

  straightened out.”

  “John Fa
rrar,” I told him.

  “Address?”

  “I haven’t one.”

  “You gotta sleep somewhere, haven’t you?”

  “I was hitch-hiking.”

  He blew out his fat cheeks and looked up at the ceiling as if he were praying.

  “Well, okay, you were hitch-hiking. Got a father or a mother or a wife or someone?”

  “No.”

  He turned and looked at the doctor.

  “Now do you believe I never have any luck? Of all the guys who get snarled up in a car

  smash I have to pick me an orphan.”

  “You’d better cut this short,” the doctor said, his fingers on my pulse. “He’s not fit to talk

  yet.”

  46

  “Wait a minute; wait a minute,” the copper said, licking his pencil. “I’ve got to get this

  straightened out.” He turned to me again. “Okay, pal. So there’s no one to claim you. Well,

  how about the dame you was with? Who was she?”

  A picture of her floated into my mind with her jet-black hair, her hungry look and the shape

  she had on her.

  “I don’t know. ‘Call me Della if you must call me something That’s what she said.’ She

  didn’t tell me her other name.”

  The copper groaned.

  “How is she?” I went on. “Is she badly hurt?”

  “She’s all right,” the doctor said. “Don’t worry about her.”

  “And her husband?” I asked.

  “What husband?” the copper said, staring at me.

  “The guy who was sitting at the back of the car. She said his name was Paul. Is he all

  right?”

  “You don’t have to worry about him, either,” the doctor said

  The copper passed his hand over his face and shook his head. He seemed to be the one who

  was worrying.

  “How did it happen? Maybe you can tell me that,” he said but there was no hope in his

  voice.

  I couldn’t be bothered to explain about Petelli. That would have taken too long. I wanted to

  close my eyes and forget about the car smash.

  “Another car was coming towards us,” I said. “He was coming fast. He didn’t seem to see

  us. She tried to get out of his way, but he caught us. What happened to him?”

  The copper drew in a deep breath.

  “I’ll say it this time,” he said, with heavy sarcasm. “You don’t have to worry about him.

  Now look, pal, let’s get all this down the mat and work at it. If you were hitch-hiking how

  come you were driving this Buick?”

  It was my turn to stare at him now.

  “It was a Bentley, and she was driving. I was sitting at her side, and her husband, Paul, was

  at the back.”

  47

  “Well, smother my old father in a feather bed!” the copper exclaimed. He took off his hat

  and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Then he put his hat on again and pulled

  aggressively at the brim. “You were driving! She was at the back! And there was no goddamn

  husband.” He leaned forward and wagged his finger at me as he bawled, “And the

  sonofabitch of car was a Buick!”

  I got excited.

  “You’ve got it wrong!” I said, clutching hold of the sheet. I tell you she was driving. The

  car was a black Bentley coupe. This other car hit us. Ask the driver. He’ll tell you.”

  The copper waved his notebook in my face.

  “There was no other car! What’s the matter with you? What have you got to lie about?”

  “That’s enough,” the doctor said, his voice sharp. “He’s nor in a fit state to be shouted at.

  You must leave him alone, sergeant.”

  “I’m not lying!” I said, and tried to sit up. That finished me. A light exploded inside my

  head, and I took a nosedive into darkness.

  It was daylight when I opened my eyes again. The screen at the foot of the bed had been

  removed, but the screens on either side were still there. I could see another bed facing me.

  From the sounds going on around me I guessed I was in a ward.

  I looked to see if the copper was there, but he wasn’t. I lay still, aware I was feeling a lot

  better, that my head didn’t ache, although it was still sore, and when I moved my arms I could

  do so without effort.

  After a while I got around to thinking about what that copper had said. It began to worry

  me. No other car, no husband, it was a Buick and not a Bentley, and I was driving. What did

  he mean ?

  Maybe I had dreamed the copper. Maybe he was part of the mists and the fog and the

  darkness. He must be unless he was confusing me with someone else.

  Then the doctor came around from behind the screen. He grinned cheerfully at me.

  “You don’t have to tell me you’re better,” he said. “I can see that for myself.”

  “I’m fine,” I said. “How long have I been here?”

  He glanced at my papers at the foot of the bed.

  “You were admitted at eleven-thirty on the night of September 6th. Today is September

  12th. So you’ve been here six days.”

  “September?”

  48

  “That’s right.”

  “You mean July, don’t you? It can’t be September. We hit that car on July 29th: the night I

  fought the Miami Kid.”

  “I don’t know about that. You were admitted on September 6th.”

  “That can’t be right. I couldn’t have remained unconscious for snore than a month before I

  was found.”

  The doctor smiled.

  “Of course you couldn’t. As a matter of fact you were found almost at once. A speed-cop

  heard the crash, although he didn’t see it happen. He arrived on the scene five minutes after

  the smash. You were brought here an hour later.”

  I licked my lips. My mouth had suddenly gone dry.

  “You wouldn’t be fooling about the date, doc?”

  He shook his head.

  “No. I wouldn’t be fooling about the date.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “Now, you

  mustn’t worry about this. It’ll work out all right. At the moment you’re showing typical signs

  of concussion. You’ve had a severe head injury. You’re lucky to be alive. For some time you

  must expect to be confused. Dates, details of who was in the car and who wasn’t, even your

  past may not make sense, but they will sort themselves out in a little while. At the moment

  you are convinced the car crash happened on July 29th. You’ll find it impossible to believe it

  happened on September 6th, but don’t let that worry you. In a week or so your memory will

  function normally again. And another thing, don’t let the police rattle you. I’ve explained the

  position to them, and they understand. They want you to help them if you can, bur they know

  now that if you make mistakes you’re not doing it intentionally. All you have to do is to take

  it easy and rest all you can. It’s just a matter of time.”

  He was a nice guy, and he was doing his best for me, and I was grateful, but that didn’t stop

  me worrying. I knew I had fought the Kid on July 29th, and the crash had happened on the

  same night. Nothing he could say would alter that fact.

  “I don’t want to argue about it, doc,” I said, “but do me a favour, will you?”

  “Certainly. What is it?”

  “Della - the girl I was with. She’s here, too, isn’t she? Ask her. She’ll tell you it was July

  29th. Ask her husband. He’ll tell you the same thing.”

  49

  The cheerfu
l, bedside manner slipped a little.

  “Now, here is a case in point,” he said. “This business about a husband. You must expect it,

  you know. Only she and you were found in the car. There was no husband.”

  My heart began to pound.

  “Well, all right, there was no husband,” I said, trying to control the shake in my voice.

  “Then ask her. She’ll tell you. You’re not going to say she wasn’t there, are you? Go and ask

  her!”

  He ran his hand over his sleek, dark hair. The smile had gone for good.

  “A couple of days ago you weren’t well enough to be told,” he said gently. “I can tell you

  now. She broke her back. She was dead when they found you.”

  II

  In the afternoon Police Lieutenant Bill Riskin came to see me. If the nurse hadn’t told me

  he was a police lieutenant I wouldn’t have believed it. He was a little guy, around fifty, with a

  sad, wrinkled face and bright little eyes that peered at me through a pair of horn spectacles.

  He carried his hat in his hand, and he walked on tiptoe, and when he spoke, his voice was soft

  and gentle. By this time I was as jumpy as a nervous horse. I was ready to go into a flat spin

  at the drop of a hat. Maybe that’s why they picked Riskin. If they had unleashed that fat

  sergeant on me again I’d have flipped my lid.

  He pulled up a chair beside me and crossed his short legs. I saw he was wearing boots and

  white socks, and his ankles were as thin as match-sticks.

  “Well, boy, how’s the head?” he asked.

  I said the head was fine. I was clutching on to the sheet, and sweating, suspicious of him,

  suspicious of everyone. At the back of my mind I was beginning to wonder if they weren’t

  going to tell me I was crazy.

  “Doc said you were upset,” he went on. “You’ve got nothing to be upset about. You’re not

  the first fella who had a crack on his head and has got confused. You want to take it easy, and

  let us boys do the worrying. All we want to do is to get this straightened out. The girl died. If

  someone hit you, they didn’t stop, and that makes it a hit-and-run job. It’s our business to find

  the fella and teach him not to do it again. We’ll find him more quickly if you can help us.

  You want us to find him, don’t you?”

  50

  That sounded reasonable enough, but he wasn’t kidding me. I’d seen that guy’s car turn

  over and smash into a tree before I had blacked out. If they had found me five minutes after