The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope

by C. W. Grafton

  I stopped in my tracks and took her by the arm, maybe a little more roughly than I should have. “Who told you?”

  “Mr. Jolley. Mr. Hillman Jolley. You know—Janet.”

  “What did he have to do with it?”

  “Didn’t I tell you? I rode to the city with him that morning. He was very much interested.”

  I remembered what the man had said in the basement of the hospital and it was the only thing that occurred to me at the moment. I said: “Oh, my great-aunt Jezebel!”

  37 “Spencerian script” was a cursive style of writing prevalent in the U.S. from about 1850 to the mid-1920s, based on the system of Platt Roger Spencer in the 1840s. The advent of the typewriter largely displaced its teaching.

  38 Gil is referring to the 1936 film starring Humphrey Bogart, in which Bogart plays the desperate gangster Duke Mantee.

  55

  After Ruth had driven off I went back into the house. Janet was just coming down the stairs still looking pretty mad about something. I went over to the bottom of the steps, leaned against the newel post and said: “Hi, Toots.”

  She said: “What makes you say things like that? I don’t know whether I like it or not.”

  “I’m lonesome and hungry and sleepy. I won’t ask you to sleep with me but you would probably enjoy eating with me and maybe drinking with me and getting a load off your mind.”

  “I’m not hungry and I’m not thirsty and I’m not lonesome. Go away.”

  “You might,” I said, “be interested in talking to me. I’m a very clever fellow and you would like me if you only knew me. We can drive one of your cars if you like and if it would make you feel any better, I’ll let you pay the bill.”

  “You make it sound very attractive but if you don’t mind I’ll refuse.”

  “Oh, but I do mind. I particularly want to talk to you but then it makes very little difference whether I raise my voice and talk here or whether we go someplace where we could maybe neck a little on the side.”

  She began to get the idea and there was indecision in every line of her body. After a while she said abruptly: “I’ll get my hat,” and went back up stairs.

  She didn’t want to get her hat any more than I wanted to get mine which was not at all. She was going upstairs to marshal her forces. When she came down, she had evidently made up her mind to be agreeable because she managed to give me quite a nice smile and hooked her arm in mine rather more chummily than I had expected. She pressed a button somewhere and when the butler appeared she gave directions that Miles should trot out the Packard roadster.

  While we were waiting on the front steps, she handed me a ten and two fives. If she thought I was going to feel badly, she was mistaken. I put them in my pocket without saying a word. Janet watched me with a queer look and then laughed. It was the first time she had ever laughed in my presence and it was quite an attractive laugh with genuine amusement in it. She said: “I never met anyone like you in my life. Are you this way all the time or only on Thursday?”

  The laugh was contagious and almost made me forget how hungry and tired I was. About that time the big black roadster came swishing around the house and Miles got out and held the door open. Janet said: “That will do. Mr. Henry will drive. Where are we going anyway?”

  “I don’t know. Preferably some place where we can get curb service, at least for the drinks. I doubt if there is any place in the world where they would bring out to a car the kind of meal I’m going to eat but if you think there is, we’ll try it.”

  She studied a moment. “Mind drinking straight?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Fine. It’ll save time. I’ll get some in the house and we won’t have to go through town. We can take this road on out to Sheely’s Tavern. Unless you want something fancy.”

  I said I didn’t. I was thinking about steak, French fries and coffee that I had left untouched in my room at the YMCA. While she was gone, Miles stood as still as a bottle of beer, his face expressionless and his eyes on nothing. He wasn’t stiff or formal, just inconspicuous. I would bet that if his ears had been on feelers, they would have been hanging right over my shoulder while Janet and I were talking. And wiggling.

  Miles put Janet in one side of the car and then came around and put me in the driver’s seat as if he were packing a suitcase. His eyebrows asked if that would be all, and mine said it would. We whirled out of the drive and turned left, away from town, the headlights cutting a slice of night out of the road. We drove maybe five miles, and Janet didn’t say a word. She was as tense as a watch spring wound up tight.

  When I saw a level piece of ground beside the road, shadowed by half a dozen immense trees, I turned the ignition switch and coasted to a stop under the branches. I turned off the lights, without even looking at her. Then I crossed my arms over the steering wheel and put my chin on them and waited.

  Pretty soon she said: “Well?”

  I said: “You’re strung as tight as a bowstring. Come off it. You won’t enjoy eating.”

  She gave a long sigh. “Is it any wonder?”

  “No, but it isn’t good for you. Get out the whiskey.”

  She took a drink, but it wasn’t big enough and I made her take another. She got the second one down, shuddered and said, “Whew!” So did I. It was good whiskey, but we didn’t have anything to chase it with. My hair stood up a little straighter.

  Janet slid down in the seat and leaned her head back. I moved over and kissed her. It was a fairly long one, and she took it without giving any part of it back to me. I moved back over behind the wheel.

  Janet said: “Do you like me?”

  I said: “Yes.”

  “What do you like about me? Fifteen million dollars?”

  “If I did, it would be imagination. You haven’t got fifteen million dollars.”

  “I know, but it’s in the family. I have a little of my own on top of that. There is no use being technical about it. Whoever marries me won’t have to eat cheese on rye.”

  I said: “You’ll have to lower your sights a little. Your father had maybe that much money. He left it all to your mother. By the time the state and federal governments take their slice she may have half of it left, but I doubt it. Then let’s say at her death she leaves it to you. The taxes take another big hunk—probably half of what’s left. You may have to hobble around on a mere four million.”39

  She didn’t say anything.

  I waited awhile and then said: “Which brings up a thought. Your father wasn’t any wooden Indian. He understood all about these things. Why do you suppose he detoured the property through your mother so the tax men can take two bites out of it instead of shortcutting it to you with a life estate or something else to take care of your mother? After all, at her age and in her condition it doesn’t stand to reason she will have it long enough or get enough good out of it to be worth the difference in taxes.”

  She still didn’t say anything.

  I waited a little while longer. “And another thing. I wonder why Miss Janet Harper suddenly places an order to buy a lot of stock of Harper Products Company after all these years.”

  That one got her between the ribs. I couldn’t see her expression but she gave a little squirm in the seat beside me. “Full of questions, aren’t you?”

  “Might as well be. I don’t get any answers.”

  “What do you know?”

  “Not quite enough.”

  “Is that what you got me out here for?”

  “Partly. I also thought it would be nice to kiss you and find out what kind of a girl you are.”

  “Well, you’ve done that and you’ve asked the questions. Shall we go on out to Sheely’s or shall we go home?”

  She leaned over and turned on the ignition switch.

  I said: “Sore?”

  “Some.”

  “Hungry?”


  “Some.”

  “Well, let’s make it Sheely’s then. I haven’t had a square meal since I can remember. Besides I’d rather have you cool off before I leave you. I rather like you even if it turns out you haven’t more than four or five million dollars. We may want to get married one of these days and if we separate in a huff, we’ll have to go after it the hard way.”

  She surprised me with that laugh again. It was not a sarcastic laugh. She put her hand on my coat sleeve in an impulsive gesture. “Really, Mr. Gilmore Henry,” she said, with a chuckle in her voice, “you’re the biggest fool I ever met, but you’re so damnably foolish that I can’t stay mad at you. I was all set to smack you down and now if you don’t mind, I’ll join you in another drink and if you care to kiss me again, we can make up and eat in peace. I am honestly beginning to doubt whether you have a grain of sense in your head and for once in my life, I’m wondering if there is a man in the world who isn’t thinking about my money.” She was turned sideways in the seat facing me. I took her face in both my hands and said: “Honeybunch, don’t you ever doubt for a minute that I’m thinking about your money. I’ve been thinking about it ever since I knew there was that much in the world. If all you had was a nickel and a car check, I wouldn’t waste my time with you. When we’re married, I think I would like to have a small checking account of my very own. Nothing big. Maybe fifty or sixty G’s for weekends and such.”

  I kissed her again. This time it wasn’t as one-sided as before. It wasn’t bad at all. Then we each took another pull out of the bottle and I drove on out to Sheely’s.

  39 It was not until 1948 that a “marital deduction” (the exemption from tax of property passing from a decedent to a spouse) was introduced into the federal estate tax rules, but the deduction was limited until 1981, when the current unlimited marital deduction rule was introduced.

  56

  The tavern was a half mile off of the State Highway down a country lane. It had once been a farmhouse. Two or three partitions had been knocked out on the ground floor so that there was one big room with a lot of tables and a few small private dining rooms. There were booths all around the wall of the big room and not a great deal of light, and a small dance floor. There was no orchestra but there was a tremendous, ornate juke box. The crowd wasn’t at all bad for a place ten miles out of a small town. We found a booth and ordered the two biggest steaks in the house and all of the side dishes that I had been thinking about for three days. I felt the whiskey and it felt good. Janet put her elbows on the table and put her chin in her hands and looked pretty satisfied with the world.

  I took a dog-eared envelope and a pencil out of my pocket. “Now, Miss Moneybags,” I said, adjusting the point of the pencil, “I think I would like to take a short inventory of some of the tangible property that I’ll share with you after the wedding. We can start with the Packard roadster. You can keep that in your own name. The LaSalle coupe would, I think, do nicely for my personal use and we might transfer that to me so that I will not be embarrassed. The other cars are a trifle big and heavy and I shan’t bother with them often. I’ll let you keep the house, but if you have a couple of trifling camps or summer homes or lodges scattered about, I might find one of them useful on occasions. I’m afraid I can’t supply any more of the picture. I do hope that too much of your fortune isn’t tied up in real estate. Not liquid enough.”

  “Well,” she said, thoughtfully, “let’s see. I have a flock of dresses but you wouldn’t want them. The jewelry is entirely feminine but could be hocked. Until we get down to our last million I’ll keep it if you don’t mind. Nothing personal, you understand. Just sentiment. But, of course, there’s the red monoplane. You might want to fly that sometimes.”

  Something in my chest froze up tight. I said: “Monoplane?” I was excited and hoped that the excitement didn’t show. I’m afraid it did because I noticed that Janet changed expression in some indefinable way. I thought maybe I had better get off the subject for awhile. I put the bottle on the table and grinned and said: “Want another one? I don’t think it would hurt you.”

  I guess it was too obvious. Janet was looking at me. “What about the monoplane?” she asked.

  “Nothing. Flying’s no good for me. I’m afraid of high places. The mere mention of airplanes upsets me.”

  “Like hell it does.”

  “Well, then it doesn’t. I’m a bull. Red monoplanes make me mad.”

  “Stop talking in circles.”

  I played with a fork on the table without looking at her. I also took another drink of whiskey. As it went down, I realized that I was getting tight but it was too late to stop.

  Janet said: “When you’re through stalling anytime will do.”

  “Very well,” I said slowly, wishing my mind were a little clearer, and being careful not to muff any of the words, “you want to know, so I’ll tell you. I have an awful feeling that a red monoplane may be the answer to all of my questions. Do you fly it yourself?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “And who else?”

  “Years ago my father used to fly it sometimes.”

  “Go on.”

  “Miles can fly it.”

  “Jolley?”

  “Yes. He has a private license.”

  A whole lot of things that had seemed impossible before didn’t seem so impossible now. The waiter came with shrimp cocktails and I asked for a bottle of horse-radish. I counted the shrimp very slowly without knowing how many I had counted and didn’t look at Janet. I said:

  “We can quit the kidding now. There was something about you and Jolley being engaged, and then there was a fight. How does it stand?”

  “Do you mind if I keep my business to myself?”

  “No, keep it to yourself if you like. It’ll have to be the same either way.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Where was the plane the day your father was killed?”

  “It was in Louisville for repairs.”

  “It’s not there any more?”

  “No, it’s at the landing field in the city. I run up and use it from there when I feel like it, which isn’t very often. There’s a field between here and town that we could use if we wanted to but it’s not so good and there’s no hangar.”

  “Know who flew it down from Louisville?”

  “No. Someone from the flying service I suppose. I told them I would pay to have it flown down if I didn’t send for it.”

  I felt sure that this was the end of the road. It fitted perfectly. I was so excited that my insides were shivering but instead of feeling elated or triumphant, I felt depressed, liquor and all. I looked up and found that Janet was studying me with an intensity that was almost fierce. I wondered whether she had taken the drinks that I thought she had taken or whether she had fooled me. When I caught her eye she looked away. Then she said: “Excuse me,” slid out of the booth, and walked out of the room.

  I called the waiter and pointed to the door she had gone out by. “Is that the way to the ladies’ rest room?”

  “Why else would she go there?”

  That was a stumper. I sent him after the horse-radish again. I wondered where the telephone might be but I didn’t want to go looking for it just at that moment because first of all I wanted to have a long interview with that steak to keep from falling flat on my face one of these days and in the next place I didn’t want Janet to come back and not find me.

  Janet was gone a good deal longer than I expected. The steak came and it looked so good I could hardly keep my hands off of it. I watched the thing getting cold and it made me feel positively ill. Janet came back and the minute she was seated I said:

  “Judas! There’s nothing wrong with me but malnutrition. I feel like a famine in China.”

  Janet’s mood had completely changed. There was no sign of laughter any more. The atmosphere was cold and almost
hostile. She was not inclined to open a conversation, which was entirely satisfactory to me since the steak and I were on the same wave length and tuned down to a fine point. I finished before she did. I said:

  “It’s my turn to be excused. Do you mind?”

  She shook her head. I went out through the same door she used and looked around me. The first thing I saw was a telephone booth and behind that the ladies’ rest room and then the men’s rest room. I suddenly thought about how long Janet had been away from the table and I looked at the telephone booth pretty hard and then I didn’t want to use the telephone as I had intended. I wanted to get out of that place and I wanted to get fast.

  I went into the men’s washroom and put cold water on my face and then went back to the booth. Janet was smoking a cigarette, I picked up the check and said, “Ready?” She nodded, slid out of the booth and waited while I got hold of the waiter and paid off.

  We went out to the car and I helped her in and closed the door. I walked around to the other door and when I had my hand on the handle I heard a sound and turned around. I was not quick enough. The last thing I remember is that I went down on my knees and the lights from the tavern were spinning around in a most confusing way.

  57

  The first thing I was conscious of was my head and I would have been willing to trade it in for two little heads with cash to boot. It felt about as big as a ripe watermelon. I kept my eyes closed in the hope that pretty soon I would just go to sleep again and forget the whole thing, but every time my heart beat the pulsations went through my skull like hammer blows.

  I was lying on something very hard and I must have been in the same position for a long time because my hips were aching and every muscle was practically in cramps. I was lying on my right side and my right arm might just as well have been amputated at the shoulder since I didn’t know where it was. I tried to move my left arm and found that it was behind me and the hand was tied to something. It took me quite a while to figure out that it was tied to the other hand. I would never have known whose hand it was tied to except that when I pulled gently I could feel something move under me and there wasn’t anything under me except my right arm.