1944 - Just the Way It Is

by James Hadley Chase

  think there’s anything behind ‘em. If you don’t find anything, start on the room next door. Casy don’t care what happens to the joint. He’s moving into something smaller.’

  He handed the crowbar to Lorelli and moved to the door. ‘If that guy doesn’t work, bop him with the iron or call me,’ and he went downstairs.

  Clare turned back to the window when he came into the room. He stood looking at her. She seemed so tense and pathetically alone that he wanted to take her in his arms. He went over to her.

  ‘You shouldn’t’ve come,’ he said. ‘I know how you are feeling. Why don’t you get out while there’s time? My car’s outside, you could just do it if you went now.’

  ‘I’m all right,’ she said, coldly. ‘Please don’t bother with me.’

  ‘But I want to do something for you. . .’ he began, but she turned sharply away from him.

  ‘You’ve done quite enough already,’ she said, fiercely.

  Duke suddenly felt a hot surge of anger. He put his hand on her arm and jerked her round. ‘You’ve got to listen to me,’ he said, angrily. ‘You’ve always thought that Pete was just an ordinary kid who ran around not knowing his right hand from his left. Well, it’s time you knew better. Pete wasn’t all that good. He knew more about taking care of himself than I ever did. He and I worked together. He was smart. Do you know why? He kept out of trouble. I wasn’t so smart and I caught the rap, but he and I were in the same game and he was the guy who should have taken the rap. . .’

  Clare smacked his face. ‘What a swine you are,’ she said, her face white and her eyes blazing. ‘I might have expected that from you and you’ve always called Peter your friend.’

  Duke stood very still, looking at her. He touched his face and then suddenly shrugged. ‘What the hell does it matter?’ he said. ‘Think what you like. I was mug enough to fall for you. You may as well know. It won’t hurt you and it gives me a kick just to tell you. You’re the one woman that has ever meant anything to me. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. We’ve fought ever since we met, but I’m still crazy about you and I’ll always be crazy about you. Pete’s dead. Otherwise I wouldn’t have told you, but if I know you, you’ll hang on to his memory until it’s too late to do anything about anything. Then you’ll be sorry. I’m telling you, you are hanging on to a pipedream. Pete was no better than me and I liked him. But if you’d known him as well as I did you would have hated him as much as you hate me, because you’ve always played for safety and you think you like guys who are safe. Believe me, a girl with your brains couldn’t have a worse set-up. You’d better get that car and beat it. Having you around here just gives me a pain,’ and he walked out leaving her staring after him with angry, but bewildered eyes.

  Casy joined him as he walked on to the porch. Casy looked at him sharply. ‘Anything wrong, mister?’ he said. ‘You sure look as mad as a hornet.’

  ‘Never mind how I look,’ Duke snapped. ‘We’ll go round and have a look at the boys.’

  He paused for a moment to watch a bunch of fellows filling potato sacks with mud and piling them against the windows of Casy’s house and then he walked on to the back of the house where another gang of men were digging a slip trench a few hundred yards from the house.

  ‘I’ll move my car,’ he said, getting in and starting the engine. ‘It spoils the uninterrupted view we have here.’

  He drove the car across the field and parked it behind another bungalow, then he came back.

  Casy watched him with interest. ‘You sure are expecting trouble,’ he said, stroking his beard. ‘This reminds me of the last war.’

  Duke grinned. ‘You wait until it starts,’ he said, ‘you’ll think it’s the present European war.’ He satisfied himself that the men digging the trench knew what was wanted and then he moved on back to the front of the house.

  There he could see a party of men digging carefully spaced slit trenches way out in the field.

  ‘They’ll make swell machine gun nests,’ he said. ‘Put two guys in each of those trenches with the Thompsons. How many men have you got?’

  Casy screwed up his face and did some arithmetic. ‘Thirty all told,’ he said. ‘And each of them has got a gun of sorts. We’ve got some shotguns as well as the stuff you sent up.’

  Duke nodded. ‘That’s fine,’ he said. ‘I’ll walk over and see how Kells is doing.’ As he turned away, he added, ‘You keep those guys hard at it Make the house a tough nut to crack. You haven’t any barbed wire?’

  Casy said he thought he might have, but he wasn’t sure.

  ‘Have a look and get some round the house,’ Duke said. ‘There’s nothing like a little barbed wire to slow up enthusiasm.’

  He set off across the field and as he drew near to where Kells was stationed, he saw a cloud of dust coming up the road. He broke into a run and reached Kells just as a car drew level.

  Kells bawled at it to stop and it drew up with a jerk.

  Korris, sitting at the back, leaned out of the window. He scowled at Kells and then seeing Duke, his mouth tightened. ‘What’s all this?’ he asked.

  There were three men in the front of the car and two men with Korris at the back. Duke recognized most of them and he knew they were a tough bunch of killers.

  He walked up to the car and put his foot on the step. ‘Don’t start any trouble, boys,’ he said, quietly, ‘I’ve got a couple of guys behind those bushes with Thompsons, and they’re fainting to let ‘em off.’

  ‘What’s the idea?’ Korris said, looking first at Duke and then at the bushes.

  ‘I’ve taken over Pinder’s End,’ Duke said, easily. ‘Sorry if I’ve spoilt your play, but the dump interests me. We don’t want any visitors up here until the end of the week. So just turn the car and go home.’

  Korris adjusted his glasses. ‘You can’t take it over,’ he said. ‘It ain’t yours to take. You’d better beat it before you run into trouble.’

  Duke grinned. He pulled his coat on one side and showed a silver badge. ‘I’m deputy sheriff up here and I’ve requisitioned Pinder’s End. Laugh that off.’

  Korris raised his shoulders. ‘Don’t be a dope,’ he said. ‘Someone’s going to get hurt if you play around like this. There’re women and kids up there. You don’t want anything to happen to them, do you?’

  Duke shook his head. ‘They’ve gone,’ he returned, feeling in his pocket for his cigar case. He selected a cigar without taking his eyes off Korris. ‘If you want a fight you can have one. Take a look at the place. We’re preparing for a war. The only thing

  we ain’t got at the moment is someone to fight. We’ve got everything else except aircraft and artillery. We make up for that by having a lot of ambition.’

  Korris sat staring at him. His eyes gleamed with fury behind his spectacles and Duke thought he was going to start something there and then, but Korris controlled himself. ‘If we start on you,’ he said, ‘we don’t let up. You’d better quit this fooling before anything happens. It’ll be too late to be sorry then.’

  Duke blew a cloud of smoke in his face. ‘Be your age,’ he said. ‘Why, Kells and me could take your bunch without getting out of bed. Scram! And keep scramming. When you get back, you might tell your boss that we know all about Noakes’s little nest egg. If anyone’s going to have it . . . we are!’

  Korris said to the driver, ‘Okay, turn her round and let’s go.’ He leaned out of the car. ‘We’ll be seeing you,’ he said. ‘Leave a will some place handy. I’ll get it fixed for you.’

  Duke watched the car bump down the dirt road and then grinned at Kells. ‘Well, there you are,’ he said. ‘Now Mr. Korris’ll beat up as many toughs as he can and call on us about dusk. Then we’ll have some shooting practice.’

  Kells sneered. ‘I’ve a hell of a thirst,’ he said. ‘You don’t want me to hang around here anymore?’

  ‘Come back with me,’ Duke said. He turned to the other two. ‘You guys stay here. If you see anything fire a burst in the air. Then if that do
n’t stop ‘em, let ‘em have it. I’ll get you relieved in another hour.’

  He set off once more across the fields. ‘I’ve got Lorelli and the boy looking for the money,’ he said to Kells. ‘It may take a few days. You know, I don’t think it’s going to be very hard to stop Korris. Not if we plan things right.’

  Kells grunted. He eyed the fellows digging in the field. ‘What’s the idea?’

  ‘Machine gun nests,’ Duke grinned. ‘That ought to stop ‘em.’

  They walked back to the house and Duke called Casy. ‘Get a man up on the roof, Casy,’ he said. He ought to see right down to Fairview. Tell him to holla if he sees cars coming out. And get water into the house. That’s a thing we can’t do without.’

  Casy went off and Duke and Kells entered the house.

  They found Clare busily loading clips into a stack of rifles and sorting out rounds of ammunition to go with each rifle. She didn’t look up as Duke came in and he didn’t say anything.

  Kells said, ‘You know, I’m beginning to get a kick out of this. If we don’t have a battle, I’ll be disappointed.’

  ‘You won’t be disappointed,’ Duke returned. ‘Can you see a guy like Spade passing up five hundred grand?’

  ‘I can’t see Korris passing it up,’ Kells returned. ‘And if Spade’s anything like him, I guess you must be right.’

  ‘We’ll go upstairs and see how they’re getting on,’ Duke said.

  They found Lorelli, streaks of dirt across her face, her eyes smouldering with annoyance, standing in the middle of the room, surveying it defiantly.

  Joe sat on the window still and smoked. He glared at Duke as he came in.

  ‘Well, have you found anything?’ Duke asked, looking at the loosened boards and the walls that had been hacked and holed in a number of places.

  ‘There’s nothing here,’ Lorelli said in disgust. ‘If we had the plan that Paul grabbed, we might get somewhere.’

  ‘Well, we ain’t got it,’ Duke reminded her. ‘So we’ll just have to go on looking. Okay, you two, you knock off. Kells and I’ll have a look. Suppose you get the food end of this business organized. There are about thirty-six of us and we’ll all want feeding. Check the stores and if you want anything take Joe and a gun and get everything before dark. Take my car.’

  ‘And leave you alone here?’ Lorelli shook her head. ‘What do you take me for? If you find the money, you’ll scram out of here and leave us flat. I’m not as soft as all that.’

  Duke smiled at her. ‘You’ve got such a trusting little nature, haven’t you?’ he said. ‘Take Joe and get out. I’m running this outfit and you take orders from me and you’ll like ‘em.’

  Lorelli looked at Joe. ‘Did you hear that?’ she asked.

  Duke stepped past her, grabbed Joe by the scruff of his neck and ran him out of the room. He paused at the top of the stairs. ‘On your way, handsome,’ he said, and tossed Joe down the stairs.

  As Joe banged and crashed his way from stair to stair, Clare ran out in alarm. She gave Duke one horrified look and ran to Joe.

  ‘Are you hurt?’ she asked. She drew back startled, as she met his murderous look.

  He got slowly and painfully to his feet and faced Duke, who was leaning over the banisters, a grin on his face. ‘Come up and I’ll do it again,’ Duke said.

  Joe didn’t move. He took no notice of Clare, who seeing he wasn’t hurt swept round on Duke. ‘What kind of a bully do you think you are?’ she demanded, hotly.

  He turned back into the room, without even looking at her. Lorelli backed hastily away.

  ‘You going quietly?’ he said, easing his muscles. ‘Or do you want me to sling you out the same way?’

  ‘I’m going,’ she said, and whipped across the room to the door. ‘If you gyp me out of my share, I’ll cut your lights out!’ and she was gone.

  Kells grinned. ‘Quite the dictator, ain’t you?’ he said. ‘Now what do we do?’

  Duke took off his coat. ‘We look for the dough,’ he said. ‘Come on,’ and he began shifting the lumber into the middle of the room.

  ‘They’ve looked here,’ Kells complained. Why not try the other room?’

  ‘I fancy this spot,’ Duke returned. ‘But you go next door and see what you can find.’

  ‘Okay,’ Kells said. ‘What do I use? My bare hands?’

  Duke was systematically hacking the plaster down from the walls with the crowbar. ‘Don’t be a sissy,’ he said. ‘Use your teeth.’

  TWENTY-SIX

  By nightfall, Pinder’s End had been converted into a fort. Duke, tired and dirty and what was worse, unsuccessful, went round the outposts just before sunset. He made sure that everyone was on their toes and knew what they had to do. Then he returned to Casy’s house and washed in the sink.

  Clare and Lorelli were dishing up supper. Lorelli had recovered her good humour and was singing under her breath. She had laid in a big stock of food and with Clare’s help she had coped with the large quantities needed to feed so many.

  ‘So you didn’t find anything,’ she said, pushing Duke out of the way so that she could get at the sink.

  ‘Nope,’ Duke returned, wiping his face off with a towel. ‘Did it ever strike you that there might not be anything here? We’ve only got Bellman’s word for it.’

  Lorelli dumped the big iron saucepan into the sink and began dishing up. ‘It’s going to give me an outsize pain if there isn’t,’ she returned. ‘I’m relying on my share. What’s going to happen to me if I don’t get it?’

  ‘Well, you can go to work,’ Duke said, grinning. ‘You might do quite well if you picked the right kind of job.’

  She scowled at him and carried a large dish of meat to the table. ‘I don’t like your jokes,’ she said, shortly.

  Throughout the evening, Clare had ignored Duke. She had been a help. She had loaded all the guns and handed them out. She had helped prepare the supper, but she had hardly spoken a word to anyone,

  Kells, Duke, Joe and Lorelli sat down at the table but Clare moved out on to the porch. She stood looking across the darkening field and finally sat down on the dusty stoop, her hands supporting her face.

  Lorelli said, What’s the matter with her? You’d think she was a deaf-mute.’

  ‘Leave her alone,’ Duke said shortly.

  They ate in silence for a time then he said, ‘You ought to know where Schultz’s likely to hide. Can you give me a line?’

  Lorelli paused with her fork suspended. ‘Why, I think. . .’

  ‘Shut your trap,’ Joe snarled. He looked over at Duke. ‘I’m getting Schultz,’ he said. ‘You lay off. I’ve been wanting to fix that rat for a long time.’

  Duke saw it wouldn’t get him anywhere to press the question. He shrugged. ‘Schultz’s above your weight, sonny,’ he said. ‘You’d better leave him to me.’

  ‘Him?’ Joe laughed and went on eating.

  ‘Never mind about Schultz,’ Kells said. ‘What about this dough? We’ve been through the house and nearly wrecked it. There ain’t a sign of it.’

  ‘Maybe it’s buried in the garden,’ Lorelli said, stretching for the salt. ‘You any good at digging?’

  Duke grinned at Kells’ look of alarm ‘It’ll be good for your figure,’ he said to Lorelli.

  ‘Don’t you worry about my figure,’ Lorelli said, quickly. ‘I know what’s good for it without digging.’

  Joe scowled round at them. ‘Talk,’ he said, bitterly. ‘Talk, that’s all you guys do. Why don’t you use your heads? We might be years before we find the dough.’

  Duke shifted from the table. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘You start. Don’t forget we’ve got Korris on our hands. What do you think?’

  Joe looked at him, his eyes glowing. ‘I’ll get after Schultz,’ he said, ‘I know where I can find him I’ll get the plan from him and then we’ll get some place. I’ve been thinking and I guess I know where I can pick him up. If I get the plan you’ll have to give me a couple of grand before you make the split.’
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  Duke glanced over at Kells. ‘Like the idea?’

  Kells hesitated. ‘I’d better do the job,’ he said. ‘This jerk’s got a damaged hand. Schultz’ll want fixing.’

  ‘That’s what I think.’

  Joe sat motionless, his white, stony face expressionless. ‘I do it, or no one does it,’ he said. ‘I know where I can pick the punk up. You don’t.’

  Duke made up his mind quickly. He didn’t think Joe would be much use if it came to a fight with Korris, but, he could see the boy had such a hatred for Schultz that he might bring it off. He nodded. ‘Okay, get going. Take my car and be careful.’

  Joe kicked back his chair. ‘I’ll be careful,’ he said, and smiled wolfishly.

  Looking at him, with the plaster across his nose and his hard, stony eyes and thin mouth, Duke didn’t envy Schultz.

  Lorelli suddenly stood up and joined Joe. ‘I want to go with him,’ she said. ‘He can’t drive the car and I could help him.’

  Duke glanced at Joe. ‘Do you want her?’ he asked.

  ‘Why not?’ Joe tried to sound casual, but Duke caught the eagerness in his voice.

  ‘I thought you didn’t trust me,’ he said to Lorelli. ‘Suppose we turn up the dough when you’ve gone. How do you know I won’t gyp you?’

  ‘Talk sense,’ Lorelli said, watching him with intent, frightened eyes. ‘We’ve looked all day. We’ll never find it without the plan.’

  Duke eased himself away from the table. ‘I’m beginning to think we’ll never find it with the plan,’ he said.

  Joe said, ‘You smart punk,’ and an automatic sprang into his hand.

  Duke tried, but he was a shade late. His fingers were pulling his gun as Joe fired.

  There was a sharp, vicious crack and flame, then he found himself on the floor with the chair on top of him. Pain stabbed his shoulder and he lay there, waiting for Joe to shoot again.

  He heard Clare scream and he heard Joe shout in an unnaturally high-pitched voice, ‘Freeze!’

  Kells sat at the table, his eyes bolting out of his head. The whole thing had happened so quickly and so unexpectedly that he was completely dazed.