Cade

by James Hadley Chase

  ‘I think it would be better if I came with you. I promise not to be in the way. We’ll have the nights together. Don’t you think it would be better if I came with you?’

  Cade hesitated.

  ‘The trouble is they are only paying my expenses,’ he said finally.

  Her dark eyes became alert.

  ‘I thought you told me we had lots of money.’

  ‘We have, but we don’t have to throw it away. Right now I am a little short, but in a couple of months, my royalty statements will be in, and then we will be fine again.’

  ‘You are spending too much money on me. That’s it isn’t it?’

  ‘Now, look, you do the cooking and leave me to look after our money,’ Cade said firmly. ‘I know what I’m doing. Just be patient and stay right here while I’m away. In two months, we’ll have another vacation.’

  The telephone bell rang and relieved, he kissed her and went to answer it.

  It was Sam Wand again.

  ‘I’ve checked your holdings,’ he said. ‘You’ll take a thirty per cent loss if you sell now.’

  ‘Like hell! Let’s ask the bank for a loan.’

  ‘Don’t you ever read the papers? There are restrictions on loans right now. You won’t get a loan.’

  Cade felt a wave of irritation run through him. He hated having to think about money.

  ‘Okay, okay, what’s a thirty per cent loss among friends? Sell the damn things. I need the money, Sam.’

  ‘You don’t need all that amount. Pay off the overdraft and make do with two thousand until the statements come in.’

  ‘Sell the damn things! I’m not in the mood to make do,’ Cade said and hung up.

  Now conscious of his present lack of money, Cade became worried by the constant drain on his wallet. Small items that he had never considered became red flashing lights: gasoline for the Thunderbird, the refrigerator had to break down, a bill for a dozen bottles of White Horse he had ordered as a house warming present, a nerve-shattering bill for a pint of perfume called Joy he had been reckless enough to have bought without inquiring the price, a bill from Olmedo for the use of his dark room, a bill for four pairs of shoes he had bought for Juana. For the first time in his life he began jotting down figures, subtracting but never adding, a cold clutch of uneasiness gripping him when he saw how quickly the six thousand dollars he had left after paying off his overdraft was melting away.

  Juana drove him to the airport for his plane to Merida. She seemed to have caught his depression for they drove most of the way in silence. As they were nearing the airport, Cade made the effort and said, ‘Well, what do you plan to do with yourself while I’m away, sweetheart?’

  She shrugged.

  ‘I’ll find something. I wish I were coming with you. I shall miss you.’

  She pulled up at the Departure entrance.

  ‘I’ll call you every evening,’ Cade said. He hated the parting. ‘Look after yourself.’ They kissed. ‘Don’t wait. You get off. I’ll call tonight around eight.’

  On Cade’s second evening at the hotel at Uxmal, he had a telephone call from Creel.

  Cade was now wishing he hadn’t been so money conscious as he was missing Juana badly. He found the evenings, after the light had faded and he could no longer work, dull and lonely. The previous evening he had spent over an hour talking to her on the telephone, and he was about to make another call to her this evening when Creel came through.

  Impatient to talk to Juana, Cade curtly asked him what he wanted.

  ‘I thought I should tell you, senor, that the magazine with your bull fighting pictures reached Mexico City this morning,’ Creel said.

  ‘So what?’ Cade looked impatiently at his watch. Juana would be waiting. It was already a few minutes after 20.00 hours.

  ‘They have been badly received, senor. I told you Diaz was a popular hero. His fans think you have shown him in a very bad light. The pictures have been received very badly.’

  ‘What am I supposed to do, Adolfo? Put ashes on my head?’

  ‘I thought I should tell you. This afternoon someone slashed the four tyres of my car. Someone who knows I helped you take these pictures.’

  Cade stiffened and frowned.

  ‘I’m sorry about that, Adolfo. Do you know who it was?’

  ‘No, but I can guess. I told you Regino Franoco regards Diaz as a god. I think he did it.’

  ‘Well, I am sorry.’ Cade hesitated, then went on, ‘Buy yourself a new set and send the cheque to me. After all this hasn’t anything to do with you.’

  ‘I wouldn’t expect that. I am just warning you, senor. If he does this thing to me, he might do worse to you. I think he could. You must be on your guard.’

  ‘To hell with that fairy!’ Cade said impatiently. ‘If he tries anything with me, I’ll twist his dirty neck for him! You get those tyres and send me the cheque. I insist.’

  ‘Well, thank you very much, senor, but you must be careful. It is a good thing you are not here. By the time you return, all the fuss will have died down.’

  Cade suddenly thought of Juana.

  ‘You don’t think anything could happen to my wife, Adolfo?’ There was a sudden tight feeling across his chest and he found himself gripping the telephone receiver unnecessarily hard.

  Creel laughed.

  ‘No, senor. This, I can assure you. Senora Cade is perfectly safe because she knows very well how to look after herself. Besides, she is a Mexican and very beautiful.’

  Cade relaxed.

  ‘You are sure?’

  ‘I wouldn’t tell you if I were not positive, but you—that is different. Be careful, senor.’

  ‘I too can look after myself, Adolfo, but thanks … I’ll be careful,’ and he hung up.

  He lit a cigarette, then he called Juana. There was some delay before she answered.

  After greeting her, Cade told her what Creel had said.

  ‘It doesn’t worry me, honey, but you being on your own worries me a little.’

  ‘There is nothing to worry about,’ Juana said. ‘But I will speak to Renado. He will know how to deal with this. He will bring that filthy little queer to heel. Think no more about it. How are things with you?’

  Cade suddenly became tense. He was almost sure he had heard a man’s voice say something: as if the man was in the room with Juana and had called to her. He felt a rush of blood to his head.

  ‘Cariño? Are you there?’

  Cade listened intently. He could hear nothing now except perhaps Juana’s light breathing.

  ‘Cariño?’

  ‘Sorry. Yes, I am doing all right. It’s a dull job, but it’s coming along. Have you anyone with you, Juana?’

  ‘With me? Why, no. What makes you ask such a thing?’

  ‘I thought I heard a man speak to you just now.’

  Juana laughed.

  ‘It was the radio. I have just turned it off. I was listening to a play. It wasn’t very interesting.’

  Cade drew in a long, deep breath.

  ‘Oh … I thought I heard a voice. What have you been doing with yourself?’

  He listened to her harmless recital. Finally, she said, ‘We must not waste any more of your money. Good night, cariño. I will dream of you.’

  Reluctant to lose her company, Cade talked some more, then finally hung up.

  As he went downstairs to the restaurant, he realised he was quite lost without her. Several tourists nodded to him, but he was in no mood for their company. He asked the waiter to get him an evening paper, then having chosen his meal, he hid himself behind the paper, reading and eating at the same time. Towards the end of the meal, he came to the radio and TV programmes. Interested to know what play Juana had been listening to, he tried to find it. Only light music and a concert were advertised. There were no plays on the Mexican network that night.

  He sat still, staring across the big room, his mind suddenly crawling with alarm and jealousy. He was now sure he had heard a man’s voice. Could she be chea
ting so soon? He tried to still the rising torment, trying to reassure himself that he could have imagined hearing the voice, but why had she lied about the programme?

  Returning to his room, he decided to call Juana. The time was 22.00 hours. He had to wait ten minutes and then the operator told him there was no answer. Angry now, Cade told her to try again. He paced up and down until the operator called him and said there was still no answer.

  He asked the girl to keep trying. He felt a sudden urgent need for a drink. He rang the floor waiter and told him to bring a bottle of Tequila, ice and limes and to hurry.

  He crossed to the open window and sat down, feeling the hot night air against his sweating face. There had been a man there, he kept telling himself, and now they had gone out together. Maybe they were still in the house, upstairs on the bed, listening with guilt to the ringing of the telephone bell.

  A little after midnight, with the bottle of Tequila now half empty, Cade, drunk and coldly angry, asked the operator what was happening. She said she was ringing the number every ten minutes, but there was still no reply.

  At 00.45 hours, the bell rang. Cade lurched across the room and snatched up the receiver. The Tequila had partly anaesthetised his mind. He was no longer frantic, but murderously angry.

  ‘Hello?’ he heard Juana say. ‘Yes? Who is it?’

  ‘Where the hell have you been?’ Cade shouted.

  ‘Cariño! How lovely! I was only just this minute thinking of you.’

  ‘Where have you been?’

  ‘Been? Oh; have you been trying to get me?’

  ‘Yes, I’ve been trying to get you. Where have you been?’

  ‘Ana looked in. We went to the movies.’

  Ana was the girl who had acted as witness for Juana at the wedding: a fat, giggling girl who Cade had disliked.

  ‘Don’t lie! You went out with some man … who is he?’

  He heard her catch her breath.

  ‘Have you been drinking, Val?’

  ‘Never mind if I’ve been drinking. Who was the man?’

  ‘There was no man. I went out with Ana. If you don’t believe me, then call her. I will give you her telephone number.’

  ‘I’m coming back. We’ll have this out tomorrow,’ Cade said and slammed down the receiver.

  With a shaking hand, he splashed two inches of Tequila into his glass and swallowed it at a gulp. For a moment, he stood shuddering, then the glass slipped out of his hand and he flopped face down on the bed.

  The following morning, he woke with a splitting headache. He stumbled into the bathroom and washed down four aspirin tablets, then he forced himself under a cold shower. Later, when the ache in his head had subsided and he had drunk three cups of strong coffee, he considered what best to do.

  Juana had lied to him. That was an indisputable fact. He had to make her admit her lie and explain why she had lied. To hell with the Museum job! What was three hundred lousy dollars compared to his peace of mind? He would go back and have it out with her.

  He packed, paid his check and drove to the airport.

  During the flight he wondered a little uneasily what Sam Wand would say about all this. He remembered suddenly that he would now have to pay for the two days stay at the Uxmal hotel and his air fare. That was so much money wasted, he thought bitterly, just when he needed his money.

  He found Juana, white faced, with dark smudges under her eyes, waiting for him. She was sitting in the garden. She didn’t get up as he strode across the patio.

  ‘Let’s get at it,’ he said curtly, standing over her. ‘I heard a man speak to you last night. I heard him distinctly over the telephone. You said you were listening to a play on the radio. I checked the programmes. There was no play last night so that makes you a liar!’

  She regarded him, her eyes expressionless.

  ‘Then if you think I am a liar, why have you come back?’ she asked in a cold, flat voice.

  Cade felt a clutch of fear at his heart.

  ‘Come back? What do you mean? I’m your husband! I want an explanation!’

  Her direct stare made him lose confidence and his anger became uncertain.

  ‘There is no explanation. Why should there be? I was listening to a play so what have I to explain?’

  ‘There was no play! Now look, Juana, it is no use …’

  She got to her feet and faced him. Her eyes now were dark and angry.

  ‘The play was You Can’t Take It With You. It was broadcast on the short wave from New Orleans. Ask Creel to check for you. I think you have been very stupid, very suspicious and very unkind. I don’t love a man like that!’

  She walked quickly into the house and he heard a door slam.

  Sick with fear that he had gone too far and had lost her, Cade ran after her, frantically calling her name.

  FOUR

  It took Cade until late evening to win Juana back to him. He spent more than an hour outside the locked bedroom door, trying to persuade her to let him in. When she finally did unlock the door, she refused at first to listen to his abject apologies.

  ‘I am a liar. You don’t trust me. Therefore you can’t love me,’ she said, her back turned to him.

  ‘Please try to understand,’ he pleaded. ‘You are the first woman I have ever loved. I can’t help it if I am jealous of you. You said yourself it is a proof of love. Now, didn’t you?’

  ‘That doesn’t mean you can call me a liar.’

  And so it went on, until finally, he began to wear down her resistance.

  ‘You hurt me very much,’ she said, close to tears. ‘I didn’t sleep all night. You were drunk. You shouted at me. You were horrid.’

  ‘Yes, I was all that, and I am sorry. I promise it won’t happen again.’ Tentatively he put his arm around her, and after hesitating, she relaxed against him.

  ‘You made me so unhappy,’ she said, clinging to him. ‘I have never been so unhappy.’

  In a few more minutes, she began to smile and Cade, relieved and delighted, insisted that they should go out to dinner to celebrate. They went to the Negrui Restaurant where Cade ordered champagne, unmindful of the cost since he had a Diner’s Club card and he hadn’t to pay for the meal for some time to come.

  On their return, they went to bed and made love. But Cade was quick to find she wasn’t so ardent, and he guessed she was still resenting his treatment of her.

  He decided before he fell asleep that he would get her a present the following day. An Omega self-winding watch was certain to put things right, he told himself. Never mind the cost. He still had some stock left, and in another twelve weeks, the royalty money would be in.

  So when Juana, still a little cool, went off to the market, Cade called up Adolof Creel and instructed him to find him a watch, explaining just what he wanted. Creel said he would have a selection ready for him by the afternoon. Then, slightly uneasy, Cade called Sam Wand. He said that he had changed his mind about going to Yucatan and was returning the photographs supplied by the Museum.

  ‘It’s not worth the journey, Sam. What else have you got?’

  ‘I hope you know what you are doing,’ Wand said, obviously annoyed. ‘They’ll be pretty sore. I told them it was all fixed.’

  ‘Then tell them it is unfixed,’ Cade said impatiently. ‘Have you dug up anything else?’

  ‘There’s nothing your way for the moment, but I was talking to Harry Jackson and he is raving about those bull fight shots of yours. He’s trying to set up a deal with Life to do an article on the Dixie Bands in New Orleans. If he pulls it off, he’ll want you to take care of the photographs. This could be a nice slice of money, Val. I’ll know tomorrow for certain and I’ll call you.’

  ‘Fine. Oh, another thing. Sell some more stock for me, will you? I’ll need around five thousand.’

  ‘For God’s sake! Didn’t I …’

  ‘Sam! This is my money, remember? Keep your remarks to yourself!’

  ‘I know it’s your money, but do you imagine you’ll have all t
hat amount? Right now, you are worth only twenty-one thousand dollars: that’s all! If I sell stock at the present market price, you won’t be worth fifteen thousand.’

  ‘I have those royalties coming to me, so what?’

  ‘Now look, Val …’

  ‘I want five thousand dollars, so get it,’ Cade said and hung up.

  The watch, when it arrived, was perfect and set with diamonds. Cade couldn’t resist it. Creel assured him it was a bargain. Cade was sure this would please Juana as nothing else could, and he was right. He was immediately out of the dog house and their love-making that night was as abandoned and explosive as it had ever been.

  The following morning Sam Wand telephoned to say that the New Orleans deal was on and he had sold stock at a forty per cent loss to give Cade the five thousand dollars he had asked for.

  Cade felt a moment of uneasiness, but he had told Wand to do it, so this wasn’t the time to squeal.

  ‘Jackson will be at the Fontainbleau Motor Hotel, New Orleans on Friday,’ Wand went on. ‘He’s expecting you. This will be a syndicate job. Could be worth nine thousand dollars to you in the long run. Okay?’

  Cade grinned happily.

  ‘More than okay. I’ll be there,’ and he hung up.

  He rushed to tell Juana they were leaving for New Orleans on Friday. She was as excited as he. He then called Creel, asking him to fix the plane reservations and to call the hotel for a double room.

  After dinner, Cade said it would be nice to take a drive. How would Juana like to visit the Pyramid of the Moon again? Always delighted for an excuse to drive the Thunderbird, Juana agreed.

  Together, they left the house and walked around to the garage. They walked arm in arm, and they were completely off their guards. Three shadowy figures rose out of the bushes near the garage and converged on them.

  Juana was the first to realise the threatening danger.

  ‘Look out!’ she cried, jerking her arm free. She swung her heavy handbag at the face of one of the running men, and then she began to scream.

  Two small Mexicans were on Cade before he could get his balance. They all crashed down in a struggling heap on the concrete path. Cade kicked out, feeling his shoe sink into something soft and some of the pressure went away. He received a stunning blow in the face, cursed, hit out blindly and connected with a jaw bone.