by Peter Rabe
“You heard me talk about those tracts of land. Does that ring a bell?”
“Ah, of course. You bought that land. Ah, yes.”
“I've got to dump it. I need the dough. Did you set up the sale as we decided?”
“Fell, really—uh—I don't remember that we decided just then—”
“What do you think I was doing, damn it, just dreaming about it? I said the land was good for that plant expansion they're planning. My land's better than what they had in mind. So make them buy it!”
“Fell, you don't understand. As the banker, as the lending agency for the factory expansion, I can—”
“You can tell them what land you're going to take a mortgage on and for what terms.”
“But—”
“And being on the real estate board you got the weight to push expansion one way in this town and not the other. So don't hold me up, Herb, I want that profit and I want it now.”
Sutterfield felt he didn't have the strength to argue. All he wanted was to get away, not to feel pushed as he was, and to get rid of the tension that seemed to come from Fell. He could do the thing with the real estate. He didn't like it, but it could be done.
“Very well, Fell, I understand. And now, if you'll excuse me—”
“When?” said Fell. “When does this thing come off?”
“Really, I'm in no position...”
“You are now. When?”
“Uh—my guess, I'd say possibly three months.”
“Don't be an ass. Push it down to a month and a half.”
Sutterfield didn't answer. He stood up suddenly. “Now listen to me, Fell. You don't tell me my business, any more man I tell—”
“Like hell I don't, Sutterfield.”
Fell hadn't moved, but his eyes had followed Sutterfield when he stood and now they went down again.
Sutterfield sat. It brought the eyes back in line.
“He said he'd do it,” said Cripp. “He's going to try to put this deal through in as close to a month and a half as he can.”
“Sure he will,” said Fell. He threw his cigarette across the room and it landed near the screen in front of the fireplace. “Pay attention, Herb.” Sutterfield snapped around. He forgot about the cigarette he'd been watching, because Fell was again making him feel on edge. “About the breakage fee,” Fell said. Then he waited.
Cripp got tense when he heard it. He saw how Sutterfield took it, slumping back in his chair, but Cripp felt tense. He had been almost sure that Fell had forgotten about it. He had hoped that Fell would. The breakage fee was the state's cut from the track bets, and that tax hadn't changed in years. It was the same all over the state. Then Fell had decided the cut was too high.
When Sutterfield didn't say anything Cripp tried again.
“Tom, just remember one thing. San Pietro is only one track out of a couple hundred in this state. It's—
“Two tracks. We'll have two next year.”
“All right, two. But still only one small setup out of—”
“We're getting awful big, Cripp. The way I got this thing stacked I'm getting awful big.”
“For God's sake, Tom, make sense. What can Sutterfield do? You're asking a change on the state level and all you got to work with is local!”
Fell started to laugh but it didn't relax the air.
“Herb, tell him! Tell him how big you are, Herbie! Aren't you getting bigger all the time with me boosting...” Fell stopped laughing and frowned at Cripp. “Don't rattle the guy. I tell him he's big, so he's big. Sutterfield! Say something.”
Sutterfield seemed to have shrunk into his suit and when he talked he still didn't come out.
“Don't try to flatter me. I want you to listen to Cripp when he tells you about this.”
“To hell with Cripp!”
Fell had been looking at Sutterfield when he spoke, but Cripp made a start in his chair. Fell's tone had gotten sharper. And Fell had never said anything like that before.
“I set the thing up for you, Sutterfield. I told you to go to the county seat and start pushing. You know your way around there because I showed you. I showed you years ago and you got a solid line into the county seat. From there—”
“Tom, listen, please,” Cripp leaned forward in his chair.
“The county seat isn't the state capital.”
“It's all one! Sutterfield, listen. The tax guys at the county seat make their recommendations to the state. You know Pasquale there and the two Richies. They got their jobs through pull from state, and that proves the connection!”
Sutterfield gaped. Cripp was wishing this were all a joke.
“And if that doesn't cut any ice I told you what else to do,” said Fell. He was suddenly very quiet.
“Fell, you've gone clearly out of your mind,” said Sutterfield.
“And you, Herbie—you might find you're out of a job, sudden like.”
“What—what do you mean?”
“Never mind that. Let's talk about Throkton, on the state board.”
“Fell, you can't be—”
“Throkton wouldn't want you to foreclose on his properties, huh, banker? Throkton wouldn't want you to spread it around how you two screwed the state on that highway deal, huh?”
Sutterfield gathered himself for one more try in the old manner.
“I refuse to listen! I refuse to consider your megalomaniac schemes which might cause the most destructive— which are tantamount to outright blackmail, the most dangerous kind of—”
“No danger,” said Fell. He was still very quiet. “Push Throkton. There's no danger. A recommendation from county, and the same time just a push where Throkton is sitting—”
“I refuse!” Sutterfield sounded hoarse.
Fell got up then as if he hadn't heard, or didn't care. That's how the next thing got its bite.
“Do it today—brother-in-law.”
Chapter Twenty-two
If Fell didn't come in by eight, Janice would eat alone. He came in at ten and the table was set, Rita was still in the kitchen, and Janice was waiting.
“All lit up,” he said from the hall. He looked at the lights. “Hey, Jan!”
Janice came into the hall, walking fast. She smiled too quickly, but Fell didn't see it. He gave her a kiss and held her.
“Didn't see you all day, Jan. What a day—you hungry, maybe? Want to go out and have a bite before turning in?”
She steered him into the dining room and showed him the table.
“We waited with dinner. Let's sit down and eat together.”
“Sure.” he said. “Let me wash my hands.”
He went to wash his hands and never wondered about dinner waiting this late at night.
He came back and held the chair for Janice. When she sat he gave her shoulders a squeeze, went to pull his chair closer to hers, and sat down.
“Let me tell you about this new thing at the new track. Ten shovels, four earth movers—you know what an earth mover is, Jan?”
“Tom, have your soup.”
“Fine. Let me tell you, Jan, you're looking good.” He smiled at her and kept looking until she answered it. Then he ate some soup.
“Janice, listen. Four earth movers can do the work of— I forget. I forgot how many cats. These cats, you know. Eat your soup, Janice.”
She laughed and said. “I was wondering when you would notice. I've been looking at you all this time.”
“How do I look?”
“Fine, but nervous, I think. How do you feel, Tom?” She leaned on one elbow and stretched her hand over to his.
He started to pat her hand but then he slowed down. He stroked it slowly, then held it.
“I feel good with you, Janice.”
“I want you to,” she said. Rita was taking plates away and Janice waited. “I would like to see more of you.”
“I'm so rushed,” he said. “I want to be less rushed and with you more.”
She smiled. “And your earth movers?”
“Forget them,” he said.
They ate quietly, and then they had a cigarette together while Rita, cleared the table.
“Did you ever see Rita's hair?” said Fell. “I mean down. Did you ever see it all loose?”
Rita had stopped in the middle of brushing the tablecloth. She gave Fell a look. Then she went on because Fell was talking about something else. She left the room, and Fell and Janice opened the balcony doors upstairs and sat there, with the bedroom light behind them and the darkness in front.
“I'm relaxed now,” said Fell. “I feel big and relaxed.”
“You need that, Tom.” She sat closer on the small bench and took his hand. “Tom, will you listen to me?”
He looked at her and nodded. His hand felt warm.
“Herb called me,” she said.
“Oh?”
“Because you saw him today.”
Fell gave a snort.
“Tom. I was very upset. Please tell me what happened.”
“Just business, Janice. What did he want?”
“He said you threatened him.”
His hand had started to move, working her fingers.
“He better learn something,” said Fell. “That guy better learn something, and fast.”
“You know what I'm talking about, Tom. I'm trying to be calm about it, I'm trying to think it was all—the excitement, perhaps, because he acted up the way he does, Tom. Are you listening, Tom?”
Fell was looking straight ahead. Only his hand seemed to be with her. He was bending her hand back and forth and then he started to tap it with hard fingers.
“Herb means you no harm. You know that, don't you? He can't harm you, Tom.”
“Keep out of this, Janice. He tried to get in my way.”
Janice pulled her hand away and sat up. “I can't keep out of this, and you know it. I'm in this, I'm the part that matters.”
“Don't get that way, Janice.”
“You threatened him and you used me—you used us— to threaten with. You used our life for—for—”
“Stop that. It's got nothing to do with us. There comes a point when everything stops moving because this puny jerk gets the idea I'll stop because he's out of breath or something and I give him a kick. That's all. I give him a kick, that's all.”
Fell had jumped up and his hands made sharp little movements. He tapped the rail and looked down to the lawn.
“Tom, look at me.”
“You look at me! Look at the size of it and don't mix, don't mix up—” he faltered. “Look at the size!” he yelled, and threw out his arms. “I'm showing you he can't get in the way.”
“Tom. What are you talking about?” Janice was standing now too but she hadn't moved closer.
“Come here,” said Fell.
She stared at him, and took a long breath. She tried again.
“Hear me out, Tom. We can't have this thing between us, this constant, ugly thing with my brother. We love each other and that's for us, for you and me. It's for nothing else.”
“Nothing else,” said Fell.
“We want it that way. I know that about you and me.” She held her wrist and twisted it in her hand. “That must not change. I won't let mat change, Tom!”
“He wants to get in my way. He's in my way.”
“Tom, leave him alone. Leave it all alone. You don't need him, you don't need any of this, the chasing and straining for I don't know what. Give it up, Tom, please. You don't need—”
“Give it up?” His voice was too loud. “Give up what I haven't got? I'm moving, Janice, and I don't stop till I've got what I haven't got. That's what I'm saying!”
“You have me.”
“And more! Everything!”
She felt confused and it made her want to cry. “Tom, please. You can't hurt us like this. Tom, we must go away. You need help.”
“Help?” He laughed. “I don't need help any more because I can have everything—”
“You need help, Tom, and rest. I'll help you all I can. I'll hold—”
“Hold? Anybody that tries holding me back—nobody holds me back any more.”
She stopped him with a sharp slap on the cheek, hard so he wouldn't go on, so the weird, uncontrolled thing in Fell would stop long enough for him to remember her, but then she was afraid to come close. He stared at her, as if waiting, but she was afraid. She said, “We agreed to it once. I said if you ever used my name, or the fact that Herb is my brother, I said I would leave.”
He held his lip in his teeth and watched her.
“I said that I would leave,” and she tried hard to make her voice even.
“Just don't get in my way.”
“Did you hear me, Tom?”
When he didn't answer she ran into the room.
He heard a door slam. He started to say something but instead ran into the bedroom. Janice wasn't there. “Come here,” he kept saying. “Come here.”
Then he sat on the bed. He got up and pulled back the covers, knocked his fist into a pillow, sat down again. He sat there for a while and then he started to curse, low and fast, over and over. Once he said “Janice?” and then be started to curse again.
Nothing else happened and then he got up. Fell walked fast, with a spring that showed how awake he was. He got downstairs, went through the hall and outside. The shaft of light from behind him showed the dying grass, the bare patches and the spiky weeds. Then Fell stepped back and slammed the door. He went to the kitchen, through that to a hall and into the room where Rita was. When he tore the door open he saw her asleep with the rich hair spread out wide. Fell laughed. When he yanked back her blanket and then the gown she had on, Rita was still barely awake.
Chapter Twenty-three
He Got up at the same time and he didn't change tempo. He left the house before five. There was an envelope on the hall table, just one word on it—Tom.But Fell didn't notice and the letter was left there for days.
He drove out to the construction site where the truck was waiting and two men were loading his desk on the back. All the equipment was standing around without noise, and nobody was out there except three men further away, surveying and waving at each other. There had been a mistake, because of the rush to get started, and now the machines stood idle, waiting for the mistake to get ironed out.
Fell gave it just a glance and then went to the truck.
“It goes to the Alamo. Know where that is?” Without waiting for the men to answer he said, “Follow my car. Come on.”
He got back in and drove off. The truck lost him on the way but they knew where the motel was so they met him there later.
Fell was on the phone in his deskless office and he kept phoning while they moved in his stuff. He paid the men and each got a ten-dollar tip. It embarrassed them and they wanted to say something to him but Fell waved them out and banged the door shut behind them. Then he opened his file and pulled out papers. He left some of them on the floor but the deeds he spread out on the desk, side by side. They spread all over the desk. He stood back. Then he took a pencil and tagged some of them off. He made two piles and wrote on a sheet of paper. Now and then he looked out of the window but since it was barely past six there were no people around the swimming pool.
Then Cripp came in. He didn't say hello and his tie wasn't on right.
“Tom, it's worse today. You got to try doing something. Listen to me.”
“I'm busy, Cripp. Here, take these deeds and—”
“To hell with those deeds!”
“What?”
“Tom, drop everything for a minute and listen.”
“I got a better idea. That track project is so screwed up I think we'll start fresh at the other end, east side of town. Here.” He tapped one pile of deeds.
“Where'd you get those? They're the ones I took to McCann's. We got a purchase agreement for those. The factory deal.”
“I'm going to cancel. Fresh start.”
Cripp groaned. Then he set his legs wide, swiped out, and the deeds
flew all over.
“Now shut up and listen, Tom! You got trouble—”
“Nothing like it. I got lawyers coming to buy those factories. I got an idea—”
“You got nothing! You're losing your grip!”
Fell gave Cripp a steady look. “Will you listen? Sutterfield's skipping out!”
“Like hell.”
“He couldn't hold out any longer, you know he was losing his shirt bribing that real estate through the board and forcing the—”
“Stupid bastard. I just told you I canceled out on that.” Fell jumped up and said, “Come on. Let's tell Sutterfield the good news.”
Fell went down the corridor and every second step he tapped his hand on the wall.
“Tom, you don't get it!” But Fell wasn't listening to Cripp.
In the coffee shop Fell waved at Pearl but kept going.
“Mr. Fell!” she called. “Wait, Mr. Fell!”
He stopped and she came rushing up. She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss.
“I'm getting married, Mr. Fell, I'm getting married to Phido!” She stood back, out of breath. “And I want to thank you, honest.”
He grinned and gave her a tap on the chin.
“You're a winner, honey.”
“Wait, Mr. Fell.”
He stopped at the door.
“It's in two weeks. And we want you for best man. Will you be, Mr. Fell?”
He laughed again and said, “Sure, I am. I am the best man.” He went out to the car.
In the car Cripp tried again. He said to himself that he'd make that call for sure today, if he didn't get through to Fell now. One more try and he'd have to call Dr. Emilson.
“Tom. You won't do any good with Sutterfield. He isn't running from you. It's the authorities.”
“I know them,” said Fell. He was driving too fast. “When it comes to authority—” They swung a curve and had to hold on. Then Fell said, “I got a job for you, Cripp. After Sutterfield.”
“What now?”
Fell was quiet and even his driving looked controlled.
“You know where Janice is?”
“Janice! She gone?”