Bernice looked at him. She shook her head.
“You may as well stop lying!” the constable said. “There’s the money in his pockets. There’s your motive!”
She looked at Carlos, his body twisted on the floor, the money leering at her from his pockets where he had hastily stuffed it. Once she looked at him, she couldn’t drag her distended eyes from the agonized face of the only man she’d ever loved. She felt the people about her receding. Their voices sounded a long way off. Her shoulders slumped, her eyes went empty.
The constable stared at her transfixed face. He saw what was happening. He shouted at her. “You did it, sister. You may as well confess.”
Bernice could scarcely hear him. She was almost lost to the reality about her. She shook her head.
“Don’t think you’re the first beautiful woman that’s taken a man for everything and then killed him,” the constable said.
To Bernice, it was as though she’d been walking slowly and irrevocably away from the sound of his voice. Those words reached faintly after her from a great distance. But they stopped her, pulling her back. She listened, head tilted, waiting.
“—beautiful woman who has killed a man. You think because you’re beautiful you can get away with it. You think you can bewitch these people around here, and get away with it. But being beautiful ain’t going to get you nowhere. Maybe a lot of publicity at a trial. Maybe a lot of newspaper pictures. Maybe a lot of fools making over you. That’s all it’ll get you. You did it. You might as well admit it!”
Now she had walked back to him. His words were strong and clear. And Bernice knew that at last she had what she wanted more than anything else in the world—she was going to be treated now the way beautiful women were treated. A little laugh broke across her numbed lips.
The despair washed from Bernice’s white face, and a pleased, odd smile replaced it. She looked at the constable, arching her head almost flirtatiously. “Yes,” she said. She nodded. “Yes. I did it. Yes, I’m guilty.”
THE END
About the Author
Harry “King of the Paperbacks” Whittington (1915-1989) - who was born in the north Florida town of Ocala - is today best known for the noir novels he wrote between 1950 and 1960, including classics such as A Night for Screaming, You’ll Die Next! and Web of Murder. He served with the U.S. Navy during World War II, and worked as an editor and freelance writer before he continued to write full-time.
After selling his first short story to United Features in 1943, Whittington went on to write more than 170 noir, suspense, western and romance novels, using nearly 20 different names, over the next thirty years.
About the Publisher
280 Steps is a publisher of crime, noir and hardboiled fiction. Discover new writers and crime classics.
For more information about 280 Steps and our titles, please visit 280steps.com
Copyright
Copyright © renewed 1987 by Harry Whittington
Introduction copyright © 2013 by Joe R. Lansdale
First eBook edition: February 2014
Published by 280 Steps by arrangement with the Estate of Harry Whittington. Visit us at 280steps.com
Cover design by Risa Rodil
eISBN: 978-82-93326-08-3
Publishers note:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
If you would like to use material from the eBook (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher:
[email protected].
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For more about this book and author, visit us at 280steps.com
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