Murder Money

by Jay Bennett

  Mia broke the silence. “Where’s your friend?”

  “Al?”

  “The man I met you with at the bank.”

  “He went for a ride.”

  “Oh.”

  He looked up at her. “You don’t like him.”

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “But it’s all there. In your eyes.”

  “It’s not for me to like or dislike your friends, Eddie.”

  “Maybe it is.”

  She raised her slender arm and patted down the wisps of hair that the breeze had loosened. He saw the movement of her small breasts beneath the white, silk dress.

  “Why did you say that, Eddie?”

  “I don’t know, Mia.”

  She smiled and patted his arm. “AU right, we’ll leave it that way. You don’t know.”

  He flushed and said nothing for a while. The silence hovered about them. Then he said. “What is. it you don’t like about Al?”

  “I didn’t say that I did, or that I didn’t.”

  “What, Mia?” he persisted.

  All at once, her face became somber, her eyes cold. “I don’t think the man’s good for you.”

  “He’s my manager.”

  “You’re not fighting any more. You told me that.”

  He was startled at the change that had come over her. The softness was gone, and her voice had the low ring of steel to it. “Get away from him, Eddie.”

  “Mia.”

  “Get away. In Spanish we have an expression for his type of man. We call him a man of blood.”

  “Man of blood?”

  “He’s lived off your blood, hasn’t he?”

  “That’s a hard way of putting it, Mia. And it’s not right.”

  “But it is, Eddie. The same men lived off my father’s blood. The same kind.”

  “Al’s been decent to me all along. He . . .”

  “He brings blood wherever he goes, Eddie. Get away from him.”

  She stood up, her body straight and held tightly. This time her hat was grasped firmly in her hand, and he knew that she was going. He rose swiftly to his feet.

  “Mia.”

  “I must go, Eddie.”

  “Stay on, will you? Just a little longer. You come here and then you . . .”

  She shook her head and smiled gently at him. The fierce, icy look had left her. “I have a job to take care of, Eddie. I must get back to the library.”

  “When will I see you?”

  “When?”

  “Yes.”

  “It was I who went looking for you, Eddie. It’s not for the woman to do the pin-suing. You’re old enough to know that.”

  “But . . .”

  “Eddie. Eddie, are you that way with all women?”

  She suddenly reached up and drew his head down and kissed him full upon the lips.

  “Come, pursue me now.”

  Then she turned and walked away from him. He stood watching a long time, till her figure was lost in the shimmering distance.

  After she was gone, her words struck with a chilling force.

  Get away from him, Eddie. He brings blood. Get away.

  It was that night, deep in the black well of the night, that his phone rang. Three different times.

  And each time that he answered it, there was no one.

  Only silence.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Eddie got out of the water, stood in the glaring sun to dry off, then went over to the shade of the tree to lie down. His huge muscled body sprawled out on the sand. His eyes closed.

  The silence. The telephone calls.

  Was it someone trying to work on his nerves?

  The harsh ring. The lifting of the receiver off the hook, while the night hung about him menacingly.

  Then silence.

  Al thinks we’re in the clear. The ads have stopped. They’ve given up.

  But have they?

  Or are they just starting to go to work and tear me apart. Inside and outside.

  I laugh and kid around with Al in the sun. But underneath it all, are we really laughing?

  I don’t know what’s in him. But I know what’s in me. Underneath it all, I’m waiting.

  The minute I found the money I knew that something had started. Something that’s going to end bad. But there’s nothing I can do about it. I feel myself being shoved along. And there’s no stopping any more.

  Not any more.

  “Eddie.”

  He opened his eyes and stared up at Laura.

  “You looked like you were dead,” she said.

  He sat up silently.

  “Mind if I sit by you a while?”

  He watched her body as it settled with an animal grace beside him. The sun glinted on her auburn hair; her small-featured face was quiet and composed. She wore a black bathing suit that hugged her supple thighs and breasts. Her skin was golden from the days in the sun.

  She drew her long legs up, clasped her hands about them, and glanced at him.

  “How’s the water?”

  “Fine. Why don’t you go in?”

  She laughed almost harshly, her green eyes looking steadily at him. “Why? You want to get rid of me?”

  “Do what you want, Laura.”

  “Don’t I always?”

  “Yeah.”

  Before them was the sheer stretch of sparkling water. The ocean made a smooth line with the horizon.

  “That wasn’t a nice thing you called me the other night, Eddie. It keeps sticking in me. Like you put a knife there and left it.”

  “Let’s forget that night.”

  She turned her head. A taunting smile had come into the green eyes. “You want to?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “You want to but you can’t. Is that it?”

  “It’s gone, Laura,” he said. “Like it never happened.”

  “It happened.”

  He picked up a handful of sand and flung it viciously at a scurrying crab. The crab darted away, the grains of sand clinging wetly to its horny shell. Laura glanced at his drawn face and smiled.

  “You’re in a mean mood. Eddie.”

  “Where’s Al?”

  “Changing into his suit He’ll be along soon.”

  “Uh-huh,” he grunted.

  “Hell be along.”

  She sighed and lay back upon the sand. The leaves of the towering palm tree were still. Coming through them the sun fell in little shining squares upon the length of her body. Her legs lay flat, spread slightly apart.

  “It’s a great life out here, isn’t it, Eddie?”

  “Sure.”

  “Puts you in tune for the good things, doesn’t it?”

  Her eyes closed lazily, her lower lip dropped open, and he saw the flash of her white teeth. They were small and close together, and he remembered with a throb how she had bit him on the shoulder that night. And her moan as she had done it.

  “What are you thinking about, Eddie?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I’ll bet it’s the same thing that I am. Should I tell you?”

  “No.”

  Her voice was low and drowsy. His eyes fastened upon the smooth-shaped legs and he felt a sudden urge to put his hands upon them and feel the warm flesh.

  He turned fiercely to the empty ocean. Its soft undulant motion only stirred him more. He dug his hands into the sand and closed them tightly about it.

  “You hate me and yet you want me. You want the good time all over again. Isn’t that so?”

  “I said forget it, Laura.”

  “It’s easy to say, Eddie.”

  He looked toward the distant motel and longed for Al’s figure. But there was nothing but the spread of glaring sand.

  “Maybe he went into the pool. That’s where everybody hangs out now. It’s too hot out here on the beach.”

  Her eyes were still closed, her body relaxed and sure of itself. “You’re an easy guy to read, Eddie. All honest guys are easy to read.”

  “And
Al?”

  “Most times you never know anything with that joker.”

  “Then why did you stay with him all these years?”

  “Maybe I had nowhere better to go. Did you ever think of that?”

  Her taunting voice cut through him. He suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her up to a sitting position. She twisted her body trying to get loose from him.

  “You’d make a guy do anything. Even lay his best friend’s girl.”

  “You’re hurting me, Eddie.”

  “And then try and get him to do it again.”

  He fought the savage impulse to grab her to him. Grab her and fall on her, there on the empty beach with the ocean throbbing near. He leaned forward to kiss her, when he saw the key flashing in the sand.

  She rubbed her wrist and watched his face as he bent and picked up the key. There was a cunning yet fearful look in her eyes.

  “Where did you get this, Laura?”

  He held the key up, close to her. “It dropped out of your suit.”

  “No. I don’t know a thing about it.”

  “Yeah. You don’t know a thing.”

  He slowly rose, the key gripped tightly in his fist. He breathed out heavily and stared away from her to the glaring ocean.

  She stood up and came near to him. “I found it in Al’s pocket.”

  “Yeah, you found it. After you looked for it.”

  He felt her hand begin to stroke his shoulder, and then the soft press of her firm breasts against his bare back.

  “Eddie, I’m on your side. I told you that in the room. Didn’t I, Eddie?”

  He jerked away from her. “You’re on nobody’s side but your own, Laura.”

  “I just wanted to show it to you, Eddie. That’s why I came out here before Al. To show it to you. It’s a vault key, isn’t it?”

  “To show it to me and ask questions about it. Put it back before Al finds out about it. He’ll break your jaw for you.”

  “What’s in the vault box, Eddie?”

  “Nothing.”

  She put her hand on his thigh and stroked downward. Her eyes smiled tauntingly at his flushed face.

  “You’ll stop fighting me yet, Eddie. Won’t you?”

  “You’d better put the key back.”

  “You shouldn’t have let him put the money in, Eddie. Because only he can take it out.”

  “Shut up.”

  She laughed and held her hand out to him. He dropped the key into it.

  “Eddie, he’ll get up one fine morning and hike off with it. And you’ll be left holding a great big bundle of nothing.”

  “Ditch the key before Al comes along.”

  “It must be a lot of money, isn’t it, Eddie?”

  “Ditch it!”

  He watched her lift the edge of her suit and place the key between her breasts; the sun flashed over their whiteness.

  Her eyes caught the yearning look in his. Her lips smiled up at him. “I was made for pleasure, that’s what Al always says. What do you think? You had a taste.”

  She moved closer to him, and he remembered again her nakedness. The way she had made love to him, so deftly, and with such wild abandon.

  “Every time Al grabs me I think of you, Eddie. You’re the one whose hands are holding me.”

  “Laura.”

  She looked at his face then slowly, slowly down his body. “You’re bigger than he is. Much bigger. And better.”

  He suddenly pulled her to him and kissed her hard on the lips. They were hot and wet and yielding. Her hands held him fiercely. A flame began in the pit of his stomach and tore downward.

  “Laura.”

  “You should’ve locked the door, Eddie. You should never have let me in.”

  He kissed her again and again.

  “Not here, Eddie. You’re letting yourself go. Not here.”

  He slowly released her. Then he looked guiltily toward the motel. Laura laughed.

  “He’s not coming yet, Eddie. I’ve been watching all the time.”

  “Yeah. I guess you have.”

  She laughed again, moved away from him, and sat down against the tree. He stood watching her as she smoothed her hair into place. And as he watched, a feeling of fear spread over him.

  I should’ve locked the door, he said to himself. I should’ve locked it. She’s in my life and I don’t know how to get her out.

  “Eddie.”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’d better wipe the lipstick off your face.”

  He rubbed his big hand over his lips, and as he did he kept staring down at her. He wondered if she handled Al as easily as she did him.

  “Stop thinking about Al so much, Eddie. He’s not as loyal as you believe he is.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s been taking a bigger cut out of you than you think he has.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “You made a lot more money than he let . . .”

  “Al never took a nickel from me that wasn’t coming to him,” Eddie cut in sharply. “Stop running him down, Laura.”

  She pushed some sand away from her legs and smiled up at him. Her white teeth glittered. “He took. The same as he’s taking now. Believe me, Eddie, I ought to know.”

  He looked toward the motel and saw Al’s solid figure step off the terrace and onto the beach. Laura followed his eyes and smiled.

  “He’s taking now, Eddie. The money in the vault box is yours, isn’t it?”

  He watched the figure slowly get larger and larger. He didn’t speak.

  “It was you who called him to your apartment that morning in New York. Then it must’ve been you who had the dough.”

  “You’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Laura.”

  “I’ve got a lot of time, Eddie.”

  He saw Al stop and wave his hand. Eddie slowly lifted his and waved back.

  “You told him it was something special. And you wanted to see him alone. That’s when I started thinking, Eddie.”

  “And you haven’t stopped since.”

  “Where did you get the dough, Eddie?”

  “It’s only marbles, Laura. Didn’t I tell you?”

  “You’re letting him take a cut when it’s all yours. It’s a sucker move.”

  “Then I’m a sucker.”

  “It’s time you started taking for yourself.”

  “It’s time you shut up, Laura.”

  Her face reddened beneath the tan. The green eyes flashed up at him. He studied the approaching figure and asked, “There anything on my face? Any lipstick?”

  “No, Eddie. You’re clean.”

  Their eyes met. She said in a low voice, “I’ll drop into your room tomorrow. About eleven.”

  “Stay out.”

  “Eleven, Eddie. We’ll do things we never did before. New things. You’ll never forget them, Eddie.”

  Then she raised her voice and said easily to Al, “Come on over and join the party.”

  Al came slowly out of the sun and into the shade of the tree. He glanced at her and then smiled at Eddie. “How’s it going, kid?”

  “All right.”

  “Care for a swim?”

  Eddie shrugged. “Okay with me.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Al laughed.

  He reached down and patted Laura on her leg. “You stay here like a good girl and wait for us.”

  “I’ve got nowhere to go,” Laura said.

  He straightened up and chuckled to Eddie. “Let’s go, kid.”

  Eddie followed the stocky body down the stretch of beach and into the water. And all the time he felt Laura’s eyes on him.

  “Let’s swim out to the sand bar. Feel up to it, Eddie?”

  “Sure.”

  The water was warm and soothing as Eddie stroked through it. Above, the sky was a glittering blue. The air was clean and shining. He felt the presence of Laura’s eager body move further and further away from him.

  They came to the sand bar and stood waist high
in the water and stared about them. The day was clear and endless.

  “It’s a great life, isn’t it, Eddie?”

  Eddie nodded silently and glanced at his friend’s wet, dripping face. Al brushed his hair out of his eyes and laughed

  up at Eddie. “We’re living like kings. Like sun kings, huh kid?”

  His brown eyes danced. Eddie felt a sudden warmth for the man surge over him. “It’s a great life, Al,” he said.

  “I always told you we’d make it, didn’t I?”

  “You always did, Al.”

  Al laughed and bent and caught the golden water in his two hands. “The jackpot.”

  Then he flung it away with an exuberant gesture. The two laughed, their voices ringing out and then dying away. Eddie looked across the water at the tree and the small figure beneath it.

  “She been giving you a hard time? She’s always complaining about you,” Al said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Says she feels you don’t like her around.”

  “Oh.”

  “Makes her feel uncomfortable. Give her a break, Eddie. I know you don’t go for her, but give her a break. For my sake, kid.”

  Eddie turned and stared at the shimmering horizon till his eyes began to smart. “How long are we going to stay down here?”

  “Long as we want to, kid. Can be forever.”

  He put his wet hand on Eddie’s broad shoulder. “You know of any better way to live?”

  Eddie didn’t answer. Al slowly took his hand away; the warm wetness lingered.

  “Eddie, we’re playing this by ear. The ads have stopped. They’ve given up. The money is ours.”

  “Is it, Al?”

  But Al went on as if he didn’t hear him. “We get tired of things here, we take some dough out of the box and travel a little. Rio. I got friends there. Then we come back and soak in the sun some more. What the hell more do you want?”

  Eddie turned to him, wanting to shout: why did you take her along? Why? You said she was luck. Luck!

  But he kept his lips clamped shut.

  “You’re in one of your crazy moods, kid,” Al said.

  “Last night my phone rang. Three times. In the middle of the night. When I went to answer it, nobody was there.”

  Al’s face darkened.