Ione’s eyes became round and she exclaimed, “But that’s what Mother was talking about! That’s what Mrs. Nyland told her.”
Clark assumed Ione’s former puzzled smile. “I’m afraid I don’t follow you, my dear. What about it?”
“Well, I — I always thought you paid for the place. Mother says you’ve let everybody think that.”
Clark stared at her, then burst into a laugh. “Oh, for God’s sake! And that worried your mother? Come to think of it, though, I guess people have been assuming that I pay for the place. Only natural. But if anyone had asked me I could have told them. You see, I met Mrs. Nyland through the Harrisons, friends of mine down south. Mrs. Nyland was desperate to leave for Europe and she begged me to take over her house, simply so that it would be occupied. I needed a little vacation, so — well, that’s how I happened to come up here. Of course, I offered to pay a rental, but Mrs. Nyland was happy just to have a responsible person in the house and wouldn’t hear of it. However, I don’t understand the importance you’re giving this little matter, or why it should concern your mother.”
Ione bit her lip and looked away from him for a moment. “Well,” she whispered, so low that Clark could barely hear, “Mother thinks you’re an adventurous phony.”
Clark had expected that for a long time and was prepared to counter it. He turned Ione’s chin around until she was again facing him, so that she could see his sad smile. “I know that,” he said. “I think your mother took an instant dislike to me when we first met. She must have sensed how I felt about you. So she has pursued the line so many mothers follow. Evidently she doesn’t think her chick is ready to leave the nest.”
“No, that isn’t it.”
He said doggedly, “It must be something like that. However, if you care to put your mother’s mind at rest, you can do it easily. Have her telephone the bank and say that she has a check of mine for anything under half a million dollars and ask if it’s good. Not many phonies, or anyone else, ever has that much cash on hand. She should be pleasantly surprised.” Ione’s smile became radiant. “Really, Clark?”
“Sure. In my business I have to keep a decent amount of cash handy. She could also, if she wants, investigate my business here. I don’t know the exact figure offhand, but I must have quite a few millions invested in property.”
“But isn’t Faye involved in those deals, too?”
He nodded and frowned anxiously. “Yes, and that’s the hell of it. She wanted to invest and I, like a fool, let her come in with me. She’s in for about fifty per cent.”
“But the rest is all yours?”
“Oh, yes. The devil of it is, you see, when I leave Faye there’s going to be one hell of a nasty legal battle over property settlement. I’m afraid a lot of unkind things are going to be said about me.”
Ione’s mind was completely relieved and she relaxed in the crook of his arm. “I won’t mind,” she said. “Who cares what anyone says?”
“I do. Not for my sake, but it may hurt you — later.”
She looked into his eyes and asked, “How much later?”
He wanted to crush her in his arms, but restrained himself. He replied, “Not long now. I’ve finally made up my mind. In a couple of weeks I’m going down to Las Vegas, establish residence, and get a divorce.”
Ione sat up straight and stared at him. “That soon?”
“Yes. It’s ridiculous dragging this thing on any longer.”
“Oh, darling, I’m so glad! But what about Faye? Have you told her?”
“No. Not yet. The only time to tell her is the day I leave. Otherwise it would just be a mess. The best thing to do is to break it clean and leave.”
“I guess you’re right.” She put her arms about his shoulders and hugged him, but he was afraid to touch her. She whispered, “I’m so terribly glad it’s finally going to end. It’s been a nightmare for me as well as for you. Soon, thank God, we’ll be able to love each other openly.”
He looked down at the provocative lines of her body and the muscles along his shoulders bunched with tension. Still he restrained himself from touching her. Later, he thought. Later. You can wait. He raised his hand and, with shaking fingers, permitted himself to stroke her hair. She sighed contentedly and snuggled against his chest. He looked out over the ocean and grinned broadly. He had the world in the palm of his hand.
A few days later, over highballs at the Pine Inn bar, he told Joey about the letter from Mrs. Nyland and gave him a twisted version of his future plans. “For one thing, I’m flying down to Las Vegas the first of the week and open a couple of bank accounts. It would be a good idea to have some available cash out of the state.”
Joey had learned about the joint account and asked, “How much dough’s in there?”
Clark lied, “Probably forty or fifty grand. It isn’t hay.”
“Uh-uh. I get part?”
“Well, of course. Then after I get back I’m going to put everything in order, pack up, and get the hell out. I’ll get the divorce in Las Vegas.”
“How ’bout the Guernsey? Maybe she’ll fight it. Even in Nevada it ain’t too easy to get divorced if it’s contested.”
Clark chuckled and squeezed his arm. “That’s taken care of. She won’t be able to do a thing about it. I’m naming you as corespondent.”
Joey’s mouth fell open, then closed with a click. “Hey, now, wait a minute!”
“That’s the way it’s going to be, Joey. You’re in this with me and you have to help.”
“But me and the Guernsey — ”
“All you have to do is lie about it. It’s the best way, and it’s going to be a big help later. We’ll probably have a court battle over property, you know. And any judge is going to take a dim view of a woman who’s been carrying on with her husband’s best friend. You see?”
“I don’t like it.”
“But damn it, you have to do it.”
“Well, yeah. O.K. It smells, but I guess I hafta.”
“You’ll stay on here.”
“Why?”
“Well, Jees, use your head. Someone has to stay and supervise our properties.”
“Yeah. You got it all figgered pretty good, kid.” He chuckled and said dreamily, “My split on this deal’s gonna be plenty. I’ll be able to do somethin’ I’ve always kinda dreamed about. You know them chinchillas, them gray little bunnies? Cute little devils. Guy I know down south raises ’em and always wanted me to come in with him. Too much dough, though. Takes at least a hundred grand just to get a toehold. Now,” he grinned, “I can do it, by God. How you like that?”
“Sounds good, Joey.”
“Hey,” he whispered, “here’s the Guernsey.”
Clark looked around just as Faye saw them and approached their table in a corner of the room. She was wearing red slacks, gold sandals, a cashmere sweater, and long earrings made of clusters of tiny sea shells. A mink jacket was draped over her shoulders.
Halfway across the room she cried, “Daddykins!” and all the men at the bar turned about to grin at Clark, who reddened and squirmed uncomfortably. She ordered a double Gibson over rocks and cooed at Clark, as she sat down, “You’ll never guess what. I’ve found the darlingest little dress shop just around the corner only just opened and with the sweetest woman running it. All imports, imagine. I don’t know how on earth she ever does it, but the prices are amazingly reasonable. Not on the common level, of course, but I mean for what you get. I’ve chosen one number for five-ninety-five — ”
Joey asked dryly, “Five dollars and ninety-five cents?”
“You silly boy,” she giggled, then said to Clark, “But I can’t make up my mind, so I want you to come around and help me decide. You have such beautiful taste.”
“Well, Joey and I were talking business.”
“Oh, yes, business.” She searched through a purse big enough to throw over a horse, then shrugged and said, “I thought I had it with me, but I must have left it at home. It’s a kind of statement from
the bank and a letter from some realty broker. I don’t understand it at all. Has Joey invested with us on some of our property?”
Clark tensed and asked, “Why?”
“Well, I’m sure I don’t know, but it seems his name is on some lots you bought on Scenic Drive.”
Joey leaned toward her and asked softly, “Only on some lots?”
“I guess so. I just couldn’t make out what it was all about. Are you supposed to be in with us on the construction things, too?”
Joey turned slowly from her and looked obliquely at Clark. “I don’t know,” he said. “Now you got me wonderin’. Just some lots, huh? Maybe I been walkin’ around all these months with wind whistlin’ through the holes in my head.”
Clark smiled uneasily and said, “I can explain it later, Joey. You hurry up with your drink, Faye, and we’ll go around and look at that dress.”
He stood up, so that Faye had to gulp down her drink. He began breathing easier only when they were outside and away from Joey. But as they went around the corner his brain was spinning with the possible explanations he could give Joey. He intended dumping Joey later, with no split whatever, but not until after the divorce had been secured. Meanwhile, Joey was still useful and his sudden suspicions would have to be put at rest. He thought of a dozen ideas and finally decided on one that could be made to seem plausible.
Joey, however, was not to be found the balance of the week, nor did he come home at night. Clark heard of him being around town and occasionally showing up on the construction jobs, but was unable to find him anywhere. He also learned that Joey had been asking pertinent questions in the bank and of various real-estate brokers with whom Clark had transacted business. There was no doubt that Joey was keeping clear of Clark until he had put the whole picture together. Clark was not afraid of any form of physical violence, but he knew that Joey was a clever conniver, and that worried him.
On Monday morning he decided to fly to Las Vegas, before Joey could interfere with any of his plans, and transfer 99 per cent of the joint account to accounts in his name in Nevada banks. He got up early in the morning, without waking Faye, and left a note explaining that he was called away on urgent business but would return the following day. He packed four suitcases full of clothing, which he intended leaving behind in Nevada, and carried them out to his car. He was just pulling away from the house when the Nyland station wagon curved into the driveway and Joey jumped out.
Joey walked slowly to the convertible, looked at the suitcases in the back seat, and asked Clark, “Goin’ somewheres?”
Clark snapped, “Where the hell have you been?”
“Oh, around and about. Guy starts askin’ questions, he learns some funny things. Where you goin’, kid, Las Vegas?”
“Yes.”
“Uh-huh. I had a hunch. That’s why I showed up this mornin’.” He opened the door and slid onto the seat at Clark’s side. “I think I’ll go with you.”
Clark said irritably, “I haven’t time for you, Joey.”
“You’ll find time, kid. We got some interestin’ things to talk about, ’specially stuff I learned from some smart ambulance-chasers. Maybe you’d better take me along or it maybe won’t be healthy for you to come back.”
Joey, Clark knew only too well, never made an idle threat or one he could not make good. He shrugged, stepped on the gas, and pulled out of the driveway. He thought Joey would get to the heart of the matter at once, but Joey sat back, chewed the end from a cigar, and smoked in silence all the way to the airport. He was obviously in no hurry to talk things over.
They rolled the Bonanza out of the hangar, placed the luggage in back, and warmed the engine until it was purring smoothly. Clark received clearance from the tower, took off west, circled out over Monterey Bay, and headed east to Salinas in a steady climb. He leveled off at fourteen thousand feet over the great inland valley and looked out and over the nose at the city of Fresno. He trimmed his tabs and sat back to let the plane fly itself. He glanced at Joey and noticed with satisfaction that he was having difficulty breathing in the rarefied air.
It was then that Joey looked at him, his little narrowed eyes turning cold and hard. “Well, kid,” he said, “I done some checkin’ the last couple days.”
“That so?”
“Yeah. Sure surprisin’ the information a guy can pick up when he asks. You see, I always thought you and me was partners. That’s the way we lined it up in the beginnin’.”
“That’s the way it is.”
“In my hat! You remember, kid, I never did like this idea of takin’ the Guernsey to the cleaners. I went along ’cause you sold me on the heavy dough involved. O.K., I think, maybe he knows what he’s doin’ and I ain’t one to turn down a deal that big. You was the one said we’d split the same as always. Remember?”
“Of course. Nothing has changed.”
“No? Well, the way I got it, we was gonna have a limited-partnership setup and all the dough would go out through that operation, with my name in on it all. So I checks around and I find my name’s only on some lots we bought before you married the dairy. She spilled that and she was right. My name ain’t on another damned thing. All this work I been puttin’ in on them construction jobs, and they’re all in the name of Mr. and Mrs. Clark Holt. Nothin’ whatever’s been transacted through the partnership arrangement. All I can see is a double cross a mile wide and with good old Joey Malloy, the trustin’ old soul, holdin’ the bag. How ’bout that?”
Clark laughed. “So that’s what you’ve been doing the past few days. Jees, you could have asked me, you know, and I could have told you the whole setup. I couldn’t work it the way we had it originally. That would have meant transferring funds into the partnership and drawing checks against that for all our deals.”
“So what’s wrong with that?”
“Plenty. Faye would have become suspicious, for one thing. You aren’t the one supposed to be the wealthy man. So where would you come in on a third split in deals involving millions? Even a child would have become suspicious. But simply working it with the names of Mr. and Mrs. Clark Holt on all the deeds is a normal thing. That was the only way it could be done.”
Joey stared at him and said flatly, “You ain’t sold me, kid. Not one bit. I been askin’ lotsa questions and learned the original idea was a good one. It could’ve been worked that way all the way. The only reason you changed was to cut me out. And you almost got away with it.”
“Now, look — ”
“Uh-uh. I know you pretty well, kid, and I know the larceny in your soul. I didn’t think you’d do it to me, but what the hell, I guess you’re just kinda cut that way. So now you and me are gonna operate different. I’m gonna do the talkin’ and you do the listenin’.”
Clark burst into rude laughter and snarled, “Who the hell do you think you are? I can dump you right now and there isn’t a damned thing you can do about it.”
Joey chewed on the butt of his dead cigar arid gave him a cold smile. “I got news for you, chum. I been askin’ questions from lawyers, too. You ever heard of conspiracy with intent to defraud?”
Clark had not, but there was an ominous sound to the words and he felt a sudden chill. He gave a negative shake to his head.
Joey said, “Yeah. Me neither. It’s just somethin’ I picked up. Very interestin’, though. It seems you and me are in a conspiracy to defraud a certain party, namely the Guernsey. Now, I ain’t sayin’ anyone’s wise or even anyone else can prove it. But I can.” His smile tightened as he asked, “You catch on?”
“Go ahead.”
“So here we are, you and me, in this here little conspiracy to take the Guernsey to the cleaners. Maybe we do it, if you do what I say from now on. And there’s plenty in it for both of us. But you start gettin’ cute again and try to cut me out of even one dime, and all I gotta do is open my yap and who comes runnin’ but Mr. Law hisself and you find yourself facin’ a judge, with little old Joey Malloy actin’ as state’s witness. You got the pitche
r?”
Joey had said his little piece and turned away to look out over the ranges of jagged mountains before them. Clark sat quietly at his side, inwardly raging, but knowing he was on a spot. There was no doubt that Joey could upset everything and that he, Clark, could possibly wind up behind bars. Clark gritted his teeth and then his mind went to work, with cold precision, on what to do about Joey.
The plane bounced and rocked violently in the hot convection currents over Death Valley until they crossed the Amargosa Range and went on into Nevada. Clark tuned in the Las Vegas range, rounded Charleston Peak, and let down to the airport in a temperature of 108 degrees. He and Joey were soaked with perspiration before they could park the plane and scramble out of it. Clark burned his hand twice on the hot metal skin while getting out the luggage. Joey was no help at all. He simply stood there suffering in the blazing sun and perspiring from every pore. Clark had to help him into a taxi.
“Can’t help it,” Joey gasped, as he flopped back into the seat. “Can’t stand heat. I was here in Vegas once before and it damn near kilt me. Jees, how people can live in this place!”
Clark’s eyes narrowed and an idea began to form.
They checked into an air-conditioned hotel on the Strip, had cold showers, rested in their room for a while, then dressed and went into the bar. At the end of the second highball Joey had recovered and was able to tackle lunch. Nothing, however, could induce him to leave the air-conditioning of the hotel. He wanted to go along with Clark and learn exactly how much he was transferring to the Nevada accounts, but his greed gave way to his fear of the heat. He remained at the hotel.
Clark took a taxi into town and opened three accounts in his name in different banks, in each one placing a staggering check on deposit drawn against the bank in Carmel. He made sure that each check was to be cleared air mail, so that within three days at the most he would own a fortune of almost a half million safely in Nevada banks. That alone, if everything else went wrong, would be security for him.
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