The Prize

by Irving Wallace

  Except for the brief exchange at noon the day before, Emily had not been alone with Craig since that natural embrace on the Hammarlund terrace, when he had kissed her. Or, in truth, had she really kissed him? She wondered what would have happened, been said, if they had not been interrupted by the summons to dinner. She wondered how he would behave tonight and what he might say and what she would say in return. Her constant devotion to him, in the privacy of her hidden fantasies, had at first alarmed her, but now if he was even briefly missing, she was bereft. In her world of make-believe, she had never been closer to any man. Her need for him, and trust in him, dominated her inner existence. How surprised he would be if he could know this! For she knew the reality of her presence in his presence, her withdrawn and withheld inarticulate presence, her aloof and cold untouchability. Well, she would try to represent to him her truer self tonight-that is, if there was a truer self.

  Inexplicably, she found herself before the door of the suite, and still humming idiotically. She opened the door with the heavy hotel key, left it on the entry-hall table, hung her coat neatly in the cupboard, then, fingers knitted together behind her head, through her hair, she stretched her shoulders and chest before the mirror, studied the fit of her new wool cardigan suit, and was satisfied.

  A bath, she decided, a bubble bath. She would soak and soak, and dream a little, and perhaps nap briefly, before dressing for Andrew.

  She strolled lazily into the sitting-room, noticing that the maid had turned the lamps up-outside it was already dark-and then suddenly, turning fully into the room, she froze.

  At the opposite end of the room, like a granite statue in a chair, sat Leah Decker.

  Involuntarily Emily brought her hand to her mouth, and emitted a gasp. Her heart raced-the occupant had been so unexpected in a room that she had thought only her own-and then she closed her eyes, and animated herself with a shudder, and looked at Leah Decker.

  Leah remained unmoving. ‘I’m sorry to have scared you, Miss Stratman,’ she said, but the voice was unusually hard and bore no inflection of apology.

  Emily laughed nervously. ‘How silly of me. It was just that I didn’t expect-’

  ‘I know this is improper,’ Leah said. ‘I fetched the maid and told her who I was and asked her to let me in. It was important to see you. I wanted to take no chance of missing you.’

  Emily felt confusion at her visitor’s conduct and her bitter tone. Her mind leaped to Craig. This was his relative. Emily moved a few tentative steps towards Leah. ‘Is there anything wrong, Miss Decker?’

  ‘Should there be?’ said Leah laconically. ‘As a matter of fact, yes, that’s what brought me here. I think you’d better take a seat, Miss Stratman. You and I are going to have a short talk.’

  Leah Decker was totally in command, her voice so imperative (so familiarly Germanic to Emily’s oldest memory), that Emily obeyed without question. Hastily, she took the chair nearest Leah, and gripped the arms, and waited in befuddlement.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘You seem so-you seem upset.’

  ‘I am upset.’ Leah’s voice was nasal and imperious. ‘I have every right to be. Things have been going on behind my back, ugly things, and I want them out in the open.’

  ‘I have no idea what you are speaking about.’

  ‘You will, you will, indeed, in a minute. I had lunch today with Märta Norberg.’

  She said it as if it would mean something to Emily, but it meant nothing, and so Emily said nothing.

  Leah resumed. ‘Märta and I had a long talk about my brother-in-law. And then we discussed you.’

  Emily was honestly astonished. ‘Me? I didn’t know Miss Norberg was aware of my existence. What could you find to discuss about me?’

  ‘You’re very clever, Miss Stratman, but you will find I am no fool either, so you needn’t try any of your tricks on me.’

  Leah’s tone was offensive, and Emily was instantly affronted by it. ‘I beg your pardon, Miss Decker-’

  ‘Never mind. You’ll find I’m blunt and to the point, as I have a right to be. My brother-in-law called upon Miss Norberg last night at her residence. He was trying to sell her his next book for movies. According to Märta Norberg-and I do not know her to lie, and I do know my brother-in-law’s weaknesses as no one ever will-Andrew behaved disgustingly. He was drunk, he was obnoxious, and he tried forcibly to seduce his hostess. He might have criminally attacked her, had she not had a house filled with loyal servants. At last, she found it necessary to throw him out.’

  Emily felt the blood rushing to her head. ‘I don’t believe a word of that, and I’m shocked that you believe it and dare repeat it. Everyone knows Märta Norberg’s reputation. Why are you telling me this ridiculous story?’

  ‘Because you are in it, my young lady, you are deeply in it, and I know Andrew’s character, his irresponsibility, and it’s my duty to see that he keeps out of trouble.’ She stared at Emily contemptuously. ‘I know all about you and Andrew. I heard it all from Märta Norberg. And she heard it from Andrew, yes, Andrew, your precious Andrew. He told her how he got you out on the Hammarlund terrace and kissed you-’

  Emily sat stricken beyond the power of speech. A sinking ache lowered itself through her entire body. Leah’s outburst could no longer be turned aside. Who but Andrew and herself knew of that moment on the terrace? How could Leah know of this, if Andrew had not humiliated her by telling it to that actress?

  ‘-and that’s the least of it,’ Leah was saying. ‘I know everything now. I know you’ve been sleeping with Andrew from the moment you met. I guessed it when I caught you two at the Royal Banquet, when he didn’t come back to his room all night, not until morning.’

  Emily’s body was stitched with pain, and her throat so constricted with dumbfounded indignation that she could hardly recover speech. ‘Sleeping with him!’ she cried. ‘That’s a filthy lie-and you’re a filthy-minded liar, you and that actress-both of you-both of you!’

  Leah sat unwavering. When Emily had spent her fury, Leah spoke once more with calm superiority. ‘Deny it if you wish. It’ll do you no good. I have the facts. And I’m going to repeat one of them, exactly as Märta Norberg told it to me. When Andrew tried to seduce her last night, and she resisted, he began his drunken bragging, as he always does when he’s had too much. These are his very words to Märta Norberg. “I’ve done all right for myself right here in Sweden. I’ve been sleeping with a woman for sex and nothing else, so I don’t need you, Märta.” Those were his words. That’s what he told Märta, and she swears on the Bible he said them.’

  ‘I don’t care what he says or does,’ said Emily, trying to keep her voice from breaking, ‘but he didn’t tell that actress he was sleeping with me-he didn’t say that-so how can you come here-’

  ‘Does he have to spell it out? I told you I’m not a fool, and neither is Märta. If he behaves with you the way he does in public, what does he do with you in private? He said he’s having an affair-’

  ‘It’s not me-it’s not me-’

  ‘Will you deny what happened on the terrace?’

  ‘That’s true-and I’ll never forgive him-never-’

  ‘And the rest is true, too, and you know it,’ said Leah relentlessly, ‘and I know it, and I’ll believe it till the day I die.’

  ‘It’s still a lie! No man has ever touched me.’

  ‘Please. We’re not children.’

  ‘You are, with your foul mind. I’m not. If he said what he said-it’s true about the kissing-but if he said the other also, it could have been some other woman he’s having an affair with-it could be any of a thousand-’

  ‘It’s you, Emily Stratman.’

  ‘Believe what you want to, I don’t give a damn!’ Emily leaped to her feet, distraught and beyond restraint. ‘Now get out of here-get out of my room. What do I care what is in your sick mind?’

  Leah rose slowly, the edges of her thin lips showing exultancy. ‘Of course, I shall leave. But first you’re going to hear why
I came here at all.’

  ‘I don’t want to know! Get out!’

  ‘You’re going to know, and I’m going to tell you. I’ve watched you from the day we arrived here, watched you set your cap for my brother-in-law. I’m a woman, and I can tell when a woman makes up her mind-sets her sights-a handsome widower, tall, fascinating, free-a rich and famous author-a Nobel winner-well, why not? And how best to get him, this widower-the easy way, the way all crafty women trap and catch naïve men-by getting him below the belt, by giving their immoral, unclean bodies-’

  Emily moaned at the shame of it, and began to sob piteously, eyes shut, shoulders shaking.

  ‘-and so you think you have him, but I’ll tell you what you have, Emily Stratman. If you want the truth or not, I’m going to tell you, and if you don’t believe me you can ask him. You’ve got a murderer, yes, a murderer-a man who killed his wife, my sister-because he was a drunkard. Did you know that? I bet he didn’t tell you that in bed. Ask him-ask him any time, see what he says. He killed Harriet. And that’s not all. He lives like a pig. He is a pig. He’s an alcoholic, drunk from morning to night, disgusting, every day drunk, every day and Sundays, drunk until he passes out. And as for being a writer? Ha! He’s a fake, a hoax, and everyone in Miller’s Dam knows it, but they don’t know it in Stockholm, and you can bet your right arm Andrew’s not telling them. He hasn’t written a word in three years, and he never will again. And he hasn’t got money, either. He’s got nothing but mortgages and debts, and when the prize money pays for those, he’ll be broke and drunk again. And sex-do you want to know about sex? Ask him about me, Leah Decker, ask him about when he was naked and I was naked, the two of us in his bed-see if he denies that either.’

  Emily had stumbled to the chair, and sunk down into it, head in her arms, her body heaving, her sobs wretched. Leah regarded her without pity, and stalked towards her.

  ‘Why do I tell you all this?’ she said. ‘I’ll tell you why-because I’m all he has, and he’s all I have-because even though he killed my sister, even though he’s a wasted drunk, even though he hasn’t done a day’s work in years, even though he’s behaving disreputably every night in Stockholm-he’s still my charge, and I’m his guardian. He’s my responsibility and I’ve devoted my last three years to him, and I’ll devote the rest of my life if I have to, because it’s what my sister would want, and I loved her in life, and I love her in death. When he marries, it’ll be to me, if I’ll have him, and I’ll do it for my sister. But I’m not letting him-not now when he’s accomplished something, and even though he’ll never accomplish another thing-I’m not letting him throw himself away on some foreign Nazi chippy.’

  She bent over Emily, shouting into her ear. ‘Do you hear me? If it is over my dead body-you are not going to get him!’

  Slowly, Emily turned in the chair, hair tangled, eyes dulled, cheeks tear-blotched, gasping for breath, and then at last, she choked out her words.

  ‘I don’t want him-or anyone-no one… Please leave me alone-please-please-’

  Leah Decker straightened to full height. She could leave now, and she left.

  When Andrew Craig, dressed for the evening, buoyant with anticipation, arrived at the door of the Stratman suite, it was a few minutes after seven o’clock. He rapped, waiting to hear Emily’s quick step, but instead the door opened immediately, and there was Max Stratman buttoning his thick overcoat with his free hand.

  ‘Ach, Mr. Craig-’

  There was neither cordiality nor hostility in Stratman’s demeanour, only sadness, as if he had aged too much overnight. He did not invite Craig inside, which Craig thought was surprising, but Craig wrote this off as an oversight due to self-absorption.

  Craig crossed the threshold. Stratman avoided his eyes and stuffed his woollen scarf inside his coat.

  ‘I should have telephoned you,’ he muttered. ‘Emily asked me to telephone you. She cannot go to dinner.’

  ‘Why not? What’s the matter?’

  ‘Since I have come back, she is lying on her bed in the dark room. She says she has a headache and wants to rest. I do not like the way she looks, but she has no fever.’

  Perplexed, Craig scratched his forehead. ‘I wonder what-May I see her?’

  ‘She will not see you. What has happened, Mr. Craig? Did you two quarrel?’

  ‘Of course not. I haven’t seen her all day.’

  Stratman lifted his shoulders and then dropped them, as if to surrender the mystery as unsolved. ‘Then I give up. She will not have a doctor, and I do not think she needs one. She will not even have me around. “Go out and have dinner, Uncle Max. I want to be by myself.” So I go out to dinner and let her be by herself.’

  ‘Well, I’d like to know what’s the matter,’ said Craig. ‘I’m going in to see her anyway.’

  ‘Officially, no admittance. But if unofficially someone goes to her, what can I do? I look the other way. Have success, Mr. Craig, but do not aggravate her.’

  ‘Why should I? Of course not. You can trust me.’

  He waited until Max Stratman had gone, and then he tried to imagine what had gone wrong, and could think of nothing. He went into the sitting-room, sailed his hat towards the sofa, yanked off his overcoat and dropped it on a chair, and opened the bedroom door.

  He had expected it to be entirely dark inside, but it was not. The lamp beside the bed, which gave off a poor jaundiced-looking light, made visible only a portion of the bed and only a shoulder and arm that belonged to Emily. She was in the shadow of the light, and when Craig advanced to the foot of the bed, he could see that she had propped up a pillow and was settled back against it. She was fully clothed, except for her shoes, and her arms were folded across her bosom and her legs crossed before her. She seemed to be staring straight ahead of her, at some fixed point on the wall, and her eyes did not shift to Craig when he came into her field of vision. In no way did she acknowledge him.

  He studied her delicate face, and it had the appearance of fragile chinaware accidentally broken and recently repaired.

  ‘Emily-’ he said.

  She neither looked at him nor spoke to him.

  ‘-your uncle said you weren’t well and couldn’t come to dinner.’

  ‘I heard,’ she said listlessly, and still did not acknowledge him.

  ‘He said you wouldn’t even see me. If you’re not sick, it makes no sense. Has something happened?’

  There was a movement of her head, and she acknowledged his concern at last. ‘I’m too tired to talk to you. Some other year, maybe. I’d prefer to be alone.’

  He did not like the hurt flatness of her voice. ‘I’m not leaving you alone, Emily, until I find out what’s wrong.’

  She did not reply, but turned her face from him, towards the wall, and at once he knew that it was serious. He came softly around the bed. He sat on the corner of the bed.

  ‘What is it, Emily? Is it something I’ve done-or not done? What? I’m completely mystified.’

  ‘Go away.’

  ‘Emily, what’s got into you?’

  ‘If you must know-’ she said. She turned her face towards him. ‘-I’ll tell you, and then I want you to go.’ She paused, and then she spoke. ‘Your sister-in-law was here this afternoon.’

  He did not hide his confusion. ‘Lee-here?’

  ‘She came, and she had her picador sport, and she went. She said you and I were having an affair, and I was after you, and as proxy for your victimized wife, she would not permit it. She said you and I should not see each other again, and her arguments convinced me. That is all. My reserves are gone. I haven’t the strength to go into it with you. It’s too ugly, and I want you to go now.’

  He was taken unawares by this event, but he was not astounded. The logic of Leah, the predictability of this, he should have anticipated from the night that she had made Emily her enemy. Still, how far had she gone? What had she been capable of saying? He tried to visualize the scene that had transpired, and he shuddered. Leah and Emily: the cat and the ca
nary.

  ‘Emily, I’m sick at heart that you were subjected to this. But in all fairness, to both of us, I must know what Lee said to you.’

  ‘What does it matter? It means nothing now.’

  ‘Perhaps to you, but it means everything to me. I want to know.’

  ‘I don’t feel I should tell you.’

  ‘Emily, for God’s sake, this is no time for nice little games-sparing your tender feelings or my own. I’m as upset as you are, and I want the truth. I must have it.’

  ‘Very well, if you must. But I remind you, I don’t care. I don’t want a contest, no dispute, no more emotions. I just want to pay the price you are exacting to be rid of you.’ She seemed to steel herself, half turning towards him on her pillow. ‘Your sister-in-law was in my room when I came in. She had just had lunch with Märta Norberg-’

  Craig nodded vigorously. He had been afraid of that lunch, and the detonation. One lunch, and two women scorned, and the inevitable fallout that maimed all at the periphery.

  ‘-and Norberg had given her an earful about you,’ said Emily. ‘First off, you were supposed to have seen Märta Norberg at her place last night. True or false? Oh, I don’t give a damn-’

  ‘True,’ said Craig. ‘I saw her.’

  ‘You were drunk and tried to seduce la Norberg.’

  ‘False and false again. I was sober as I am now. I did not lay a hand on Her Majesty. Do you want the truth?’

  ‘Don’t bother.’

  ‘She tried to seduce me-it’ll sound incredible-as part of a deal to make me write my next book to her specifications. I refused. Now she’s being vindictive.’ He paused. ‘Is that all of it, Emily?’