“A couple of years ago,” he said, swinging his leg slowly to and fro, “I got a job with the Mackenzie Fabrics Corporation as their secretary. She worked for Spencer—you know that. She also lived with Spencer—maybe you didn’t know that.” He stopped talking and fumbled for a cigarette, but not once did he take his eyes off me. “I soon found that there was something going on behind the scenes, and finally Spencer took me into his confidence. I saw the set-up was big—very big, and I wasn’t getting much out of it. Nor was she. So we got together. We thought if we could pin Richmond’s murder on Spencer, and get him out of the way, I could take over, and have some of the profits. So we picked on you. We wanted a guy who would bust the Vessi frame-up wide open, and we decided you could do it. She contacted you on the ’phone—quite smart the way she can change her voice. She wasn’t living with Spencer any more—she was living with me.”
I said, “You can stop talkin’. I don’t want to hear any more. Get out!”
He grinned. “You don’t know the half of it yet, smart boy,” he said. “I’m only gettin’ started. She’s a romantic little thing, and I guess she fell for you—fell for you hard. Then she tried to double-cross Spencer, who fired her out. I tagged along behind her, because I wasn’t sure if she’d try and double-cross me. Just when she was set, Blondie turned up. Now Blondie knew all about her. She knew she had lived with Spencer, and she knew she’d lived with me. Blondie wanted some easy dough, so she tried blackmail. You took yourself to town and left our little friend at the lodge. Blondie had been watching, and she called on her as soon as you were out of the way. Blondie didn’t know what she was up against. Mardi shot her. Do you hear that, you big pushover, your girl friend shot Blondie. Now you know why she was so scared. Now you know why she wouldn’t stay in town, but beat it across all these States, until she was sitting on the edge of the Pacific. She wasn’t content at murder, she double-crossed me. As soon as she knew that Blondie was dead, she came to my place and took twenty thousand dollars of bonds out of my safe. I told you she had lived with me, didn’t I? Well, she knew all about my safe an’ how to get into it. So she knocked off all I had and beat it with you.
“The Feds, nearly got me, but they didn’t. I’ve been hunting for her for months, and I found her just after you left for New York. Well, I guess she’s had to pay for her double-cross.”
I said, “Mardi, don’t worry—I’m still with you.”
She put her hands over her eyes and shuddered.
Curtis tossed the butt on the floor. “So you’re still with her— are you?” he sneered. “You still think you’re goin’ to live around with a chippie whose sideline’s murder, huh? You can forget it! You won’t want her around any more.”
I said, “Now you’re through—get out!”
He raised his eyebrows. “Who said I’m through? That’s a laugh. Listen, punk, I want dough. I’ve got enough on that judy to fry her. Okay, I ain’t working any more. I’m living on you. You’re going to give me plenty of dough, and when I’ve spent that I’ll come and ask for more. So you’re going to be busy earning it.”
I sat down quietly. I knew that this guy had got us. There wasn’t going to be any more happy days. There wasn’t going to be any more swims in the sea, or any more of anything. This guy would be with us until he died. My brain lurched a little. Until he died. I looked at him thoughtfully. One against two. One life making two lives unhappy. It didn’t add up. I felt slightly sick, but there was no other way out of it—I’d gotta kill this guy.