She turned and looked at me. She could see in my eyes what I was going to do. Instead of giving me the gun, she stepped away.
I said desperately, “Honey, give me the gun.”
“No—you’re not going to kill him,” she said fiercely. “I won’t have you kill any one.”
“For Pete’s sake—can’t you see? It’s the only thing to do. We’ve gotta get out of this somehow. If this rat lives we’re finished —give me the gun.”
All this time, Curtis was lying on his back, with his head just appearing above the edge of the table. His eyes were bolting out of his head, and his skin was green.
Mardi said, “Nick—I wouldn’t have killed her. But she wanted to smash up the only decent thing I’d ever had. Your love for me. I was mad to have done it, but I wanted you so much. I tried to forget, but it’s always been with me—”
I said, “I’m going through with this—give me the gun.”
“I tried to save our love by killing someone, but it didn’t work out that way. You want to do it too. We could never face each other. Let him go, Nick.”
She was right. I stepped off the table and stood away. Curtis got to his feet slowly, his face twitching.
Mardi said, “Wait here. I’ll get you the cheque.”