I Would Rather Stay Poor

by James Hadley Chase

  Easton pulled up and peered out of the car window. Travers was staring across at the vast car park. The light was failing, but his sharp eyes had spotted a car that aroused his attention.

  ‘Look at that Lincoln,’ he said, pointing. ‘A red top and a grey body. Could be the one we want. The third car in the second row.’

  Easton scrambled out of his car and peered into the gloom.

  ‘Damned if I can see it,’ he muttered, then as Travers started towards the parking lot, he joined him. They paused finally beside the Lincoln.

  ‘It’s the one!’ Travers said. ‘Look… the licence number!’

  ‘What a break!’ Easton said excitedly.

  ‘We’d better get it towed to headquarters,’ Travers said. ‘The boys will want to go over it. I’ll wait here if you’ll get a wrecking crew.’

  Easton hurried over to the telephone booth by the railroad station and called the Downside Police Headquarters.

  While Travers waited, he peered through the windows of the looked car, shining his torch onto the empty seats.

  Easton returned.

  ‘They’re coming right away,’ he said. ‘Maybe we’ll get his prints.’

  ‘I bet we don’t,’ Travers returned. ‘I’m beginning to respect Mr. Acres. He’s playing it smart. He leaves a trail a mile wide to the station by talking about the ’Frisco train, then he leaves his car right here for us to find. I have an idea he could still be in the district.’

  Easton pushed his hat to the back of his head and wiped his forehead.

  ‘You keep sounding off about this guy,’ he said, ‘but how’s about the girl? They’re in this together, aren’t they?’

  ‘For her sake, I hope so.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ Easton asked, staring. ‘Don’t let’s get this thing complicated. It’s bad enough the way it is without adding to our troubles.’

  Ten minutes later, the wrecking crew arrived and towed the Lincoln to police headquarters.

  Easton and Travers stood under an arc lamp while three detectives began a systematic examination of the car.

  It wasn’t until they opened the boot that they found Alice’s body.

  It came as no surprise to Travers. He had been sure, when eventually she was found, Alice would be dead.

  2

  Calvin didn’t get back to the rooming-house until after eight o’clock. The auditors had worked late, and he had been obliged to hang around until they finally decided to leave the rest of the work until the following day.

  He opened the front door silently. He could hear the familiar sound of the television and guessed that Major Hardy and Miss Pearson had settled down to their evening soporific entertainment.

  He had had a snack dinner with the auditors and he was now feeling relaxed. He moved quietly up the stairs to his room. Closing the door, he took off his coat, ripped off his tie and sank into the armchair.

  He was pleased that his nerves were so steady. It had been an anxious day, but he had weathered it, and now, he began to wonder what progress Easton had made.

  When Easton had called on him, Calvin had quickly realised that this man needn’t worry him. He had expected much sterner opposition. The sight of the short, fat, balding agent had done much to calm Calvin’s jumping nerves and restore his confidence. But he was aware that although Easton appeared inefficient, Ken Travers had to be reckoned with. This young man was smart, alert and ambitious. He would be the one to watch.

  Calvin lit a cigarette. Then he reached out, opened the closet by him and took out the bottle of whisky. It was empty.

  For a long moment he stared at the bottle, his face suddenly vicious, his eyes glaring. This morning it had been almost full. He could guess who had been drinking his liquor.

  ‘She’s got to go,’ he said, half aloud. ‘I can’t afford to let her live, the drunken bitch. Why wait? I’ll get rid of her tonight. With all that whisky inside her, they’ll think she had a fainting fit and drowned herself. I’ll do it tonight.’

  He got slowly to his feet and walked across the room to the communicating door. He opened the door and walked into Kit’s room.

  Kit was lying on the bed. She had on a blue nylon wrap that had fallen open to show her long, slim legs. She half raised her head to look at him.

  ‘Hello, murderer,’ she said. ‘I’m surprised you want to see me. How do you like living with yourself now?’

  He came in and shut the door, then moving to the foot of the bed, he stared at her.

  ‘What’s bothering you?’ she asked, her brown eyes glittering unnaturally. ‘Not your conscience, I’m sure.’

  ‘Did you see Easton?’ Calvin asked in a deceptively mild voice.

  ‘I did. He’s not worrying you, is he? A fat, lecherous fool. All he could think about and stare at was my body.’

  ‘Sure?’ Calvin’s thin lips twisted into a sneer. ‘I admit he isn’t much, but maybe he was thinking a drunk is an easy lay.’

  Her face tightened with sudden fury.

  ‘What do you want? Say what you want and get out!’

  ‘I’ve found a replacement for Alice,’ Calvin said, moving to an armchair and sitting down. ‘I thought you would be interested.’

  She half raised herself, resting her weight on her arm.

  ‘Why should I be? What new devilment is going on in that filthy mind of yours?’

  Calvin smiled his charming smile.

  ‘You haven’t seen Iris today?’

  She stiffened, her eyes narrowing.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘She came to the bank this morning. She’s worried about you. She says you have been avoiding her recently.’

  Kit swung her legs off the bed and sat up. Her eyes were pools of fear and anger.

  ‘I won’t have you discussing me with Iris!’ she said shrilly. ‘Do you understand?’

  ‘You can’t stop us,’ Calvin said. ‘She’s working for me as from tomorrow. She’s replacing Alice.’

  Kit stared at him, her face turning the colour of tallow.

  ‘No!’ she said violently. ‘I’m not having that! Work for a devil like you? Iris? Oh no, I’ll soon stop that!’

  ‘Will you?’ Calvin lit a cigarette. ‘I don’t think so. She wants to work in the bank. How will you stop her? Why shouldn’t she work for her future father-in-law?’

  ‘I’m not having her shut up with a swine like you!’ Kit said. ‘I know what you could do to her with your slimy charm.’

  Calvin smiled.

  ‘Oh, come. Don’t be ridiculous.’ His expression suddenly changed and he glared at her. ‘Listen, you drunken fool, can’t you see why it is important she should work with me in the bank? I will have the opportunity to hear from her what her boy-friend is up to. Don’t make any mistakes about him. He’s smart and he could be dangerous. And another thing: it is important to both of us she should work in the bank rather than a stranger. If I had a stranger working for me, I would never know if she might come across the money when I’m not there. It isn’t likely anyone will find the money, but I’m not taking any chances. If by some stroke of bad luck, Iris did come across it, I can’t imagine she would send her mother to the gas chamber.’

  ‘I’d rather that than expose her to your beastliness,’ Kit said, glaring at him. ‘She’s not working for you! That’s final! Now get out!’

  Calvin studied her, his face suddenly expressionless. Then with a slight shrug of his powerful shoulders, he got to his feet and returned to his room. He heard the lock of the door snap after him.

  He sat down and for some twenty minutes he remained motionless, humming under his breath. Then suddenly he got to his feet, listened intently for some moments, then hearing nothing, he stepped silently into the passage and moved across to the bathroom. He went in and closed the door. He examined the small, flimsy bolt on the door… There was no lock. He fingered the bolt, then taking a penknife from his pocket, he squatted down and loosened the four small screws. He then slid the bolt home
and gently tried to open the door. The bolt held, but only just. He knew a quick hard jerk would wrench the bolt off the door.

  Satisfied, he returned to his room. Shutting himself in, he went to the closet and took from it a box of golf balls. Four of these he dropped into an odd sock he took from a drawer. He swung the sock. It made an extremely vicious and efficient cosh.

  He sat down to wait. The time was now half past nine. In another hour, Kit would take a bath.

  He considered his plan for ridding himself of her. It was safe and simple. She had been drinking. When he heard her in the bath he would wrench off the bolt on the bathroom door, enter, slam her over the head with the improvised cosh, then hold her under the water until she was dead. He would leave her body in the bath for Flo to find. The fact the bolt was so flimsy, it would be assumed that Flo had wrenched it off when opening the door.

  It was safe and simple, but he decided he had better have an alibi in case something went wrong. Leaving the cosh on the bed, he went downstairs. The television set was on, and from the sound of the gunfire, Calvin guessed the old couple were enjoying yet another gangster movie. He went to the door of the darkened room.

  ‘Sorry to interrupt,’ he said. ‘I’ll be in the garage. I have car trouble. If there is a telephone call for me, could I bother you to let me know?’

  Major Hardy dragged his attention from the lighted screen.

  ‘Certainly, my dear chap,’ he said. ‘Is there any news yet of Alice?’

  ‘Nothing. I’ll let you know as soon as there is,’ and Calvin backed out of the room.

  He went to the garage, rolled up his sleeves and quickly removed the sparking plugs from the engine. As he worked, he hummed tunelessly under his breath, his fleshy face set. He scraped a little carbon from the plugs, then leaving them on the work bench, he silently returned to the house. He crept up the stairs and entered his room. The time was now close on half past ten. The gangster movie with all its noise and violence would run to eleven. Even if Kit had time to scream, the old couple wouldn’t hear her. Calvin sat down, holding the cosh in his hand and waited.

  Minutes dragged by. At half past ten, he suddenly wondered if Kit were too drunk to take a bath. She might have fallen asleep. He got to his feet and moved to the communicating door. Putting his ear against the panel of the door, he listened. He heard nothing. He was tempted to see if the door was still locked, but he was afraid of alerting her.

  He went back to his chair and sat down. There were other nights, he told himself, but as each day went by, the danger increased.

  He lit a cigarette. Faintly, he could hear the television set downstairs. He looked at his watch. Then he heard a sound from the other room that brought him to his feet, tense and listening. A minute or so passed. He could now hear Kit moving around her room. Then he heard her door open and he heard her walk across the passage and into the bathroom. He heard the bathroom door close.

  A vicious little grin lit up his face and he opened his door to peer into the passage. The thick fingers of his right hand gripped the cosh. Above the sound from the television, he could hear the bath water running. He stood waiting. After what seemed an eternity, the water ceased to run. He moved into the passage. With cat-like silence, he reached the bathroom door and paused to listen again. He heard the sound of water as if Kit had stepped into the bath. He was breathing lightly and rapidly and he was aware that his heart was beating unsteadily. His lips came off his teeth in a vicious grin as he turned the door handle. When it was as far back as it would go and as yet another burst of gunfire came from the television set, he gave the door a sudden shove forward. He heard the bolt drop onto the tiled floor as the door jerked open. He moved quickly into the bathroom.

  He paused, his right hand, holding the cosh, half swinging up, his heart suddenly skipping a beat.

  Kit stood with her back against the far wall, some twelve feet from Calvin. She held a loofa in her left hand which dripped water. Calvin guessed at once that she had been using the loofa to disturb the bath water, leading him to believe she was in the bath.

  In her right hand, she held a .38 automatic, its blunt nose pointing directly at Calvin. She was still wearing her polka-dot nylon wrap and there was a fixed little smile on her white face that sent a sudden chill up Calvin’s spine. He had an instinctive feeling that she was about to shoot him.

  ‘Don’t be a fool!’ he rapped out. ‘You’ll never touch the money if you shoot!’

  They were the right words. The awful little smile slipped from her mouth and her brown, glittering eyes suddenly lost their mad blank stare.

  For a long tense moment, they stared at each other. The gun remained pointing at him, but he knew the danger for the moment was over.

  Then she said, ‘Yes… I was forgetting. You clever devil! You just saved your beastly life by saying the right thing at absolutely the right moment. You follow a pattern, don’t you? You use women and then you get rid of them, but you’re not getting rid of me!’

  Calvin was eyeing the gun in her hand. The sight of the gun shocked him. His great strength against her feeble strength was useless in the face of the gun. He measured the distance between them. He might just possibly reach her and smash the gun out of her hand, but he was sure he couldn’t prevent her firing the gun before he did reach her. Even above the racket the television was making, the old couple would hear the shot.

  ‘It was a mistake,’ he said, keeping the snarl out of his voice with an effort. ‘You scare me, Kit, with your drinking. I acted on impulse.’

  ‘Don’t act on another impulse,’ she said, staring fixedly at him. ‘I’ll kill you if I have to, so don’t do anything stupid.’

  ‘I’m not going to do anything. It’s all right.’

  ‘Didn’t you think I knew what you were planning?’ she went on. ‘Couldn’t you see how obvious it was to me. I help you get the money, then I go the way Alice went and you have all the money, but that’s not how it’s going to work out, Dave. I knew sooner or later you would try to murder me. I set a trap for you and you walked into it. I didn’t drink your whisky. I poured it down the sink. I’m not such a drunk as you imagine. Then when I saw you had loosened the bolt on the door, I knew you would be in here to murder me. Well, you’re not murdering me. You’re not as smart as you think you are. And another thing, Iris isn’t working for you. You’re going to keep your filthy hands off her. Do you understand?’

  Calvin switched on his charm.

  ‘Don’t let’s quarrel. Kit,’ he said. ‘I’ve already explained…’

  ‘You’re in for a surprise,’ Kit broke in. ‘Up to now you have handled this, but from now on, I’m handling it and you’ll do what I tell you.’

  ‘You can’t handle it,’ Calvin said. ‘You’re in no condition to handle anything. You’re a drunk. You’ve got to face it. You’ve got to leave this to me.’

  Slowly, she lowered the gun.

  ‘You’d be happy if I were dead, wouldn’t you, but I’m not going to die. While you were being so clever arranging to steal all that money, I too have been arranging how to protect myself. If I die, Dave, you’ll go to the gas chamber. I’ve fixed it for you.’ She put the gun down on top of the toilet seat. ‘If you think I am bluffing, go ahead and hit me over the head with your cosh and then drown me. Then see where it gets you.’

  Calvin studied her, feeling hot sweat running down his back, aware his heart was thumping and there was a dry, sour taste in his mouth.

  They stared at each other for a long moment, then he slowly backed out of the bathroom. Leaving the gun where it was, she followed him. He moved into his bedroom and she came in after him, closing the door.

  He had her now. She was defenceless and he could see she was half drunk. He gripped the sock between his thick fingers. A quick movement and she would be lying at his feet. The bath was already filled. All he had to do…

  But he knew by the mocking way she was staring at him that she had beaten him and with a sudden vicious movemen
t, he threw the sock of golf balls across the room.

  She leaned against the door, folding her arms across her breasts and she suddenly laughed: a hard, dry, mirthless sound.

  ‘That’s right, Dave. Now you’re showing some sense at last. When you were at the bank this morning, I wrote a letter. It was a long, complicated letter and it took me nearly all the morning. In it I set down everything you and I have done, how you murdered Alice and where you have hidden the money. There isn’t one thing we haven’t done together I haven’t written down. I’ve taken this letter to an attorney — never mind who — and I have told him to read the letter and act on it when I am dead. So long as I remain alive, Dave, you’ll remain alive, but if you try any of your bright murderous ideas, then you’ll follow me to the grave.’

  Calvin ran this thick fingers through his hair. He moved away from her, rage burning inside him.

  ‘So now we’ll get married,’ Kit went on, ‘and we’ll go away as we planned. Then you’ll give me my share of the money. But from now on, Dave, you’re going to do what I tell you… do you understand?’

  In the long pause as they looked at each other, they both heard the telephone bell ringing. Calvin went out into the passage. His legs felt unsteady and there was a feeling of fear and rage constricting his heart.

  Major Hardy called up to him from the hall.

  ‘It’s the police, Mr. Calvin,’ he said. ‘They want to speak to you.’

  Calvin hurried down and picked up the telephone receiver.

  It was Easton to tell him they had found Alice’s body.

  CHAPTER THREE

  1

  Calvin sat at the wheel of his car, his eyes staring into the lane of light made by the car’s headlights, his mind busy.

  Sheriff Thomson had said over the telephone that he would be glad if Calvin would come down to his office right away. There was to be an emergency meeting and they would be glad of his help.

  The time was now a few minutes to eleven. There was scarcely any traffic on the road. A few spots of rain showed on the windshield.