I Would Rather Stay Poor

by James Hadley Chase

  ‘We’re doing that,’ Easton said, his eyes suddenly alight, ‘but that other idea of yours isn’t so lousy. I’ll work on it.’ He got to his feet. ‘Well, I mustn’t keep you. That’s a pretty girl you’ve found. Who’s she?’ He jerked his thumb to the door and winked.

  ‘That’s my future daughter-in-law,’ Calvin said. ‘She is going to marry Travers.’

  Easton felt as if he had bitten into a quince. Everyone got himself a fine-looking dish except himself, he thought.

  ‘Lucky guy,’ he said. ‘Well, be seeing you.’

  They walked across the bank to the door.

  Iris watched them. She had heard what Easton had said about the typewriter. She looked anxiously at him as he shook hands with Calvin, a genial smile on his fat face. She could see Calvin had fooled him.

  A little after six o’clock, Calvin told her to go home. He leaned against the counter, looking at her, a sensual, jeering expression in his eyes.

  ‘Well, I hope you enjoyed your first day here,’ he said. ‘I’m sure we’re going to get along fine together. I won’t be back before eight. These auditors will stick here until the last minute, but they are finishing tonight.’

  Iris was glad to leave the bank. She walked quickly to the bus stop, and after a few minutes wait, got on the bus that would drop her close to her home.

  Leaving the bus at the road junction, she began the short walk to the rooming-house. She quickened her steps when she saw Ken’s car drawn up on the grass verge and Ken, himself, leaning against the car, a smoking cigarette between his fingers.

  ‘Hello there,’ he said, coming towards her. ‘I’ve just got back from Downside. I’ve got to be at the office by seven. I thought I’d wait for you. Any luck?’

  Quickly she told him what had happened. He looked at her worried, distressed expression and he saw she was scared.

  ‘He’s smart,’ he said and put his arm around her. ‘Okay. I’ll have to think of something else. Anyway, this let’s you out. You can leave it to me from now on.’

  ‘No!’ Iris pulled away from him. ‘I feel the way you do now, Ken. This is something between us and him. He won’t be back until eight o’clock. I’m going to look in his room. There’s just a chance the money is there. If it isn’t, I’ll try the bank.’

  Now it was Travers’s turn to look worried.

  ‘This guy’s a killer,’ he said. ‘If he caught you at it… no, better not. You leave this to me.’

  ‘I’m going to look in his room,’ Iris said quietly. ‘Tell me what to do.’

  Travers hesitated, then knowing this was the one short cut to the reward, said, ‘Well, make it fast. Three hundred thousand dollars in small bills takes up a lot of space. Look under the bed, in his drawers, in any suitcase. If you find a locked suitcase, see how heavy it is. Call me if you find anything, but be careful no one hears you make the call. One more thing, take a duster with you in case he comes back unexpectedly. You can say you were dusting his room as Flo hadn’t time to get around to do it. Okay?’

  A little pale, but determined, Iris nodded.

  ‘Yes.’ She kissed him. ‘If I find anything, I’ll call you.’

  He looked at his watch.

  ‘I’ve got to get going. The old man is waiting for his supper.’ He put his arm around her and kissed her. ‘Don’t do it, honey, if it scares you.’

  ‘I’m going to do it.’

  She watched him get in his car and drive away, then she walked quickly towards the rooming-house. The upper floors were in darkness. As she opened the front door, she could hear the television blaring. She paused to listen. She heard sounds coming from the kitchen. She guessed Kit was preparing dinner. She hung up her coat, then went to the closet under the stairs and found a duster. As she began to mount the stairs, the kitchen door opened abruptly and Kit stood in the doorway.

  Iris paused.

  ‘So you’re back. Seems funny to have you back at this hour,’ Kit said, leaning against the doorway, looking up at Iris. ‘Much more respectable than coming in at two in the morning. How do you like working with my handsome fiancé?’

  ‘It’s all right,’ Iris said, aware blood was rising to her face.

  Kit stared intently at her. Her face was white and sweat beads made a pattern on her upper lip. Iris could see she was very drunk.

  ‘I’m so glad. Did he touch you? He has exciting hands.’

  ‘Kit! Please!’

  ‘Don’t be so modest. You should know by now what men are like. If he ever touches you like that, tell me. I’ll kill him. I’ve told him so. Just tell me.’

  Iris turned and ran up the stairs. She paused at the head of the stairs to listen. She heard Kit’s unsteady steps as she moved back into the kitchen and she shivered, then steeling herself, she went straight to Calvin’s room.

  She paused for a moment outside the door, then she turned the handle, eased the door open and entered the room. Crossing the room in the semi-darkness, she pulled the blinds, then she groped her way back to the light switch and snapped it on. She tucked the duster into the belt she was wearing and looked around the room.

  There were very few places of concealment. First, she looked under the bed, but there was nothing there. Standing in a corner of the room was a suitcase, well worn and travel battered. She lifted it, but it was empty. She went to the big closet, opened it and saw at a glance it only contained shirts and underwear. She moved the various articles aside, making sure there was nothing concealed under them. She opened the second drawer, working hurriedly, her heart beating with growing panic. The drawer contained handkerchiefs and ties.

  Sure now the money couldn’t be concealed in this room, she turned off the light and moved cautiously into the passage. She heard heavy footfalls coming up the stairs and her heart skipped a beat. She peered over the banister rail. Calvin was coming up the stairs, humming tunelessly, moving purposefully and quickly.

  She hastily stepped into Kit’s room and closed the door. She listened, hearing Calvin enter his room, hearing the light switch dick down.

  She leaned against the wall, her heart slamming against her ribs, her breath coming in stifled gasps. She waited there in the darkness.

  Calvin had seen the light in his window as he had driven into the garage. He had got away earlier than he had expected. Leaving the car, he had gone to the front of the house and looked up at the lighted window. He wondered who was up there. At first, he thought it might be Kit, then it flashed through his mind it was more likely to be Iris.

  He came quickly up the stairs and entered his room, surprised to find the light out. He turned it on. It must have been Iris, he thought. So she was spying for Travers! Well, all right: the time was rapidly approaching for a show-down with her. This was getting too uncomfortable and too dangerous.

  Deliberately heavy footed, he crossed the room to the communicating door, turned the handle and walked into Kit’s room.

  Hearing him come, Iris snapped on the fight. She faced him, realising how white she had gone. Calvin regarded her with his confident smile.

  ‘Why, hello! Was it you in my room just now?’

  He watched her hesitate, then she said in an unsteady voice, ‘Yes… Flo had forgotten to dust… I — I said I would do it.’

  His smile widened.

  ‘How very nice of you. I thought it was Kit up here.’ He stepped back, his blue eyes jeering. ‘Well, I’d better have a wash. I expect dinner is almost ready. I got back sooner than I expected.’

  Iris didn’t say anything. She wondered if he could hear the thumping of her heart.

  Nodding, he closed the door. She stood listening to his tuneless humming as he moved around his room and she pressed her hands to her breasts.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  1

  The following day was Saturday. It was a relief for Iris to know she wouldn’t have to spend the whole day in Calvin’s company. They drove together to the bank. The auditors had finished their work and had gone back to San Francisco
. While Calvin went through the mail, Iris did the routine jobs Calvin had shown her how to handle. Then Calvin dictated some half-dozen letters and Iris got busy with the typewriter while Calvin looked after the odd customer who came in.

  Some minutes before eleven o’clock, when Iris brought the letters in for his signature, Calvin leaned back in his chair and stared expressionlessly at her.

  ‘I have to go to ’Frisco this afternoon,’ he lied. ‘The old man wants to go over the audit with me. There’s a train at twelve-thirty. The next one doesn’t leave until three o’clock. If I don’t catch the twelve-thirty train, I’ll mess up my whole week-end. If I leave here at eleven-forty-five, I’ll just catch it. Do you feel capable of locking up?’

  Iris had trouble in controlling her excitement. Here was the opportunity she had been waiting for, and it had come so soon! With Calvin out of the way, she would be able to search the bank! If the money was there, she would find it!

  ‘Why, yes, of course,’ she said, controlling the eagerness in her voice.

  Watching her, Calvin saw her reaction and could almost read what was going on in her mind. He had difficulty not to burst out laughing.

  ‘I shouldn’t be doing this,’ he said. ‘There’s always a chance that someone will come in at the last moment, but they never have so far. I’ll leave you a float just in case. You’d better have the keys to the vault.’ His smile widened. ‘You never know. I might have a pile-up or something.’ He slid two keys across the desk. ‘You have the key to the front entrance. Okay?’

  ‘Yes.’

  With a hand that was far from steady, Iris picked up the two keys.

  He handed her a pile of papers.

  ‘Would you enter this lot for me?’ He looked at his watch. ‘I’ll have a wash.’

  As soon as she had returned to her desk, Calvin left his office and went down the short passage towards the men’s room. He paused in the passage and listened, then moving quickly to the back entrance to the bank, he silently unlocked the door and drew back the two heavy bolts.

  Then he moved silently into the men’s room and rinsed his hands. His tuneless humming was continuous.

  Iris was so strung up, she could only stare at the papers lying on her desk, trying to think where she had best start her search when Calvin had gone.

  She had plenty of time, she told herself. Better not do this on her own. As soon as Calvin had left she would telephone Ken and ask him to come over. Then together, they would search every likely hiding place in the bank.

  She suddenly felt Calvin close to her and she reared away, nearly toppling off her stool. A thick, muscular arm went around her shoulders, steadying her. His touch made her flesh creep, but somehow she managed not to wrench away from him.

  ‘Day dreaming,’ he said lightly, releasing her and moving back. ‘That’s not the way to get the work finished. Well, I must get off. Sure you can manage?’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ Her voice was husky.

  ‘Have a nice week-end. I’ll be back Sunday night. Going somewhere with Ken?’

  ‘I hope so… if he isn’t tied up.’

  ‘Of course… he is chasing the mysterious bank robber.’ Calvin stared at her. ‘You two will be sitting pretty if he collects the reward.’

  Iris didn’t say anything.

  ‘What will you do with it when you get it?’ Calvin asked. ‘Sixty thousand… it is a lot of money.’

  ‘We haven’t got it yet,’ Iris said unsteadily.

  Calvin’s smile was jeering and yet sympathetic.

  ‘Sensible girl… I also never count my chickens. All the same, I wish you luck.’

  He turned abruptly away and went back into his office. A few minutes later, he came out, carrying a briefcase.

  ‘Well, I’m off,’ he said. ‘See you Sunday night.’ He lifted his hand in a half wave, then smiling at her, he walked out of the bank.

  Iris waited a few moments, then she slid off her stool and went to the window. She watched Calvin walk across the road to where his car was parked. She watched him get into the car and drive fast up the main street. She didn’t move until she had lost sight of him, then breathing fast, her heart thumping, she went over to the telephone and dialled the sheriff’s office. There was a delay, then Sheriff Thomson came on the line.

  ‘This is Iris Loring,’ Iris said. ‘Can I speak to Ken, please?’

  ‘Hello, Iris,’ the sheriff said. ‘Sorry, but Ken’s with Easton at Downside. Anything I can do?’

  Iris’s heart sank.

  ‘No, thanks. It’s personal. Do you know when he will be back?’

  ‘Can’t say I do. Not until five o’clock, if then. Shall I tell him you called?’

  ‘No, don’t do that. It’s nothing important. I was just wondering if he was working this afternoon.’

  ‘He’s working all right,’ the sheriff said, his voice suddenly gloomy. ‘So am I. We’re trying to catch this bank robber. Come to that, how are you enjoying being a bank clerk?’

  ‘I like it fine,’ Iris said, trying to make her voice sound as if she meant what she was saying. ‘Well, thanks.’

  ‘You’re welcome,’ the sheriff said and hung up.

  Iris replaced the receiver. She told herself she couldn’t miss this opportunity. If Ken couldn’t help her, then she would have to search the bank on her own. What a triumph for her, she thought, as well as for Ken, if she found the money!

  She looked at her watch. It was now five minutes to twelve. She got off her stool and went to the bank door. The main street as usually happened on a Saturday morning was deserted. She stood by the door waiting for the church clock to strike the hour. It seemed a long wait. When finally, the mellow notes of the bell began to strike, she quickly shut the door and locked it.

  With a sudden urgent feeling of panic, she went into Calvin’s office and looked through the unlocked drawers of his desk. She found nothing to interest her. There was a steel filing cabinet against the wall. This was also unlocked and contained only papers relating to the bank’s affairs. She paused to look around the room. There was no other place of concealment so she went down the passage into the men’s washroom. A quick glance around the room told her here again there were no places of concealment.

  If the money was anywhere, it had to be in the vault.

  She took the keys Calvin had given her from her skirt pocket and went down the stairs to the vault door. She unlocked the two locks, pushed open the door and turned on the light.

  She paused in the doorway, looking around at the deed boxes that were stacked along the three walls to the ceiling. The fourth wall was occupied by the safe. This she had no interest in as she had been with Calvin when he had opened the safe. It contained only the bank ledgers and cash taken at the end of the day.

  She decided if the money was anywhere it would be in one of the deed boxes. She suddenly realised what a shrewd idea it would be to hide the money in one of these boxes. She put a stool against a pile of deed boxes and climbing onto the stool, she lifted down the top box. It was locked.

  She tried the second box without moving it and found that too was locked. She remembered seeing a bunch of keys in Calvin’s desk drawer. Maybe, she thought, there was a master key among the keys which would open all the boxes.

  She went back to Calvin’s office just as Calvin came silently into the bank, using the unlocked back door. He heard her in his office and he waited, breathing gently through his thick nostrils, his fleshy face hard and his blue eyes glittering. He heard her leave his office and he peered around the corner of the wall and watched her walk down into the vault. He closed the door, turned the lock and slid the bolts home. Then moving like a shadow, he entered his office, put his briefcase on the desk and took off his hat and coat. Unconsciously, he hummed softly under his breath. He stood by his desk, listening. He heard Iris moving the deed boxes, dumping them down on the floor, the clash of steel against steel coming clearly to him.

  He rubbed his fleshy jaw with his thick fingers
and his mouth set into a cruel, satisfied grin. This would be the showdown, he told himself. It was time. This girl was becoming a nuisance: not only a nuisance, she was dangerous.

  He moved silently out of his office and headed for the vault.

  In the vault, Iris had found the master key that opened the deed boxes. She had opened three of the boxes and was preparing to open the fourth. This was only full of documents and she continued with her task until she came to the last box of the stack. She turned the lock and lifted the lid and caught her breath sharply. In the box, neatly packeted, were packets of fifty-dollar bills. She had never seen so much money. As she stared at this money, she knew she had found the stolen payroll. She knelt, careless of her nylon stockings, staring down at the contents of the box, her heart beating wildly.

  Calvin stood on the top step leading into the vault and watched her. All he could see of her was her rounded hips as she squatted, her narrow shoulders and her blonde hair. He moved silently down two more steps and shut the door to the vault. As the door closed, the catch of the lock made a sharp click… a sound in the silent vault that was as loud as the snap of a mouse-trap.

  Iris jerked around. At the sight of Calvin, her body froze into motionless terror. They looked at each other. Calvin smiled his charming smile. Her terror excited him. Looking at her, he thought how much prettier, how much more desirable this girl was compared to Kit.

  ‘Congratulations,’ he said. ‘Now, I suppose you’ll begin planning how you will spend the reward?’

  Iris could only stare at him. She could scarcely breathe. She knew it would be useless to scream, and she fought down the scream that rose in her throat. Down in the vault no cry for help could possibly be heard.

  ‘For your information,’ Calvin said, ‘the famous typewriter is in the deed box to your right and the famous fawn overcoat that I wore when playing the role of Johnny Acres is in the box next to it.’

  He moved down two more steps and then paused.

  Before she could stop herself, Iris jerked out, ‘Don’t touch me!’