Up a Winding Stair

by Dixon, H. Vernor

  “I don’t know. It’s mostly in securities. I think some of it draws pretty good dividends. Mr. Colman takes care of all that for me.”

  Clark gave her a look of astonishment. “You mean you trust him to handle all your money?”

  “Why, of course. He’s a very good man and has a wonderful reputation. He sends me a statement every month or so.”

  “But even so, Faye, that isn’t very wise. Let me ask you something: Is he a wealthy man?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I guess he’s well off.”

  “Look, my dear. You know what you’re doing? You’re tempting the poor guy. Let’s say he has some big bills to meet. After all, he probably has his troubles, too, like everyone else. So what would be more natural than for him to dip into your funds to meet sudden expenses of his own?”

  Faye said stubbornly, “Mr. Colman is an unusually honest man.”

  “O.K. Granted. Let’s say he is. But handling your wealth is one hell of a temptation for any honest man.”

  “Why, I would never think of Mr. Colman doing a dishonest thing.”

  “I don’t say that he has or even that he will. All I say is that the temptation is there. You’re practically begging him to commit a dishonest act.”

  “I’ve never thought of it that way.”

  The idea was planted and she would chew it over, so he dropped that phase for the moment. “Getting back to your capital, though, it isn’t smart to leave money idle regardless of how good the dividends may seem. Money has to work for you; it has to be constructive.”

  She beamed at him and exclaimed, “That’s the way Daddy used to talk!”

  Thank God for that, he thought, and said, “Naturally. I could leave my money alone, too, you know, and just sit back and take it easy, but I’m not built that way. I have to keep it working. That’s why I’ve started these various projects on the Peninsula. I don’t need you in with me, you understand, but I just thought it would be nice having you as a silent partner. Rather strengthens our marriage, don’t you think?”

  “Oh, I do. Yes.”

  “I’d do all the work, of course, but the two of us would split the profits. I have a hunch I’m going to clean up in this thing.”

  “I just know you will and I’m really glad you thought of me, too. It’s very sweet and considerate of you.”

  He winked and grinned at her. “Partner?”

  “Partner,” she replied.

  Hell, he thought, this is really too easy.

  They landed at Monterey late in the afternoon and telephoned Joey, who drove the station wagon out to the airport to pick them up. He gave Clark one sharp glance, saw that all was well, then made a big fuss over Faye. Faye could never quite understand whether Joey was a companion, houseboy, or butler, or how he fitted into Clark’s scheme of things, but she understood his crude humor and rather liked him.

  As soon as they arrived at the Pebble Beach house she went inside and left Clark and Joey to take care of the luggage. Joey leaned back against the station wagon, lit a cigar, and asked, “So how was it?”

  Clark shrugged. “About like you’d expect. Yaps all the time and forever taking pictures. Easy to handle, though.”

  “Ain’t that the main thing?”

  “It sure is. I don’t anticipate any sort of trouble with her. But how was it here?”

  Joey’s stomach shook with laughter. “Believe me, it was somethin’. I’ll bet everybody in the joint’s called or dropped by.”

  “Ione?”

  “Not her. Ricki was by, though, and mad as hell. Kinda blamed me for lettin’ you go when you was drunk. Y’ know, it’s worked out like you said. Nice guy can’t handle his liquor, gets plastered and is talked into marryin’ a gal he wouldn’t be found dead with sober. That’s the way they all look at it. You shoulda been on the stage, kid. You done a good act.”

  Clark smiled thinly. “I thought it would go over.”

  “No worry there. But I noticed Ricki and some others seemed to think you’d get an annulment right away.”

  “I’ll handle that.”

  “Yeah.” Joey shifted the cigar to the other corner of his mouth and asked, “You know a deputy sheriff by the name of Scott?”

  Clark was turning away from him with some of the luggage, but he spun back to face Joey. “Scott? Yes, I know him. He was the one who forced the coroner’s inquest.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, he calls up yesterday. Thought maybe you was back.”

  “What did he want?”

  “Nothin’, I guess. He just tells me he heard about the marriage and to give you his best wishes. He sounded kinda sarcastic-like. He don’t like you, huh?”

  Clark thought again of how it had been with Hibbard and that there had been no witnesses or any other way to pin it on him. There was nothing to worry about. Scott probably had a hunch that all was not as it seemed to be, but what could he do about it? Nothing.

  He growled, “The hell with him,” and started into the house with the baggage.

  Faye wanted to go to the Lodge as soon as they had unpacked their luggage, but Clark talked her out of it. He preferred running into the people he knew without Faye’s disturbing presence. Once his little act was firmly planted, then he could be seen in her company. He wanted especially to talk with Ricki, knowing that what he had to say would be carried on to Ione. He also intended keeping Faye away from the Ransons as much as possible. If she did too much talking about how he had proposed to her in Reno, she might be believed.

  Clark was out of the house before Faye was awake in the morning, slamming out hundreds of balls at a driving range at the valley entrance. He worked two hours before he was satisfied that he had done enough.

  He went from the range to the Lodge, telephoned the Ranson home, and learned that Ricki was still in bed. He told the butler, “Tell him that Mr. Holt will be in the barroom of the Lodge and would like to see him as quickly as possible.”

  He and Joey went into the bar and had coffee, then Joey left to walk back to the house. Clark was on his third cup of coffee when Ricki walked into the room and came to Clark’s table. The younger man was still not wide awake, but his eyes quickly appraised Clark’s expression, which was that of a man carrying a heavy burden. Ricki gave him a look of sympathy as he sat down and also ordered coffee.

  Clark sighed and said, “I had to see you first, Ricki. You’re about my closest friend around here.”

  “Thanks, Clark. Glad to hear that. You’re really in a mess, aren’t you?”

  “Oh, God! You know Faye.”

  “Do I! How the devil did it happen? I know you were drunk when you left here, but you must have sobered up a little by the time you reached Reno.”

  Clark shook his head. “I was drunker. Altitude does that to you. How I got into that field I’ll never know. Damn near wrecked the plane on the landing. I almost passed out in the cab going into town, but I’m damned if I didn’t go right on drinking. I guess I was drunker than I’ve ever been in my life.” He leaned forward and said, “Now, this is confidential.”

  “Sure.”

  “I wouldn’t care to hurt Faye, you understand. Hell, I can’t blame her or even get angry with her. It’s just one of those things. But I didn’t know I’d been married until the next day.”

  Ricki shook his head from side to side. “You poor guy.”

  “I got sick. God … But here’s the thing, Ricki: She can’t be blamed. You know how she thinks. You know how she is. And it was my fault, too, you realize. I must have been conscious enough to have some idea of what I was doing when I married her.”

  “I doubt that. You were really looped.”

  “Let’s let it go that way, anyway. I don’t give a damn about anyone else, but I want you to know the way it happened. So I’ve told Faye to pass out a little story that we’ve been that way about each other for some time and that I was the one who proposed to her and practically dragged her before a judge. She’ll save face and it will make her feel a hell of a lot better.
In fact, she’s happy as a clam at high tide right now.”

  Ricki stared at him with an expression of outright admiration. “You know, Clark, that’s a damned decent thing to do. I couldn’t do it.”

  “Aw, what the devil. It won’t kill me.”

  “You’re being pretty big about this thing.”

  “Don’t kid yourself. That first day, the first thing I thought of was annulment. But then I realized what she’s been going through lately — Hibbard’s death, you know — and that worried me. I was afraid if I broke it off right then she’d go to pieces.”

  Ricki exploded, “But hell, man, you have yourself to think about!”

  “As I say, Ricki, none of this is going to kill me. I’ll survive, after all. But the gal has been going through a lot and it was something to think about. I really had no reason to be mad at her. She was drunk, too.”

  “She can outdrink all of us.”

  “Nevertheless, I realized I’d be one godawful heel to deliberately hurt her at that point. So — well, I decided to string along, and as long as the harm was done anyway I’d take her on a honeymoon and at least give her that much happiness. It was little enough to do.”

  Ricki again gave his head a baffled shake. “By God, Clark, you amaze me. I’d always figured you as a person quick on the trigger and now you’re showing more tolerance than any ten men. By the way, did you bring her back here?”

  “She’s at the house.”

  “Man, I really feel for you. But now what?”

  Clark maintained his deep, studied frown and harassed expression. “That’s it, Ricki. That’s why I wanted to talk with you. Annulment is out of the question, as that would have to be got on the grounds of drunkenness, and that would just about wreck Faye. I just can’t do it that way. So now a divorce is the only answer.”

  “That’s easy.”

  “Well, not quite as simple as it looks. Faye is a happy woman, you see. Right now she’s in seventh heaven — I don’t mean that as a boast,” he laughed — “and she wouldn’t go for a divorce for ten million dollars. The hell of it is, Ricki, she’s fallen in love with me.”

  “She always did tag around after you.”

  “Yes. But it’s love now and I mean the real article. Now, you tell me something. Could you be heel enough to kick a woman in the face simply because she’s in love with you?”

  The loaded question made Ricki frown and sit back and look off into space for a moment. When his eyes came back to Clark’s he said, “Well, putting it that way, it would be a difficult thing to do. But you have to do something.”

  “What?”

  “You can’t seriously intend trying to make such a marriage work. I don’t think even you have the patience to stick with Faye year after year.”

  “God, no! Just these past two weeks have been misery. But I can stick it longer than that, at least until I think of a solution.”

  “It is a mess, isn’t it?”

  Clark sighed and mumbled, “It’s worse than that. I can well imagine what Ione must think of me.”

  “It did hit her pretty hard.”

  “She should know how I feel about it.”

  “I think she has a faint idea. She knows you’d never marry a woman like Faye in your right mind. However, she is rather broken up. She was more than a little fond of you, you know. And now, of course, Eric is on the inside track again and she’s been out with him practically every night, to forget you, I suppose. This whole thing is a damned shame.”

  “It will work out. I’ll think of some sort of solution one of these days that will get me loose and won’t hurt Faye too much. Meanwhile, Ricki, you realize this has just been between the two of us.”

  “Sure. Sure. Don’t give it a thought.”

  Clark leaned back and sipped at his coffee and mentally shook hands with himself. Every word, he knew, would be reported verbatim to Ione. Besides, like most people in the area, Ricki enjoyed gossip. He would waste no time spreading Clark’s version of the affair. He would be safe, for the time being, from anyone’s becoming suspicious when he did not have the marriage annulled.

  Faye was having breakfast when he got home and had nothing to say to him as she ground her way through the meal. But when she had finished she was bubbling over with plans for a Carmel shopping tour. Clark sat at the table and listened to her, but he was watching Elsie as she cleared the dishes away. Her efficiency had slackened perceptibly and she seemed more lethargic and absent-minded than ever. He wondered what was wrong with her and wondered, also, if he should let her go. It would not do for Faye to become suspicious of his relations with the maid. But he was not willing to face the problem right away. No rush, he thought. I’ll think about it later.

  He drove Faye into Carmel and on the way told her, “My lease on the Nyland house still has a long way to go. If I tried to break it it would be damned costly. Besides, I like the place, so why don’t we live there until the lease runs out?”

  Faye shook her head and said, “I don’t like renting. I like to own my own home.”

  “You have no objections to living in this area?”

  “Oh, no. I love it down here. The only reason I lived in the city was because of the big house. But,” she pouted, “you won’t stay there.”

  “No. That’s out. Anyway, I have business here and nothing in the city. We’ll stay here. I’ll tell you what: Why don’t we stay for the rest of the Nyland lease and meanwhile plan on building a place of our own or look around for something to buy? How would that be?”

  She put an arm about his shoulders and hugged him. “Why, I think that would be wonderful. I’ve always wanted to plan my own home. We’ll find a nice location and build something really spectacular. But if we’re not going to use the house in the city, I’d better close it.”

  “Have you had many offers for it?”

  “Scads. Just the property alone is worth a quarter of a million. But I don’t know about selling it. That was Daddy’s home, you know. I think he always planned for me to keep it. But I’d better close it, anyway. I guess I can bring the staff down here.”

  He thought of all the servants involved and wondered if he would be expected to pay their salaries. That could become a touchy point, so he said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Elsie takes care of things well enough. Frankly, I don’t like a lot of servants around. You have no privacy.”

  “But darling, we simply must have a butler and a personal maid for me and a good cook. Elsie may be a good maid, but her cooking is much too simple. Now, Clark, you let me take care of the servants and don’t you give them a second thought. It’s a woman’s place to run the house, after all. You just forget all about it and leave it in my hands.”

  “Well-”

  “I’ll run up to the city tomorrow and have my belongings moved down here and close the house. Why don’t you come with me?”

  He knew that if he did he would be expected to meet all her friends, and that he wished to avoid. They knew nothing of the little act he had put on and would naturally regard him as a fortune-hunter. He shook his head. “I wish I could, Faye, but it’s impossible. I’ve let things go so badly here that now I can’t even get away for a few hours.”

  “I don’t like leaving you alone.”

  He laughed and said, “I’ll live.”

  When they arrived in Carmel he parked on Ocean Avenue and made his first outright bid for plunder. He told Faye he had to go to the bank, then, as if thinking of it that moment, said, “Say, here’s an idea: Why don’t we open a joint banking account?”

  “But I’ve always banked in San Francisco.”

  “That could be awkward. You’re going to be living here from now on.”

  “Yes, that’s true. I guess it would be best to bank here.” Then she giggled and said coyly, “But could you trust me with a joint account?”

  “I’ll try.”

  They opened the account with the bank manager and Faye wrote out a check for sixty thousand to put on deposit.
She then gave him blank checks on four different accounts in San Francisco to close them out. The manager practically fell all over her when she informed him casually, “The total should be somewhere over two hundred thousand.” Clark, too, felt a bit giddy with his-own name on such an account. When he transferred his funds to the new account, he was careful that Faye did not see the amount, which was under seven thousand.

  He wandered around town while Faye was shopping, toying with the heady fact that if he wished he could cash out the new account within a few days and probably be worth over a quarter of a million. He could take off for South America or wherever he pleased, and live like a king. In all probability, too, he would not be criminally liable, nor could the funds be recovered, as they were legally, after all, placed in the account for the use of either party. It was the greatest temptation he had ever faced in his life and beads of perspiration were heavy on his forehead as he thought of it.

  Two things stopped him from considering it seriously. One was that if he remained with Faye he could undoubtedly take her for many times that amount. The other was that there would then be no chance whatever of getting together with Ione. The latter he still considered as a possibility, if he played it right. He decided to remain where he was and play it out the way it had started.

  But he changed his mind on one matter. Always he had been willing to split everything with Joey, as Joey was a highly useful person, but now he wondered why he should split this windfall with him. Joey, after all, really had nothing to do with it. He could still be used and would be a handy man to have around during the com ing months, but he did not deserve any kind of split on what was to come. Joey could be by-passed easily. It was the logical thing to do. Clark was glad that he had thought of it.

  His happiness was complete the following day, after Faye left for the city. He went to the Lodge in the afternoon and ran into many people he knew, cocktail acquaintances and golfers just going out for an afternoon round. Ricki had obviously spread the word. Almost without exception, they were sympathetic toward Clark and shook hands with him or squeezed his arm almost as if he had lost someone dear to him, rather than acquired a wife.