Better to Eat You

by Charlotte Armstrong

  “Is it, Davey?”

  “God knows it is. Edgar’s dead and Malvina’s out of the house for a half hour at least. If I can immobilize the old man maybe I can get Sarah out of here.”

  “I’ll send him,” said Consuelo. “Dr. Haines. Or failing him, Dr. Price. Oh, I’ll send one of them arunning.”

  “Send me one sound honest medical man,” said David with a sense of almost weeping relief. He hung up. He wanted to run out-of-doors and around to Sarah’s window but he did not. He would stay where he was. Not until the doctor came would he move into the garden.

  * * *

  Sarah sat at her desk, writing. She worked carefully. She wrote on the paper words that had to do with death and with the world as it would be after she died. She was making her Will.

  This was because she hoped not to be murdered.

  The sea sounds were far and rhythmically constant and the ear discarded them. The room seemed so silent, she could hear the pen’s touch on the paper. Outside the window on her left there was silence in the garden.

  She thought, This is an interlude, a recess in the violence. Edgar was dead. Enough. Enough for a little while. Or did Malvina expect the State to take care of murdering Sarah now? But the Deputy believed nothing yet, neither the truth nor the lies. The bald lies, the black lies, had not prevailed. The truth had not prevailed either. For herself, Sarah would have been happier to have been taken away. But there was more than herself to be considered.

  She thought, How could I have been so blind, so stupid, as not to have seen my enemy before?

  Malvina was her enemy. Granddaughter of Lupino, that cruel and terrible man. Sarah shuddered and the pen wavered and she snatched at her composure because this handwriting must be even and firm and sane.

  This was an interlude, like a hurricane’s core, and it would not last. So she must get this document in order. The silence and the false peace and the cessation would not last, because Sarah herself was going to move and break it.

  She heard the voices in the corridor, a strange man’s voice, loud and hearty. She listened a moment and nodded. Now Grandfather’s door would soon close. Her pulse leaped. She steadied her hand. She signed her name to the bottom of the paper.

  “Mr. Fox,” said David politely, “this is Dr. Price.”

  “Eh? What’s this!” The old man strained back.

  “Malvina,” said David sweetly, “is only thinking of you, sir. She thought since your own doctor cannot look after you anymore, it was imperative that someone take over.”

  “I am not prepared …” said the old man. He was furious.

  “Now, Mr. Fox,” said Dr. Price, barging cheerfully to a table and putting his bag upon it, “since I am here, we’ll just see.”

  “Oh, Doctor,” said Mrs. Monteeth, “I’ve been so worried. Not knowing what’s best to be done.”

  “We’ll see what’s to be done.” The doctor was not going to be put off by the patient’s surprise. “How are you feeling, sir?”

  The old man’s face was ugly. His mobile lips opened to reveal the teeth, the stained snags. “Malvina took this upon herself?”

  “For your sake,” soothed David. He introduced the doctor and Mrs. Monteeth. He backed out and closed Grandfather’s bedroom door.

  He put his knuckles against the pale wood across the hall. He breathed “Sarah?”

  The key rattled. “Will you come in, David?” said Sarah quietly. “I want to talk to you.”

  He saw no hatred and no shrinking. “Doctor’s with your Grandfather,” he stammered, stepping in.

  “I know. Thank you.” That beautiful mouth was curving in a small grateful smile.

  “Malvina’s gone to the village. Sarah, forgive me.” His hands craved to reach out for her but he kept them still. “What I was trying to do …”

  “Why,” she said, “I know.”

  He felt even the muscles of his eyes relaxing almost sleepily in this relief. “That’s wonderful,” he murmured.

  “I know that you thought I’d be safe if they took me away.”

  “Sarah …” He nearly choked. He thought, This girl! This marvelous girl! We are not going to have any torn female feelings or bleeding hearts!

  “You do think she’d been trying to kill me?” Sarah asked steadily.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “So do I,” she said.

  David’s head swam with the relief. But he watched her. He was afraid to believe in this Sarah. He didn’t see how she could be as she was. “We can’t talk about it now,” he said. “We must …”

  “Yes,” said Sarah. “Yes, plans. I want you to help me.” Now a little blush came into her face.

  “I will,” he said, his eyes glowing. “Sarah, are your shoulders burned at all?”

  “No. Why?”

  “What can I do to help you? Will you let me take you away?”

  “If you’ll marry me,” she said.

  He lifted his hands. He put them carefully at her shoulders. Her head tilted backward to see him as he loomed closer. So David put his mouth on hers. He felt its tremble, its sweetness tempted and then withdrawn. He said shakily, “For keeps, Sarah? Or shouldn’t I ask?”

  “Not … yet …” she said, as breathless as he. “No, it’s a plan. Will you listen, because I’ve been thinking.” He kept one hand on her shoulder. “About Malvina,” said Sarah. “I’ve tried to understand her. It must be the money. You see, she has a big allowance. But if Grandfather were to die …” Her breath was troubled and she stepped back and he let her go.

  “Half of the money,” she went on, “after taxes … won’t give her as much as she has now. I worked for an accountant once. I know. I remember. But suppose I died and Grandfather left it all to her. Then it would be enough.”

  David said, “Yes, I see.”

  “So she wants me to die before Grandfather dies. And perhaps … he is so frail … perhaps she wants to hurry.”

  David didn’t say he thought the old man was in it, too. He wasn’t even sure of it. He listened gravely.

  “And I think Edgar was helping, for a while. But then Edgar decided he couldn’t let her go on with it. And he was going to tell. So she … had to stop him.”

  “I think that’s a good guess.”

  “But,” Sarah’s hands twisted suddenly, “if she managed to get rid of me, then I’m afraid she wouldn’t wait.”

  “Wait?”

  “She poisoned Edgar. If she got rid of me,” said Sarah, “I think she’d try to get rid of Grandfather, too. And I don’t know what’s ever to stop her trying, unless the whole thing turns out to be not worth while.”

  “I think I …”

  “You see? If I am married and have made my Will, which I have done … it’s here. I … it’s all left to you. But I think a husband has a right in the law, besides …”

  “You were once married,” he murmured.

  “Peter died. A living husband … You would have to stay alive.”

  “I intend to,” said David quickly. “But Sarah … I don’t like to object …”

  “Go on.”

  “If you died and your Grandfather were alive, he could and would make another will. You can’t will to me what you haven’t got yet.”

  “Oh, but Grandfather would do as I wanted,” Sarah said.

  “You think he would?” David felt he had to be careful. Sarah was fine. Sarah was steady in this plan of hers. But Sarah had had too much.

  “Why, Grandfather’s fond of me,” she insisted, “and of you, too, David. Grandfather would rejoice if … if I were married. No, don’t you see? This makes it all useless for Malvina. It must be so, or why, all this time, have she and Edgar tried to keep me from knowing people, from making friends? And I think it must be so because Edgar told me.”

  “Edgar? Told you?”

  “At the hospital. Edgar told me to get married. He said it would be safer.”

  “It could be so,” said David slowly in a moment. “You want to marry me, do yo
u, Sarah, to save your grandfather’s life?”

  “Oh, and mine, too,” she said hastily. “I thought … Don’t you agree?”

  David looked down. “I agree,” he said solemnly. He batted at his crown. “Now how the dickens are we going to get married?”

  “We’ll have to fly to Nevada. Or Mexico. I have enough money, if I can cash a check.”

  He drew his breath in. “Let me take you out of this Nest right now. I have a friend. She’s been waiting to take you in. Come on, quick, while there’s this chance. That’s the first thing.”

  “Isn’t there someone at the gate?” said Sarah.

  “Yes, but …”

  “Will they let me through?”

  “They’ll let you through. I’ll get you through. They may follow …”

  “I don’t think they will let us fly away to Nevada or to Mexico.”

  “Well, no,” he said.

  “Then … we have to sneak,” said Sarah and her mouth curled. “I was thinking …”

  David said, stunned, “Just tell me your plan.”

  “Down the beach way. It’s possible. I could get to the highway. You could pick me up. They won’t follow you, will they? Nobody thinks you poisoned Edgar.”

  “No. Nobody thinks that. Come on, then. Now.”

  “It’s not low tide,” she said. “I can’t swim. I don’t see how I can get around the big rock until the tide is out.”

  “When will it be low tide?”

  “I looked it up. I should think I could make it … maybe at eight o’clock. Or surely soon after.”

  Then he sat down. Hands dangling, he thought about it. She’d run away with him and that was good. That was fine. That was his objective. But she must do it now.

  He said, “Sarah, I want you to come out through the gate. I’m afraid to wait.”

  “I don’t like it, either,” she said uneasily. “But if we go through the gate, they could put me in jail or somewhere, where we couldn’t possibly get married.”

  “You’d be safe.”

  “Safe,” she nodded, “but …”

  “Sarah, according to your own figuring, Malvina won’t hurt your grandfather while you are alive.”

  “But it doesn’t settle anything,” she said.

  Her hand took the paper. “Well, anyway,” she said, “you’ll take this to a lawyer or someone. Maybe it will be enough. I can tell Malvina I’ve made a Will. I think I can get Grandfather to make it plain that he’d respect my wishes. So …” Her voice was a little dreary. “Wasn’t I thinking?” she asked him piteously. “I thought I was. Was I dreaming it all up, just to get married? Wouldn’t it work?”

  “Sarah, darling.” He had her shoulders between his hands again. “I think it’s a wild and absolutely nutty idea that will work like a charm. It’s the best idea in the world, for us to get married.” She leaned forward, her head came against his breast. She leaned there silently and he held her and did not move. He murmured, “All I wish is that the tide was out.”

  “Can you,” her voice was muffled, “can you arrange about a plane? Could we get away in one?”

  “I know a man,” he said. “Private plane. I also know a woman with influence. We could do that. All right, Sarah, just as you say. I’ll have Consuelo waiting for you on the highway in her car and she will smuggle you away. Maybe disguise you.”

  “It’ll be f-fun,” she said.

  “But there’s one thing.” David grew stern. “You’ll go down to the beach while I am here. I’ll talk to them, keep them busy so nothing can stop you.”

  “Talk to Malvina?” She stirred in his arms.

  “Yes, Malvina. And your grandfather, too.” David was afraid. “You won’t … you’d better not tell him about this. He’s had enough excitement.”

  “I know.”

  “No one will tell him you have disappeared until … until he is able to take it. So there’s no need to worry.”

  “It’ll be all right,” she said. “He knows. I told him already, that some day, as soon as I could, I’d run away.”

  David’s pulse jumped. “When was that, Sarah?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. It was after the fire.”

  Bet it was, thought David. He didn’t dare ask her if she had planned to run away in her car. “Sarah, now I remember what I’ve wanted to ask you. Where did you get the headache pill?”

  “What pill? Oh, the day of the fire? When I fell asleep? Why, Grandfather gave me two of his.” She lifted her face. “Edgar knew what they were.”

  “I … see,” said David. “I wondered. It seemed odd to me.”

  He saw. But he didn’t know what she would do if he told her. He didn’t know how to tell her that the old man was trying to kill her, too. He didn’t know why. So how could he tell her? She was running away with him, to save the old man. And if he told her, would she run away?

  He thought, Oh Lord, no. She’s had too much. So he said gently, “Sarah, one thing more.”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m terribly in love with you.”

  “I don’t think …” she swayed away, “you can be so sure.”

  “Well, never mind,” said David cheerfully. “We’ll just run away and get married. Sarah, don’t unlock your door for anyone.”

  “No.”

  “Don’t eat or drink.”

  “No.”

  “Don’t … stumble going down the path.”

  “No. No, I won’t.”

  “Don’t let anyone suspect. Don’t tell a soul this plan.”

  “Oh no.”

  “Ah, be careful. But I’ll be here until you are safe away.” His hand behind him was opening her door. “You start down the beach path at eight o’clock, then?”

  “Yes.”

  “You can get around this rock alone?”

  “At low tide, I can.”

  “I’ll have you met or meet you, right away. I’ll see about a plane. Don’t worry about the fare. We’ll try Nevada.”

  “All right, David.”

  “They’ll marry us in Las Vegas. And then …”

  “Oh, you forgot. The Will.” She ran to get it.

  David looked over his left shoulder at Grandfather’s closed door. Then over his right, down the corridor toward the big room.

  Malvina was standing, not three feet away, against the corridor wall.

  Chapter 16

  She didn’t move. She looked speechless with anger.

  David said nothing. He took the paper from Sarah’s quick hand, made a gesture that tried to express hope and good cheer and a need for silence. He closed Sarah’s door and heard her lock it.

  He took one swift step and got Malvina by the forearm and rushed her, pushed her, simply took her along the corridor and into the big room. She said furiously, “So you’re going to elope with little Sarah? What a fool you are! She’s not even sane!”

  “Shut up,” said David “Listen.”

  If Malvina had obeyed at that moment, he would have had no words for her to listen to. But Malvina said angrily, “All I have to do is tell the man at the gate and you won’t get out of the state, you know. You won’t elope.”

  “Are you jealous?” he insulted.

  “No.” She whipped the word back with anger.

  “Then what’s the matter with you? You don’t want to get Sarah where she ought to be?” Now he had a glimmering of what he could say. “Don’t you think,” he said with his hands rough and unkind, “she ought to be in the hands of a psychiatrist?”

  “Are you a psychiatrist?” she sneered.

  “Listen, Malvina, if you can calm down. You and I both lied, trying to convince Maxwell to lock her up somewhere. But he was not convinced, was he? All right. Listen. This elopement is Sarah’s idea.”

  “Sarah’s?”

  “Yes. Sarah’s. So, let her try to run away. Who do you think is going to be waiting for her on the highway?”

  “What do you mean? What are you doing?” Her eyes turned. She’d believe in
a plot.

  “I’m getting Maxwell to wait on that road,” he told her.

  “But why?”

  “Because once she’s caught trying to run away, he’ll be convinced. Don’t you understand?” He shook her, covering with vehemence this desperate scramble for a good lie to tell her. “And don’t go running to your grandfather and get him excited.”

  “As if I would!” she cried. “That’s what I’m avoiding.”

  “So am I. Get the point, will you? The quickest and easiest way to get Sarah out of here and let there be peace, is for me to agree to her plan.” (Let this double-crosser believe I’m a double-crosser, prayed David, so I can get Sarah safely out of here.)

  Malvina leaned back, hanging on the strength in his hands. “I don’t believe you,” she said contemptuously. “I think you’re a romantic. You want to ‘save’ Sarah,” she sneered and he wished he could hit her.

  “I don’t care what you think as long as you keep quiet,” he said. “You know and I know that girl is trouble, isn’t she? Doesn’t make any difference why. Trouble and tragedy wherever she goes. She is a Jonah. Do you want to get it out of this house and spare the old gentleman? Or don’t you?”

  “I do. I do. But …”

  David kept holding her but now the range of his vision, that had been concentrated on her face, widened, and he realized that both Gust Monteeth and Moon the Chinaman were standing in the dining room and listening to all he had been saying. He looked behind him. No, Grandfather was not there, as he had half expected, listening, too, with his head cocked.

  “Where’s the doctor?” he said. “Gone?”

  Malvina’s face showed no more than a flicker of the eyes but he had hold of her forearms and to his fingers, through the flesh, came the news of her inner earthquake. He felt the deep shock that hit her, the heart leap, the blood pounding.

  “Doctor?” Malvina said with only a faint frown showing on her face.

  “I called a doctor to see your grandfather, of course. Wisest thing. Don’t you agree?”

  Malvina began to stand on her own balance. She tried to pull out of his grasp. “I hadn’t thought of it,” she said. “Why, of course I agree. That was good of you, David.” Her eyes glistened. The smooth mask was closed. But he could feel in his fingers the skip and flutter now, the scared heart trying to swing steady. He let her go.