The Bind

by Stanley Ellin

  “About three months. September and August and most of July. That was some war they were running in 1942, wasn’t it?” Her voice was shrill and strained. “Did you know the Germans and Japs were winning practically everything then? There were even German submarines right up and down Florida. And Jap planes getting ready to bomb California. I never heard any of that stuff in school.”

  Jake glanced at her. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Me? Nothing. What makes you think there is?”

  “You sound funny.”

  “Well, I don’t feel funny,” Elinor said explosively. She started to cry. “I was so goddam scared something happened to you,” she blubbered. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocketbook and worked it around her eyes and nose. “Who needs it?” she demanded fiercely. “A girl has to be out of her mind to get turned on by you. I mean, Andy’s father at least had some feelings.”

  “Andy’s father? Who’s Andy?”

  Elinor said with elaborate patience: “Andy happens to be my kid, and I’ve been living with you a week, and you don’t even know his name yet. So that shows you, doesn’t it? And maybe his father’s bag was just guitar and pot and hanging around, but he did have feelings. Real feelings. And you don’t. I thought you did, but after the way you were to me this morning I know a lot better. Because you don’t.”

  “Baby, I estimate there are anyhow five or six people across that bay who are doing all they can to cut me out of a hundred thousand dollars coming to me. You’d be surprised how deeply I feel about them.”

  “About the money. Because you are absolutely, totally money-oriented. Isn’t that the truth?”

  Jake whistled softly. “That is some fancy language. Where’d you pick it up? From Andy’s father before he walked out on you and his kid?”

  “Never mind him. Isn’t it the truth?”

  “Well, to put it in the words of the great Joe E. Lewis, I have been rich and I have been poor, and believe me, rich is better.”

  “Sure it is. But it would be even better for you if you just once got turned on by people, not money.”

  “That’s a very profound thought,” Jake said. He motioned at the package in her lap. “What turned you on in the store?”

  “Shoes. They were on special, so I got three pairs. I was only going to get one and give you the rest of the money back, but it was such a bargain I spent the whole twenty. Now I’m glad I did.”

  “So am I. It’ll give you a choice of what to wear for dinner tonight.”

  “At the Thorens’, I suppose?”

  “At the Thorens’. And remember to be properly surprised that mama isn’t there when we walk in. If we tie some conversation onto that, they might let slip where she is.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “I’ll try to break us up into twosomes for some private chatter later on. But be careful how you work around to the subject of mama’s hideout. If Kermit gets the least bit suspicious, that door closes for good.”

  Elinor said: “How about you and Joanna? She knows where her mother is too, doesn’t she? Or do you just go walk with her in the moonlight so she can tell you in private how wonderful you are?”

  “I always bet win and place, baby. But the fact that I’ll be trying to wheedle family secrets out of Joanna doesn’t let you off the hook. Kermit’s your target. You concentrate on him.”

  “That’ll be a lot of fun,” Elinor said with distaste.

  She caught sight of the lipstick-stained, half-empty glass of Scotch and water on her way through the living room. She picked it up and examined the stain. “Nera Ortega, I bet.”

  “You bet right.”

  “And what could she have been doing here, as if I didn’t know?”

  Jake said impatiently: “You don’t know. Now go on and make yourself beautiful. You’ve got about fifteen minutes for it. And if someone asks about that bruise on your forehead, tell them the truth. I came down on the brake too fast.”

  She let it go at that. But seated before the dressing-table mirror doing her face as he got into a fresh shirt, she suddenly said: “What don’t I know? She just came around to make a pass at you, didn’t she?”

  “No, she didn’t. She is a very shrewd cookie about some things, our señora. She already suspected there was something fishy about Thoren’s death, and she took it from there and figured out why I was really down here. I had a sweet job talking her out of it.”

  Elinor stopped working on her face. “How?”

  “A friend of mine in New York runs a small publishing house. He keeps me fixed up with a phony book contract just for emergencies like this. It worked before. It worked this time.”

  “And that’s all it took? A phony contract and some talking? She sure must have been anxious to believe you.”

  “Baby, I don’t like the nagging-wife bit. It brings back some highly unpleasant memories. So knock it off. Permanently.”

  “Well, you can’t blame me for—”

  “Did you hear me?” Jake said with slow, hard emphasis. “Either knock it off for good, or get the hell back to New York right now.”

  Elinor turned to look at him, and what she saw in his face seemed to shock her. “You don’t mean that. Not really. Yesterday when I wanted to go back home you told me it could be dangerous for me and the kid. We’d be kind of hostages for you. Things didn’t change all that much in one day, did they?”

  “No, they didn’t. But I’ve had it up to here with your hang-ups. Because what they’re leading up to is that you will be the little lady in charge of my methods and morals, and I will be the goon who has to keep apologizing for them. That kind of comedy I can do without. So either change your attitude or pack in and take your chances on what happens to you and the kid in New York. You can count on me for the plane ticket and cab fare to the airport.”

  “You mean,” Elinor said, “it wouldn’t bother you if something did happen to me or the kid?”

  Jake shrugged. “You’re the one who just explained I had no feelings. How could it bother me?”

  Her shoulders sagged with relief. “So that’s it. That’s what’s bugging you. Jake, you know I only said it because I was so mad at what happened between us this morning. It’s been eating into me all day. But don’t you think I can—”

  He held up a hand. “Now don’t start swinging all the way in the other direction. I didn’t say you were wrong about me, did I?”

  She gave him a pale smile. “All right, rub it in.”

  “Baby, you are delusion-prone. I am not rubbing anything in. I am trying to tell you in plain language that while I’d hate anything to happen to you or your kid because of this Thoren deal, I’d hate just as much paying you three thousand dollars to reform my character. Matter of fact, I’d feel the same way if it came free. You want to make it with me for kicks, okay. You want to show me how the love of a good woman ennobles a man, start packing. It’s as simple as that.”

  Elinor’s face was scarlet. “And I suppose you think I’m kind of simple, too. I suppose you expect me to say how sorry I am for the way I feel about you. Felt about you. All I have to do now for my three thousand dollars is just be Mata Hari when you tell me to and one of your harem when you’re in the mood. And keep on doing the cooking and housework in between, not that you even notice all the trouble I take with them.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Jake said helplessly, “there you go again.”

  “That’s right.” Her voice was so choked with rage that she almost croaked the words. She swallowed hard, then took a long, slow breath to get control of herself. “Because that’s what I’m doing. I’ve had it. I’m going.” She compressed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him, then discovered that one false eyelash, only partly attached, was dangling in her line of vision. She ruthlessly plucked it away. “But suppose—just suppose—I don’t go straight back to New York? Suppose I stop off at the Thorens’ first and tell Kermit all about you? Especially about bugging those phones. Would you still be all that hard-boil
ed if the cops came around to ask you about it? Do you think you could put them down as easy as you put me down?”

  “It seems to me,” Jake said, “that you’d have some questions to answer yourself about bugging phones.”

  “I only did it because you made me. And if I tell them about it, they’ll let me off. It would be worth it to them. Don’t you worry about that.”

  “Maybe,” Jake said mildly, “maybe not.” He stood there frowning at her, and she stared back at him defiantly. Finally he said reflectively: “Funny thing. Magnes told me this could happen, but I told him no, it couldn’t. Not with you. There was too much woman there, I told him. She knows we’re doing a dirty job and might have to get our hands dirty, and she knows the problem her being around poses for me, but she’ll play it cool. She’ll show understanding.” He shook his head ruefully. “I still don’t see how I could misjudge anybody that badly. Or maybe I just don’t want to believe I could.”

  “Oh, no,” Elinor said between her teeth. “You mean, first you’re rotten about everything, and then you somehow lay it on me?” She suddenly shifted from outrage to suspicion. “And what problem do I pose just being around? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Not a thing. Forget it. And you don’t have to stop at the Thorens’ to turn me in to Kermit. You can do it right over the phone here.” He moved toward the hallway, head down, shoulders slumping wearily. “I’ll be inside.”

  “Wait a second. Don’t you go dropping heavy hints and then tell me to forget it.”

  Jake faced her from the doorway with a woeful, crooked little smile. “Baby, look at youself in that mirror. When something like that walks into a man’s life he could be made out of stainless steel, and it would still get to him. And no matter what you think, I’m not really made out of stainless steel.”

  “Are you trying to tell me—”

  “I’m not trying to tell you anything. What’s there to tell? That I was wrong in not letting you know about this from the start? That because of our setup I thought it would be taking advantage of you to get an affair going; it would be dirty pool? Hell, anybody goes against nature like that deserves what he gets.”

  Elinor pressed her hands to her cheeks. “This is crazy. This is absolutely crazy. Only two minutes ago—”

  “I know what happened two minutes ago. You stepped all over my pride, and I hit back. That, I am not sorry about.”

  “Telling me to get the hell out? Telling me it didn’t matter what happened to me or my kid?”

  “I was ten miles deep in love with my wife. She put me down once too often, and that was the end of it for us. She got the kid, too, and I loved him as much as you do yours. But with a man, pride has to come first. He isn’t much of a man without it.”

  Elinor looked dazed. “You’ve got a kid?”

  “A great kid. Nine now. Almost ten. What’s so surprising about it?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, I guess I just didn’t think of you that way. You see him, don’t you? You’re with him sometimes. A kid needs that.”

  “I know. And I do what I can about it. But when she remarried she picked a guy with a million dollars and a jealous streak. It’s no accident that a lot of my visitation days are made miserable for the kid before I get there and after I go. They’re both doing their best to turn him against me.”

  “But that’s awful. I’d never do that with Andy.”

  Jake gave her a look of tender appreciation. “No, you wouldn’t. That’s the way you are. No mean streak at all. Maybe that’s what kept me from crawling into bed with you first chance I got. I’m not much used to your kind of woman.”

  “Oh, Jake, you make such a thing out of that, but you knew about my kid. And you knew how I felt about you. That sure didn’t put me up there with the Virgin Mary.”

  He shrugged ruefully. “So I blew it.”

  “But it was my fault, too. Because I did put you down. I was just jealous, that’s all. I still am. I can’t stand the way you are with other women. It kills me.”

  “Baby, Nera Ortega is only one other woman. And you know my half of the relationship is strictly business.”

  “Maybe the reason for it is strictly business. Not the rest of it.” Elinor made a helpless gesture. “Now I’m nagging you again. I can hear myself doing it, and I can’t stop. You’ve got me so balled up I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “Well, how do you think I feel? The last thing in the world I wanted was for us to get emotionally involved before this job was finished off. Maybe I’ll have to take a walk in the moonlight with Joanna. For sure I have a date with Nera later tonight to get some information out of her. She said something about Thoren’s having been murdered, and I can’t let it go at that. How easy do you think it’ll be for me to put on an act for her or Joanna, the way things shape up between you and me right now?”

  Elinor sniffled. “You like putting on that kind of act. Any man would.”

  He walked across the room, cupped her face between his hands and raised it so that her eyes had to meet his. “Sweetheart, with you around, a man sure doesn’t kill time with the little girls and the old ladies out of choice. Or like to watch you come on strong for someone like Kermit Thoren from across the room. But that’s the way it is.” He pressed his lips to hers, and she gave an involuntary start and shiver. When she began to respond more warmly he pulled away. “We’ll have to watch that quick acceleration while we’re on the job. Now stick back that other eyelash and get yourself set for action. We’re ten minutes late already.”

  She unwillingly turned back to the mirror. She forced herself to smile at his reflection in it. “It’s not the acceleration,” she said. “It’s the way you can come down so quick on those brakes that worries me.”

  36

  But there was no action at the Thorens’. No information forthcoming about the dowager’s whereabouts. Instead of a cozy, readily interchangeable foursome at the table, there were six. The added starters were Hal Freeman, Joanna’s boy friend, and a big, handsome, redheaded girl, an old flame of Kermit, who attached herself as tightly to him as Hal did to the glowering Joanna. Evidently uninvited, to judge from Joanna’s reaction, they took over the evening as if determined to put these newcomers in their place.

  When, a little before eleven, Jake caught the first whiff of a cigarette Kermit and the redhead were now sharing, he gave Elinor the high sign and they took their departure.

  Outside the house, she said: “That was pot. Did you smell it too?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is that why you wanted to get away so fast?”

  “That’s why.”

  “Well, I think it was a mistake. They might get high enough to talk about anything you want. Even about where Mrs. Thoren is.”

  “I doubt it. Anyhow, next thing I’d be invited to share a joint with them, and I can’t afford to play games like that on the job. And if I turned down the offer, I’d really be showing my generation gap.”

  Stepping from the lawn to the hard surface of the road, Elinor caught hold of his hand to steady herself. She did not release it as they started down the road. She said: “I think you’re wrong. I don’t mean about them testing your generation gap, I mean about the way it would come out. Whatever you did, you’d come out fine, and Kermit and Hal would look like kids. That’s how it was going all night there. I liked it.”

  “They are kids. And while we’re on the subject of juvenile vice, my knowing little East Villager, you might answer a question for me. By any chance, do you have some stuff stashed away around our place?”

  Elinor hesitated. “Some. I’ll dump it down the toilet first thing, Jake. Unless—”

  “No unless,” Jake said.

  Back in the house, he watched her empty the packet of marijuana and Zigzag papers into the bowl and flush them away. He said: “Now, for being so cooperative, you can go to bed and catch up on your sleep. Just dig in and enjoy it. Tomorrow it’s back to the library and finish up on those newspaper files.�
��

  “What about you? The way you look, you’re as beat as I am.”

  “I am. But I already told you I have to have a talk with Nera tonight.”

  Elinor said sulkily: “I know. About Thoren getting murdered. You don’t really believe that, do you?”

  “No. But she does, and I have to find out why.”

  Elinor sat down on the edge of the bed and watched in silence as he got into swimming trunks. “When’ll you be back?” she said at last.

  He shook his head in disappointment. “I thought we were done with that kind of question.”

  “I’m only asking. What’s wrong with just asking? I’m not trying to make anything out of it. All I want to know is when I should start worrying.”

  “Never,” Jake said. “Let Mrs. Thoren do all the worrying for us Daystar folks.”

  37

  The Ortegas’ swimming pool and terrace were surrounded by a high, tightly meshed hedge of casuarina. The only light on the terrace came from the lemon-colored glow of a mosquito-repellent lamp. Two lounges had been arranged side by side some distance from the lamp, and Nera reclined on one. She was entirely in shadow. Only the glimmer of lamplight in her eyes showed that she was awake and watchful.

  She said in greeting: “I wondered if you’d be here,” and when Jake said, “That’s what I was wondering about you,” she asked with amusement, “What would you have done if I hadn’t been?”

  “Taken a swim in the pool and gone home. I’d figure you had a good reason to play it safe right now.”

  “Not that I changed my mind about us?”

  “Not for a second,” Jake said, and she laughed softly.

  “Go have your swim anyhow,” she said, and plucked at the waistband of his trunks. “And you don’t have to be so formal with me. You can take that off.”

  “How about you?”

  “I’m already as informal as I can get.” His eyes were becoming accustomed to the shadows, and when she drew apart her robe in demonstration he could see she was wearing nothing under it. “But I never go in before the summer. I don’t enjoy cold water.”