1968 - An Ear to the Ground

by James Hadley Chase

  English regarded Harry with admiration.

  ‘What a mind! That’s terrific! For twenty bucks Joe would betray his own mother. Okay, leave it to me. I’ll talk to him. You pay him one week . . . I’ll pay him the other. Okay?’

  Later, English called Harry at the office and said it was fixed. Harry had already warned him Miss Bernstein listened in, so English just said, ‘Joe has arranged our game for Sunday. It’s in the bag.’

  Somehow, Harry got through the days while waiting for Sunday. He could only think of Tania, and once or twice the faraway expression made Lisa demand sharply what he was thinking about. Startled, Harry said he was wondering how he could persuade the Texan — his name was Hal Garrard — to buy that parcel of land.

  ‘I am sure I can sell him if only I can find the right approach.’

  ‘Is that all you’re thinking about?’

  ‘Well, damn it! It’s worth three hundred thousand.’ Harry lit a cigarette so he needn’t meet her eyes. ‘It’s a big deal.’

  Lisa shrugged, ‘You men . . . we have all the money we want. You’re just greedy.’

  Harry thought grimly that she had all the money she wanted, but he hadn’t.

  ‘Look, darling,’ he said quietly, ‘it’s all very well for you to talk that way. I have only twenty thousand, and it gets used up with so many incidental expenses.’

  She regarded him, her hard, pain-worn face suspicious.

  ‘If you want any more money, tell me. Give me your bills . . . I’ll pay them.’

  Harry controlled an outburst with an effort.

  ‘That makes me a bit of a gigolo, doesn’t it?’

  She lifted her black eyebrows. Well, you are, aren’t you? her expression conveyed.

  ‘It’s my money, Harry. Will you please turn on the TV?’

  Well, that was that. Somehow Harry told himself he would have to make do with his twenty thousand. At least, he could now charge his clothes to Lisa’s account, but he would have to be very careful. He mustn’t give her the excuse to ask to see his bank pass sheets, and this was something she might well do.

  Saturday night, he got a shock.

  They were sitting on the terrace after dinner. Harry was trying to read a thriller which didn’t hold his interest as his mind was on Tania and thinking that in another few hours he would be lying in her arms when Lisa who had been doing a crossword puzzle said, ‘I forgot to tell you, Harry. We are going to Miami tomorrow morning. The Van Johnsons have invited us to lunch.’

  Harry nearly gave himself away. With an effort, he kept his face expressionless.

  ‘I’m sorry, darling, I can’t go. I promised Jack. . .’

  ‘We are going, Harry!’

  ‘Look, why not let ToTo drive you. I have a foursome with Jack and . . .’

  ‘You are driving me, Harry,’ Lisa said in that cold, flat voice that brooked no argument. ‘You have been invited.’

  ‘But look. . .’ Harry began, then seeing Lisa turn pale and her eyes light up with fury, he stopped short. He couldn’t face the scene that was bound to come if he persisted in this. ‘Well, okay . . . I’ll call Jack,’ and getting to his feet, he went into the lounge. He stood for a long moment, so furious at his own cowardice, so frustrated that he now couldn’t make love to Tania after all the past days of waiting and dreaming, he wanted to go back on the terrace and kill this hook-nosed, cripple bitch, but he controlled himself. He dared not telephone Tania. Either Helgar or ToTo could listen in from one of the many telephone extensions in the house. So he called English. He said he was taking Lisa to Miami and he was sorry he would have to scrub the game.

  English was quick to realise what had happened. He said it was bad luck. Maybe the following Sunday.

  There was no way to get word to Tania. The telephone was too dangerous. The Post Office was three miles away. He scarcely slept that night.

  They left in the Rolls soon after ten o’clock the following morning. As he drove, Harry thought of Tania waiting for him, thinking he had betrayed her. Somehow, he must control himself.

  Lisa said abruptly, ‘I don’t know what’s the matter with you this morning. You act like a stuffed dummy. Haven’t you anything to say to me?’

  Well, there were other Sundays, Harry thought. He was behaving stupidly. He just couldn’t afford to take any risks.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I’ve got this deal on my mind.’ Then he began to make that small talk which was so vapid, Lisa told him to stop it.

  ‘If you’re so disinterested in me that you can’t think of anything better to talk about than this, then for God’s sake, keep quiet!’

  They got back from Miami soon after five o’clock. On the way back Lisa criticised the Van Johnsons, the meal and their servants.

  To keep her happy, Harry agreed with everything she said. When they got home, Lisa said, ‘I’m tired. I’ll take a bath. We’ll have a light supper on the terrace.’

  ‘Okay,’ Harry said. ‘You take a rest. I’ll run the car down to Jefferson’s. The carburettors want retiming. Did you notice how she was running on the way back?’

  ‘She was running perfectly’ Lisa said, staring suspiciously at him.

  ‘I was driving,’ Harry said quietly. ‘She’s using too much gas. I want to get it fixed.’

  ‘Oh, very well.’

  When he had carried her to her chair and had seen Helgar wheel her into the house, Harry got back into the Rolls and drove fast to the nearest drug store, some two miles down the long avenue. He parked the car and shut himself into a telephone booth.

  He called the Saigon Restaurant.

  Dong Tho answered.

  ‘Is Tania there?’

  When Dong Tho recognised Harry’s voice, he drew in a long sigh of relief. Both he and Tania had been distracted all day, believing that Harry had had his fun and the affair was over. Although they were three hundred dollars in credit, they were now landed with six months’ lease on the apartment as well as Anna Woo’s exorbitant charge for the loan of her apartment.

  ‘A moment, please, sir.’

  Dong Tho got Tania to the telephone. When he told her Harry was on the line, she pressed her hands to her full breasts and closed her eyes. Dong Tho gave her a sharp slap.

  ‘Talk to him!’

  ‘Tania?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘This is Harry’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Tania, listen . . . I had to go to Miami with my wife. I couldn’t contact you. It has driven me half out of my mind. I am very sorry. Will you forgive me?’

  Tania smiled, her eyes closed.

  ‘I understand. It is very difficult for you. I am very sorry too.’

  Harry wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

  ‘You’re not angry with me?’

  ‘Angry with you? I love you.’

  Those words: I love you kept Harry walking on air for the rest of the week. It was a bad week for Lisa who remained in bed, suffering. Harry saw little of her, but he dare not leave the house once he had returned from the office. He waited and longed for Sunday to come. He told himself that if Lisa prevented him from seeing Tania this Sunday, he would tell her to go to hell — knowing that he wouldn’t.

  But it was Lisa who told him he should play golf with English on Sunday.

  The apartment Tania had rented wasn’t anything like so deluxe as Anna Woo’s love nest, but Harry liked it better. It was simpler, more homely, and there was a king’s size bed, and that was the only thing Harry really cared about.

  ‘This time,’ Tania said as she slid out of her clothes, ‘I make love to you. You are passive . . . I am active. It is the way the East make love sometimes.’

  She made him lie flat on the bed.

  ‘You must keep your eyes open. We must look at each other.’

  The next five minutes were the most exciting and exotic moments in Harry’s life.

  Later, as they lay side by side, she said, ‘I have an idea how we can meet more often.
You want us to meet more often, don’t you, Harry?’

  Harry pulled her closer to him.

  ‘Of course I do, but I don’t see how. I’ve been battering my brains out how it can be done, but I can’t see how. I have to be damned careful, Tania . . . you don’t know how careful.’

  ‘Yes, I do.’ She raised her exquisite face and looked at him. ‘Suppose she did find out. . . what would happen?’

  Harry flinched at the very thought.

  ‘She would divorce me, and that would be that.’

  ‘What does that mean, please?’

  ‘I would have to find a job.’

  ‘But you have a good job, haven’t you, Harry?’

  ‘Not really. She could throw me out. The business belongs to her — everything belongs to her. If she divorced me, I wouldn’t have a cent.’

  Tania absorbed this information, her face expressionless.

  ‘I see . . . then you must be very careful,’ she said finally. ‘But couldn’t you visit me sometimes when she has gone to bed? What time does she go to bed?’

  ‘Always at ten-thirty unless we have guests. But I don’t see how I can. I couldn’t take the car out. Someone would hear it.’

  ‘But suppose I was waiting for you in a car? I could drive you here and take you back.’

  Harry was startled. This could be an idea.

  ‘Can you drive?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Have you a car?’

  ‘No, but we could buy one. I know of a very cheap, good car that is for sale. It is only four hundred dollars . . .secondhand.’

  Right at this moment Harry had only eight hundred dollars in his account to last him another fifteen days before his allowance was paid in. He moved uneasily.

  ‘I’ll have to think about it, Tania.’

  Tania was longing to own a car. She saw his hesitation. Her father always said if something was worthwhile, you had to fight for it.

  ‘If we are going to buy this car, we have to do it quickly,’ she said, a determined note in her voice. ‘The owner of the car is Papa’s friend. He warned me if I don’t make up my mind by tomorrow, he will have to sell the car to another friend.’

  Harry was thinking. His bedroom was near the patio. It would be simple and safe to leave by the patio door and walk down the drive without being seen. Ever since Lisa’s accident she had gone to bed at ten-thirty unless there had been a party. He had gone to his room to read in bed. Lisa always took sleeping pills. She slept through until seven o’clock. Yes, this could be safe. He could leave the house around eleven-thirty, spend a couple of hours with Tania, get back and no one would be the wiser.

  But four hundred dollars!

  Seeing he was still hesitating, Tania said wistfully, ‘But perhaps it is too expensive? Perhaps you prefer to see me only on Sunday?’

  That decided Harry. He pulled her to him, his hand running down her slim, beautiful back.

  ‘Buy the car. . . I’ll give you a cheque.’

  She pressed her body against his.

  ‘Wouldn’t cash be safer?’

  ‘Yes, you’re right. I’ll send the money by registered mail.’

  ‘Then when you can see me, you have only to telephone.’

  ‘I can’t do that. . . they listen in.’

  ‘But you can. If you dial the restaurant, you can say you have the wrong number. Papa always answers the phone. He knows your voice. Then he will tell me and I will be waiting in the car.’

  Harry regarded her thoughtfully.

  ‘You’ve really thought this out, haven’t you?’

  ‘It’s because I love you and I realise how careful you have to be.’

  Harry rolled her on her back.

  ‘Now, you’re going to be passive and I am going to be very active.’

  Before he left the apartment, he telephoned the Golf Club. Joe Gates said with a chuckle there had been no messages.

  On his way home, Harry wondered how to raise $400 without crippling his account. He had the uneasy feeling that he was getting into a network of lies and intrigues, but he didn’t care. As he drove into the garage, he deliberately steered the Aston Martin into the concrete post that separated one garage from the other. He smashed the front offside wing and the headlamp.

  ‘What’s the matter with you?’ Lisa demanded shrilly when he told her of the accident. ‘Are you drunk?’

  ‘Well, it’s done,’ Harry said, shrugging. ‘I’m sorry. . . accidents will happen. I’d better take it down to Jefferson’s. He’ll fix it.’

  Jefferson, the owner of the garage, liked Harry. They talked the same language about cars and Harry knew Jefferson had no time for Lisa. After Jefferson had examined the damage, he said he could fix it for ninety dollars.

  ‘Do me a favour?’ Harry said. ‘Will you pad the bill out to four hundred and ninety?’ He winked. I’ll pick up the four hundred when Mrs. Lewis pays. Okay?’

  Jefferson grinned.

  ‘Sure. It’s a pleasure to do anything for you, Mr. Lewis. Let’s see: wing straightened and repainted, new headlamp, hubcap replaced, front axle taken down and straightened, brakes readjusted. Yeah . . . can do.’

  When the bill came in, Lisa raised the roof. Harry said humbly that an accident was an accident and the insurance would take care of it, but Jefferson would be obliged to have a cheque right away. Lisa wrote the cheque and threw it at him.

  ‘Be more careful in the future!’

  So without knowing it, Lisa paid for Tania’s car.

  Tania’s plan worked. When Harry felt the urge, he would call the restaurant, apologise for dialling the wrong number.

  Around eleven-thirty p.m. when ToTo had gone to bed and Helgar was in her room watching TV, Harry sneaked out of his bedroom, locked the door, left by the patio door which he locked after him, then went silently down the drive to where Tania was waiting in her T.R.4 at the corner of the road.

  Now life for Harry became an agony of nerves and an ecstasy of the flesh. But he was now too committed to draw back.

  The more he saw of Tania the more he desired her. She seldom asked him for money, and then only to buy some little thing that was of no consequence. He realised that this erotic and wonderful love affair was costing him very little. After three months of this, Tania reminded him that the rent was due, and again he had to think how he could get Lisa to pay the three hundred dollars.

  Lisa had just had her bedroom redecorated. Harry went along to the blond homo decorator who he knew hated Lisa and talked him into adding four hundred dollars to his bill: three for Harry and one for himself. The homo had a tricky moment convincing Lisa why the price had gone over the original estimate, but as she was very satisfied with her room, she grudgingly paid. So again she paid for Harry’s affair.

  One Sunday morning as Tania and Harry were lying on the divan after their lovemaking, Tania said, ‘Please tell me about the Esmaldi diamonds.’

  ‘How do you know about them?’ Harry asked, surprised. He was relaxed and feeling sleepy.

  ‘I have read about the necklace. Is it very beautiful?’

  ‘I guess so . . . yes, it is.’

  ‘Does she wear it often?’

  ‘Scarcely at all. It stays in the safe. It’s a damn shame really, she hasn’t the looks to wear it. On a beautiful woman, it would look magnificent.’

  Tania edged closer to him.

  ‘Would it look nice on me?’

  Harry raised his head and surveyed her naked body. He smiled, nodding.

  ‘More than magnificent.’

  ‘If anything happened to her would you have the necklace, Harry?’

  ‘Not a chance. She has left it to a museum, and besides, nothing is going to happen to her.’

  Tania’s almond-shaped eyes opened wide.

  ‘To a museum?’

  ‘That’s right. The Fine Arts Museum in Washington.’

  ‘So no other woman will ever wear it once she is dead?’

  ‘That’s right.’


  Tania drew in a long slow breath.

  ‘I think that is very selfish.’

  ‘Yes, but there it is. . . it’s her necklace.’

  Lisa had had a bad week of pain. Her temper became insufferable. Even Helgar came under her lash, but Harry suffered most. He was in the lounge, nervously pacing up and down, when Dr. Gourley who had been giving Lisa a checkup came into the room.

  Dr. Gourley was a tall, thin, distinguished looking man who Harry liked.

  ‘How did you find her, Doctor?’ Harry asked anxiously.

  ‘Nothing to worry about,’ Gourley said. ‘She is bound to have pain from time to time. I’ve changed her drugs. She’ll settle down in a day or two.’ He too had had the sharp edge of Lisa’s tongue, but as she was one of his most profitable patients, he accepted her insults.

  ‘She’s not in danger?’

  ‘Danger?’ Gourley smiled and shook his head. ‘She’ll last for years. She has a splendid heart. No . . . you don’t have to worry about that, but she does need a change. I’ve advised her to take a few weeks off in the yacht. Nothing better for her than to have some sea air and a change of background.’

  When the doctor had gone, Harry went up to Lisa’s room. He found her in bed, her hard, pinched face pale and her mouth a thin line of pain.

  ‘That fool thinks I should have a sea trip,’ she said as Harry shut the bedroom door. ‘We will go to the Bahamas. Tell Captain Ainsworth. We’ll leave at the end of the week. We’ll go for six weeks. I’ve already called the Van Johnsons. They will be coming with us.’

  Harry was appalled. He thought of Tania. To be away from her for six weeks! To be cooped up on that damned yacht with those awful Van Johnson bores!

  ‘But, darling, I can’t be away from the office for six weeks,’ he protested, trying to smile.

  She stared at him, her black eyes glittering.

  ‘Don’t talk nonsense! Of course you can! Miss Bernstein can handle the office far better than you! Tell Captain Ainsworth!’

  Harry spent most of the day in the office trying to find a way out. After lunch, he called the Saigon Restaurant from the Yacht Club and asked to speak to Tania.

  ‘I must see you tonight.’

  ‘Harry, dear, I’m sorry, but I have my monthly thing.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. I must see you.’