“Yes,” I said. “What is it?”
“You brute,” she protested above the noise of the shower,
“you’re not even listening to me. I said, aren’t we having a
good time?”
“Sure, sure,” I said. “A wonderful time.”
She went on chattering. I reached out for the telephone,
lifting it carefully off the cradle. When the operator
answered, I said quietly, “I want to make another longdistance
call.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied. “Just one moment.”
The yakking went on from the shower. It paused
momentarily on a questioning note.
“Sure, sure,” I answered, holding my hand over the
mouthpiece.
“Well, that’s better. I think you’re sweet, too.”
“Aren’t we both,” I said. That’ll hold you for a minute, you
sweet, deadly bitch. It did. She started humming in the
shower.
“All right, sir,” the operator said.
I took my hand off the transmitter and spoke directly into
it, very quietly. “Fort Worth. Person-to-person to George
Gray at the Gray Midcontinent Equipment Company.”
“Yes, sir. Will you hold on, please?”
The humming continued from the bathroom. I breathed
softly; she couldn’t possibly have heard me. All right baby, I
thought; I’ve got you.
The Big Bite — 127
I could hear Information in Fort Worth giving the number,
and then the telephone ringing.
The humming stopped. “Oh, John?”
I grinned coldly. Putting my hand back over the
transmitter, I said, “Stop the yakking for a minute, will you.
I’m trying to make a telephone call. And turn off that
shower.”
The shower stopped abruptly. The door opened and she
came out, naked, beautiful, and dripping, with a big towel in
her hand. “A telephone call?” she asked with big-eyed
innocence. “To whom, John?”
I smiled. “Long distance. To a friend of mine. You may
have heard me speak of him.”
“Oh,” she said, with no surprise in her voice and no
change of expression. The world lost a great actress, I
thought. After six days she must have figured they about
had it made, but no disappointment showed on her face at
all.
Just then George’s voice sounded in the receiver. “Hello?
Gray speaking.”
“John,” I said. “How are you, boy?”
I held the receiver tightly against my ear. She’d be able to
hear there was a voice on the other end and to recognize it
as a man’s, probably, but unable to catch a word of what it
said.
“Well, you old son-of-a-gun,” George said. “It’s good to
hear from you. How’s fishing?”
I looked at her. “Fine,” I said. “It’s been very good. I just
thought I’d let you know everything’s under control here,
and that the trip has been very successful. We’ve made
ourselves a deal, boy.”
“Then you will go to work for us—?”
“Sure,” I said. “Right away. Next Thursday, in fact. Oh,
say, you got the package all right, I guess?”
“Sure. Thanks a lot, John. You say—”
“I knew you’d appreciate it.” I chuckled. “Thought they
were tied up pretty neatly, myself. And hooked, what I
mean. Well, I just didn’t want to let too much time go by
without letting you know I was okay and that the deal was
The Big Bite — 128
set. Here’s the scoop. I’m going down to Houston Thursday
morning and I’ll be at the Rice Hotel by about eleven. I’ll
get in touch with you from there about the details of the
deal. I won’t take up any more of your time right now. See
you, George.”
“Fine,” he replied. “Good-by.”
I hung up and looked at her again. She merely glanced at
me questioningly and went on drying herself. Her breasts
swung gently under the towel. “Then he’ll have the tape
there by Thursday morning?” she asked in a matter-of-fact
tone. “That was your fellow thug, wasn’t it?”
I stared at her, partly in admiration and partly in
amazement at her coolness, and then I caught on and just
managed to restrain the impulse to laugh. She wasn’t acting
at all. I’d just put on all that show for nothing; it had never
occurred to her to doubt I was telling the truth about an
accomplice.
I grinned at her. “Honey,” I said. “You’re cute. And you’re
stacked.”
She smiled, and dropped the towel across the back of a
chair as she looked down at herself. “How did you ever
guess?” she asked.
* * *
We checked out of the hotel late Wednesday afternoon and
started back. I drove. She sat rather quietly beside me for a
long time. “I’ve had a wonderful time, John,” she said after a
while.
“Good,” I said. “So have I.” I felt wonderful. We were on
the last lap. The whole thing had been so easy it was
ridiculous and now all that remained was picking up the
money.
“After we’ve finished the business in Houston, wouldn’t
you like to go down to Galveston?” she asked. “For just a
few days?”
Women never seemed to realize they defeat their own
purpose. There’s nothing on earth you can need worse when
you do and need less when you don’t. I was caught up. I
started to open my mouth to tell her to get herself a new
The Big Bite — 129
boy when it occurred to me there was no sense
antagonizing her at this stage of the game.
“Sure,” I said. “That would be wonderful. We’ll spend the
weekend down there.” After all, as soon as I got my hands
on that money I could fade and there was nothing she could
do about it. I’d drive the car as far as Dallas, sell it, and take
a plane to the Coast. I was already making plans.
Mazatlan, on the west coast of Mexico, had been buzzing
around in my head for a long time. A couple of years ago I’d
made a trip down there with another guy on the squad after
the season was over. We’d had a fine time, catching sails,
and I could see the place was going to grow. They were
putting a highway through all the way from the border and
the tourists and fishermen were going to flock in. It might
never be another Acapulco, but if an operator with a
bankroll and a good eye for a buck moved in now he could
get in on the ground floor. The thing to do was drift down
there, shack up with some babe to learn the language, and
keep an eye open all the time for the good thing.
She was saying something again. “What?” I asked. I
pulled out to pass a truck, and came back in the lane again.
“I said I’ll have to stop at the house when we go through
town and pack another bag. I’ll need beach things.”
“Oh.” I thought about it. Well, why not? It’d be dark;
nobody would see me with her if she pulled right into the
garage. And while we were at the house she could use the
phone to get a line on Tallant’s whereabouts before we went
out to the camp to get my car started with the new battery
I’d picked up. I didn’t like the idea of going out there at
night without knowing where he was. He’d realize I was
coming back sooner or later to get the car, and if he’d gone
completely off his rocker by this time he might be waiting
for me with a gun.
“Sure,” I said.
We stopped to have dinner on the way, and it was a little
after nine p.m. When we came into Wayles. She was driving
then. She skirted the Square, keeping to the darker streets.
When we came up past the side of the Cannon house it was
dark and the whole area was quiet except for the sound of a
radio or television set coming from a house farther up the
street. She stopped in front of the garage door, and got out
The Big Bite — 130
to open it herself just in case one of the neighbors might be
watching. She got back in and drove inside. I waited until
she’d shut the door before I got out. We stood in the hot,
airless garage with the headlights glaring against a white
concrete wall. When she unlocked the door going into the
kitchen, I cut the car lights and felt my way along after her.
When we were inside the kitchen, I closed the door and
latched it. She clicked on a light and smiled at me. “You
know, we could stay here and go on down to Houston early
in the morning. Nobody knows you’re in here.”
I shook my head. “Let’s get going.”
“All right,” she said.
“Wait,” I told her, “Don’t turn on a light in the livingroom.
You can see through that drape if there’s enough
light behind it.”
“There’s nothing back of the house but a vacant lot,” she
protested. Then she shrugged. “But you already know that,
don’t you?”
“That’s right. So just turn on one in the dining-room.
That’ll give you enough to use the phone. I want you to call
Tallant’s number.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“I want to know for sure where he is before we go out
there to pick up my car.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, John. Are you still making a fuss
about him?”
“Never mind,” I said. I took her arm and shoved her
through the door ahead of me. “Call him.”
There was enough illumination in this end of the room for
her to dial. I sat on the arm of the big chair on the other
side of the doorway. The air-conditioning was turned off and
it was hot in the room and intensely silent. When she
finished dialing I could hear the telephone ringing at the
other end. No, it’s not really the phone ringing, I thought.
It’s just an illusion the telephone company throws in to keep
the subscribers pacified. It went on. There was no answer.
She dropped the instrument back in its cradle and looked
around at me.
I didn’t like it at all. “Try his shop.”
The Big Bite — 131
“He closes at six.”
I took a cigarette from my pocket. “Never mind. Try it.”
She shrugged. “All right, but he wouldn’t be there this
time of night.”
“Don’t give me so much static. What the hell, he does
gunsmithing, doesn’t he? And keeps his books.”
She dialed the number. “Is there any particular message
you’d like me to give him?”
“No. As soon as you hear his voice, hang up.”
There was no answer.
I lit the cigarette while she hung up and stood looking at
me. “You know his habits. You got any idea where he could
be?”
“No.”
“How about lodges? Pool halls? Where does he hang out
when he’s not pawing up the shrubbery after somebody’s
wife?”
She shrugged. “He’s an amateur astronomer, he plays
chess with a number of other men around town, and he
goes away on two and three day fishing trips. He could be
anywhere. What does it matter?”
I waved a hand at her to cut out the yakking. I still didn’t
like the idea of going out there at night not knowing where
he was. Still, there were a lot of other places he could be.
Maybe his nerve had broken and he’d left the country. Hell,
I thought, it had been four days. He couldn’t have been out
there waiting for us all that time. We’d take a chance on it.
“Pack your bag,” I said. “Let’s get rolling.”
“Are we going by to pick up your car?”
“Sure. Shake it up, will you?”
“I’d like to change before we go.”
“All right, all right. Just don’t take all night.”
“You sound nervous—”
“Get the lead out, will you?”
She started across the living-room toward the hallway
leading to the other wing of the house. Then she stopped
and turned. “You’ll have to reach down the bag for me,” she
said. “It’s on a shelf in one of the bedroom closets.”
The Big Bite — 132
“Okay,” I said. I followed her.
The hallway turned at right angles. Beyond that it was
very dark. I stayed close behind her, holding her arm so I
wouldn’t bump into the walls. “Where’s the light?” I asked
impatiently.
We went through a doorway. I felt it brush my arm. “Here
by the bed,” she said. “Just a minute.”
She was standing close in front of me and I could tell she
was groping around for the lamp. Suddenly she turned and
put her hand on my arm. It slid upward, along my shoulder.
“John,” she said softly, “let’s stay here tonight. We could
go out there early in the morning and still be in Houston by
noon.”
“No.”
“Please!” Her arms came up around my neck. She pulled
my head down and her lips were against mine.
I suppose it’s pure reflex. You’re whipped, but never
completely defeated; if you were dying on your feet your
reaction to that piece of business would always be the same.
My arms tightened around her.
“Don’t let me fall,” she whispered. All her weight seemed
to be hanging around my neck.
A light switch clicked and the room was full of sudden
light. I whirled, taking her with me part of the way until she
pushed hard against my chest, spun outward, and fell.
Tallant was sitting crosswise in an overstuffed chair near
the door we’d come in. His legs were hanging over the arm,
and a pump shotgun was balanced across his knees.
His eyes didn’t look crazy at all; they were just cold and
very hard. He gestured slightly with one hand. “Nice work,
Julia. Move to your left and stay down.”
The Big Bite — 133
14
She moved across the shaggy white rug on her hands and
knees, toward the dressing table beyond the foot of the bed.
“Sit down, Harlan,” he ordered.
“Look—”
“This is a twelve-gauge, loaded with fours. It’ll cut you in
two.”
I sat down on the side of the bed. It was a big king-sized
affair with a blond oak headboard and green chenille
spread. There were three windows in the room, their drapes
all tightly closed.
It had all happened a little too suddenly for me. One thing
was obvious, though. He wasn’t crazy; the whole thing had
been planned by both of them, and that business out at the
cabin was an act.
I was careful not to make any abrupt moves. “Listen,
Tallant, I don’t know what you’re trying to prove, but
haven’t you forgotten something?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so.” His gaze shifted just
slightly toward her, still keeping me in his field of vision.
“We’re all right, I’m pretty sure,” he told her. “Checks out
fine, so far.”
She got off the rug and sat down on the upholstered
bench before the dressing table. She sighed as she reached
around for a pack of cigarettes lying among the cosmetics,
The Big Bite — 134
and shook her head. “Believe me. I was glad to get your
message.”
I stared at her.. Message? For a moment I even forgot him
and his gun.
She glanced at him and smiled. “Mr. Harlan appears to be
a little at sea about it all.”
He shrugged. “He’ll catch on pretty soon.”
“What the hell is all this?” I asked roughly.
She lit the cigarette and regarded me coolly. “A simple
enough message, Mr. Harlan. Merely a lone coffee cup
sitting on the drainboard of the sink, out I in the kitchen.
Would you care for a translation?”
“Look,” I said. “I’m getting a little tired of this—”
“It said, quite simply: bring the gentleman on back to the
bedroom; everything is as planned.”
“So we’re here,” I said. “So what of it?”
I reached in my pocket for a cigarette, not remembering
until I’d already started the movement that it could be a
dangerous thing to do if he was at all trigger-happy with
that shotgun. He merely watched me boredly. So she’d
already given him the high-sign I didn’t have the gun with
me. They were cute. They were just full of cloak-and-dagger
routines.
“You ought to be on television,” I said.
They merely stared at me, saying nothing.
I lit the cigarette. None of this business made any sense,
but I wasn’t scared, even as deadly as he looked with that
shotgun. Nothing could change the fact I still had them
where I wanted them and they couldn’t touch me. I’d only
been afraid of him when I thought he was about to flip his
lid.
“You were with him every minute he was out of the hotel
room?” Tallant asked her.
“Every second,” she replied. “He was never out of my
sight. But he made one call from the room.”
“Two,” he said.
She nodded. “That’s what I meant. One beside the call to
Harley and Bryson.” She paused, and then went on, “I
The Big Bite — 135
gather, from the fact we’re all here, that you think it’s all
right.”
“I think so,” he said.
“What’s all this flap about telephone calls?” I asked.
“We’re trying to find out something,” Tallant replied
coolly.
“What? Or is it any of my business?” I asked. Then a little
feeling of uneasiness took hold of me. How had he known
I’d made two calls from the room?
“We’ll get to it in a minute,” Tallant replied. “You came
here to sell us a story. We’re just looking it over before we
buy it. You don’t mind?”
“No. It’s all right with me,” I said. “But suppose you fill
me in. I gather that cuddly routine of hers and that punchy
act of yours was supposed to get me out of there so you
could shake down the cabin?”
He nodded. “Partly.”
I didn’t catch exactly what he meant by that, but I let it
pass. “So what were you looking for? Maybe I could help
you.”
“A roll of recorder tape.”
I glanced across at her. “Maybe you’d better tell him
again.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Apparently he didn’t get the word. You saw me drop it in
the mailbox.”
She shrugged. “I saw you drop something in the box. Let’s
put it that way.”
“Are you crazy—?”
Tallant broke in on me. He shifted a little in his chair, and
said, “It’s hot in here, Julia. How about turning on the airconditioner?”
“Excuse me,” she said, and went out the doorway into the
hall. In a moment I heard the unit begin humming. She
came back.
“I don’t know but what I’ve acquired an aversion to airconditioned
bedrooms that may stay with me for the rest of
my life,” she said calmly as she sat down. “Four days and
The Big Bite — 136
nights of Mr. Harlan’s lordly condescension could leave
their mark on any girl.”
There was a passing shadow of expression on Tallant’s
face for the first time. His mouth grew hard, but he said
nothing.
“Look, what the hell is this?” I asked. “You saw me mail
that roll of tape—”
She leaned forward a little with her chin in the palm of
her hand. “Of course you mailed something. I saw you, as
you so obviously intended. It might or might not have been
the roll of tape. My impression of it afterward was that
when it fell into the box it didn’t sound heavy enough to be
the real package. That’s just an impression, of course, and
I’ll admit I could be wrong. However, whether you mailed it
or not still isn’t the major consideration. You could very
easily have put it in the mail addressed to yourself
somewhere, or addressed to nowhere in particular. Illusion
was your object, naturally, and it was quite effective, at
least from a short range point of view. In football I believe
you call it a fake handoff—” She broke off and studied me
thoughtfully. “You’re still with me, Mr. Harlan?”
I was with her, all right. I felt the uneasiness again. I was
sunk, though, if I let them see it. “Cut it out,” I said curtly.
“You mean you think I’ve still got it?”
She smiled. “You’re following the wrong rabbit, Mr.
Harlan.” “What do you mean?”
“Frankly, there’s no way we could know whether you still
have it or not. There are too many places you could have
hidden it. But that’s not the issue at hand. What we’ve been
trying to establish is that no one else has it. There’s a subtle
and, very important difference. You see?”
“Look! Have you gone crazy? You heard me talking to the
man I mailed it to—”
“Did I?” she asked softly. She glanced at Tallant then, and
said, “Or perhaps I should ask Dan.”
I stared at one and then the other. “What in hell are you
talking about?”
She smiled. “I think perhaps we are confusing Mr. Harlan,
He may not be able to keep up.”
The Big Bite — 137
“You’ll have to judge that,” Tallant replied. “Appraising
him was your job and, naturally, I haven’t had your
opportunities.”
I shot a quick look at him. On the outside, he was as calm
and efficient as ever, but this was the second time I’d had
the impression he was being ridden hard by something he
was trying to keep under control.
She caught it too. “Really, Dan.” Then she went on coolly.
“Of course appraising him was my job, and I think I’ve done
it. Mr. Harlan is what he himself would call a tough guy, but
he’s not an utter fool. He’s almost completely insulated
against every human emotion except greed, and he
mistakes insensitivity for courage. He has imagination and
daring of a sort, enough to conceive a plan like this and to
attempt to carry it through alone, but not enough to
recognize the flaws in it, and subtlety is not his dish of tea.”
He grunted. “Well, maybe we’d better bring him up to
date.” He shifted the gun just slightly and went on in a
level, cold voice, “You’ll recall, Harlan, you, told us we had
two possible ways out. We could pay you, or, if we were
convinced you were working alone, we could kill you. It was
nice of you to point that out, even if a little unnecessary. So
then you proceeded to prove to us that you were not
working alone. The only trouble with it is we’re still not
convinced you proved your point. And since neither of us is
stupid enough to place himself at the mercy of a blackmailer
for the rest of his life if there’s any other way out, we’re
going to insist on a little more proof before we buy—”
I broke in on him. “Skip the diagram,” I said. “You think
I’m bluffing, so you’re going to call me. But have you
stopped to think that could be just a little dangerous? You’d
never know you were wrong until the police knocked on the
door.”
He nodded. “We know that. Or rather, let’s say we realize
we’re supposed to be aware of it, as part of the rules. But
there’s another and slightly more subtle angle to it I don’t
think you’ve considered yet.
“However, let’s take all the aspects in their proper order
so we’re sure we understand each other. First, if something
happens to you, your accomplice is going to turn that tape
and your letter over to the police.
The Big Bite — 138
Right?”
“Of course.”
“Very well. Now. That raises an interesting question. Just
how does he know something has happened to you?”
I grinned coldly. So that was their angle, all along.
Catching it back there in the hotel room that morning had
saved my life.
“How does he know?” I asked. “Why, when he quits
hearing from me, of course.”
He nodded. “I see. And just when was the last time he did
hear fr6m you?”
I looked at her and grinned. “Tell him, honey.”
She returned my glance with an enigmatic smile, and
said, “No. You tell him.”
I shrugged. “Sure, if you insist. Don’t you want him to
know you were standing there at the foot of the bed, naked,
while you listened to me talking to him?” I turned to Tallant.
“It was around ten-fifteen yesterday morning.”
His eyebrows raised. “You’re sure of this?”
“Ask your lady friend,” I said. “That was what she was
there for, wasn’t it?”
“Oh, we know you made the call, all right. The thing I’m
questioning is whether the man you talked to even knew
anything about this.”
I felt the little shiver go up my back again. It was
unaccountable, because I knew there was no way on earth
they could have checked the call. She couldn’t have heard
me give the name to the operator, and I’d kept my eye on
her from then on, to be sure she hadn’t tried to get it out of
the hotel operator. She had never been out of my sight a
minute.
“Nuts,” I said. “Now you’re beginning to talk like an idiot.
Why don’t you ask her to repeat the conversation?”
He shook his head. “I don’t have to. I know who the man
was you talked to, and I don’t think he’s in the blackmail
business, or about to go in it. His name is George Gray. He’s
vice president and second largest stockholder in the Gray
Midcontinent Equipment Company of Fort Worth, son of the
founder, worth around three-quarters of a million dollars,
The Big Bite — 139
married, has two children, member of the Chamber of
Commerce, and the best country club, and he’s quite active
in his church, in Community Chest and hospital drives, and
in several civic organizations. That sound like a blackmailer
to you?”
My mouth dropped open. I could only stare at him.
“Now, Harlan,” he went on coldly, “what we’re interested
in finding out from you is whether you’re going to insist
Gray is your accomplice, which is ridiculous, or if not, why
you called him instead of the real accomplice— if you even
have one.”
I couldn’t say anything. My tongue was stuck to the roof
of my mouth.
He smiled coldly. Still holding the gun across his knees
with his right hand, he reached into his jacket pocket with
his left and brought something out. I stared. It was a roll of
recorder tape.
“Great machine, the recorder,” he said. “Private
detectives use them, too. Your telephone in that hotel room
was bugged after the first day.”
Then he had both sides of the conversation.
He must have seen it in my face. “You’re so right, Harlan.
Gray didn’t even know what you were talking about, as near
as I can gather. He thought you were referring to the job he
offered you. I don’t know what was actually in the package
you sent him, but obviously it wasn’t recorder tape. So let’s
hear your story, and you’d better make it good.”
I tried to pull myself together and get my mind to work.
They were deadly as hell, and they were closing in on me.
Only one thing was clear, and that was the moment they
were absolutely certain I was alone in this thing they’d kill
me like erasing a mistake in a letter. Maybe I was done for
now, but the only thing left was to go on bluffing. They
hadn’t quite made up their minds yet, or I wouldn’t be alive
now.
I leaned forward and tried to make my voice sound tough.
“My story? It’s exactly the same thing I told you from the
first. You know that roll of recorder tape will hang you. She
saw me put it in the mail. You know I haven’t got it, because
you searched the cabin and the car. Therefore, somebody
The Big Bite — 140
else’s got it. You don’t know who, and there’s no way you
can find out. Now, if you want to take a chance I’m lying
about it, go ahead. There’s only one way you can lose, and
that’s to lose all the way. The first time you’ll know you
were wrong is when the cops knock on the door. You’re
tough, but | not that tough. Nobody is.”
“Why not?” she asked innocently. “Look at it yourself. You
can see what the odds are. And if you’re wrong you go to
the chair. That’s a rough dose.”
She turned toward him and smiled fleetingly. “You see,
Dan? Psychological fine points are not Mr. Harlan’s forte.”
“Put it away,” I said. “You’re not even making sense.”
“I think we are,” he said. “Remember, I told you there was
another angle you hadn’t considered?”
“Sure. More double-talk.”
“Not at all. It’s quite real, and it has a definite bearing on
the validity of the threat. We’re not in as much immediate
danger as you think.”
“Bat sweat.”
“I’m serious. Just listen for a moment. Let’s say, for the
sake of argument, that you’re telling the truth. We grant
you an accomplice.”
“That’s nice of you.”
“Let’s be very original and call him X. And now we
stipulate further that you’ve come up here to do something
that could be highly dangerous, and that you have
vanished.”
“Go on,” I said.
“The specified time has run out with no word from you.
He assumes, correctly enough, that something has
happened to you. So what does he do?”
“Now, that’s a bright question. What do you think he
does? He turns the tape and the letter over to the police.”
Tallant shook his head with a faint smile. “No.”
“Don’t be stupid. Of course he does.”
“I don’t think so, and right there is the point you
overlooked. Your whole threat is just a threat on paper, an
arbitrary rule set up in an imaginary game. He doesn’t turn
The Big Bite — 141
it over to the police, for the simple reason that he would
have everything to lose and nothing whatever to gain.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake—”
The smile became a little colder. “You don’t see it yet?
What, specifically, does he stand to gain? Revenge? Don’t
be stupid yourself. What the hell does he care about you, or
what happened to you? He’s not a relative, because you
have none. We checked.”
“He’s a friend of mine—”
“Don’t be ridiculous. In your business, friends are
expendable.”
“So what does he stand to lose? Eight cents worth of
stamps.”
They exchanged glances. “What does he stand to lose?”
he asked. “Really, Harlan. He stands to lose a hundred
thousand dollars.”
I saw what he was driving at, and I could feel the walls
move a little closer around me.
He went on like a professor giving a lecture. “This tape
you have is worth nothing in itself. It has only what we will
call potential value, or value solely as a threat. The minute
you carry out the threat, its value drops to zero. You
understand that, I suppose? The police would give him
nothing for it, obviously. All they’d do, if they found out who
he was, would be to put him in jail for not giving it to them
sooner. So there we come right to the heart of the matter.
“X has something that has a potential value of—to use
your own figure—a hundred thousand dollars. That is, as
long as he hangs onto it and threatens us with it. So why
Would he turn it over to an ungrateful bunch of slobs like
the police and have its value drop to zero when he can
retain it himself and keep the value alive? Is he insane?”
I tried to say something. I couldn’t.
He continued. “So what happens? Nothing, in our opinion.
Except that sometime in the future, after you have
disappeared completely, friend X comes sidling up to us
with the same old sad story.”
I got myself started at last. “So what have you
accomplished? You have to pay him off.”
The Big Bite — 142
He shrugged. “Perhaps. If you do have an accomplice,
we’re probably ruined, because the thing becomes an
endless chain and could go on forever. You’d bleed us white,
or we’d have to try to escape. But we’re almost certain now
you haven’t; got one.”
He stopped, and the room was silent except for the faint
humming of the air-conditioner somewhere in the house. I
tried to estimate my chances of getting to him without being
cut in two by that shotgun, and came up with an even zero.
He apparently read my thoughts. He shook his head “Not
now. We’re going to wait you out.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re going to see if X does show up. We don’t think he
will, but if he does we haven’t got any more to lose by
waiting for him than we have by being suckers and paying
you now. We’re going to keep you here. Nobody saw you
come in. Nobody knows where you are. As far as the rest of
the world is concerned, you’ve already disappeared, and
could be dead.”
I felt cold all over. “You can’t get away with it.”
“I think so,” he replied calmly. “Do you know what a trial
balloon is?”
I just stared at him.
“It’s a political dodge. A politician deliberately lets
something leak to sample public reaction before he commits
himself. If he gets the wrong reaction, he can deny the
whole thing. That’s your status at the moment. You’re a trial
balloon.”
The room was silent. Nobody moved. “You see?” he went
on. “It’s an unusual sort of thing. We’re going to find out
exactly what would happen if you turned up missing. Before
you actually do, that is.”
The Big Bite — 143
15
I didn’t have a chance; they had me cut off from every
direction. Now that it was too late I could see why Purvis
had approached me. He’d had sense enough to know he
couldn’t bluff it through alone; they were too hard and
dangerous for that. They had to know positively there were
two people in it—and one of them forever out of reach—
before they could be handled. He’d studied Cannon’s death
for a long time and he’d studied her; even without knowing
for sure who the man was in the case he’d been aware of
the kind of people he was up against. And still they’d
managed to kill him.
They’d kill me the same way. It wasn’t a mere matter of
getting that tape back; as long as anybody on earth knew
they’d killed Cannon they were in danger. They were pretty
sure right now I was the only one, and as soon as they were
convinced of it they’d get rid of me. Every hour that passed
without someone else’s showing up was making them more
certain. And nobody else was going to show up.
The cold voice went on, “Your car has been abandoned in
New Orleans. The cabin is closed; your gear and fishing
tackle are gone—”
I leaned forward. “Listen. Somebody’s bound to I know
she was out there. Or that you were out there. You’ve been
seen driving my car. Maybe driving it out. You say there’s
been nobody there looking for me, but you were gone long
The Big Bite — 144
enough to drive the car to New Orleans. I was seen in
Shreveport by God knows how many people. I was
registered at a hotel there—” I stopped.
He smiled. “As Mr. John Abernathy, of Kansas City.”
“Listen! I called George Gray from there—”
“Gray didn’t know where you were calling from. He
probably just assumed it was from here.” He paused for a
moment, and then went on. “Nobody knew she was down
there at that cabin. Nobody saw you leave there with her.
That end of the lake is the most isolated place in the county.
I drove your car out at night—after I’d searched, it and put
it in running order again. As far as knowing nobody had
come out there while I was gone to New Orleans with your
heap—that was easy. I piled up a little mound of dirt in each
rut near the edge of the clearing. When I came back they
were still there; no car had been across them. They’re there
yet, or were four hours ago. Harlan, you’ve disappeared.
You didn’t even leave a ripple. And nobody gives a damn.”
“George Gray—”
“So you won’t call him Thursday. He’ll ask the Governor
to order out the National Guard, won’t he? He offered you a
job; you accepted it, and then changed your mind. He’s
going to get excited about that?”
The room fell silent again as they glanced at each other. I
tried to think. I couldn’t come up with anything. There had
to be a way out. But where was it?
“You can’t get away with it,” I said. “Look. You were gone
from town long enough to drive a car to New Orleans.
They’re going to wonder why your shop’s closed. The whole
thing’s screwy. You give yourself away in a dozen places—”
He shook his head. “I drove your car to New Orleans
Saturday night and came back Sunday on a bus, while I was
supposed to be on a fishing trip to Caddo Lake and when
the shop was closed anyway. I’ve checked this cabin out
there at night, coming in from a different road farther down
the lake and walking up about two miles. I’m in the shop
every day; I come in through the back way here at night.
Everything’s perfectly normal on the surface; there’s
nothing suspicious at all. Nobody saw you come in here, and
nobody’ll ever see you go out. The maid has a week off to
visit her family in Louisiana.”
The Big Bite — 145
A week. Sometime within a week.
I fought down an impulse to cry out at him. “Good God,” I
said, “do you mean you’d go through all this just to keep
from paying me off and getting the tape back?”
“It isn’t merely a question of the tape. We think you hid
that somewhere. I’ve looked for it, and can’t find it. The
chances are, nobody’ll ever find it. It’s you. We’re in this too
deep to have anyone running around loose who knows about
it. You must have realized the chances you were taking
when you walked into it; I don’t see that you’ve got any kick
coming now that it’s backfired on you. Get up.”
There was nothing else to do. I stood up. He got out of the
chair, holding the gun, and began backing out the doorway
into the hall. “Follow me, and don’t get any closer.”
In the hallway he clicked on a light switch. I passed the
open door to the bath and came abreast another door on the
left. He stopped and nodded curtly. “Open that.”
I opened it.
“Turn around and stand in the doorway. Don’t try to jump
in and slam it, because I’ll cut you in two. That’s right. Go
on in slowly.”
They both followed me in, Tallant first with the shotgun in
my back. The light was already on in here. It was another
bedroom, smaller than the other. It had one window
opposite the door, facing the patio, but there were heavy
drapes over it and they were drawn. There was a single bed
with its head up against the wall under the window, and a
night table stood beside it. The floor was covered with a
gray carpet, and there was an armchair and a bridge lamp
against the wall to the left.
“Lie down on the bed,” he commanded.
I turned and looked at him. He was near the door, at least
eight feet away, with the gun pointing right at my chest.
“Go on,” he said flatly. “I won’t take any chances with
you.”
I lay down. She came past him and around to my left side.
Reaching down, she picked up something dangling from the
side of the bed. I saw what it was. It was a pair of handcuffs
made fast to the steel frame of the bed with a short length
of chain.
The Big Bite — 146
“Don’t try to grab her,” he warned me.
She caught my left hand and snapped the cuff over the
wrist. Then she came around to the other side of the bed
and made my right hand fast with another on that side. I
could move my hands, but there wasn’t enough slack in the
chains to bring them together. He put down the gun, tied
my feet together with a piece of rope that had been lying in
the chair, and then secured them to the foot of the bed.
Forcing my mouth open, he shoved a wadded handkerchief
in it and plastered adhesive tape across my face to keep it
in. She had gone back to the doorway and was silently
watching. There was no expression on her face at all—no
pity, no regret, not even any hate. It was just something
that had to be done, and they did it. They’d kill me the same
way.
No, I thought. She would, perhaps, but he’d make it a
personal thing. He wasn’t quite as tough, and he had the
spurs in him. That business of her having to shack up with
me for the past six days was riding him hard, and every time
he thought about it it dug him a little more. They’d had to
do it that way, and it had meant nothing to her, but he
wasn’t liking it a bit. I’d seen it twice in the past half hour,
and wondered about it. He was going to make it rough on
me, as rough as he could, but there was another side to it,
too. If you get emotional you can always lose your head, and
if you do you’re never quite as dangerous as a cold type
who’s just doing a job.
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