Mildred Pierce - James M. Cain [109]
"What do you mean, in case?"
"In case they get tough."
"Aren't you calling the sheriff's office?"
"No use going off half-cocked. We've got them right where we want them, and as I said before, our play is to make them come to us. Just let it ride, and—"
"Wally, I want that boy arrested."
"Mildred, why don't you let me—"
Mildred slammed up the receiver and jumped up, her eyes blazing, her hat slightly askew. When she turned to dash out, Veda was at the door. At once she launched into a denunciation of Wally. "That man's not even trying to do anything. I've told him where that boy is. I had a detective find out—and still he does nothing. Well that's the last he'll hear from me! I'm going over to the sheriff's office myself!"
Quivering with her high, virtuous resolve, Mildred charged for the door. She collided with Veda, who seemed to have moved to block her path. Then her wrist was caught in a grip like steel, and slowly, mercilessly, she was forced back, until she plunged down on the sofa. "You'll do nothing of the kind."
"Let go of me! What are you pushing me for? What do you mean I'll do nothing of the kind?"
"If you go to the sheriff's office, they'll bring young Mr. Forrester back. And if they bring him back, he'll want to marry me, and that doesn't happen to suit me. It may interest you to know that he's been back. He sneaked into town, twice, and a beautiful time I had of it, getting him to be a nice boy and stay where Mamma put him. He's quite crazy about me. I saw to that. But as for matrimony, I beg to be excused. I'd much rather have the money."
Mildred took off her hat, and stared at the cold, beautiful creature who had sat down opposite her, and who was now yawning as though the whole subject were a bit of a bore. The events of the last few days began ticking themselves off in her mind, particularly the strange relationship that had sprung up, between Veda and Wally. The squint appeared, and her face grew hard. "Now I know what that woman meant by blackmail. You're just trying to shake her down, shake the whole family down, for money. You're not pregnant, at all."
"Mother, at this stage it's a matter of opinion, and in my opinion, I am."
Veda's eyes glinted as she spoke, and Mildred wanted to back down, to avoid one of those scenes from which she always emerged beaten, humiliated, and hurt. But something was swelling 'within her, something that began in the sick jealousy of a few nights before, something that felt as though it might presently choke her. Her voice shook as she spoke. "How could you do such a thing? If you had loved the boy, I wouldn't have a word to say. So long as I thought you had loved him, I didn't have a word to say, not one word to blame you. To love is a woman's right, and when you do, I hope you give everything you have, brimming over. But just to pretend you loved him, to lead him on, to get money out of him—how could you do it?"
"Merely following in my mother's footsteps."
"What did you say?"
"Oh, stop being so tiresome. There's the date of your wedding, and there's the date of my birth. Figure it out for yourself. The only difference is that you were a little younger at that time than I am now—a month or two anyway. I suppose it runs in families."
"Why do you think I married your father?"
"I rather imagine he married you. If you mean why you got yourself knocked up, I suppose you did it for the same reason I did—for the money."
"What money?"
"Mother, in another minute I'll be getting annoyed. Of course he has no money now, but at the