The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain [15]
I ran back, picked her up, and slid down the ravine with her. Why I did that was on account of the tracks. My tracks, they didn't worry me any. I figured there would be plenty of men piling down there pretty soon, but those sharp heels of hers, they had to be pointed in the right direction, if anybody took the trouble to look.
I set her down. The car was hanging there, on two wheels, about halfway down the ravine. He was still in there, but now he was down on the floor. The wine bottle was wedged between him and the seat, and while we were looking it gave a gurgle. The top was all broken in, and both fenders were bent. I tried the doors. That was important, because I had to get in there, and be cut up with glass, while she went up on the road to get help. They opened all right.
I began to fool with her blouse, to bust the buttons, so she would look banged up. She was looking at me, and her eyes didn't look blue, they looked black. I could feel her breath coming fast. Then it stopped, and she leaned real close to me.
"Rip me! Rip me!"
I ripped her. I shoved my hand in her blouse and jerked. She was wide open, from her throat to her belly.
"You got that climbing out. You caught it in the door handle."
My voice sounded queer, like it was coming out of a tin phonograph.
"And this you don't know how you got."
I hauled off and hit her in the eye as hard as I could. She went down. She was right down there at my feet, her eyes shining, her breasts trembling, drawn up in tight points, and pointing right up at me. She was down there, and the breath was roaring in the back of my throat like I was some kind of a animal, and my tongue was all swelled up in my mouth, and blood pounding in it.
"Yes! Yes, Frank, yes!"
Next thing I knew, I was down there with her, and we were staring in each other's eyes, and locked in each other's arms, and straining to get closer. Hell could have opened for me then, and it wouldn't have made any difference. I had to have her, if I hung for it.
I had her.
CHAPTER 9
We lay there a few minutes, then, like we were doped. It was so still that all you could hear was this gurgle from the inside of the car.
"What now, Frank?"
"Tough road ahead, Cora. You've got to be good, from now on. You sure you can go through it?"
"After that, I can go through anything."
"They'll come at you, those cops. They'll try to break you down. You ready for them?"
"I think so."
"Maybe they'll pin something on you. I don't think they can, with those witnesses we got. But maybe they do it. Maybe they pin it on you for manslaughter, and you spend a year in jaiL Maybe it's as bad as that. You think you can take it on the chin?"
"So you're waiting for me when I come out."
"I'll be there."
"Then I can do it."
"Don't pay any attention to me. I'm a drunk. They got tests that'll show that. I'll say stuff that's cock-eyed. That's to cross them up, so when I'm sober and tell it my way, they'll believe it."
"I'll remember."
"And you're pretty sore at me. For being drunk. For being the cause of it all."
"Yes. I know."
"Then we're set."
"Frank."
"Yes?"
"There's just one thing. We've got to be in love. If we love each other, then nothing matters."
"Well, do we?"
"I'll be the first one to say it. I love you, Frank."
"I love you, Cora."
"Kiss me."
I kissed her, and held her close, and then I saw a flicker of light on the hill across the ravine.
"Up on the road, now. You're going through with it."
"I'm going through with it."
"Just ask for help. You don't know he's dead yet."
"I know."
"You fell down, after you climbed out. That's how you got the sand on your clothes."
"Yes. Goodbye."
"Goodbye."