The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain [7]
"He suspicions us, Frank."
"It's the same one. He knew there was something wrong, soon as he saw me standing there, keeping watch. He still thinks so.,,
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know. It all depends on that stepladder, whether he tumbles what it's there for. What did you do with that slung. shot?"
"I still got it here, in the pocket of my dress."
"God Almighty, if they had arrested you back there, and searched you, we'd have been sunk."
I gave her my knife, made her cut the string off the bag, and take the bearings out. Then I made her climb back, raise the back seat, and put the bag under it. It would look like a rag, like anybody keeps with the tools.
"You stay back there, now, and keep an eye on that cop. I'm going to snap these bearings into the bushes one at a time, and you've got to watch if he notices anything."
She watched, and I drove with my left hand, and leaned my right hand on the wheel. I let go. I shot it like a marble, out the window and across the road.
"Did he turn his head?"
"No."
I let the rest go, one every couple of minutes. He never noticed it.
We got out to the place, and it was still dark. I hadn't had time to find the fuses, let alone put a new one in. When I pulled in, the cop went past, and was there ahead of me. "I'm taking a look at that fuse box, buddy."
"Sure. I'm taking a look myself."
We all three went back there, and he snapped on a flashlight. Right away, he gave a funny grunt and stooped down. There was the cat, laying on its back with all four feet in the air.
"Ain't that a shame? Killed her deader than hell."
He shot the flashlight up under the porch roof, and along the stepladder. "That's it, all right. Remember? We were looking at her. She stepped off the ladder on to your fuse box, and it killed her deader than hell."
"That's it all right. You were hardly gone when it happened. Went off like a pistol shot. I hadn't even had time to move the car."
"They caught me down the road."
"You were hardly out of sight."
"Stepped right off the ladder on to the fuse box. Well, that's the way it goes. Them poor dumb things, they can't get it through their head about electricity, can they? No sir, it's too much for them."
"Tough, all right."
"That's what it is, it's tough. Killed her deader than hell. Pretty cat, too. Remember, how she looked when she was creep. ing up that ladder? I never seen a cuter cat than she was."
"And pretty color."
"And killed her deader than hell. Well, I'll be going along. I guess that straightens us out. Had to check up, you know."
"That's right."
"So long. So long, Miss."
"So long."
CHAPTER 5
We didn't do anything about the cat, the fuse box, or anything else. We crept into bed, and she cracked up. She cried, and then got a chill so she was trembling all over, and it was a couple of hours before I could get her quiet. She lay in my arms a while, then, and we began to talk.
"Never again, Frank."
"That's right. Never again."
"We must have been crazy. Just plain crazy." "Just our dumb luck that pulled us through." "It was my fault."
"Mine too."
"No, it was my fault. I was the one that thought it up. You didn't want to. Next time I'll listen to you, Frank. You're smart. You're not dumb like I am."
"Except there won't be any next time."
"That's right. Never again."
"Even if we had gone through with it they would have guessed it. They _always_ guess it. They guess it anyway, just from habit. Because look how quick that cop knew something was wrong. That's what makes my blood run cold. Soon as he saw me standing there he knew it. If he could tumble to it all that easy, how much chance would we have had if the Greek had died?"
"I guess I'm not really a hell cat, Frank."
"I'm telling you."
"If I was, I wouldn't have got scared so easy. I was _so_ scared, Frank."
"I was scared plenty, myself."
"You know what I wanted when the lights went out? Just you, Frank. I wasn't any hell cat at all, then. I was just a little girl, afraid of the dark."
"I was there, wasn't I?"
"I loved you for