A Killer is Loose (8 page)

“Go sit down,” Angers said. “Steve,” he said, “I hadn’t counted on all this.” I was beginning to recognize that something in his voice now; it was the small something that told me he was bothered. It was time to watch out.

Lillian caught it too. She was out of her chair and across the room to Betty’s side before Betty reached the door. Anything could have happened if she’d gone through that door. Having somebody else to help, having a companion to fear, was helping Lillian.

“Come on, honey,” Lillian said. “Come back and sit down. Please, honey.” She tried very hard to warn Betty with her eyes. But how could you warn somebody about a thing like this?

“But I don’t understand,” Betty said. Her face was pale now, her eyes a bit haunted.

Angers laid his head back on the chair top. He was staring at the ceiling.

“I don’t get it,” Betty said. “I just don’t get it.” She avoided looking at Angers, her eyes simply wouldn’t go in that direction. Her eyes flashed toward him, but always missed seeing him because she didn’t want that. It was getting to her.

“Know something?” Angers said. “I haven’t slept in days. Yet I’m not tired, not a bit. Wonderful, eh? It’s having something that interests you that does it. Everybody should have some vital hobby. Don’t you think that’s right, pal?”

“Could be that’s it,” I said.

“Of course, it’s not a hobby with me. It’s much more than a hobby.”

“Sure.”

Betty Graham came back and sat down beside me on the rattan couch. Lillian looked at me and shook her head. Then Betty began to cry. She sat perfectly rigid, staring across the room at nothing, and the tears streamed down her face. I had never seen Betty like this, but now I knew what honest fear could do. She didn’t know what it was all about, but she had suddenly begun to believe the worst and she feared it. Right now she was an automaton, like the rest of us, controlled by that maniac over there in the chair.

H
E HAD NO PERSONALITY
, actually. I had watched him change, realized the contradictions and confusions in his mind. I wondered about him, even in the midst of all the terror he inspired. Who was he? I didn’t like thinking about the possibility of his being an eye surgeon. Perhaps it was some mad figment of his mad mind. Either way, I didn’t want him coming near me. What sight I had I wanted to keep.

The hospital he spoke of. What a laugh! To save people. And with his next movement he might draw that damned Luger and commit murder.

Sam Graham had no idea what he was coming home to.

I looked over at Angers. He was still staring at the ceiling, with his head resting on the back of the chair. I judged the distance he’d have to reach for that gun. And somehow, I knew if I jumped him, he’d get the gun first. He would kill me. That simple.

If he didn’t get the gun … what then?

He wasn’t soft. Why was he so pale? Prison? He’d been someplace where there was little sun, and I couldn’t believe it was prison.

“It’s peaceful here, isn’t it?” Angers said.

“Yes.”

Betty wasn’t making a sound, but the tears streamed down her face. We all sat there, Lillian back in her chair, waiting.

I knew that Lillian and I were thinking of ways and means. Betty would be thinking about Sam.

I tried to make it friendly, for his ears. You couldn’t tell how he’d react.

“How long you and Ralph known each other, Lil?”

Her head jerked around at me, that wealth of mahogany hair rustling across her shoulders. She tipped her lips with her tongue, glanced at Angers.

“Oh, quite a while. I knew Ralph in Seattle.”

“Old friends,” I said.

“Not too old.”

The room went silent again. Betty ceased crying. She got a handkerchief out of the pocket of her shorts and daubed at her cheeks and eyes, still looking across the room. Her plump thighs were spattered with tears. She wiped them dry and spread the handkerchief across her knee. She gave a great sigh and, turning, looked at me. Her head bobbed up and down just a little, then she got hold of herself again.

“What—are you going to do about Ruby?” she said.

“I don’t know.”

“You’ve got to see her. The hospital called twice, Steve. Some—something’s up, and they need you.”

“I know.”

Angers stood up. “Just thought of something,” he said. “Come on, all of you.”

We looked at him.

“Come on. We’ll begin in here. It’s a shame to have to do this, but you can’t trust anybody. I know I can trust you, pal.” He looked at me with that pallid face. “But just the same. Come on, now.”

We all stood up.

He started walking around the room. He closed every window that was open, and locked it. “Now the front door,” he said. “Just come with me.”

We all went out into the hall and he locked the front door. Then, guided by him, we made a complete tour of the house, locking all doors and windows.

The telephone was on a small shelf in the bar between the kitchen and the dining nook. Betty caught my eye as I looked at it. It would have to wait.

“Let’s go back in the other room,” Angers said. “We’ll wait for your husband. Then we can take it easy and I’ll go over the plans with Steve, here.”

We went back into the living room and all this time the gun had been on the television set. But Angers was smart. He wasn’t a blank about things that went on around him. He watched everybody—a little too closely.

He had been watching Betty a lot.

He dropped into his chair, and as Betty passed in front of him, he reached out and caught her hand. She froze.

Sitting there, he looked her over. She had a roundly built body, the skin of her legs below the shorts smooth and full. She was large-breasted and round-hipped.

“You’re nice, Mrs. Graham,” Angers said.

She stood rigid. He leaned forward, still holding her, and with his other hand reached out and palmed her thigh. He ran his hand all the way down the back of her leg. She didn’t move. He ran his hand back up and patted her behind. He looked up at her.

“You’ve got a lot of what I like, Mrs. Graham. Lillian here is a regular snake. Aren’t you, Lil?”

“Get off it, Ralph.”

Angers was not smiling. There was nothing in his eyes.

“I’ll bet you make your husband very happy. Is that right, Mrs. Graham?”

She didn’t say anything, just stood there. She was looking at a point over my head on the wall. I didn’t know what to do about this, either. There wasn’t anything you could do.

“I’m not sure about Lillian, over there,” Angers said.

Lillian rose from her chair and came across the room. Her teeth were sunk in her lower lip. Betty still didn’t move and Angers held to her hand.

“I like your body,” Angers said. “It’s an exciting body, Mrs. Graham.” His voice was as flat, as inflectionless as ever.

Lillian was moving toward the side of Angers’ chair by the television set. I tightened all over.

“Ralph,” Lillian said, “don’t you like me any more?”

“Go back and sit down, Lil.”

She stopped moving and eyed him. He looked up at her. She smiled and again came toward him.

He spoke quietly. “Go back to your chair.”

She turned and went back to the chair.

Betty was standing there and he still held her hand, and then he reached out and put his arm up around her hips. She was like a board and then she looked at me and I saw something in her eyes. Abruptly she turned toward Angers and moved in close.

“If you like me,” she said, “why don’t you do something about it? You’re a big boy now.”

She was standing in close to him. He took his arm down and she swayed her hips, just a little. “Or maybe you’re just kidding me. Maybe it’s all talk. Maybe you’re just passing the time.” The look she gave him would have melted butter.

“You’re just right,” Angers said. “You interest me.”

She moved her hips just a little again, then nodded toward the hall. “My bedroom’s right over there, honey.” She leaned away from him, pulling at his hand, staring at him with all the lecherous longing she could summon. “Come on, honey. Maybe I could show you something, at that.”

My heart yammered right on up into my throat. If she could get him into that bedroom … What a chance! But you couldn’t tell a thing from his eyes, his face. You didn’t know what he was thinking.

“We could be nice and private,” Betty said to him. “I—I like you, too. Come on, honey. Let’s go into the bedroom. I can’t do what I want to with all these people watching.”

I glanced at Lillian. Her hands were gripped on the seat of her chair, the knuckles white with straining. Every muscle in my body was tense.

Betty put her right leg out and rubbed it against Angers’ leg. “Don’t make me wait,” she said softly.

He laughed. He threw his head back and erupted with wild, crazy, high laughter. It was insane. It was the same laughter I’d heard in the alley earlier that day.

“Whore,” he said flatly. He released her hand, gave her a brutal shove. She backed across the room, lost balance, and sat down, hard.

The door chimes began clanging insistently and a man called, “Betty! Hey, Betty! For gosh sakes, open up!” The chimes clanged and clanged up on the wall beside the couch.

Betty sat on the floor, staring between her legs. Her shoulders were shaking. She had tried hard, mighty hard, but it hadn’t worked. Angers was almost like a child sometimes. Almost …

“Betty, where are you? Open the door!”

“Go open the door, Mrs. Graham,” Angers said. “It’s your husband, isn’t it?”

She rose to her knees and looked at him.

“Isn’t that your husband?”

She nodded, looking at him. Angers came out of the chair, took her arm, and helped her up. “Come on,” he said. “We’ll both go and let your husband in, Mrs. Graham.” He went over to the television set and picked up the Luger, turned and grinned at me. “Come on, pal. Lillian. We’ll all go let Mrs. Graham’s husband in, all right?”

Sam Graham stood in the open door and looked at us. He frowned, then saw me, and smiled. “Hi, Steve. How’s Ruby?” “All right.”

He walked inside and Angers closed the door and locked it and Sam saw the gun hanging at the end of Angers’ arm.

“What’s this?” he said. Nobody spoke, nobody moved.

Sam was round-faced, stocky, with curly brown hair and tiny twinkling beadlike eyes. He kept right on smiling, because that was his way. His face was red and peeling from sunburn and he carried the coat to his light blue suit. His shirt collar was undone and he looked tired and hot.

“You can call me Ralph,” Angers said. “My name’s Ralph Angers. This is Lillian, Mr. Graham, and that’s Steve Logan, my pal. This girl here in the shorts is your wife, Mr. Graham. Now, if you’ll just come in and sit down?”

Sam’s smile tipped up on one side and slipped off his chin. “Holy God!” he said. “You’re the—”

“Oh, God, Sam—Sam!” Betty flung herself into her husband’s arm, hiding her face against his shoulder. She was slightly taller than Sam. He put his arm around her, holding his coat in his hand, and looked over her shoulder at Angers. “You’re the guy who killed Jake Halloran, right?”

“Please,” Angers said. “Let’s all go in and sit down.”

Nobody moved.

“We’d better,” I said. “It would be better that way.” I found myself trying to warn Sam with my eyes, the way Lillian had done with Betty. Sam patted Betty’s shoulder and started walking toward the living room.

“Did he hurt you, baby?” Sam asked.

“No, Sam, no, no, no.”

Lillian was beside me, with Angers behind us. I would have liked to talk with her. I kept thinking that, but what good would talk do?

“There’s too many people, Steve,” Angers said. “I didn’t count on all this.”

“It’s all right,” I said.

“I just don’t like it, pal. We’ve got to get to work on those blueprints. I’ve got to send a wire regarding the hospital fund. We should get hold of a contractor.”

“Won’t be able to do anything now, anyway,” I said. “Not until tomorrow.”

“That’s true. That’s true, Steve. We’ll spend the night running over the plans. You’ll go wild about those plans, pal. It’s new, it’s something that’s never been done. They won’t laugh when they see it, pal.”

Lillian shivered against me and I caught the look in her eyes. I suddenly wanted to hold her close. Of all these people, I felt closest to Lillian. Somehow, I felt, if anything was going to be done, it would be up to us. I had no idea how Sam Graham was going to act. He’d obviously heard of Angers and what he’d done, even heard his name. So news was getting around town. If we stayed put long enough, it would only be a matter of time before the law turned up. I didn’t like to think about that. It could be bad.

Everybody sat down again, except Sam Graham. He dropped his coat on the couch and motioned to Betty to sit down and stood there looking at Angers.

Angers went over and laid the Luger on the TV set again. Then he flopped into his chair. His eyes were glassy as he looked over at Sam.

“You’ve got a nice wife,” Angers said. “We’re all glad you’re home now, Sam. Maybe we can have dinner now.”

“Who do you think you are?” Sam said.

Lillian turned her gaze on him. Then she looked at me and I knew what was in her mind.

“Sam,” I said. “Relax. Sit down. Take a load off your feet.”

“Were you with this guy when he killed Halloran?” Sam asked. “And Lyttle, the cop?”

I nodded. Sam frowned. “That’s what I thought. They think so downtown, too. A guy in the bar heard him say his name. It’s all over town. Somebody thought they recognized you with him. I never gave it a second thought, Steve. Cops will be over to your place.”

I wished he hadn’t said that. Angers just looked over at me, then away.

“What’s your game, mister?” he said to Angers.

“Drop it, Sam,” I said.

“How come you’re with him?” Sam asked me.

I just shook my head.

“He’s not with him, Sam,” Betty said. “Please, just do as he says, Sam.”

“I don’t know what all this is about,” Sam said. “But you’ve killed two people and I don’t want you in my house.”

Angers just looked at him.