Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (25 page)

‘Of course, we were wrong,’ Margaret was saying. ‘We should have waited. It was impulsive and insane and I’m very sorry, but you can raise all the hell you like and it won’t change things.’

Ezra Dobson slowly lowered the wrapper that was screening her, and dropped it on the bed. ‘I don’t understand you, I don’t understand you,’ he slumped and he walked to the foot of the bed and stood looking at me.

‘Don’t blame Paul,’ she said. ‘It’s all my fault.’

‘It’s mine too,’ I said.

‘Who else knows about this?’ the old man asked.

‘The clerk, the justice of the peace …’ she said.

‘The justice’s wife too,’ I said. ‘She was the witness.’

‘Nobody else?’

‘No,’ she said.

‘When’d it happen?’

‘A few hours ago.’

‘Where?’

‘Across the state line.’

‘Did they know who you were?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘That’s why you signed the license “M. Dobson”,’ I said in feigned surprise. ‘You didn’t want them to know who you were.’

‘Yes …’ she said.

‘I wondered about that…’ I said. I was doing great, too. …

The old man looked at the ceiling, taking his eyes off us, and in that instant she nudged me to go on talking, wanting me to help her out. But what the hell else could I say? All I could do was to sit there like a dummy, following her lead, and wishing I’d never got mixed up in this and trying to figure a way out

‘Why in God’s name did you have to cross the state line to get married?’ the old man asked.

‘Because we couldn’t wait the customary three days in this state,’ she said.

‘What’s three days if you’re going to get married? What’s three days? How long have you known this man?’

‘Please, Father. This is very embarrassing to Paul. I’ve told you it was an insane impulse and I’m sorry. Can’t we talk about it in the morning? We’ll explain everything in the morning.’

He nodded grimly. ‘Yes, we can talk about it in the morning. Meantime, you’re going home with me. Put your clothes on.’

‘You’re mistaken,’ she said. ‘I’m not going with you.’

‘You’re going with me if I have to get Zumbro and Scott back in here to carry you out. Now, put your clothes on!’

‘You’d better not. Believe me, you’d better not.’

I looked at her in amazement. This was the easy way out. Didn’t she know that? What a hell of a time to be obstinate. If she started a fight now, no telling where it would end. ‘I think your father’s right,’ I said. ‘Go on home with him. We can talk about this tomorrow.’

She swept her eyes at me contemptuously. Well, screw the way you feel, I thought. I’m the one who’s got his things caught in this wringer, not you, and all I want is loose. Goddamn it, I thought. ‘A few hours out of our lives is not that important,’ I said. ‘We can talk this over tomorrow.’

‘Margaret,’ the old man said, ‘are you going to put your clothes on?’

‘No!’ she said, almost shouting. ‘Now, look here, Father. We’ve had these conflicts of will before, and it’s no good having another one. I’ve said all I intend to say. Either you take those men and leave, or you have them carry me out bodily and live to regret it for the rest of your life. You know how you hate scenes, Father. I’ll wake up this whole building. …’

His eyes were beady and his cheeks were puffed in rage.

‘I shall expect you in the morning,’ he said shortly. He wheeled and started to the door and then stopped and turned. ‘Will you please do me the small courtesy of not saying anything about this until after we’ve talked?’ he asked acidly.

‘Yes, Father. …’ she said.

He went out. She jumped from the bed, putting on her wrapper, going out after him. I couldn’t figure this move and I didn’t even try to… I got up and grabbed my clothes, all of them, and went into the bathroom and locked the door. I started dressing as fast as I could, telling myself that if I got out of this, I never again would venture among the dead, never again; and in a minute there was a light rap at the door.

‘You in there?’ she said.

‘It’s all right now. They’re gone.’

I picked up the rest of my clothes, draping the coat over my left arm, making the pocket that held my gun instantly accessible, and opened the door. She laughed. I had on a pair of shorts, two socks and one shoe. ‘What’s your hurry?’ she asked.

‘I’m getting out of here,’ I said.

‘We both are.’

‘Thank God!’ I said. ‘But it sure looked rocky for a while.’

‘The only time it looked rocky was when you jumped on his side. When you suggested that I go home with him. That damn near fixed it good.’

‘
That
fixed it? Jesus, how can you say that? All I wanted was to get out of here without a fight. I didn’t know he was gonna give in to you.’

‘I did,’ she said. ‘Don’t think I haven’t learned how to handle my father. …’

‘I can see that now,’ I said.

‘Well, I’ll dress. We’d better be starting.’

‘
We’d
better be starting?’ I’d had enough of her. ‘Where?’

‘To get married. I told Father we were married. You remember.’

‘Yeah. I remember. It was fast thinking too.’

‘And now we’ll have to do it’

‘Do what?’

‘Get married.’

I looked at her. She was serious. She really meant it. ‘Like hell we’ll get married,’ I said. ‘All I want is out. From now on, I’ll take mine in the country. I love the country. Never again will I squawk about my clothes getting dirty.’

‘And what happens to me when I show up before my father without my husband?’

‘That’s your problem. You got plenty of time to figure that one. Fast as you think you’ll probably have a lot of time left over. …’

‘We’ve
got
to be married,’ she said.

I laughed. ‘Pardon me,’ I said, going past her into the bedroom. I dropped my clothes on the floor and sat down in a chair and put on my other shoe.

She came out and stood beside me. ‘Won’t you please try to understand this?’ she asked.

‘You talk like a lunatic,’ I said. ‘You don’t know anything about me – who I am, where I came from, where I’m going, what I do – you just don’t know anything at all about me.’

‘That’s not important to me now,’ she said.

‘It’ll be important to your father. Rich men are very particular about such things. …’ What could I answer to his questions? Not the truth; I’d have to answer with lies. And how long would lies stand up? For only as long as it took his bloodhounds to find out they were lies. And what would happen then, with those bloodhounds loose? I’d have to start running again. …

‘It’s got to be done,’ she was saying. ‘Otherwise, he’ll think I’m a common little tart, sleeping with any man I can get my hands on. That’s a matter of morals he would
never
forgive.’

‘What he forgives and what he doesn’t forgive is no worry of mine,’ I said.

‘It will be when I tell him that you seduced me under promise of marriage and then changed your mind and then ran out on me. You might discover that the consequences of that would be much more unpleasant than the consequences of actually marrying me especially if you intend to stay in this town. …’

I laughed to myself. Why was this such a surprise? Why had I expected anything different from her? Cadillacs and Delages and gold gadgets from Cartier couldn’t change the story; it was the same on both sides of the track. A tail in a crack was a tail in a crack … ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I suppose in this town your father could make it pretty rough on somebody he didn’t like.’

‘As a
great
many people have found out,’ she said.

So she had me; marriage or not, she had me either way the bloodhounds would be turned loose. I had an ache in my stomach, the thought of running again gave me an ache in my stomach, but I knew this served me right, it goddamn well served me right for digging into those ancient memories, for stirring those ghosts for trying to find out, for being so curious. … Well, now I had to take the City Hall out of my pocket and put it back in its squalid frame and take a farewell look at that shining tower. There’d be other towns with City Halls, all towns had City Halls you could put in your pocket once you found the gimmick, but finding the gimmick was what counted. Well, what the hell: I had found the gimmick in one town, I could find it in another. I was young, I had my whole life ahead of me. By dawn I could be well on my way to Arizona. Dillinger and Clark and Makley were down there somewhere –cooling off. Maybe I could get in with them till I could start my own business again. Maybe I’d go on to California, Nelson and Van Meter were out there somewhere punks; but at least they could give me some quick contacts with the cops. I could use Holiday for bait, she was a hell of a piece of bait,
she
was physical.…

‘Why risk my father getting down on you?’ Margaret was saying. ‘A marriage will save all of us: you, me, and Father. That’s what he thinks this is a silly impetuous marriage, with both of us slightly drunk. There’s nothing immoral about that; it simply is a mistake of judgement.
That
he will forgive. He’ll have it annulled and that’s all there is to it’

‘Annulled? …’ I said.

She looked at me. ‘Certainly. It’s quite easy for him.’

‘I don’t want any part of this,’ I said.

‘Please don’t think you’d be required to live with me. You wouldn’t. Father could have it annulled in a few seconds. And at a profit to you. My father’s a very rich man. All those wonderful things you could buy. … You could use some money, couldn’t you?’

I hadn’t known about annulments. The possibility of collecting money for an annulment had not occurred to me. ‘I can always use money,’ I said.

‘And then I have some money of my own. A little…’

‘How much to you is a little?’

‘Oh, ten thousand. Twenty-five thousand from Father…’

‘Thirty-five thousand,’ I said.

‘Can you afford that every night of the week?’

She suddenly slapped me across my face. My eyes fuzzed and my right arm tensed and I started to hit her. But I didn’t hit her. I saw the white whiteness of her face just in time to stop. ‘Where’s this place you get married? How far?’ I asked.

She bit her lip. ‘About seventy-five miles.’

‘Get your clothes on.…’ I said.

M
ANDON LOOKED UP FROM
the marriage certificate. ‘Why did she sign this
M
. Dobson?’ he asked.

‘I had to make it match the story I told her father,’ I said.

He folded the marriage certificate in its original creases and handed it back to me. ‘Why don’t you let me handle these things?’ he said. ‘I’m your lawyer. Why don’t you consult with me?’

‘What was there to consult about? I just got through telling you all I wanted was out, to get rid of her. The quickest way was to marry her.’

‘Well, your great haste has just cost you sixty-five thousand dollars,’ he said. ‘Sixty-five grand – that’s what you’ve lost. For that document I could have gotten one hundred thousand dollars. And you agreed to thirty-five. Jesus. Thirty-five …’

‘If it’ll make you feel any better, I’m not even taking that,’ I said.

‘What?’ he said.

‘I said, I’m not even taking the thirty-five. He can have the annulment.’

‘Have it?’

‘For free. I’m not taking one penny from him.’

‘Stop needling me,’ he growled.

‘I’m not needling you,’ I said. ‘I mean it. Not one penny am I taking, not one goddamn penny. I figure I’m a lucky guy to get off this cheap. …’

‘Cheap?’ he said. Slowly his big eyebrows went up, and slowly wrath came into his face. ‘You bloody fool!’ he said. ‘You goddamn poor bloody fool! Do you know who Ezra Dobson is? He’s got so many millions…Why, there’re men who spend their whole lives looking for a soft touch like this, and you have it dumped in your lap right in your lap and you won’t take it. Why, this is worth a fortune!’

‘Think some more about it,’ I said. ‘Go on – I’ll wait. I got time.’

‘I don’t have to think any more. You’ve something he wants. Thirty-five thousand is cigarette money to him. …’

‘That’s what I thought too, at first – a soft touch,’ I said. ‘That’s what you think when you think only for five minutes, which is all the long you’ve been thinking. But I’ve been thinking about it all night all the way up to that hick marriage town and all the way back. I’ve been thinking. And it’s not so soft after you think about it for more than five minutes. …’

He spread his hands, shaking his head slowly. ‘Jesus, you
are
crazy,’ he said. ‘Holiday was right. Webber was right. You
are
crazy.’

‘I’ve been crazy ever since that day a fox bit me in the ass,’ I said. ‘Dobson’s just too big for me to tangle with, that’s all.’

‘How can you tangle with him? You’ve got something to sell and he wants to buy it. The price has been agreed on and a goddamn cheap price, at that.’

‘She agreed to it, not he. …’

‘Well, what’s the difference?’

‘Maybe none, maybe a lot. I’m in no position to take the risk, not with what I’ve got hanging over me enough to gas or fry me six times over. I’ve got some other reasons too, but they’re too abstract even for me to grasp yet. Use your bean, Cherokee. I haven’t been outraged, I haven’t been victimized, I’m not fighting a rich man for justice. I’m the protagonist in a shakedown. He knows that, he’s got to know it.’

‘I tell you he’ll pay off,’ he said.

‘What if he does? What then? Will it stop there? You think a guy as big as he is will let a ragged stranger make a sucker out of him? You know very well he won’t. He’ll turn his bloodhounds loose and I’ll have to start running again. I’ve spent most of my life running. I’m tired of sleeping in river bottoms and drinking polluted water and washing my teeth with the end of my forefinger and wearing rags and eating out of garbage cans and having my goddamn heart tear loose from its muscles every time I see a cop. No, sir, by God, absolutely not. I’ll lay this down nice and easy and not disturb one penny of his big high stack. I’ve got one bone in my mouth. That reflection in the water doesn’t fool me a bit. …’

He got down from the desk and went to the commode, the close-stool, and got a drink of water, drinking from the lip of the big flowered pitcher. Sure, he thought I was crazy, and I wasn’t going to argue with him any more. He was a lawyer; all he was after was the dough. This would be duck soup for him; but it would be my ears that would ring with the yelp of his bloodhounds …