Leda stood slowly. I saw her start trembling
all over, and she cupped her palms over her breasts. “God!” she
said. “I thought you’d never come!”
Chapter 20
Leda laughed.
She stood there and laughed. At first her
stomach moved with secret mirth, then she gasped. Her laughter rang
in the room, coarse, loud, and she actually staggered with it. It
was wild, hysterical laughter and it cut down into me. She doubled
up with it. She looked at me laughing hoarsely, and her gray eyes
filled with tears, her mouth gaped like a raw wound and her body
rocked. “Oh, God, God, God,” she whispered. She was unable to speak
aloud.
“
What the hell’s carried you off?”
Lenny said. He didn’t move from the doorway.
I stood up, grabbed my swimming
shorts.
“
Nature boy,” Lenny said. “Take it
easy, nature boy.”
I put on the shorts. Leda continued her
racking laughter. She lurched over to one of the large,
leather-covered easy chairs and sprawled into it. She was sobbing
now, trying to talk. “I can’t help it,” she said. “I can’t. It’s
been too much.”
“
Yeah,” Lenny said. He eyed her.
“Too much is right.”
She sobbed convulsively now, her shoulders
shaking, eyes streaming. Her face was twisted and I didn’t know
this Leda. I didn’t know her at all. But I was beginning to see
things, terrible things that I didn’t want to believe. It was like
a new kind of fear—something you were deadly afraid of. You knew
what was coming, almost, you knew it. You wanted to shove it away,
turn your back on it, not believe. But it was true. . .
.
“
It’s been so goddamned long,” Leda
cried. “Oh, Lenny. I couldn’t have stood it another minute. Nerves
are shot. Last night was mad—mad! Where’ve you been—where?” She
shook all over, trying to hold herself with her arms. “He’s so
damned dumb, Lenny—so damned dumb. Oh, thank God it’s over. Thank
God.” She subsided a bit in the chair, weeping softly. Every now
and then her shoulders trembled but she didn’t make much noise now.
“Didn’t think I’d make it,” she said. She sprawled back into the
chair, with her head flung back and her eyes on me. But she didn’t
laugh now, and she abruptly moved her gaze.
“
What’s it about?” I looked at
Lenny. All the pent-up swine-like rottenness was staring out of his
eyes.
“
Ain’t ’bout nothin’,” Lenny said.
He cracked a sloppy grin. “You just got yourself all messed up’s
all.”
“
How do you mean?”
“
Is he dumb, or is he dumb?” Leda
stood, watching.
Well, at last I knew. “You killed Frank,” I
said to Lenny, “didn’t you? You killed him. And—” I turned to Leda,
“you—you knew it. You knew it all the time. Not only knew,
but—”
“
Knew it?” she said. “Listen to
him, Lenny.”
“
How’d you find this
place?”
Lenny snorted. “She done brought you here,
Eric. Leda brought you here. You been framed for murder. Don’t you
see yet we done it? Us?” He grinned, gawking at Leda. “Always liked
you, too, Eric. But, well—” He watched Leda again.
I watched her, too. Saw her eyes, her red
lips, her body and knew her for what she was. In a matter of
moments my whole life had done another complete wingover. I had
loved this woman.
Now I hated her. I hated her guts. In that
instant I knew real hate and it stuck. My brain reeled and
recovered itself and I knew I would get them. Get them right. This
was no meager hate; this was the real thing.
Leda started talking. Her beautiful body bared
in the room, her eyes bright again now, her full lips half smiling.
“I actually had trouble with you,” she said. “I almost fell for
you.”
“
Yeah,” Lenny said. “You know what
you tol’ me. I wonder about you sometimes. Mebbe I wouldn’t trust
you far’s I could throw my skiff.” He meant it.
“
Lenny killed Frank, sure. It was a
good setup. We planned it, just lately, Eric.” She licked her lips
and greed showed in her eyes. The wildness I had liked in her was
not what I had supposed at all. It was something else, something
much worse. “I got onto the way you think in the hospital. Figured
I’d hook you then, and I did. But you got messed up in that
hit-and-run and Frank was there, all clear. He liked it, too—well
enough to marry me quick.” She laughed. “You dumb ox. Frank schemed
that hit-and-run, Eric. Didn’t know that, did you?”
I just stood there, listening. Those men who
delivered the car. . . .
“
The man, Allen,” she said. “He and
the other fellow you saw at the hospital had been bought by Frank
to pull the hit-and-run. I didn’t know then, of course. But I got
it out of him afterward. He was plenty scared about it. He had
faked the telegram so he’d be sure of your mother’s money when she
died. Then he heard you were coming home. He had to do something,
he was desperate. It wasn’t too sharp, but it fooled you. And it
fooled lots of people who don’t know a guy will do about anything
for dough. Like Allen. He let his friend beat the hell out of him,
and they framed you for the hit-and-run. It cost plenty,
too.”
Frank had had more nerve than I
supposed.
“
Then when he got you cooped up in
Alabama, he had Allen withdraw the charges, and paid them off.
Figured you’d be stuck for a good long time behind bars. He told
some dandy stories to the psychiatrist there.” She paused. “I got
it all out of him. He’d do anything for me.” She eyed Lenny. “So
would you, wouldn’t you?”
“
We’ll see,” Lenny said.
Leda bit her lip. “Anyway, you know about that
now. Frank was trying to keep you away from home until your mother
died. He never did know about that crazy dream of yours. Lenny and
I decided we’d scare you good on that, having Frank—Frank lying
there with the wooden mallet.” She stroked her thighs quickly,
leaned toward me. “You’ll never even have that little blonde thing
now. You won’t have anything.” She smiled, she knew what I was
thinking. “Worked it pretty good, didn’t I? I played hard enough,
God knows.”
“
Yeah,” Lenny said. “I seen you.
Too hard, sometimes.”
She whirled. “What’s the matter with you?
You’re nothing but a punk. Didn’t have to work hard on
you.”
“
Shut up!”
“
I won’t shut up!” She tossed her
head, her hair swirled about her shoulders, and I believed all
those things I’d heard at the hospital about Leda Thayer. “I’ve got
you, Eric. I’ve got all that money Frank sweated for, too.” She
laughed, watching me, watching what was going on inside me. “You’re
mad, aren’t you? Too bad—too damned bad for you, brother. Oh, boy,
I had a time getting you here, didn’t I? Not much trouble making
you stay long enough, though—eh?” She moved her hip once, very
slightly and I hated her just a little bit more. “Yes, Eric, I
planned it, with Lenny. Gave him a little money, too, so he could
have some clothes for a change. Gave him a lot of things—didn’t I,
Lenny?”
Lenny’s eyes were shining like wet Christmas
tree bulbs.
“
Frank was no good. She’s
professional, Eric. You didn’t have a chance.”
She glanced at him, her eyes sly. “Don’t you
wish you had a chance, though? You couldn’t buy it, Lenny. I gave
you lots of mementos, but not the big one. Did I Lenny?”
I could see the fury mount in Lenny’s eyes. I
wondered if she saw it. A dumb, harassed, knifelike
fury.
She threw him a look from cold gray eyes and I
watched her lips. They were very tight and there was a tiny rim of
white around them. I wondered how such a beautiful woman could be
so rotten inside. She sighed. “I had a hard time acting right with
you, Eric. Plenty hard, but I came through.”
“
You came through,” I said. “So
you’ve got the money, Frank’s home, everything. You cleaned up and
your hands are clean, I suppose?”
“
Lenny killed Frank. He smashed
his—his head.” She paused, and her face went a little pale, I knew
she was remembering. “Yeah,” she said. “I got sick. That was legit.
Lenny would have cut up the body for what I promised
him.”
I waited, hoping. I knew that in the pocket of
those overalls tossed across the back of a chair by the fireplace
was my automatic. If I could reach it. But would I get a chance to
use it? My eyes flicked just once toward the overalls. Leda caught
the look and grinned.
“
Oh,” she said. She moved lithely
over to the chair, picked them up, tossed them over her shoulder.
“I’m going to put something on,” she said, and went on into the
bedroom. Her body looked as perfect as ever.
Lenny and I watched each other.
“
I didn’t like doin’ that,” he
said. “But hell, Eric. You didn’t like your brother,
anyways.”
“
He was a human being. You don’t
just go around killing them, Lenny.”
The gun in his hand hadn’t moved an inch from
my middle. I could feel the sweat dripping from my armpits. Lenny
looked a little sad, but his eyes were harder now. Leda drifted
back into the room. She wore a maroon corduroy man’s bathrobe and
she had her hands jammed deep into the pockets. She stood over by
the fireplace. There was about them both a look of
expectancy.
“
You see,” Leda said. “With Frank
dead and you framed for the murder, I get the money.”
“
We—” Lenny said. His lips jerked
loosely.
She ignored him. “I had to be sure you’d go
for me. But I wasn’t much worried. I’ve done the work.” She looked
at Lenny. “You know that of course, Lenny. I sat outside that
damned barn till he came home from swimming last night and found
Frank, too. While you were drinking.”
“
Sho. But who done it?” Lenny
said.
She didn’t answer. They watched each
other.
“
So, now what?” I said. I wanted it
all.
Lenny spoke. “This here wasn’t in the cards
for sure,” he said. “An’ it’s gonna be hard.”
Leda wouldn’t look at me. She watched
Lenny.
She said, “We only planned this part in case
you took it into your head to investigate who’d done the murder.
The law’s certain you did it. I’ve got the business, and I’ll sell.
I’ve got the inheritance, all of it.” She paused, took a deep
breath. “We also get the credit for catching you. Only you can’t
tell about it. Because you’ll be dead, Eric, when we bring Burkette
out here.”
“
Who figured that one?” I tried to
stay calm, to think, but that gun muzzle was steady.
“
We did,” Leda said.
“
She means,” Lenny said, “that she
thought it up. She thinks of everything. She’s a smart one. I done
told her she was.”
“
Yes,” Leda said. “I’m a smart one.
And I’m thinking right now, too.”
Lenny giggled. “I know what you think with,
Leda. You told me.”
I had noticed plenty of antagonism between
them. It kept getting stronger as the minutes passed.
“
Well,” I said. “It’s a lot of
money, nearly a million. But split two ways it’s not so much.”
Perspiration covered me now. My palms were clammy and I was in the
room with death.
“
We’re stuck with it,” Lenny said.
“Leda ain’t so bad. We’ll make out.”
“
How do you know I’m not so bad?”
she said. “You couldn’t know. I wouldn’t let you know.”
“
You will, honey. You will, because
that’s what we schemed up. Birds of a feather, baby, an’ all that
there stuff. Remember? We’ll step out in the world, like we
ought.”
“
You’re one bird that’s molting
before my very eyes,” Leda said.
Lenny looked a question.
“
I don’t need you any more, you
pig,” Leda said. “I had a husband once. He’s dead, so I can do it
all right. I know I can do it and stand it.”
They had forgotten me. But still that gun
muzzle did not stray and Lenny’s eyes were quick now. I was caught
cold, flat.
“
You don’t need me not more?” Lenny
said.
She shook her head. “I’ve got the money and
I’m in the clear. Eric forced me to come here, you see?”
“
Forced you to come here?” Lenny
said. He snorted. “Don’t kid me!” He laughed outright. “That sure
is a hot one, ain’t it?”
“
Yes,” Leda said. She took a single
step forward, her long white thigh parting the folds of the
bathrobe. Just once her tongue flicked across her lips. “And here’s
another hot one—just for you.”
Lenny stood with the gun in his hand one
minute. The next instant he bowled backward into the kitchen. Three
explosions slammed inside the cabin.
Leda’s hand was in the pocket of that bathrobe
and flame spat through the pocket. Three solid bucking
times.
Lenny clutched his stomach with his left hand
and sat down hard. He brought his gun up carefully, struggling. He
was gasping with the effort and the pain inside him. There was a
look of absolute stricken wonder on his face. He fought with that
gun, trying to get it up.
“
Did you hear that hot one?” Leda
asked. Her voice was a bright whisper and there was something of
hot satisfaction in it, of unpleasant, wild relief. “Did you feel
it, Lenny? No more pouring over the collection now, no more
additions—And no me, ever!”