Chapter Ten
I
Roy recognised me at the same time as I recognised him. He came to an
abrupt halt and I saw him change colour.
We stood staring at each other.
He was the first to recover. The colour came back to his face, his mouth
twisted into that old cynical grin I knew so well. He started towards me at a run.
“Chet! Is it really you? Am I glad to see you!”
We were shaking hands and thumping each other. It wasn’t until this moment
that I fully realised how much I had missed him: how lonely I had been these
months for his company.
“You son of a gun!” I said and hugged him. “Is it good to see you again?”
He caught hold of my shoulders and shoved me back at arm’s length while he
stared searchingly at me.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were out of the country?”
“I hope the police think so too,” I said. I was so pleased to see him I felt like
crying. “Come on in and have a drink.” I grabbed him by the arm and led him
into the lunch room. “Where did you drop from?”
“Little Creek . . . what a dump that is!” He sat on a stool by the counter and
looked around. “But what are you doing here?”
I began to make two highballs.
“It’s the perfect hideout, Roy. I work here now.”
“It sure is, but wouldn’t it be better if you were in Mexico or Canada?”
I gave him one of the drinks.
“Easier said than done. I hadn’t any money. I was lucky to find this place.”
“You really think you’re safe here?”
“I can’t be really safe anywhere in the jam I’m in.”
He reached over and patted my arm.
“I read about the escape. That took guts! I’ve never ceased to think about
you. I never thought I’d see you again.”
I grinned at him. “That makes two of us.”
He looked at me, his hand sliding down my arm and gripping my wrist.
“This is the first chance I’ve had, Chet, to thank you for what you did for me.
I’ll never forget it! The way you covered me . . .”
“Forget it. You would have done the same for me.”
“You’re damn right I would, but it’s something I’ll never forget. When they
caught you . . .” He blew out his cheeks. “What a sweat I was in! I thought
they were bound to pick me up. You’ a pal: a real pal.”
“You were a lot smarter than I was,” I said. “Why should we both go into the
hole? If I had gone with you instead of panicking . . .”
He took a long drink.
“You weren’t the only one in a panic. Gee! I nearly blew my top! I guess we were nuts to have pulled that job. I’ve never stopped regretting it.”
“Me too. What are you doing here anyway? What brings out here?”
He finished his drink, then pushed the glass towards me. I made two more
drinks as he said, “I’m on the road. That’s a laugh, isn’t it? This is the big
squeeze. They want me out of the lousy firm now. They have an idea I was
mixed up in that business with you. Franklin hinted that the big wheels
upstairs were pretty sure I was in it with you. They knew what pals we were,
and someone let out I was in the hole for five hundred bucks. So I’d taken off
safe work. They said they thought it was a sound idea for me to get some
experience selling these goddamn safes instead of repairing them. They gave
me a list of customers that have old models, and my job now is to persuade
them to buy new ones.” He took from his pocket book a slip of paper. “Point
of No Return. Carl Jenson, proprietor. Is that right? He has an old Lawrence
safe here. It’s my job to sell him a new one. Is he your boss.”
At that moment a Cadillac pulled up by the gas pumps and the driver hit the
horn impatiently.
‘I’ll be right back,” I said, glad of the interruption. I wanted a few moments
to decide just how much I was going to tell him.
While I served the Caddy, my mind was busy. I decided I couldn’t tell Roy
the whole story. I couldn’t tell him about Jenson’s death. That was Lola’s
secret, not mine.
I decided to tell him the story I was telling everyone else: that Jenson was
away, looking for another filling station, and he wouldn’t be back for a
couple of months.
I returned to the lunch room.
Roy was smoking and wandering around staring at everything as I came in.
“This is certainly a swell set-up, Chet. I envy you. It must be a little gold
mine.”
“It’s not so lousy,” I said. “Carl Jenson’s away. I don’t reckon he’ll be back
for a while.”
Roy pulled a face.
“You mean I’ve come all this way for nothing? How about his wife? Could
she buy a safe?”
“Not a chance. Jenson is the boss around here. You’re out of luck.”
He finished his drink, then leaning forward he carefully deposited ash into the
ash tray on the counter. “I’ll tell you something. I’m a lousy salesman. I’ve
been on this job now seven weeks and I haven’t sold one godd@mn safe yet.”
He looked at me, frowning. “At the end of the month my sales report is going
to look like a hole in the ground, and then the axe will fall. I’m not kidding
myself. I’m going to be out of a job pretty soon.”
“You should worry. It beats me why you let them push you around. Why
don’t you go to Garringtons or Haywards? Their safes are miles ahead of
Lawrences, and they would jump at you.”
He shook his head.
“That’s where you’re wrong. They would want to know why I had quit and
Franklin would give them the hint. He wouldn’t say I had been mixed up in
that business, but he could and would say I wasn’t considered a good risk,
and that would be that.”
I stared at him.
“But they can’t prove it, Roy.”
“They don’t have to. All they have to do is to drop a hint.”
“So what are you going to do?”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know. I’m a good safe man and I can fix locks, but I’m not much
good at anything else. Besides, I’m thirty-five. It comes tough to change your
job at that age and get away with it.” He looked at his watch. “Getting on for
lunch time. I’m hungry. How about something to eat?”
I gave him the menu as two truckers came in. They sat on stools away from
us and ordered hamburgers.
As I was preparing the hamburgers, Roy asked how the fried chicken was.
“Okay,” I said. “You have that with green salad and the cranberry pie and
you’ll know you have eaten.”
“Fine.”
A boy and a girl drove up in an M.G. sports and came in. The boy asked if
the lunch was ready.
I said there was fried chicken and they settled for that
Every so often I looked through the window for the sight of Lola. As I was
dishing up the chicken I saw the Mercury come over the hill.
I put the plate of chicken before Roy.
“Mrs. Jenson is coming now,” I said, and lowering my voice, I went on, “I’m
known here as Patmore, Roy. Don’t forget it.”
He nodded and winked.
Lola drove around to the back and I heard her come in through the kitchen
entrance. I went into the kitchen.
“I’m a little late,” she said. “Are you all right? Anyone wanting food?”
“It’s under control.” I put my arm around her and kissed her. “Something’s
blown up, Lola. A guy I knew in the past dropped in. It’s okay. I can trust
him. He wanted to do business with your husband. I’ve told him he won’t be back for a couple of months.”
Lola looked startled.
“Are you sure you can trust him, Chet?”
“Yes, he’s my best friend. It’s okay.”
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