Eve

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I DID not want Eve to see me. Anyway, not just yet. I was not able to stand in the doorway because people kept crowding in. The room, although large, was pretty tightly packed. From the door, I could not see the tables, although I could see the shaded arc lights that illuminated them.

I moved cautiously forward until I reached the first table. I was wedged then, and looking around, I saw Eve was not there. I guessed she would be at the far table and I tried to make my way there. The crowd was too thick and I had to wait.

The croupier was singing out, “Faites vos jeux Messieurs.”

There was a concerted movement towards the table and I was carried along with it.

A moment later the croupier said, “Les jeux sent faits.” The pressure eased and I was able to back away from the table and drift down the room. Even then it was not easy. I picked up some black looks as I squeezed through the crowd, using my elbows and trying to be pleasant about it.

It was a full ten minutes before I reached the other table. Eve was standing behind Jack Hurst who had managed to get a seat.

The croupier was saying, “Onze, noir, impair.”

After he had raked in the losing stakes, he pushed a small pile of chips across to Hurst.

“Messieurs, faites vos jeux.”“

Eve leaned forward and whispered in Hurst’s ear. Her eyes were bright and she looked almost beautiful. He shook his head impatiently, but did not look around. He staked on black and Impair.

While other players were staking, I eyed him with interest. He was big, broad shouldered and powerful looking. His eyes were deep set and his nose straight. He had no top lip. His mouth looked like a hard line drawn with a ruler and pencil.

His tuxedo fitted him well and his linen was flawless. I guessed he would be about forty.

So this was the guy Eve had fallen for. I did not blame her. Whatever else he was, he was a man. I found it hard to admit, but Jack Hurst looked all right.

I glanced at Eve. She had her hand possessively on his shoulder and she never took her eyes off him for one second. Every move he made she watched excitedly. I hardly recognized her. She was animated and I had never seen her look so happy.

All the same, I was sick with jealousy. If Hurst had been a little rat of a man, it would not have been so bad. But he wasn’t. I could not help comparing him with myself. The comparison wasn’t so good. He was better looking, more interesting and more powerful. He looked like a man who would get his own way in everything he did.

The wheel spun and Eve leaned forward. Hurst just sat with his eyes on the wheel, cold and disinterested.

The croupier said, “Rien ne va plus.”

The ball gradually slipped down the ledge and finally lodged in one of the compartments of the bowl.

The croupier paid out. He shoved more chips at Hurst and smiled at him. Hurst didn’t catch his eye.

I began a slow move around the table. It was difficult and Hurst won more chips before I got behind Eve. I had to elbow a fat old woman out of the way before I got right behind her. I could smell the perfume in her hair. I wanted to touch her, but I didn’t.

She said in a whisper to Hurst, “Double your stakes.”

“Shut up,” he said.

He put down six chips on the line between 16 and 13. I reached over and put three one hundred dollar chips down on the red.

Eve turned. We looked at each other.

“Hello,” I said.

Her face became wooden and she turned away.

All right, you slut, I thought. If that’s the way you want to play it.

The croupier said, “Les jeux sont faits,” and tossed the ivory ball into the wheel.

It came up red.

The croupier took Hurst’s chips before he shoved mine over to me.

“I’ll leave it there,” I said, “O.K?”

The croupier nodded.

Hurst had lost about fifty dollars. He put more chips on the table. It came up red again.

“Leave it there,” I said.

Hurst lost his chips.

He glanced over his shoulder at me and a slight smile came into his eyes. I grinned right back at him. I could afford to.

He did elaborate things with his chips this time laying them out on the first and third dozen.

The red came up and they took Hurst’s chips again. I guessed he had lost about two hundred dollars. I had about eight hundred dollars on the red now. The croupier looked at me inquiringly. I nodded.

As Hurst was about to stake again, Eve said, “It’s no good tonight. Let’s go.” She looked worried.

“Shut up,” Hurst said.

That seemed to be the only thing he could say to her.

Again the red came up and again Hurst lost his chips.

I put two hundred dollar chips on Passe and left the pile of chips on red.

People crowded close behind me. I had quite a piece of money on the table now.

Hurst didn’t stake.

The wheel spun. The ivory ball hovered over red 36, then dropped lazily into black 13.

The croupier raked in all my chips and shook his head at me. I tried to grin, but it didn’t quite come off.

I’d seen fifteen hundred dollars slide through my fingers and that hurt. I let it ride.

Hurst began to stake again. This time he won. It looked like he couldn’t win when I was playing. I waited a couple of rounds then I staked two hundred on the black.

The red came up.

All right, I thought, then I’ll play red. I was crazy not to play the red.

I was four hundred dollars down.

As I reached forward to place my stake, I touched Eve’s hip. It was like touching a live wire. She moved quickly away and that told me she knew who was touching her. I didn’t care. It was enough just to stand by her and watch the man she loved losing his money.

I put down five hundred dollars on the red.

Hurst staked too.

The red came up and Hurst lost.

It went on like that for fifteen minutes. I did not stake every time. Twice I was going to take the pile of chips off the table, but something stopped me.

The red came up eleven times. I could hear all the people letting their breath out.

“Leave it on the red,” I said. There were fifty two hundred dollar chips there.

The croupier said, “No bet.” He didn’t start the wheel.

Then, right off, an argument started. A little man with a scar across his face started shouting that they had to take the bet and spin the wheel.

The croupier just sat there and shook his head.

Hurst said suddenly, “Spin that goddam wheel.” There was a crack like a whip in his voice.

The croupier whispered something to a tall, thin bird who had pushed his way up to the table.

Hurst said, “Tell him to spin the wheel, Tony.”

The tall thin bird looked at my pile of chips and his lips pursed. He looked at Hurst and then at me. Then he said to the croupier, “Well, what the hell are you waiting for?”

The croupier lifted his shoulders. “Messieurs, faites vos jeux.”

Everyone crowded forward. It was an exciting moment. I put my hand down and found Eve’s. She did not look at me, but she let me hold it. I got more of a bang out of that than I did watching the wheel spin.

The ball seemed to be taking a long time to make up its mind. It dropped into the red and seemed about to settle, then at the last moment, almost as if an unseen hand had given it a flip, it rolled into the black.

There was a long drawn-out sigh from the crowd.

“Why didn’t you stop, you weak fool?” Eve said, snatching her hand away.

Hurst looked over his shoulder, stared at her and then at me. Everyone was looking at me. I just stood there, feeling weak at the knees. By just one throw too many I had gypped myself out of ten thousand dollars.

“Okay?” The thin bird asked, sneering at me.

I pulled myself together. “Yeah,” I said and without looking at Eve, I forced my way across the crowded room to the bar.

There was scarcely anyone in the long low room. The crowd had begun to gamble and they would not start drinking again until later on in the evening. It was still early. The clock above the bar said ten five.

I ordered a double Scotch and when I had drunk it I told the bartender to leave the bottle. It was going to be a hell of an evening after all.

I stayed there for half an hour and I drank steadily. Then I saw Eve come in. She was alone. I was pretty high by now and as I was about to leave the bar and go over to her she went into the Ladies’ Room. A few minutes later she came out with the red head. They passed close to me without seeing me.

The red head was saying, “He’s terrific, isn’t he? He looks like a sailor and I adore his thin lips.”

Eve giggled. “He doesn’t go for red heads,” she said, her face animated.

“I’d dye for him,” the red head said and her high-pitched laugh grated on my nerves.

I watched them cross the room and go back into the roulette room. I pulled out a handful of change and shoved it at the bartender and went after them. I could not see Eve nor Hurst. The red head wasn’t there either. I went into the dice room and the card room. There was no sign of them. I went up on deck.

The wind was still cold, but there were a number of couples up there.

I walked around, but I could not see them, so I went up on the top deck.

The red head was there. -

“Hello,” she said.

I joined her at the rail. “Haven’t you found your friend?”

“He’s gone. I came up here to see the moon again.”

I looked at her. Perhaps she was not so bad after all. I remembered how my fingers had sunk into her back.

I moved closer. “How are you getting back?”

“By boat . . . do you think I’d swim?” She laughed and I laughed too. I was plastered so anything could be funny right now; even losing ten thousand dollars.

I manoeuvered her against the rails. She did not seem to mind.

“I’m sorry I tried to hit you,” she said.

“I liked it,” I said and pulled her towards me.

She came willingly enough. This time I hurt her mouth.

“Is that all you can do?” she asked, pushing me away.

“I can drive a car and play the gramophone. My education has been intensive.”

“You mean extensive don’t you?”

“What the hell does it matter? Who was the dark girl you were talking to?”

“Eve Marlow? Oh, she’s a tart.”

“So what? . . . so are you.”

She giggled. “Only to my friends.”

“How did you come to know her?”

“How did I come to know who?”

“Eve Marlow.”

“How do you know I know her?”

“You just said so.”

“Did I?”

“Look, let’s not go on like this. Let’s go somewhere for a drink.”

“All right. Where?”

“I’ve got a car. Let’s get off this lousy boat.”

“I’m not free.”

“But you said your gentleman friend had left you.”

She giggled. “I mean you’d have to pay me.”

I grinned at her. “Course I’ll pay you.” I pulled out my roll of money and counted it. I had fifteen hundred dollars. Well, I had won five hundred dollars so it wasn’t so bad. I gave her two twenties.

“Oh, I want more than that.”

“You shut up. That’s just a retainer. I’ll pay you more later on.”

She put her arms around me, but I shoved her off.

“Come on,” I said impatiently. “Let’s go.”

When we got back to the pier, we walked to the parking lot.

“Some car,” she said with open admiration when she saw the Chrysler.

I slid under the steering wheel and let her find her own way in. We sat side by side and looked at the moon. It was a nice moon and I was drunk, so right at that moment I felt pretty good.

“Is your wife having you watched?” the red head asked suddenly.

I turned my head to stare at her. “What the hell are you talking about? Who said I had a wife anyway?”

She giggled. “A dick’s been tailing you all evening,” she said. “Haven’t you spotted him? I thought maybe your wife was wanting a divorce.”

“What guy?” I asked sharply.

“He’s over there waiting for us to go.”

“How do you know he’s been watching me?”

“He’s never let you out of his sight since you were on the boat and now he’s waiting for you to go so he can follow you in that heap,” she said. “I can smell a dick a mile off.”

I remembered what Gold had said at our last meeting. “I shall certainly think of you both. In fact, I’m not going to forget either of you. If Carol is unhappy because of you, you will be sorry. I promise you that, Mr. Thurston.” So the heel was having me tailed.

“Ill fix him,” I said, cold with fury. “Just you stick around and watch me.”

“Atta boy!” the red head said, clapping her hands. “Give the little louse a sock from me.”

I crossed the parking lot and went over to him. As soon as he saw me, he straightened and took his hands out of his pockets.

I stood before him and peered down at him. It was dark, but not all that dark. He was a fat faced mild little man with rimless spectacles on his small fat nose.

“Good evening,” I said.

“Good evening, sir,” he returned, edging away.

“Has Mr. Gold hired you to watch me?”

He started to bluster, but I cut him short.

“Save it,” I said. “Mr. Gold told me about you.”

He looked sulky. “Well, if Mr. Gold told you, why ask me?”

I smiled at him. “I don’t like being watched,” I said. “You better take your glasses off.”

He began to get alarmed and looked wildly round the parking lot. But it was still early and there was no one but ourselves in sight. I reached forward and flicked off his spectacles, then I trod on them. They crunched on the concrete.

“I can’t see without my glasses,” he almost wailed.

“That’s too bad,” I said, taking him by his collar. I slammed my fist in his face. I was getting good at hitting people in the mouth. Like Imgram, this little stool pigeon had trouble with his bridgework. It got caught up in the roof of his mouth and he tried to hook out the broken pieces of bridgework. but I would not let him. I took his small hands in one of mine and I rammed him against the wall. His hat fell off and I shifted my hands to his ears and banged his head hard against the wall, using his ears as handles.

His knees sagged, but I held him up.

“Maybe you won’t be so anxious next time to watch me,” I said, shaking him. “If I see you again, I’ll smear you on a wall.”

I gave him a quick shove and he lost his balance and sprawled on the oily concrete. He picked himself up and began to run blindly down the street.

I lurched back for the Chrysler.

The red head was hanging out of the window.

“That was terrific,” she said, as I slid under the steering wheel. “You’re a great, big, beautiful savage.”

“You talk too much,” I returned and drove out of the parking lot and headed towards Hollywood.

Although I was pretty high, I wasn’t reckless enough to take any chance of being seen with this tramp. You didn’t have to look at her twice to know what she was, but she knew Eve and I was hoping she would tell me what I had always been wanting to know about her.

We stopped at several bars on our way to Hollywood and I tried to get her to talk, but she hedged. I was careful not to press her because I didn’t want her to know how anxious I was to talk about Eve. The red head preferred to talk about herself and that was a subject in which I had not the slightest interest. I let her chatter away, scarcely listening to what she had to say, but I kept buying her drinks hoping that if she drank enough liquor she might be persuaded to talk about Eve.

Every bar we went into was crowded and I kept losing her and then finding her and that did not help in getting her to tell me what I wanted to know.

“I’m sick of this,” I said, leaning against the bar and holding her arm just above her elbow. “We’ve got to go some place quiet. All this noise and talking confuses me.”

“Well, if we go some place quiet it’s going to cost you money,” she returned, resting her small turned-up nose on the rim of her glass. “It’s going to cost you a stack of dough.”

“Don’t let’s keep talking about money,” I said. “To hear you talk you’d think that’s all there is in the world to talk about.”

She leaned heavily against me. “S’matter of fact,” she said, “that’s all I am interested in, only I wouldn’t let everyone know. It’s not lady-like, is it?”

I regarded her. She was getting tight all right. If she had a few more drinks she wouldn’t know what she was talking about. I bought two more double whiskies and while we were drinking them I had a bright idea. I’d take her out to Three Point. It was a bright idea because it killed two birds with one stone. I would get her to talk about Eve and she would keep me company. I was not going to stay at Three Point all night by myself. Why should I? Why should Carol and Russell suddenly leave me flat without caring whether I’d be lonely or not? I decided it was the brightest idea I had thought up for a long time and I got quite excited about it. I would take this big, soft-bodied red head on the terrace and we’d watch the moon lighting the hills and Bear Lake and we’d talk all night about Eve. That seemed to me to be a pretty good way of passing the time until Carol returned.

I explained my idea to the red head.

She leaned more heavily against me. “Suits me,” she said, “but it’ll cost you a stack of dough and I’d like some of it now.”

I gave her two twenty dollar bills to keep her quiet and steered her through the crowd into the moonlit street.

“You’ll have to do better than this,” she said as she almost fell into the Chrysler. “You can’t make a girl tight and drag her off some place to look at the moon without it costing you a stack of dough.”

I told her not to worry and she said that she never worried, but it would be a good idea if I began to worry because although she was alone in the world and tried to act like a lady she had a lot of expenses and she just had to have a lot of money. After she had said all that she went to sleep and she did not wake up until I stopped the Chiysler on the sloping ramp of the garage at Three Point.

She yawned and followed me along the short path that led to the cabin.

She clung on to my arm and stumbled as she walked but after a moment or so, the mountain air steadied her up and she began to look around.

“Gee,” she exclaimed. “Isn’t this elegant.”

“Well, here we are,” I said. “Come out on the terrace and look at the moon.”

But she was wandering around the lounge staring at everything, a little incredulous and a little bewildered.

“This must have cost a stack of dough,” she muttered to herself. “I’ve never seen anything to beat this. It’s terrific.”

She was overwhelmed and so envious that I decided to give her a little time to get used to the room before we settled down to talk. So I let her wander around while I fixed drinks in a large cocktail shaker.

Even after I had fixed the drinks, she was still pawing my books, my pictures, my furniture and my ornaments.

“What are you staring at?” she demanded, turning suddenly.

“You,” I said.

She came over and flopped down on the settee by my side. She put her soft arms round my neck and tried to bite my ear. I pushed her off.

She blinked at me. “What’s the matter?”

“Come out on the terrace,” I said, suddenly disgusted with her. I wanted her to tell me about Eve and then to go.

“I’m all right here,” she said, lying back, her red hair making a startling splash of colour against the white suede cushion.

“Have a drink.” I gave her half the contents of the cocktail shaker in a tumbler.

She spilt some of it on the carpet before she gulped it down. Then she hit herself on her chest with her clenched fist and let out a long gasping breath. “Whew!” she exclaimed, “that went right down to my feet.”

“That’s where it was meant to go,” I said and got up to refill the shaker.

“You know you’re the first guy who’s ever taken me to his home,” she said, stretching out full length on the settee. “I can’t understand it.”

“Don’t try to,” I said. “There are some things that pass all understanding.”

She giggled. “I bet your wife would be wild.”

“Shut up, you little slut,” I said.

“If I were your wife and I found out you brought women back to my room I’d be wild,” she said. “I think it’s a filthy trick to pull on a girl.”

“All right,” I said, coming back to her and shoving her legs away so I could sit down, “it’s a filthy trick, but I’m lonely. My wife left me alone. That’s a filthy trick too, isn’t it?”

She brooded for a moment. “You’re right. A wife should never leave her man alone, I’d never leave my man alone if I kept one long enough to call him my man,” and she giggled.

“I bet Eve Marlow never leaves her husband alone,” I said casually.

The red head giggled. “She gave him the bird years ago.”

“Oh no, she didn’t. She was with him tonight.”

“Who? Don’t talk wet. That’s not her husband.”

“Oh yes he is.”

“That’s all you know about it.”

“Now don’t let’s argue. I know Eve better than you do. I tell you that was her husband.”

“That shows you don’t know her better than I do,” the red head said. “I’ve know her for years. Her husband’s Charlie Gibbs. She left him flat seven years ago. The poor little bastard. The only thing he ever did wrong was never to have any money. She still sees him from time to time when she wants to practise cursing. Can’t she curse too.” The red head threw back her head and laughed until she had to mop her eyes which she did on her sleeve. “I’ve heard her curse poor little Charlie. It’s made my ears burn. Instead of smacking her one on her kisser, he just cringes.”

Now I was getting somewhere. “Tell me about her.”

“There’s nothing to tell. She’s a tart. You wouldn’t want to know about a tart would you?”

“Yes I would. I want to know all about her.”

“Well, I’m not going to tell you.”

“Oh yes you are, because I’ll give you a hundred dollars if you do and you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Her face lit up. “It’ll cost you more than that,” she said without much conviction.

“No, it won’t.” I took a hundred dollar bill from my pocket and flicked her nose with it. “Tell me.”

She grabbed at the note, but I was too quick for her.

“When you’ve told me and not before. I’ll keep it so you can see it and I promise you you’ll have it.”

She lay back and looked at the bill with such intensive greed that she sickened me. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

She told me and all the time she was speaking her eyes never left the hundred dollar bill I was holding.