A Bad Woman by James M. Cain

Author:James M. Cain
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2015-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

“At the Domino?”

“I work there.”

“In the bar?”

“I deal blackjack.”

“Oh yes of course.”

“What’s your name?”

“Layton. George M. Layton. What’s yours?”

“Call me Ethel.”

“Want to call me George?”

“I don’t mind. George, I seen it all. I don’t mean what they said happened. I don’t mean what they done to fix it up and make it look like an accident. I mean I seen it. But don’t get me wrong. I didn’t come down here to make her feel bad or anything like that. That’s why that clerk made me so sore. I came down here for just the opposite. I came down here to let her know it was all right and she didn’t have nothing to fear. I come down to let her know that so far as I was concerned that husband of hers was a heel. You’d be that amazed, George, if you knew the propositions he made me, while I was dealing him blackjack not an hour before she shot him. Wanted me to drive back to his shack with him for a ‘small fun,’ he kept calling it. Can you imagine that? It’s not any of my business what was done. Just the same I do think she ought to make it worth my while. Don’t you think that’s only right?”

“I do indeed.”

“You’d think she’d want to do something like that.”

“I guarantee she wants to.”

“So if you want to take me up there—”

“Not so fast, not so fast. Taking you up there would be simple, some other time, but, as you can easily imagine, she’s got her own reasons for not seeing anybody today, not even me. Don’t worry though, it’ll be handled. Does she know you saw it? Were you there?”

“In the door there’s a slot, with bars in front and a steel door behind. The door was open a little bit. I peeped in.”

“And you saw something, is that it?”

“I seen him killed.”

“By her?”

“If I told you that, you’d know as much as I do, wouldn’t you? Suppose you do some talking now. And talk nice. About money.”

“To spill it or skip it?”

“To skip it, I would rather imagine.”

“She’ll be interested to hear that.”

“What do I do now?”

“Let me think. Where’s Spiro?”

“Out at the Domino.”

“I think he’s the guy, not Shoreham.”

“I would have gone to him, but he and Tony are so thick all of a sudden I was afraid. I work for Tony and I didn’t know how he’d take it.”

“I’m awfully glad you came here first. Now here’s what you do. Have a buck off me and see yourself a nice picture. Around seven o’clock or so, come back here and wait to be paged. Don’t go back to the Domino till you hear from me.”

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