“I CAN TALK TO him,” she said. “I know I can talk to him. We can talk to him. I’ll talk to him first. Then you can talk to him, tell him you’re sorry you did it. That’s all it’ll take, Nick. I swear to God, that’s all it’ll take.”
“Jesus, Betty—” Ames sharply shook his head. “He tried to kill me.”
“You say he tried to kill you. But you’re not sure. There’s no proof.”
“That’s not how you were talking when we left Los Angeles.”
“We could’ve been wrong, though. Both of us, we could’ve been wrong. We’ve been assuming that he was behind it. But we don’t—”
“A week after I called him,” he said, “someone tried to kill me. Use your head, for Christ’s sake. I can’t afford to think anything else, except that he was behind it. And if you think about it, quit trying to make excuses for him, you’ll see I’m right. It had to be him.”
“But even if it was him, I still say we can—”
“Do you think he’s going to forgive and forget, just because I say I’m sorry? Is that what you think?”
“Have you got a better idea?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. I’ve been thinking about it. All day, I’ve been thinking about it. And we’ve got two choices. Either we come back at him, fight him, or else we run—go where he’ll never find us, start all over again.”
“You’d pump gas and I’d find a job in a dime store. Is that it?” She spoke bitterly. “I did that when I was in high school, worked in a dime store. I didn’t like it.”
“Listen, Betty—” His voice lowered, his face darkened. With a thud, his boots came down from the edge of the coffee table.
“Christ, Nick, you didn’t even tell me, before you did it. And now you want me to change my whole life. Everything I ever worked for, you want me to give up. You didn’t even consult me. You just—”
“You didn’t have to come with me, you know. I didn’t make you come.”
“Oh, Jesus—” She shook her head, slid off the bed, went to stand close beside his chair. “Look around you, Nick. We’re in a second-rate motel room. We’re scared, and we’re snapping at each other. And it’s going to get worse, not better. Don’t you see that? Don’t you see how it’ll be?”
“I see how it could be if we had a million dollars in the bank, that’s what I see. He thinks he can handle me. But if the two of us did it—called him, told him what we’d do, that’d make all the difference. He’d have to give in, if he knew you were with me.”
“But it’s a crime, Nick. We’d be committing a crime.”
“Like robbing from someone who robbed a bank, that’s what it is. The man’s a crook, for God’s sake. A goddam criminal.”
“Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
“Christ—” He got to his feet, facing her. His jaw was tight, his eyes were snapping furiously. Behind him, with the sound turned down, the TV offered a car chase through slum-blighted city streets. “Christ, that’s all we need now. Sweet little sayings. Words to live by, for God’s sake.” Rigid at his sides, his arms were muscle-bunched, his fists clenched.
Would he hit her?
This time, would he hit her?
“So now what, Nick?” Standing squarely before him, she spoke softly, quietly contemptuous. Her dark eyes were steady, challenging him. “Are you going to slam out again?” She pointed to the revolver lying on the bureau, a blue-steel obscenity. “Are you going to take your gun and go out and find a bar, and start drinking?”
She saw his mouth thin, saw his body tighten, felt the full force of his furious frustration. But then she saw uncertainty tug at his mouth, saw his eyes falter. She could sense his body slackening as fear diluted his fury, robbed him of the hostility he took for assurance.
“Oh, Jesus—” Raising his unclenched hands, he took a single step forward. “Jesus, why don’t we—let’s both of us go out, have some drinks. What’d you say?”
Smiling now, responding to the small boy’s fear that she sensed he was revealing to her, she shook her head. “You go. Have a couple of drinks. When you come back, we’ll talk.” She reached out, touched his chest with her fingertips. Because, when she touched him, she felt better. So far, anyhow, she’d always felt better.
Sheepishly, friends again, he shook his head, then nodded—then smiled. “Okay—” He touched her arm in return. “Okay. Bring you anything?”
“Nothing, thanks.”