Chapter 18
Eva felt her knees threaten to give out beneath her. She closed the door and sat down. "You're Helen?"
"Surprised?"
Eva nodded. "I am," she agreed. "I ... I had you pictured differently."
"You didn't think a man such as Martin would have a plain looking wife?"
Eva ignored the comment. "What are you doing here? How did you find this place?" Eva began to get the feeling that she should have taken up residence in a gold fish bowl.
The woman walked to the balcony and looked out onto the ocean for a long time then turned back into the room, staring at Eva. "I must say," she said at last. "Martin's taste is improving."
"You didn't come here to pass around compliments," Eva said, regaining her composure after the shock of seeing the woman.
"You're right," Helen smiled.
"Then why are you here?"
The woman didn't answer right away. She appeared to be thinking. "Did you know that Martin has two sons i
"So what?"
"I should have known you'd take that attitude," Helen said. "You don't look the type to care about anything but yourself."
"I don't have to sit here and be insulted," Eva snapped angrily. "Not in my own room."
Helen shook her head. "Not yours," she corrected. "Martins. He paid for all this didn't he?"
"That's my business."
"He always takes them to this hotel. But you're to be congratulated. These are the finest quarters he's ever put one up in. He must think a lot of you."
"Enough to marry me," Eva snapped without thinking of what she was saying.
Helen didn't seem surprised at the information. "That's what he tells all the girls, that he's going to marry them and take them away." She hesitated, then continued, "I would say that in your case it might actually be true."
Eva could recognize jealousy when she saw it. And the woman in front of her was mad with the emotion. That's why she was making up all these awful things about Martin. "I should throw you out," Eva snapped.
Helen nodded, that same sad smile on her face. "That is your privilege. But you won't. Not until you've heard what I have to say." She took a deep breath then continued, "I know what you've been thinking. You're going to marry Martin after he gets a divorce and all his money will be yours. Then all the fancy trappings will be yours forever."
Helen shook her head, her dark eyes picking up a glint of anger. "It isn't that easy, honey. He's married to me ... for better or worst. The house, the car and the money, they're all mine and I won't let them go. If you want him without these luxuries, you're welcome to him. But he won't leave me, not as long as everything is tied up in my name. Martin worked too hard to get the money he has and I don't believe he'll ever leave it behind for the likes of you."
She warmed to her subject. "This isn't the first time he's had ideas about leaving me. There have been other women. But I still have Martin."
"You're mad," Eva accused.
Helen laughed. The sound confirmed Eva's accusation. "Perhaps I am," she admitted. "But I know my husband better than you. He's a weakling and he's stupid. Because of this, he needs me more than anyone else."
"I think you're bluffing," Eva cut in. "Look at you, what can you offer a man like Martin? He's worldly and intelligent. I can give him the one thing you can't, beauty and plenty of sexual satisfaction."
Helen shook her head slowly. "There's more to life than a fast pair of panties," she said.
Eva had heard enough. "I think you had better leave," she suggested angrily.
"I'll be happy to," Helen said. "I just thought that you should know the facts of life." Without a further word she left the room.
Eva sat on the couch until darkness had long since invaded the room. She couldn't deny it, what the woman had said bothered her. Not that it wasn't all a pack of lies. But how could she be sure? Eva had no intention of marrying a man without any money, no matter what she thought of him. That would be a frightful waste of her talents.
She told herself over and over that Helen was just a jealous woman. And that kind wasn't rational.
And shouldn't she be a good judge of a weak man, Eva thought. After all, Ralph was the weakest of them all. Martin wasn't at all like him.
Sitting all alone in the darkened room, Eva was startled when the telephone rang. She picked it up and felt a flood of relief when she recognized the voice at the other end as Martin's.
"Oh darling," she cried. "I'm so glad you called." Without stopping, she spilled out everything his wife had told her.
When she'd finished there was a long silence at the other end of the wire. "That bitch," he said at last. "I should have figured she'd do something like this. She's a terribly jealous woman."
"Is it true?" Eva asked. "Can she keep everything if you marry me?"
"We should talk about this in person," he said.
"I want to know," Eva insisted.
"It's true," Martin admitted.
Eva felt her knees once more grow weak.
But Martin quickly strengthened her. "But don't worry, darling," he soothed. "Everything's all right. I've been working for years to get free of her and still have money. The problem is solved."
Eva's world once fnore grew rosy. "When will I see you? Are you coming over?"
"Not right away." His voice sounded strangely excited. "That two week delay I spoke of is off. Things are happening fast. I can't tell you when but it'll be soon. I want you to go home and stay there until you get a call from me. Understand?"
Eva nodded at the invisible face. "I do. I love you."
"And I love you." He hung up the phone.
Now Eva felt immensely better. But no sooner had one problem been solved than she was confronted with another. Johnny. He'd said to meet her this evening with a thousand dollars.
Let him tell her husband, Eva thought. What could Ralph do if she wanted to go away? On the other hand he might actually get violent. Men were strange. In either case it was taking a chance that she'd lose out with Martin. And could she afford to take that risk?
Eva sat down in the darkness, trying to think of what she should do. She knew that if she had a thousand dollars she'd give it to Johnny just to get rid of him. But where could she get the blackmail money?
Blackmail. The word struck a memory chord. If Johnny could use it, why couldn't she? Eva smiled and reached for the phone. She had an idea where she could get the money.
The Valley Hospital was quiet as Eva strode down the fourth floor hallway. It was after visiting hours and most of the rooms were dark. Once or twice a nurse looked at her but she just kept on going as if she knew where she was heading.
When Eva saw the room number she was searching for, her heart beat faster. Would the idea work? She really didn't know but she was desperate.
Eva cracked the door until she saw the man laying in bed reading under the dim lamp. She smiled as recognition came. And there didn't seem to be anyone else in the room. Of course, she knew she should have known that, this was a private room. That's why she was able to get in after visiting hours.
Eva pushed the door open and walked boldly over to the bed. "Hello, Sam," she smiled.
The pudgy man looked up, startled at the intrusion. And, as recognition came, his face turned the color of chalk. "Hell," he spat. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to visit," Eva explained. "Aren't you glad to see me?"
"Get out of here," he snapped, waving at the door. "My wife is downstairs getting some coffee. If she finds you here she'll kill us both."
Eva ignored his frantic gestures, patting the leg hanging in the air solicitously. "Why," she pouted. "Doesn't she know how you broke your leg?"
"You know damned well she doesn't," Sam spat. "If she did I wouldn't be here. I'd be down in the morgue."
"That's just what I wanted to know," Eva smiled. "I thought I might as well be honest and tell her about that morning in my house. It should make very interesting conversation."
Sam's face turned purple and he had trouble with his breathing. "You wouldn't." The words kind of hissed out through his windpipe.
Eva ran her fingers idly down the edge of her low cut blouse, noting how full the partially exposed breasts were after her afternoon's activities. She looked up at the man who was now on the border of apoplexy. "Oh but I would, Sam," she smiled. "I like to be honest."
"Now look, Eva," Sam said, trying to regain his calmness. "Be sensible. I'm an old man. We didn't do anything. And I love my wife. Why try to bust up our marriage?"
"Well," Eva hesitated, her heart pounding rapidly, wondering if he'd take the bait. "There is one thing that might change my mind."
Sam leaped at the opportunity. "What's that?"
She smiled broadly at him. "Money."
Understanding came quickly. "So that's it," he snapped. "I might have known. What I heard around the neighborhood about you was the truth after all. "How much?"
Eva took a deep breath and got the words out quickly lest she falter. "A thousand dollars."
Sam's redness came back. "You're out of your mind."
"I suppose I am," Eva admitted. She turned to leave. "I'll find your wife and tell her the whole story."
"Wait," Sam said anxiously. He collapsed back on the bed. "You win. I guess I deserve it for my own stupidity. Get my wallet from that drawer."
Eva found it and handed it to him, congratulating herself on her cleverness. She watched as he brought out a piece of paper from the fold and scribbled out a check with a pen off the nighstand.
"I made it to cash," he said angrily. "Now get the hell out of here."
Eva didn't need any second invitation. She'd been successful. Why hang around with the old fool.
Eva had the driver take her directly to the meeting place Johnny had suggested. She thought of going to her house and then walking over but two things prevented this. First, she might get into some kind of a discussion with Ralph. And second, it was already after eleven.
As she paid off the cab, Eva saw Johnny's truck parked in the supermarket lot. She walked over, feeling a fresh breeze on her cheek, listening to the loud music spilling out of the local malt shop.
"Get in," he ordered when she was close enough to hear him.
Eva did as he said. The seat was hard and cold and the cab stank of age. "I came as soon as I could."
Johnny looked across at her, through a halo of smoke from his cigarette. "Did you get the money?"
Eva opened her mouth and handed across the check. "I did," she said triumphantly. "Now you can let me alone."
Johnny fingered the piece of paper, turning it over in his hands. "How do I know this is good."
Eva smiled crookedly. "Don't be silly," she scoffed. "The man I got that from wouldn't dare stop it."
"I suppose he wouldn't," Johnny mused. He looked up, a strange expression in his eyes. "I've done a lot of thinking since I left your place."
Eva couldn't have cared less. She reached for the handle of the door.
Johnny strong grip on her arm stopped her. "Like I said, I been thinking. Now I ain't the smartest guy around and I'd be the first to admit it. And I like some new lovin' now and then. But after I got out of the hotel I felt all dirty. I got a wife and a kid coming and when I first thought of this dough I knew it'd solve a lot of problems." He lighted another cigarette, holding the flame on the lighter, his expression angry in the yellow glow. "But I don't need this kind of money. And I got a damned nice wife and it's about time I quit cheating on her." He stuck his face closer to Eva's. "You know what made me decide this? You. I got the crap scared out of me that I might have gotten stuck with somebody like you." He put the check over the lighter flame, watching it begin to char.
Eva grabbed at it. "What are you doing?" she cried.
Johnny kept it away from her, not speaking until the paper crumpled into ashes in his lap. "Saving some other poor sucker from the likes of you," he spat. "Now you can get the hell out of here. I don't like tramps hanging around my truck. It makes me feel dirty."