Chapter 12
Two days later Clem was still parked outside the tavern with his squad of MPs. No word passed between him and Amy and she made it a point to wear the most revealing gowns Earl had bought for her, to tantalize him and infuriate him. But the deadlock remained.
Clem had all the aces, however, and Amy realized that it could not go on much longer. It would, of course, have been solved if she would quit. But she would not think of doing that now and she told herself that she hated Clem as much as she hated any man. More than Bull. Bull had just wanted to enjoy her and, in fact, had never tried to interfere in her life. Clem, however, was not content to enjoy her and he was bent on spoiling the best job she'd ever had. Her rage, however, was matched by her inability to do anything about the situation.
Earl called her into his office the third night that Clem was parked outside. A few soldiers had braved the presence of the MPs and were at the bar, but the place was largely deserted. Earl was in the little cubicle under the staircase that served as his office and he was seated at a small desk. Amy sat down opposite him, wondering what was on his mind. It had occurred to her that Earl could have saved his business any time he wanted to by firing her and she felt a sense of gratitude to him for his loyalty to her. She knew that there was little in the world that Earl valued above money, perhaps nothing. But it did seem that she was the exception. Of course, Amy realized that it was also a matter of his masculine pride but she could well imagine similar men trying to meet the situation in that way. She knew that in her present circumstances she would be hard-pressed to refuse if he should ask her to live with him as his mistress. She wondered if that was what coming now.
"Well, baby," he began, "we got to do something about that punk outside. He's going to put me out of business if we let him get away with this."
She waited for what was coming.
"You want me step out, Earl?" She could not hold back the question.
He stared at her as if she were out of her mind.
"Knuckle under to that punk! You're off your nut, honey. We play out the string together, baby. I said you're my luck and I mean it. I got big plans for you and me and no punk of a looie is going to bust them up."
He paused and studied her, his dark eyes glittering coldly at Amy.
"You got enough guts to come in on something with me?" he asked, in a low voice.
"What is it?" she asked nervously.
She was afraid of what was coming, fearful that Earl had some criminal venture in mind. His manner did nothing to dispel her fears.
"We got to get rid of the .looie," he said. "And Earl knows the way. Neat and simple, but sure. But got to have you in on it. Without you, baby, it won't work."
She waited for him to explain, but he wanted some encouragement from her. It came quickly. If it were just a matter of revenge on Clem she was available. She had a bigger score to settle with him than Earl had. These days when she thought of how he had made love to her she writhed with anger, though the memory of the beauty and the pleasure was there also.
"Sure, Earl," she said softly.
"Well," he expounded, "what is the punk, I asked myself? Just a sucker. In fact, he's the biggest sucker around here and by parking himself outside he proves it. He wants the bait. "Who's the bait, baby? You. We got the bait he wants and we got to make him come for it. Do you think you can get him to come in here?
She thought for a moment.
"What are you going to do when he comes in?"
He studied her again.
"You sure you want to know, baby?"
She grew alarmed.
"You're not going to hurt him?"
He chuckled.
"No especially. What good will that do me? Make more trouble, that's all. I'm gonna frame him, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna hang the sweetest, nearest rap around his neck that ever was. When we get through with him, he'll be sorry he ever landed in the Army. But I don't want to hurt him. No sir. I need him in good shape, so's I can deliver him over nicely taped for the Army."
She did not follow him at all. He grinned wolfishly at her.
"He's an officer, ain't he?" Earl conitnued. "Well, if he breaks the rules, he gets the book thrown at him. You get him in here alone and I'll make sure he breaks the rules. Then I'll hand him over nice and tight to the Army and let the Army get rid of him for me. Easy, huh?"
She thought it over. It did not sit well with her, but if she refused, she would be finished with Earl. She knew that she had no real alternative. Saying no meant going out on the streets. And she would not give Clem that satisfaction. Saying yes on the other hand would give her the revenge she wanted.
"Okay, Earl." Her smile was cold. "I'll do it. Just give me about half an hour's notice and I'll take care of it."
"Swell. There's another angle and I'm not sure if I want you in on it or not. I'll need a girl to make a complaint to the Army."
She stared at him.
"You mean-"
"That's it," he interrupted.
She shook her head slowly from side to side.
"That's laying it on him pretty hard, isn't it, Earl?"
"It's him or me," he said. "I didn't ask him to park himself out there, did I? He's trying to frame me and I got to hit back."
"But why so much?"
"The more mud I throw on him the more will stick."
She nodded slowly, seeing his way of thinking. This was a little more than she had bargained for and she did not misread Earl's words in putting it to her. He wanted it to be her, but he wanted her to volunteer. Before he put himself out on a limb, Earl wanted to make sure of her.
"Then it has to be me, Earl," she said slowly. "They all know it's me he's after and it won't stick for a minute with somebody else."
"Yeah," he agreed quietly, confirming her guess about his intentions. "I guess it's got to be you, sugar. Well, you get him in here and I'll tell you the rest of it then."
"All right, Earl."
She got up and went out of the little cubicle under the stairs and walked around the almost empty tavern trying to find a place where she could be alone. But there was no place that suited her and she did not want to be with Earl or with the hostesses, or with the few lushes at the bar and the dozing crooks at the gambling tables.
No one else in this whole world besides Earl knew what she was going to do and even Earl did not know exactly how much treachery was involved. She guessed that if he knew even he might be aghast at the step she was about to take. Not that he would not applaud it, but it would surely give even him pause.
She hated the choice that lay before her, but she directed her hate at Clem, blaming him for her predicament. He was a soldier, one of a breed that had done her no good. A soldier had caused her to come to this place and it was a soldier who now was threatening her.
The signal from Earl did not come until several hours later and she was fuming at the delay when it came. She could not reason it out and did not notice that the only sober witnesses to the impeding event were all employees of the tavern. Everyone else in the place had been given sufficient quantities of liquor-on the house, if necessary-to make sure they saw only what Earl wanted them to see.
"Take him into the back," Earl told her.
She went out slowly, trying to figure out what she was going to say, ignoring the hard lump that was suddenly in her throat and the strange stiffness that seemed to control her legs.
"Hello, Clem," she said as she approached the jeep. She managed to keep her voice low and impart to it a note of intimacy that reached through his reserve.
His eyes showed some eagerness but she was not interested in it this time. It merely was a sign indicating success in her project. If she felt anything at this moment, it was contempt that he should prove so easy despite all his pretense of strength and wisdom.
"What's on your mind, Amy?"
She smiled softly, lowered her eyelids, and looked about at the soldiers standing nearby.
"I'd like to talk to you, Clem," she said.
He looked suspicious and his face returned to the hard cast it had worn when she first appeared.
"All right," he said flatly. "Talk."
She forced herself to smile again. He could not know that her smile was false and she hated him for spurning it in the way that he did.
"I'm not a representative of the enemy, Clem," she said.
"I know who you are, Amy."
"I'd like to talk to you alone, since you're making me beg," she said, letting a tiny edge of irritation creep into her voice.
He looked around and his eyes settled on a corner outside the tavern.
"No," she said. "Come inside with me."
He looked sharply at her and then shook his head slowly.
"I can't go in there," he said.
Now she let her eyes meet his as she waited for him to speak again.
"I really can't," he said.
"I can't speak to you out here," she said softly. "If you want to see me, you'll have to come in."
With that she turned and walked slowly away from him, giving him a good view of her and taking plenty of time till she reached the door. She was about two steps away from the entrances and was beginning to think that she had failed when she heard him step out of the jeep and come after her with quick steps. She knew that it had worked out perfectly and that his coming after her this way would even cause his own men to contribute unwittingly to his downfall with their testimony. To reinforce that impression she turned on the doorstep, gave him a cool glance, and then went in.
She was waiting inside, of course, and she went up to him quickly and put her hand in his and then led him toward the back. He stopped and would go no further.
"What's wrong here?"
For an answer she merely looked around the room and started toward the rear again. He hesitated and then came along with her.
"What's all the mystery?" he demanded.
"It's no mystery, Clem," she said. "I just felt like talking to you for a while, that's all."
"What about?" There was a sudden warmth in his voice that had not been there fore.
But before she could even think about it they were moving through the designated doorway where two men stood on either side. She heard the soft swish of an object moving through the air and she heard the sound of a skull being hit. She walked on away from the scene and could not bring herself to turn around to see what had happened.