Read Online Cape Fear by John D. MacDonald - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: John D. MacDonald
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sent me clippings when the kid got killed. My kid. That was in fifty-one. He was twelve, and he fell off his motor scooter under a delivery truck.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Are you, Lieutenant? You must be a nice guy. You must be a real nice guy. I looked Mary up when I got back to Charleston. She damn near dropped dead when she recognized me. The kids were in school and the plumber was out plumbing. That was last September. You know, she’d got fat, but she’s still a pretty woman. All the Pratt women are pretty. Hill people, from around Eskdale. I had to bust open the screen door to get to talk to her. Then she ran and got one of those fireplace things and tried to hit me over thehead with it. I took it away from her and bent it double and threw it in the fireplace. Then she came out quiet and got in the car. She always had a mean temper.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I want you to get the picture, like I told you last week. I drove her over to Huntington—that’s only about fifty miles—and that night I got in a booth with her while she called up the plumber. By then she was doing just what I told her, and I had her say she was taking a little vacation from him and the kids. I hung up while he was still yelling. I made her write me a love note and date it, asking me to take her away for a while. I made her write it full of dirty words. I stayed with her about three days in a hotel in Huntington. By then I got tired of her sniveling all the time and blubbering about her kids and her plumber. All the fight was gone, but she was marked up from that first day when she was still trying to get away. Are you getting the picture, Lieutenant?”
“I think so.”
“When I had enough of her, I told her that if she ever tried to yell cop, I’d mail a photostat of the note to the plumber. And I’d come around and see if I could throw a couple of the plumber’s kids under some delivery trucks. She was impressed. I had to put damn near a whole fifth of liquor into her before she passed out. Then I drove her over the Big Sandy into Kentucky, and when I found one of those rough little road-houses near Grayson, I lifted her out and put her in an old heap parked there. About a mile back up the road I threw her shoes and her dress in a field. I give her a good chance to work her way home.”
“This is supposed to scare me.”
“No, Lieutenant. This is just part of the picture. I had a lot of time to think. You know. I’d remember how it was when we got married. I’d gone back to Charleston on leave. I was twenty and it was 1939 and I had two years in. I wasn’t fixing to get married, but she’d come into town with her folks on Saturday night. She was just turned seventeen and I could tell looking at them they were hill folk. My people came from around Brounland before they moved down into Charleston. I followed them around town, never taking my eyes off Betty. After lockup at night I’d remember how it was on that Saturday night, and how the wedding was, and how she came down to Louisiana when we had the maneuvers before I got shipped. She wanted to be near me. She was religious. Came from a big clan of Bible shouters. But it didn’t stop her taking a big interest in climbing into the hay.”
“I don’t want to listen to all this.”
“But you’ll listen, Lieutenant. You want the word. I got this word for you. After I found out from my brother about her marrying again, I planned the whole thing, just exactly the way I did it. I changed it just a little. I was going to keep her a week instead of only three days, but she lost her fight too fast.”
“So?”
“You’re supposed to be a big smart lawyer, Lieutenant. I thought about her and naturally I thought about you.”
“And you made plans for me?”
“Now you’re getting warm. But I couldn’t make plans for you because I didn’t know how you were set. I wasn’teven sure I could locate you. I hoped to hell you hadn’t been
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Are you, Lieutenant? You must be a nice guy. You must be a real nice guy. I looked Mary up when I got back to Charleston. She damn near dropped dead when she recognized me. The kids were in school and the plumber was out plumbing. That was last September. You know, she’d got fat, but she’s still a pretty woman. All the Pratt women are pretty. Hill people, from around Eskdale. I had to bust open the screen door to get to talk to her. Then she ran and got one of those fireplace things and tried to hit me over thehead with it. I took it away from her and bent it double and threw it in the fireplace. Then she came out quiet and got in the car. She always had a mean temper.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I want you to get the picture, like I told you last week. I drove her over to Huntington—that’s only about fifty miles—and that night I got in a booth with her while she called up the plumber. By then she was doing just what I told her, and I had her say she was taking a little vacation from him and the kids. I hung up while he was still yelling. I made her write me a love note and date it, asking me to take her away for a while. I made her write it full of dirty words. I stayed with her about three days in a hotel in Huntington. By then I got tired of her sniveling all the time and blubbering about her kids and her plumber. All the fight was gone, but she was marked up from that first day when she was still trying to get away. Are you getting the picture, Lieutenant?”
“I think so.”
“When I had enough of her, I told her that if she ever tried to yell cop, I’d mail a photostat of the note to the plumber. And I’d come around and see if I could throw a couple of the plumber’s kids under some delivery trucks. She was impressed. I had to put damn near a whole fifth of liquor into her before she passed out. Then I drove her over the Big Sandy into Kentucky, and when I found one of those rough little road-houses near Grayson, I lifted her out and put her in an old heap parked there. About a mile back up the road I threw her shoes and her dress in a field. I give her a good chance to work her way home.”
“This is supposed to scare me.”
“No, Lieutenant. This is just part of the picture. I had a lot of time to think. You know. I’d remember how it was when we got married. I’d gone back to Charleston on leave. I was twenty and it was 1939 and I had two years in. I wasn’t fixing to get married, but she’d come into town with her folks on Saturday night. She was just turned seventeen and I could tell looking at them they were hill folk. My people came from around Brounland before they moved down into Charleston. I followed them around town, never taking my eyes off Betty. After lockup at night I’d remember how it was on that Saturday night, and how the wedding was, and how she came down to Louisiana when we had the maneuvers before I got shipped. She wanted to be near me. She was religious. Came from a big clan of Bible shouters. But it didn’t stop her taking a big interest in climbing into the hay.”
“I don’t want to listen to all this.”
“But you’ll listen, Lieutenant. You want the word. I got this word for you. After I found out from my brother about her marrying again, I planned the whole thing, just exactly the way I did it. I changed it just a little. I was going to keep her a week instead of only three days, but she lost her fight too fast.”
“So?”
“You’re supposed to be a big smart lawyer, Lieutenant. I thought about her and naturally I thought about you.”
“And you made plans for me?”
“Now you’re getting warm. But I couldn’t make plans for you because I didn’t know how you were set. I wasn’teven sure I could locate you. I hoped to hell you hadn’t been
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