1972 - You're Dead Without Money (8 page)

He took three hundred dollars from his diminishing roll and went in search of his majordomo. Finding him in the kitchen, he explained he was going away and gave him the money.

‘This should hold you until I get back. I’m going to see Mr. Lewishon.’

The majordomo bowed and gave Elliot a sad, searching stare as he took the money. The stare told Elliot the old man was aware of the mess he was in.

‘I’ll write if I stay away longer than a week,’ Elliot said, uncomfortable at the searching stare and the sadness on the old man’s face. He returned to his bedroom, paused to look around, feeling sure this would be the last time he would call this room his own. Then shrugging, he picked up the suitcase and walked down to the garage.

As he was getting into the Alfa Romeo, he saw a girl walking slowly up the drive: a blonde, wearing a white sweatshirt and scarlet shorts.

‘Cindy Luck!’ he thought, surprised and he drove down, pulling up beside her. ‘Hello.’ He smiled. ‘What brings you here?’

Cindy seemed ill at ease and her smile forced.

‘I - I wanted to see you again.’

Vin, Joey and she had gone over the kidnap plan. Vin felt sure that Cindy could get Elliot to their bungalow.

‘Get him here,’ he said, ‘then I’ll handle him.’

Cindy had hesitated.

‘You won’t hurt him, Vin?’

‘Hurt him? Forget it! I’ll just poke a gun at him and he’ll fall to pieces. I know these phoney tough guys. They’re fine up there on the screen, but show them a gun in real life and they’re just wet spaghetti.’

Elliot regarded her. She’s certainly a dish, he thought. If it wasn’t for this goddamn tin foot, I’d get her laid.

‘Well, here I am,’ he said. I’m just off to Hollywood.’

Cindy’s eyes opened wide. This was unexpected.

‘Oh, Mr. Elliot! My father will be so disappointed. He is a terrific fan of yours. When I told him I had been here and you had actually given me lunch - honest, he nearly died with envy. He was really upset so I said I would try to persuade you to come and see him.’ Her mind worked swiftly as she saw alarm come into Elliot’s eyes. ‘I know it’s asking a lot but my father is an invalid and he has so little pleasure. He’s seen all your movies and he really thinks you’re the greatest . . . as I do.’

Elliot hesitated, then thought: What have I got to lose? I now haven’t a friend in the world and here’s this kid . . . what a dish! It won’t kill me to see her old man. It’ll give them both a hell of a kick. He smiled. ‘Okay. Where do you live, Cindy?’

‘On Seaview Boulevard.’

‘That’s fine. It’s in my direction. Hop in.’ Elliot leaned over and opened the offside door. ‘I can’t stay long, but if it will please your old man, it’s my pleasure.’

Cindy felt suddenly sick. She had allowed herself to be persuaded by Vin to take part in this kidnap plan. As Vin pointed out the money would mean nothing to Elliot and once they had got it, they would get married and have a ball. She had gone along with this, not thinking of Elliot, but now he was being so kind, she began to have qualms. For a long moment, she stood hesitating, then when he told her to hurry up, she obeyed and got in the car.

‘I can’t thank you enough,’ she said, not looking at him. ‘You don’t know what this will mean to my father.’

‘Forget it,’ Elliot said as he drove on to the highway. ‘I’m repaying a little debt You said something very nice to me . . . something no one has ever said to me.’

‘Did I?’

‘You wouldn’t remember because it came from your heart. You were talking about my home. You said I deserved it because I had given so much pleasure to so many people.’ He smiled at her. ‘I’m now trying to live up to your image of me.’

Cindy looked away. For a brief moment, she was on the point of telling him she was leading him into a trap, but thinking of Vin and her father and how much this money would mean to them and that this nice movie star wouldn’t miss giving them fifty thousand dollars when he must be worth millions, she resisted the urge.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I did mean what I said and you are living up to my image.’

Elliot drove fast to Seaview Boulevard. He was a little puzzled that this girl at his side seemed so tense. As she remained silent, he asked abruptly, ‘Anything on your mind, baby? Something wrong?’

Cindy stiffened.

‘Wrong? No. I was thinking how lucky I am and how kind you are.’

Elliot laughed. ‘Oh, come on, Cindy! Don’t soft soap me. I’m just behaving like a normal human being.’

‘Are you?’ Cindy thought of Vin and for the first time since she had fallen in love with him, she realized with a little pang that there was no kindness in him. He was hard, tough and glamorous but without kindness and Cindy suddenly realized kindness was as important as glamour. She compared Vin with Elliot and then Elliot with Joey. Elliot and Joey were a lot alike: they had warmth, but not Vin.

‘Not many people who are as famous and as rich as you,’ she said quietly, ‘would bother with people like my father and myself.’

‘Wouldn’t they?’

Maybe she was right, he thought. He wondered if he would have bothered with her if Pacific Pictures had renewed his contract He decided he wouldn’t have. He wondered what he was letting himself in for. The old man would probably be a godawful bore. Well, he needn’t stay long.

‘I’m seeing my agent tomorrow,’ he said. ‘I could be starting work again.’

Cindy turned. Her face lit up and she looked so pleased Elliot cursed himself for telling such a stupid lie.

‘I’m so glad! I read about the accident. It just made me sick. It was so awful for you.’

Elliot shrugged.

‘These things happen.’ He hesitated, then went on. ‘My left foot is made of tin now.’ He looked sharply at her. ‘That shock you?’

‘Shock me? Why should it? You walk beautifully. No one would know.’

‘They know when I take my shoe off.’ The bitter note in his voice made her flinch.

‘Yes . . . I understand. I’m sorry.’

‘Why should you be sorry?’

She hesitated.

‘Well, go on, say it.’

‘It must be hard on you. I’m sure you had lots of girls . . . you shouldn’t let a thing like this spoil your life.’ Again she hesitated. ‘What has a foot to do with it when a man and a woman are in love?’

Elliot whistled softly between his teeth.

‘You don’t know, kid. It makes a hell of a difference. You just don’t know.’

‘I said if a man and a woman are in love. I don’t mean just jumping into bed . . . I mean love.’

‘Would it make any difference to you?’

‘I plan to get married very soon,’ Cindy said, not looking at him.

‘You are?’ Elliot was startled that what she had told him gave him a letdown feeling. This sudden pang of disappointment irritated him. What was this chick to him? She was a dish, of course, but nothing more and yet to be told she was getting married depressed him. ‘Who’s the lucky man?’

‘You’ll meet him. He’s staying with father and me.’ Cindy pointed. ‘It’s the end bungalow on the right’

Elliot surveyed the small bungalow, half hidden by shrubs.

He was not surprised by its shabbiness. In fact, he rather liked its downtrodden appearance . . . so different from his own luxury home.

He pulled up outside the gate behind Vin’s blue Jaguar.

‘Is that your boyfriend’s car?’ he asked as Cindy joined him on the sidewalk.

‘Yes.’

‘Good car . . . well, come on, chick, I can’t stay long.’

Cindy led the way up the path to the front door.

Joey and Vin watched from behind the net curtains. Joey was sweating and his legs felt weak. Vin held a .38 automatic and he was breathing heavily.

‘She’s done it!’ he said. ‘I knew she would! Well, here comes fifty grand! Just leave this to me.’

‘Don’t hurt him,’ Joey pleaded. ‘Be careful, Vin. I don’t like any of this. I . . .’

‘Just shut up, will you?’ Vin snarled. ‘I’ll handle it.’

Cindy opened the front door.

‘Please come in.’ Her voice was so husky Elliot looked at her. She had lost colour and now looked terrified.

‘What’s with it, baby?’ he asked, puzzled. ‘Are you all right?’

Then he heard a sound behind him and he looked around.

Vin stood in the open doorway of the living room, the gun pointing at Elliot.

‘Just take it easy, buster,’ Vin said, his voice like a fall of gravel. ‘Come on in. One wrong move from you and I’ll give you a second belly button.’

For a moment Elliot was startled, then he quickly recovered.

He smiled.

‘That dialogue is right out of a B movie,’ he said, then he looked at Cindy. ‘I’m disappointed in you. Who would have thought you would turn out to be a gangster’s moll?’ He laughed. ‘More B movie dialogue.’

* * *

Here, Barney paused. He regarded me with a sly look, then said, ‘Would you like to try Sam’s sausages, Mr. Campbell? They are one of the specialities of the house. They are soaked in rum before being fried in a chili sauce. I can recommend them.’

I explained that I had had dinner and I had to watch my weight.

‘Too much attention is paid to weight watching,’ Barney said, a note of scorn in his voice. ‘You live only once, mister. I’d hate to think of all the food I might have missed if I watched my weight. You follow my reasoning?’

I said I got the idea and perhaps he would like a sausage or two, but strictly not for me.

He smiled and lifted one thick finger at Sam. This must have been a pre-arranged signal for Sam came hurrying over with a plate of a dozen small sausages, the colour of mahogany, their skins wrinkled and glistening.

‘Try one,’ Barney said, pushing the plate towards me, but something warned me to resist. I said for him to go ahead and count me out.

‘They’re hot,’ Barney said, feeding one of the sausages into his little mouth. He chewed and I saw his eyes begin to water and I was thankful I had been strong minded; After a long swill of beer, Barney wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and settled himself. ‘Real dynamite,’ he said, nodding his approval. ‘I’ve seen so-called tough guys jump three feet in the air after just one of these little beauties.’

‘You got to this kidnapping,’ I said. ‘So what happened?’

Barney reached for another sausage as he said, ‘Well, Vin acted tough and he could be tough when he was in the mood. He scared the hell out of Cindy and Joey but he made no impact on Elliot ‘Elliot walked into the living room and sat down in the best arm chair. He ignored Vin and the threatening gun and concentrated on Joey. He liked the look of Joey and was surprised to see the old man was trembling.

* * *

‘Is this your father, Cindy?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’ Cindy was also trembling.

Elliot nodded to Joey.

‘I congratulate you. You have a lovely daughter, Mr. Luck. And this gentleman waving the gun at me . . . is he your fiancé?’

‘Now listen, buster,’ Vin snarled. ‘Button up! I do the talking around here!’

Elliot continued to ignore Vin. To Cindy, he said, ‘I wouldn’t have thought he was your style. This act of his wouldn’t jell even on TV. I thought you could have aimed higher than him.’

Vin recognized he was being challenged. He saw Cindy’s uneasy look and also Joey’s reaction.

‘Okay, punk,’ he said viciously. In the past, he had dealt with tough guys, smart punks and creeps who looked for trouble. This tall, handsome movie star had to be cut down to size and to learn right away who was the boss. Moving forward, he reached out and made a grab at Elliot’s shirtfront.

The idea was to jerk Elliot out of the chair, rush him across the room, slam him against the wall and knock the breath out of him, but it didn’t work that way.

Elliot chopped down-on Vin’s wrist, lifted his foot and rammed it into Vin’s chest to send him flying over him and the chair to crash on an occasional table, flattening it, the gun falling out of his hand.

Elliot was on his feet and had caught up the gun while Vin lay still, stunned.

‘I’m sorry, Mr. Luck,’ Elliot said mildly. ‘I hope that table isn’t valuable.’

Joey stood speechless, aware that Elliot was holding the gun. Into his mind came a vision of a patrol car pulling up and Cindy and he being bundled into it and the iron gates of a prison clanging behind them for at least ten years.

Why had he listened to Vin? Why hadn’t he insisted that Cindy should have had nothing to do with this thing?

Cindy, backed against the wall, looked with terrified eyes at Vin, wondering if he was badly hurt.

‘Don’t look so upset,’ Elliot said to her. ‘He’s all right. What’s a little tumble to a he-man like him?’

Vin shook his head, trying to clear it. Then he got unsteadily to his feet. He glared at Elliot, his mouth working with rage, his fists clenched.

‘Make a wrong move, buster,’ Elliot said with a grin, ‘and I’ll give you a second belly button.’

Looking at Vin with his viciousness and then at Elliot, calm, amused and completely unflustered, Cindy felt a sudden change of heart. She realized that Vin wasn’t the man for her. The realization came as a shock to her and she moved quickly to Joey and caught hold of his hand. Joey, who sensed things, knew with frightened joy that he had got his daughter back.

‘Suppose we all sit down and talk this thing over,’ Elliot said. ‘You over there.’ He waved Vin to a chair by the window, some ten feet from where he was standing. ‘Go on . . . sit down unless you want me to let this heater off and get the police here.’

Muttering, but cowed, Vin went to the chair and sat down.

Elliot smiled at Cindy.

‘You and dad sit there, please,’ and he waved to the sofa.

Glad to sit down, Joey went to the sofa and he and Cindy sat side by side.

Elliot took a chair away from them all. He put the gun on the arm of the chair, took out a pack of cigarettes and watching Vin, he lit the cigarette.

‘Well now, Cindy. You owe me an explanation. What’s all this about?’

Joey squeezed Cindy’s arm.

‘Tell him, baby,’ he said. ‘The truth never hurts anyone.’

‘Oh, shut up!’ Vin snarled. ‘Keep your mouth shut, Cindy! Don’t listen to him!’

Cindy flushed and her eyes snapped. No man talked that way to her and got away with it.